6 months of T3

[Jooju2004]

I think this is the first time I have posted from a position of ‘I actually feel ok’ 🙌🏻

I finally remembered to check my thyroid levels - and only because my GP has decided they want to check my T4/TSH tomorrow and I want to be ready with my T3 results when they complain.

anyway, these are my medicheck results:

TSH 0.02 (0.27 to 4.2)

FT4 19.9 (12 to 22)

FT3 4.3 (3.1 to 6.8)

I take 150mcg levothyroxine and just 6.25mcg Tiromel. I tried increasing the Tiromel but felt a bit over-medicated so dropped back and haven’t really given it any thought since.

My FT4 is in range for the first time pretty much ever! But my T3 is lower than I expected, especially as I feel well.

I do want to get my T3 up a bit - I feel really good but I do have swollen lower legs and have previously mentioned my eGFR/ kidney disease concerns, possibly being linked to low T3.

So would it be reasonable to reduce my levothyroxine by 25mcg and add in an extra 6.25mcg Tiromel? I don’t want to rock the boat but would be good to see if a tweak might help even more.

Or should I try again keeping the levo where it is but increasing the Tiromel 🤔

and if you’ve read to the end … thank you!!

[Lalatoot]

Jooju Adding more t3 will lower your ft4 result anyway. Everyone is different so the actual change in level may not be the same for you but adding 5mcg of t3 tends to decrease my ft4 by 0.5.I would add in a second quarter of a tablet t3 as a separate dose. Then wait 6 weeks and see how you feel and what bloods are like .

[SlowDragon Administrator]

Have retested vitamin D, folate and ferritin recently

Are you now on strictly gluten free diet or tried it

When you added 2nd dose Tiromel was that approx 10 hours after morning dose ?

You might experiment with TINY dose reduction in levothyroxine……eg 137mcg 1 day a week and 150mcg 6 days

Or possibly 137mcg levothyroxine 2 days a week and 150mcg 5 days

Retest in 6-8 weeks

Then could try increasing T3 after next test

[Jooju2004 in reply to SlowDragon]

D, folate and ferritin just been tested again by GP this week. I’ll make sure I get an actual print out of the results (my GP always says ‘fine/in range’ 🙄).

Haven’t tried gluten free for any length of time - I know I should but I’ve accepted I probably never will.

No - when I tried the second dose of Tiromel it was more like 6-8 hours later. I was also actually wondering if I could try taking it all at the same time as my regular dose purely because of my inadequate memory - so double my Tiromel dose for a bit but take it all in the morning with my levothyroxine?

Thank you - you’re talking sense (as always!), so maybe I don’t reduce the levo at all but try again with a small Tiromel increase. It would just be a lot easier if I could take it all in one go!

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to Jooju2004]

Try taking 2nd dose at bedtime….many of us find it gives better sleep

[Jooju2004 in reply to SlowDragon]

ooh that’s interesting … I just need to check it doesn’t interact with everything else I take at bedtime 🤦🏼‍♀️ - thank you, I’ll report back!