Liothyronine side effects

[Kayakingkim]

Hi I have just started taking Liothyronine sigma pharma 5mcg daily. I am now on day three and the nausea seems to be increasing! Struggling to get out and about etc

I am not sure if I should persevere for awhile longer or try and get a new prescription for a different brand. This is a private prescription.

I also take Teva Levo and seem to be ok on that so thinking it can’t be mannitol that is the problem??

I would really appreciate some advice as going on holiday in a weeks time and don’t want to be feeling like this if I can avoid it

Many thanks

[Jaydee1507 Administrator]

Have you dropped your Levo dose and allowed at least a week before starting T3?

What were your latest vitamin results - ferritin, folate, B12 & D3? Intolerance of T3 is often due to low vitamin levels.

For future reference it can be expensive getting T3 in low doses such as 5mcgs. A lot cheaper to get Thybon-Henning in 20mcgs and quarter with a pill cutter. 20mcgs costs 50-60p per tablet.

[Kayakingkim in reply to Jaydee1507]

Hi Jaydee

Thanks for your response. Consultant did not want me to drop Levo dose so still taking 75mcgx5 days and 50mcg x2days. My Ferritin is 58 which is just within range and Vit D is also just within range. I take supplements but can’t seem to improve levels.

I will change to Thybon Henning and cut it if I can’t tolerate sigma do you think trying 2.5mcg for a couple of weeks and then increasing would help ?

[Jaydee1507 Administrator in reply to Kayakingkim]

What were your latest thyroid results, also your vitamin results please?

What levels can't you improve? ferritin can be very slow indeed.

What supplements are you taking?

[Kayakingkim in reply to Jaydee1507]

Hi Jaydee

Ferritin 53.7ug/L (113-150)

Folate 5.96 ug/L (>3.89)

Vit B 12 85.1pmol/L(37.5-150)

Vit D 56pmol/L(50-200)

TSH 0.04(0.27-4.2)

Free T3 4.62pmol/L (3.1-6.8)

Free T4 20.3pmol/L (12-22)

I am taking Vit D3 3000IU daily

Ferrous sulphate 200mg daily

Vit B 12 250ug daily

Tried taking folic acid/folate/b complex but couldn’t tolerate the folate . I have been taking these doses for about 14months so far

[Jaydee1507 Administrator in reply to Kayakingkim]

Which forms of folate have you tried, there are about 3 forms. It may be the methyl ones don't suit you but there's still quatrefolic to try. Look for it on the label or this B complex contains it but not widely available in the UK. evitamins.com/uk/b-complex-...

Thats a fairly low dose B12 you have there. You could easily double your dose. A good B complex contains 400mcgs.

Make sure to take iron well away (4 hours) from any of your thyroid hormone. Also take iron with orange juice to help it absorb better. If one form isn't working try another. Some members here have recommended this brand. threearrowsnutra.com/en-uk/...

Ferritin should be around 90 - 100 for best use of thyroid hormone. Suggest increasing iron rich foods in diet and eating them often. Chicken livers, pate, red meat etc

Suggest you increase your D3 + K2 dose. Vitamin D should be around 100 - 150. Buy one that includes vit K2 to help it go to your bones. Some are available in oil or you can take it with an oily meal for better absorption. Use this calculator to work out how much to take to get your level to 100-150. wildatlantichealth.com/vita...

So with low vitamin levels tolerance of T3 can be harder. It will pay you to work on your levels.

[Kayakingkim in reply to Jaydee1507]

ok great thanks for the advice will give it a try 😊

[TiggerMe Ambassador in reply to Kayakingkim]

A lot of us are finding Three Arrow Nutra Simply Heme a really great product at getting ferritin levels up (terrible website!)

threearrowsnutra.com/en-uk/...

Hunt around for a 10% discount code I bought some recently and it was 'FRANKLIN' 🤗

[Kayakingkim in reply to TiggerMe]

Thanks Eeyore

[Natasha76 in reply to Kayakingkim]

Hello, your ferritin is on a low end , so it is low. It should be 100-125 for about 3-6 months before you may stop supplementing. There is a group on Facebook ‘ The iron protocol ‘, it provides lots of info, research papers etc. Ferrous sulf ate 200 mg contains 65 mg of iron. There is a formula in the same group- your body weight multiply by 5 , it’s the maximum amount of non- gene iron that you can take per day , minimum is your body weight multiply by 2 per day. You need to take your iron at the same time with vit C 1000mg( 4 hours away from other meds). I don’t do well on this type of iron, I prefer ferrous fumarate or bysciglinate ( the number on the box it’s not the iron content ). Vit D on low end too, need to be higher. As someone else mentioned with K2 together. I had an appointment with a functional doctor a few weeks back and got the same advice , he wants to see few more bloods and silica cortisol test before prescribing T3. Good luck

[Kayakingkim in reply to Natasha76]

thanks Natasha definitely need to try and increase both iron and Vit D will check out the Facebook group hope all goes well for you x

[Regenallotment Ambassador]

Does your T3 contain lactose? It could be that, Teva T4 is lactose free. Just a thought 🌱

[Kayakingkim in reply to Regenallotment]

hi Regenallotment no it is lactose free I think but will double check

[SlowDragon Administrator]

You could try splitting T3 as 2.5mcg waking and 2.5mcg Approx 10-12 hours later

[Kayakingkim in reply to SlowDragon]

thanks slow dragon I think I will have to try that initially and see how it goes will need to let consultant know as he wanted me to do a blood test in 6 weeks time after taking full dose 4 hrs before the test

[arTistapple in reply to Kayakingkim]

I am getting to be a very suspicious person dealing with doctors. For me, and others who ‘fail’ their T3 trial, I think this happens because these doctors do not know enough about the workings of T3 and therefore the dosing of T3. OR perhaps it’s worse! Patients could be getting set up precisely to fail. Why? Well why is T3 on so many surgery blacklists? Frankly they do not want us to have it. I would take the advice of the forumites above that of the endo. If you need T3 it would be good to settle this nausea ASAP otherwise your T3 will be stopped and if you are a patient who needs it ……. Splitting the dose is good advice (I can’t even manage 2.5 mcg per day) and frankly your endo won’t know whether you have done the 5 mcg before your next blood test, unless you tell him/her. The only place dosage is truly discussed is on this forum. Very little research is done on dosage, so basically doctors know very little about it. I saw on Facebook the new President of The British Thyroid Association seems to be interested in this issue - dosage. This would be a very good thing.

[FancyPants54 in reply to Kayakingkim]

He wants you to test at the peak of the T3 dose impact. It takes 2-4hrs for T3 to peak from swallowing it. We don't do that here. We take our dose 8-12 hours before the blood test so that we see how we are managing at the worst case scenario. His way you will find it hard to get adequate T3 dosing. Be careful of that.

[Jefner]

could be the brand you are taking. I usually always have Morningside and then one week my brand was changed to Mercury Pharma and it made me feel bad including worsenened anxiety

[Goldengirl01 in reply to Jefner]

same here, I was given Mercury pharma first as that’s what the hospital prescribed and I felt dreadful, headache etc so when I had appointment with endo consultant she changed it to morningside and I have been fine apart from she put me on 20mcg as the starting dose, really bad headaches but was advised on here to go low and slow and and went down to 2.5mcg once a day. Am now on 5mcg twice a day and have not changed it as if I go up I feel unwell. I believe it’s been 5 yrs since I started Liothyronine and I’m happy on 10mcg so I stayed on that dose.

[Kayakingkim in reply to Goldengirl01]

Thanks golden girl I will make a note of morningside as I think it is probably the brand and dose feel much better today on 2.5mcg but still a bit nauseous

[Goldengirl01 in reply to Kayakingkim]

just give it time.x

[Kayakingkim]

ok thanks Jefner will try splitting first and then moving to another brand if this doesn’t work thanks for the tip re morningside

[Mothebear]

hi

I am on the same regime as you for levo and take a low dose 5 mcg of litho and split it, 2.5 at 7am and 2.5 at 12 am. I take Eltroxin for both.

I take my vitamins after my supper and my levo at 2am ( just suits and I just seem to reliably wake at that time).

I have no side effects at all, so I wonder if it is the brand or the strength. You have nothing to lose if you split the dose (I do mine with a very sharp, thin blade knife).

Hope something works, no holiday is fun feeling sick!

[Kayakingkim in reply to Mothebear]

Thanks Mothebear I will try the second part of the dose as suggested and see how it goes

[Gilbo72]

When I first added T3, I was experiencing ‘crashes’ after eating. I think it was due to sugar levels, the T3 made me more sensitive. I’m ok now. But perhaps it’s a sugar level thing that is making you feel sick.

[Kayakingkim in reply to Gilbo72]

interesting you say that because I have noticed a feel a bit better if I eat something sweet !

[bikebabe]

I will check what brand I have as I couldn’t tolerate 2x5 mcg at first and only had 5mcg. I did my own blood checks and found I needed to reduce thyroxine. Was then able to gradually introduce the other 5mcg ie every other day at first. Will do more tests soon.

[Kayakingkim in reply to bikebabe]

thanks bikebabe others have mentioned Thybon-henning

[SarahJane1471]

I started T3 a couple of months ago and can only tolerate 3mcgs at a time. At first once a day. I didn’t reduce Levo because my test before showed it was about 80% in the range. I’m going by symptoms alone for now. I found it great at first then I tried to up the dose too quickly. I now take 3mcgs twice a day. If you need it then persevere and just tell your Endo that it’s working 😬. This forum will give you the advice you need.

[Kayakingkim in reply to SarahJane1471]

thanks Sarahjane yes definitely feel I need it so have split dose taking 2.5mcg today and does feel a bit better thanks for sharing your experience it’s reassuring 😊

[shaws Administrator]

My health only improved when I was prescribed T3 alone. T4 gave me severe palpitations and I had no improvements.

[J2506 in reply to shaws]

That’s interesting as I too have palpitations especially at night, what amount of T3 are you taking that enables you to stop T4 ? Thanks 😊

[Kayakingkim]

Thanks Shaws I did feel some improvement with hypertension and aches and pains on Levo but not with energy and mood so hoping the Lio will help already feel some improvement after 4 days so 🤞that I need combo treatment to resolve symptoms

[Goldengirl01]

you could go to 2.5mcg a day at first and gradually increase slowly by increments of 2.5mcg. I was initially put on 20mcg at first and it was awful, really bad headaches and generally unwell so I was told on here to go low and slow. I went down to 2.5mcg a day and when I felt better on that I increased by another 2.5mcg to 5mcg a day gradually increasing in increments of 2.5mcg each time. I am on 10mcg daily now, I know it doesn’t seem much but it suits me. If I up it I feel terrible so I am on 100mcg of Levothyroxine and 10mcg Liothyronine daily and it suits me. It’s taken me 5 yearstogetit right.x

[Stongwave]

Definitely go to 50 mcg Levo,The nasty symptoms you have are from Levo, which goes in rt3. You will see the difference. Better to Increase your ferrettine a bit too. Do not change that brand for now.

[PandoraXX]

I'd take the advice of others and try splitting the dose. Initially I tried 5 mg in the mornings and felt like I was on speed - but now I'm taking 7.5 mg every morning and don't notice a thing. It took about a 1.5 years of fine adjusting the T3, T4 amount before I was able to get my blood tests in the desirable range. In my case it was the T4 adjustment that I'd say had the most impact. In the beginning I was taking too much T4 so felt hyper. But when I reduced the T4, my TSH shot up tp 30 at one point! Keeping the same dose of T3 (currently 7.5 mg every day) and then adding just a half pill of T4 once a week brought my TSH down normal ranges and kept the T4 normal as well. It will take some patience and trial and error. I don't think there's any conspiracy to prevent patients from using T3. It may just be that it's a newer treatment and doctors aren't as familiar with all the subtle effects on each individual. My doctor was very happy when the right 'recipe' finally worked! Then again, I live in the US.

[Kayakingkim in reply to PandoraXX]

Thanks so much Pandora really good to know just how little can help I thought I was on the lowest dose but it appears not ! I tried 12.5 mcg today and felt much better will keep to that for now and test in six weeks glad to hear you found the right levels eventually

[FancyPants54 in reply to PandoraXX]

Oh there is definitely a conspiracy to keep T3 from patients in the UK. The stuff is blacklisted! It's outright damaging what lack of T3 can do to some people but you still can't get a decent dose of it or a doctor who has a clue what to do with it here. It's not a new treatment either. The skills have been beaten out of the doctors.

[Kayakingkim]

sorry I meant 2.5 !!! X

[PandoraXX in reply to Kayakingkim]

Yes I thought so! Good luck and keep us updated!

[Kandahar]

think you started on too high a dose all together.Endo advice to me was to aim to get to 10mcg split into four doses a day, starting with 2.5mcg an hour before breakfast and taking with water only. Before that, split 5 into 2.5 cg, once again, starting an hour before breakfast.

In addition, you should have been told to reduce the thyroxine because, otherwise, you could be over medicated. May I ask why you are dosing with liothyronine? My reason was that my body wasn’t converting thyroxine to liothyronine. And we’re you feeling bad on just levo?

Don’t think I need to repeat it, but the experts on here will always say that the overriding need for changing doses from levo to lio, or increasing either of them, is that you aren’t feeling well. I’m not good at maths, but experts on here will tell you the proportion that needs replacing. Sounds as if you are saying that you feel OK on levo. So why did your endo think you need to add or alter? Lynn

[Kayakingkim in reply to Kandahar]

Hi Kandahar no I wasn’t feeling ok on Levo that is why I was given Liothyronine. I have reduced dose to 2.5mcg as a starting dose which is making a difference already. Hopefully the endo will adjust Levo when I see him in six weeks time if needed. Yes I have poor conversion and do much better when my T3 is minimum of 5.5 .