t3 only help

[dizzy1979]

hi guys,

I am currently taking 1 and 3/4 of thyroid s daily, split over 2 dose.

My nhs Endo has agreed to trail me on t3 only but she has only prescribed me 30mcg a day.

My question is, is this going to be enough? And can I straight swap?

My job ( and life generally) is really stressful at the moment and I can’t afford to crash and burn however I have been putting off switching for some months now and know I need to bite the bullet soon, before I am due to meet with the Endo again, and appear to be unwilling.

many help greatly appreciated 🙏🏻

[greygoose]

Doubtful that 30 mcg T3 only would be enough, but you're not supposed to start on a full replacement dose, anyway.

What does 1.75 of Thyroid S actually represent in mg or grains? I'm not familiar with the size of the tablets. If they are 1 grain tablets, then you'll only be getting about 16 mcg T3 plus whatever you can convert from T4, and that is a totally unknown quantity.

I should think that 30 mcg is probably an increase in dose. But, how do you feel on Thyroid S?

If it were me, I think I would start on 20 mcg for a week or so, to see how it goes, and then increase slowly up to 30 - 5 mcg increase every two weeks. But, you'll probably eventually need more than that.

[dizzy1979 in reply to greygoose]

Thank you, I feel OK but far from optimal. My moods are all over the place and weight continues to gain, as it has done, in the last 3 years. Some weeks I sleep like a log and others hardly at all.

I will start on 20mcg and increase as necessary in small increments after a week or so. Thanks as always for your reply

[greygoose in reply to dizzy1979]

You're welcome.

[healthkiwi]

The manufacturers of Thyroid-S declare the following composition per 1 grain (60mg) tablet 38 micrograms of thyroxine (T4) and

9 micrograms of liothyronine (T3).

So your 1 and 3/4 tablets is a dose of

66.5 mcg T4, and 15.75mcg T3.

As Greygoose points out, how much T4 your own body converts into T3 is unknown. Also how your body will metabolise Lio T3, compared to taking an NDT whole thyroid product, is unknown.

The general assumption seems that normally about 1/3 of T4 should convert into T3. So on that basis the "equivalent" for your NDT might be as much as 38mcg T3 (22 from t4 and 16 t3).

But as most of us know, the only way to find out is going through the trial and error guesswork with all its potential ups and downs. 😟 Hope it all goes well for you.

[dizzy1979 in reply to healthkiwi]

thank you so much for your message, so I have not been vastly under prescribed by your calculations, which is reassuring for now. I think I will start on 20mcg for the first week whilst I still have some thyroid s in my system and increase slowly from there as needed.

[Brightness14]

I was on Thyroid s for years and I think that your 30mcg of T3 would be too little. 1.75 grains would be more like 40 of the T3. It could be 36 ish. It depends on you and how you converted the T4 in the NDT. Start small and increase it's much faster acting than Thyroid s,