Not quite right

[KHSC]

Good afternoon

I am taking 15mg (split into 3 doses) T3 and 75mg Levothyroxine daily.

I am very symptomatic again - hair loss, weight gain and the awful afternoon tiredness has returned. I am gluten free and trying to cut back on dairy. I rarely have sugar and never before my evening meal.

Have a telephone consult with my private endocrinologist in a couple of weeks and don't know what to request regarding medication. Should I up my levothyroxine or trial NDT to see if that works for me?

Blood test is due to be done next week.

Really just asking for your thoughts.

Thank you

[DippyDame]

Difficult to say until you have your next results...hopefully taken after at least 6 weeks on a steady dose, before 9am and at least an hour away from food and drinks.

Post your new labs for advice.

[Jaydee1507 Administrator]

Post with your new results and we can help you decide at that point. Can't really have any idea without numbers in front of us.

How are you vitamin levels looking and what supplements are you taking?

[KHSC in reply to Jaydee1507]

These are the results 3 months ago.

Results

[Jaydee1507 Administrator in reply to KHSC]

Have you changed your dose or added any vitamins since then?

Your B12 is too low. What vitamins are you taking?

Free T4 (fT4) 18.2 pmol/L (12 - 22) 62.0%

Free T3 (fT3) 4.84 pmol/L (3.1 - 6.8) 47.0%

You have plenty of room for a dose increase in Levo but I don;t know if you already did this yet?

[KHSC in reply to Jaydee1507]

No, the endo decreased Levo from 100mg to 75mg at the last appointment (which is probably why I am suffering). I will suggest increasing back to 100mg and see if he is willing to increase T3 to 20mg.

I added a B12 supplement to the B Complex I was taking when I got the last results.

Apologies I know my post was vague but wasn't sure what to ask him for.

[Jaydee1507 Administrator in reply to KHSC]

You really need to give the combination therapy a full trial run before jumping to any other hormone. Also only change one thing at a time.

I'd request/insist on Levo going back up to 100mcgs but it may be that your Endo is trying to keep your TSH within range in which case you will never get optimally replaced with him/her on anything with T3 in it as your TSH will likely be below range/suppressed.

I'm glad that you've added extra B12 as that will help how you feel as well.

[KHSC in reply to Jaydee1507]

I supplement A, B Complex, B12, Biotin, C, D3 & K2, E. Zinc, Magnesium & Collagen & Omega 3

[Jaydee1507 Administrator in reply to KHSC]

Which B complex and B12 are you taking because they don't seem to be doing enough?

When did you stop the biotin & B complex before this test?

[KHSC in reply to Jaydee1507]

I had some results a while ago (can't remember exactly when) that showed high B12 so stopped the addition and just kept on with the Thorne B Complex.

Started Biotin six weeks ago to try and help my hair and am now on Magifood Terra Nova B Complex and their B12 Complex for the last 4 weeks.

[Jaydee1507 Administrator in reply to KHSC]

I've just looked up the Magifood product and although it has methyl/active vitamins they are pretty low dose.

Only 200mcgs folate as opposed to 400mcgs in Thorne.

Only 50mcgs B12 as opposed to 400mcgs in Thorne.

So I'd recommend either going back to Thorne basic B or there are some other cheaper equivalent products you could try with the same amount of vitamins as Thorne.

amazon.co.uk/Liposomal-Soft...

If you really need extra B12 on top of the high dose B complex then the Cytoplan sublingual is the way to go. cytoplan.co.uk/vitamin-b12-...

Thorne B complex contents

[KHSC in reply to Jaydee1507]

Thank you. The Magifood ones were recommended by the health food shop that I use but I will change. I am doing another blood test on Monday as need to email results prior to telephone consultation. I will see where the levels are and change B vitamins. I will look into the Cytoplan sublingual too - thanks.

[Animal-lover2 in reply to KHSC]

Hope you are aware that you need to stop B complex a week before blood tests as the biotin could skew the results.

[KHSC in reply to Animal-lover2]

Thanks but yes, aware of the blood test protocol 😊

[shaws Administrator]

Dr.. John Lowe (now deceased due to an accident) was an expert on the use of T3. He took his T3 dose with a glass of water and waited an hour befor he ate.

He stated that T3 had to saturate all of our T3 receptor cells and they then sent out 'waves' throughout the day that relieve our symptoms and the effect could last for up to 3 days..

Dr Lowe was also an Adviser to TUK before his accident.

I follow his method and am symptom-free and feel well.

I take T3 with one glass of water when I awake r and wait an hour before I eat. I am symptom-free.

[KHSC in reply to shaws]

That’s really interesting. I do with the morning dose but not with the lunchtime one. I will try doing this - thank you.

[KHSC in reply to shaws]

Do you know where I can read about his method?

[helvella Administrator in reply to KHSC]

There is a part of his old website here:

A PDF Conversion of Dr Lowe’s Thyroid Science Website

A conversion of some of Dr Lowe’s website into a PDF to help make it accessible.

This is a large file (almost 60 MB).

helvella.blogspot.com/p/a-p...

[KHSC]

Thank you so much - I will download in the morning.