Effect of thyroid meds on adrenals

[Sofie007]

I have been on levothyroxine for 2 years, numbers were good but wasn't converting well so I added a bit of Cytomel, 3 mcg. I felt ok, but not great. I tried to increase the Cytomel dose to 5 mcg but it made me sleepy all day. I finally lost weight and my face looked really good. Maybe I should have continued, maybe my body needs to sleep for weeks. I feel it has something to do with adrenals but I don't know what. I loved the weightloss but I don't want to sleep all day. I lowered the dose after 2 weeks because I couldn't get anything done.

Can somebody tell me more about the effect of T4 and T3 medication on our adrenals?

When I am on T4 only I am more alert but also obsessive.

Cytomel makes me emotional and tired, but it helps with having a good night sleep.

Thanks

[arTistapple]

Well as I have come to understand sleep is the great healer. Do you have any ‘recovery’ from sleep or do you still feel sleepy/fatigued on waking? If you have ‘recovery’ that would be a good sign I think. Fatigue from sleeping might need different thinking. Might mean some sort of change to your medication.

You need to post your testing results for that.

[Sofie007 in reply to arTistapple]

Thank you for the reply. I am not tired in the morning, but when I took 5 mcg Cytomel I only woke up at 10 or 11 am and could have continued sleeping a few hours more and also slept in afternoon. I was feeling drowsy, but I never looked better 😅. No wrinkles, sparkly eyes, shiny hair, weight loss, great bowel movement. But also couldn't handle anything stressful. I think it must be adrenal related but have no clue. I will try to schedule bloodwork.

[arTistapple in reply to Sofie007]

Sounds like you are on the right track, look good, feel good! Great. Stress thing - maybe that’s your personal most important individual symptom and time with your medication and adjustments as per TiggerMe suggestions will help with that. It’s not too far a stretch to think you need more sleep to deal with your stress. We all seem to have basically similar symptom pictures but we often seem to have our ‘own’ particular bugbear. Mine is my heart (a muscle in its own right) and general muscles.

A number of people posting report that they continue to get even more well, after months and even years after finding their sweet spot. Sounds like you might be on the right track. Patience and Good luck.

[TiggerMe Ambassador]

Perhaps down to dose timings, what's your regime?

[Sofie007]

I split the 5 mcg in 3. One at 2 pm, one at 6 pm and last one before bed around 11 pm.

[TiggerMe Ambassador in reply to Sofie007]

Have you any current results? Sounds like with such tiny doses of T3 your body isn't getting enough to keep going... I take 15mcg T3 per day in one go, when I first started I would split the dosing and be much like you never really getting going before slumping back even when I worked up to 25mcg.

If you feel good in the morning it would suggest you have a good level of cortisol first thing so I would suggest dropping to 2 doses with the larger one first thing in the morning and if that works better then drop to one dose first thing, good cortisol levels are necessary for good T3 uptake... like you say too much or too little T3 is putting extra strain on the adrenals to try and deal with this

[Sofie007 in reply to TiggerMe]

Thank you, I might try that. I also take levo when I wake up. Shall I take them an hour apart?

[TiggerMe Ambassador in reply to Sofie007]

I take them together without issue, I think most of us do?

[dealsgap]

Adrenals play a big part/role in working with the thyroid. Cortisol/iron are some of the big players in T4/T3 conversion. Have you had a 24 hour saliva test to see how your adrenals are? Having a lot of stress can burn up adrenals (among other things). Running continually on adrenaline instead of cortisol can bring up symptoms of an adrenal problems. I was actually hypoadrenia and hypothyroid both.

[Sofie007 in reply to dealsgap]

Hi Dealsgap, were you able to "fix" both ? I just ended a very stressful relationship and I am sure it hurt my adrenals. I live in Belgium, i should look online for a 24 saliva test.

[dealsgap]

I was abused for 18 years which burned out my adrenal glands. Yes, I healed my adrenals using ACE (Adrenal cortex extracts) and also building my hormone levels back up. It takes time but it can be done. I don't think you can "fix" hypothyroidism..but healing the adrenals definitely took away many symptoms and allowed for me to lower my dosage of Rx (NDT/Armour).

[Sofie007 in reply to dealsgap]

I’m sorry you had to experience this. Can I ask what you mean by building your hormone levels back up?

[dealsgap]

As in vitamin D/CoQ10/vitamin A/Copper/Zinc/Vitamin E (this one is tricky)/DHEA/Testosterone/Potassium (have to watch sodium also) and a few others I check periodically. I've been tracking these and a few others for over a decade now. I have blood labs done every 12 weeks like clockwork and supplement accordingly. Long story here..