Please can I have some advice. I’ve been taking 10 mcg T3 for 7 months together with 75 mcg T4.
I haven’t felt particularly any better on T3 except for an improvement in tiredness and mood. I’ve felt hyped up and breathless on exertion so I asked for an ECG. I’m 68 and they found that I have a sinus arrhythmia which has never been spotted before but GP doesn’t seem concerned.
As my mum suffered with Hashimotos and took NDT (overmedicated) and she had undiagnosed arrythmia she passed away aged 72 caused by undiagnosed arrythmia/sudden cardiac death.
I’m so scared as I’m now 68 and as soon as I heard arrythmia I stopped taking T3 and increased T4 to 100 mcg (my previous dose). I really don’t know which way to turn now as I thought T3 would help me. I was never breathless on T4 alone.
Any help would be appreciated as usual
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Essexlil
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So increasing your T4 was needed but I'd keep the T3 at the same level and see how that goes... low fT4 makes you feel awful and it sounds like you were benefitting from the T3.... I'd retest after 8 weeks 100 T4 & 10 T3
Your folate is on the low side, do you take a B complex?
Ferritin could be falsely high due to infection, have you ever had a full iron panel?
Hi, oh so u think I’m under medicated. I was taking B complex but just B12 at the moment. I think ferritins high bcos I also have sjogrens. No never had full iron panel. Thank you for advice
Certainly your recent result show you to be under replaced, I'd aim for 60% fT4 and hopefully fT3 won't be too far behind and then you might just need a little tweak of one or the other
Ok thank you. This is all following my endo taking me off 100 mcg T4 for three months last April, May and June. I wonder if my poor body is still catching up! I proved that I need medication so he then put me on 50 mcg T4 and 10 mcg T3. I asked my GP to increase T4 to 75 mcg a couple of months ago and now I’ve increased myself to 100 mcg but stopped T3 today
Essexlil, it beggars belief that an Endo thought it was OK to take you off meds for 3 months. I would say that was very negligent, no wonder you are not feeling well. Does the Endo focus on TSH result? Do make sure your vitamin levels are optimal as per discussions by others on here. Hope things improve for you.
The ‘fad’ of taking patients off their medication is just plain mad. Some endos are doing this but they are supposed to get the patient’s agreement, only after they are fully informed. However what endo would understand ‘fully informed’? Bunch of quacks. But off course we don’t want to disagree with our so-called ‘helper’ so we do it. It’s downright criminal what they are doing - all this c..p for ‘our benefit’. What rubbish!
A long and detailed read from a website that is well respected here and by the late diogenes It discusses T3 and its role in many aspects relating to heart function.
Hi, this is very interesting, I’ve stopped taking my T3 as since taking it I’m becoming more and more breathless, but this report leads me to believe that I’m doing more harm than good but I’m scared to experiment as I’m 68 and have read that T3 should be used cautiously in elderly patients.
Your T3 dose is not high. I am 77 and take 50mcg T3 only and have done for many years. Important for B12 - Folate - Ferritin - VitD to be OPTIMAL for you to feel well.
Recommend you get FULL thyroid and vitamin testing 8 weeks after increasing Levo to 100mcg daily
Which brand of levothyroxine are you taking
You need vitamin D and B12 tested
Plus full iron panel test to see if iron is low or high
Is your hypothyroidism autoimmune
Recommended that all thyroid blood tests early morning, ideally just before 9am, only drink water between waking and test and last dose levothyroxine 24 hours before test
This gives highest TSH, lowest FT4 and most consistent results. (Patient to patient tip)
T3 ….day before test split T3 as 2 or 3 smaller doses spread through the day, with last dose approximately 8-12 hours before test
Is this how you did your most recent test?
Private tests are available as NHS currently rarely tests Ft3 or all relevant vitamins
Testing options and includes money off codes for private testing
Hi, I take Mercury Pharma levo. My last bloods were 4th Jan and it had 8.30am draw and hadn’t taken T4 or T3 since 7am the day before so over 24 hours, nothing to eat or drink. I’ve been taking 10 mcg T3 with 75 mcg T4 together. So far I haven’t halved my T3 dose as I’m self funding and have capsules as the pharmacy have told me that tablets are much more expensive. With my breathlessness and sinus arrythmia I’ve rightly or wrongly blamed T3 not suiting me and reverted to my old dose (pre T3) of 100 mcg T4.
I’m taking 3000 mcg sublingual B12 most days (stop for a while when urines bright yellow)
375 mg pure elemental magnesium daily
3000 sublingual D3 + MK7 K2 daily
2000 mg omega 3 fish oil
My serum B12 on 4th Jan was 316 pg/mL (197-771) only taking once a week then
Serum D3 was 78.9 nmol/L <25 nmol/L deficient
Serum ferritin 252 ng/mL (13-150 ng/mL) I also have Sjögren’s
Serum folate 8.0 ug/L <3 suggestive of deficiency
I don’t really know where to turn now and need advice please
IMPORTANT......If you are taking vitamin B complex, or any supplements containing biotin, remember to stop these 7 days before ALL BLOOD TESTS , as biotin can falsely affect test results
In week before blood test, when you stop vitamin B complex, you might want to consider taking a separate folate supplement (eg Jarrow methyl folate 400mcg)
Post discussing how biotin can affect test results
Thank you for all of your advice - I’ve ordered Ingennus B complex. If I go back on T3 think I’ll get 20 mcg as suggested - I can’t keep paying these prices!
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