good morning all, further to my post last week, I commenced T3 2.5. at the start of this week following 5 days reducing my levo from 100 to 87.5( as my T4 was at the very top of the range). I am taking the T3 together with my levo first thing in the morning. My question is how should I feel? I felt ok at the weekend but now feel unwell, anxious heart racing stomach churning and trying to establish if this is something I’ve got to accept as part of getting used to T3 until I get to a dose my body needs?
I’ve started so slow as I seem to react to any changes in meds and I’ve read so much about slow and steady on this site.
Any advice would be so appreciated as I’ve had such a terrible night, and I don’t want to give up this soon worrying I don’t get on with T3 but I’m struggling already🥹
thank you
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Bentley-boo
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The T3 is Morningside 10 which I’m cutting into 4 with a pill cutter. I just feel terrible (my years of Graves’ disease haunting me I think with these symptoms I hate feeling like this again!). Should I wait a full week if I can tolerate feeling like this and then try and introduce 2.5 in the afternoon ?
I’m so grateful for this site and the amazing wisdom of people, my private endo hasn’t a clue, if I had followed his instruction of drop to 75 levo and add 10 T3 all at once I cannot imagine how I would be right now.
The decrease in medication might be too drastic for your system, so yes adding another 2.5mcg Lio in the afternoon may help. It’s important to restart levels 6-8 weeks after being on a consistent dose. I prefer to wait the full 8 weeks. Adjusting medication can be a bumpy path; keep posting to let us know how you are getting on 🦋
Thank you again buddy195. think I’m panicking which obviously isn’t helping symptoms, and I reacted so badly when my endo reduced my levo a year or so ago. I guess it’s such a shock to my system. I am so grateful for this site 🤗
When I started T3 my T4 was at the top of the range too, but my Endo advised to keep thyroxine the same as reducing and adding would be too much, and I started slow on the T3 in split doses and it automatically reduced my T4 , it was a slow process but I’m now stable and take it once a day with my thyroxine , T3 is a lot more powerful so very slowly is my advice.
Hi SimplyRed57, thank you for responding. It is so encouraging to hear you are now stable, can I ask how long it took you to feel as you do now?. I did wonder if the levo reduction was causing symptoms but I was told I had to drop to start T3 as at the top of range. I think your endo is def more clued up than mine. Now I’m wondering should I just drop to 87.5 levo a few days a week and stick with the 2.5T3 and see how I am before adding any further T3?
I would suggest only making one change at once; so maybe add another 2.5mcg Liothyronine in the afternoon and keep Levo as it is (as yourFT4 was high in the range).
I always only felt as well as I could when FT4 was high in range that’s why I wondered if I’ve dropped too much expecting the 2.5 T3 to make the difference - I think I have so much to learn from you all. Thank you
It’s taken me a couple of years altogether but I’m very sensitive to changes and lucky my Endo did bloods regularly, I would email or phone his secretary if I felt I wasn’t quite right and she would speak to him for me and send me a blood form, I was usually right and my levels were off. I know everyone is different but if myT4 is too low I definitely feel it, I’ve only recently dropped my thyroxine from 100mcg a day to 2 days a week to 75mcg and it’s made a massive difference in my T4 level so only 50mcg a week . I only felt well before T3 if my T4 was top or over range.
That sounds like me, the slightest change and body reacts, most I’ve ever been able to drop of levo is 12.5 once a week without getting symptoms, I’m now a week of 87.5 daily and I feel it everywhere, definitely too much reduction for me and I guess too much to ask of my body to accept T3 introduction on top.
Good morning, thank you for thinking of me. I felt like I was in shock yesterday all day but I feel calmer today. Going to up my levo a bit alternate days over the week as I think the reduction is just too much for me personally and see how that goes with the 2.5 T3. Not sure what I would have done yesterday without the support of this site and knowing others understand and can help, thank you 🤗
Good morning thats so good to hear . I remember I was all over the place when I first started taking T3 , I re read some of my old posts yesterday and realised without the support of the forum I don’t know where I would be they kept me right 🙌
I started on 6.25mcg as I had some Unipharma and increased up to 18.75 before coming back down as it was just too much for me, Im now on Thybon and have settled on 10mcg so sometimes a little is just enough, stayed on 100mcg thyroxine until very recently and my levels on T3&T4 are good so hang on there 😊
Gosh, you started on much higher dose than me, perhaps I’m starting too small but I just want my body to tolerate it so I figured baby steps would be best rather than listen to my endo who has a sledgehammer approach. Day at a time I think at the moment, still feel out of sorts and on edge, trying to carry on as normal with kids and work but it’s not easy is it😰. I think I’m going to be relying on you all on the forum for quite a while yet, the advice is priceless! Thanks again for thinking of me 😊
Same as you Bentley, I was put on 50mg T4 3 mths ago n it helped a bit but my T3 went down a bit so doc introduced 5mcg T3 few days ago and I feel anx, heart increased, headache etc, I’m just worried it will get worse as iv had a really rough ride this 3 years before getting treatment. I too have reduced to 2.5 as Slow suggested. I really pray we see some good results soon x
Levothyroxine did not help me at all. In fact it gave me severe palpitations during the night and I never felt any improvement.
The local hospital's Cardiologist was also linked to me overnight but still couldn't find any reason why this was happening.
When I read Dr John Lowe's advice, which I follow and it resolved all symptoms. I have felt well since and some years have now elapsed..
It was T3 (liothyronine) alone.
He was a Scientist and when a teenager he began to search for the reason someone would take their own lives as his father and his father's brothers took their own lives and he knew how this affected family/friends,
Dr Lowe also had an accident that caused a bleed in his brain and it caused his demise.
Hello, thank you so much for your message, it’s so encouraging to hear the difference T3 has made for you, and it really helps knowing positive times hopefully are to come✌️. It’s such a long road dealing with thyroid disease isn’t it, plagued me from my teens when Graves first took ahold. I have to say having this forum and the knowledge it presents means so much, just wish such knowledge and support had been available thirty years ago!
I am up and down, some days worse than others symptoms wise, but I am taking a day at a time, not always easy coping with normal family life but I’m doing my best☺️.
Hello Bentley-boo, like Shaws, I was on levothyroxine only for two years but it made me really ill. I am now on liothyronine only, and have actually started to improve, although 4 months between endocrinology appointments is dire. Also, struggling to get NHS endo to understand how the thyroid works, and the relevant blood tests etc etc. So frustrating. So, poor health and hypo symptoms continue. I am currently having difficulty trying to explain to endo that TSH only testing is not useful when on T3 only. I know I need an increase, but she says she cannot increase it because my TSH is 2, which is normal!!!!! Goodness help us.
I definitely did not experience the awful downturn in my hypo symptoms that I experienced when on levothyroxine. And, any increase in dosage, which was small, took many months to show any obvious improvement. Although, even when I accidentally took a double dose, it didn't make me feel bad, which I was anticipating , I actually felt better
Good luck with it, perseverance is key.
A lot on this forum have had to do a lot of jiggling to find their best place.
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