Hello. I'm finally narrowing down my thyroid medication dose! I need to decide if I want to do 50 mcg levothyroxine or 25 mcg levothyroxine and 5 mcg liothyronine. My dr is ok with whichever I want to try. I'm currently taking 50 mcg levo and 5 mcg lio and I'm over medicated- a little jittery. But other than that I feel good. Any advice? Pros cons to either?
I started on 10 mcg liothyrone monotherapy and then added 50 mcg Levo. From there went down hill with being over medicated. I probably have conversation issues but my rt3 is never high. And so now I'm having a hard time figuring out what I really need. All I know is Levo is a must- without it l'm a mess.
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Lowkeylowt3
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Well, what you do next rather depends on your latest blood test results. just looked at your last post, and no-where do you give any results so we have no idea why you think you were over-medicat. ed on such a small dose.
rT3 has nothing to do with anything. And if your rT3 were high on just 50 mcg levo, it would be for some other reason then your dose. There are many, many reason. it's also impossible to tell how well you convert when taking T3. you need to be on T4 mono-therapy to see how well you convert. But, no matter, because you're taking T3.
So, post some blood test results and ranges, and we should be able to give you some advice on your next step.
Sorry, but FT4/3 results are meaningless without the ranges because they vary from lab to lab. But your TSH results don't say over-medicated at any point.
These most recent results were after a period of time which my dr thinks I was being over medicated with 50 mcg Levo and 10 mcg Lio and caused me to spiral down. Please look at March 2023 labs to analyze.
Have you ever had your thyroid antibodies run and know the reason for your diagnosis of hypothyroidism. ?
You say you were taking 10 mcg T3 for years - this in itself will lower TSH and T4 readings.
You may have felt over medicated but I can't see any readings here suggesting this.
A T4 to T3 conversion issue can only be established when taking T4 only -
we all make some reverse T3 - it's the body's natural way of loosing excess T4 - and as you know - your reverse T3 is in the range :
Most people when diagnosed hypothyroidism start on T4 medication and generally feel best once the T4 is up in the top quadrant of its range and converting into T3 at around a 1/4 ratio T3/T4.
Looking back I see your doctor works to a 1/5 ratio T3/T4 :
and if symptoms till persist - this is when conversion of T4 into T3 might be the issue - and a small dose of T3 introduced.
No thyroid hormone replacement works well until your core strength vitamins and minerals - those of ferritin, folate, B12 and vitamin D are up and maintained at optimal levels :
Do you have any current reading / results of these vitamins and minerals ?
I am glad someone else persisted in attempting to sort out that blur of data. I am also glad someone else went for the explanation of undermedicated. Your explanation of your treatment (to me) says that your practitioner has not got a clue or maybe you are attempting this by yourself.
Feeling over medicated or under medicated is actually quite a difficult premise, even for many ‘experienced’ patients. This is why very clear info is required about test results. It’s vital for anyone else ‘looking in’.
So, as others have said, you are extremely under-medicated - as I suspected - and reducing your dose even further is going to make things much much worse. And your endo is a very dangerous man because he is 'treating' you without having a clue what he's doing and is likely to make you very, very ill.
Symptoms can be very confusing because under and over-medication can feel the same. Which is why we need the correct labs to back up symptoms. And if your endo can look at those results and say you're over-medicated then he really, really shouldn't be treating hypos. Drop him and find someone who at least has an inkling how this all works before it's too late.
Are you sure that you need T3? Many do very well with T4 sole. You might want to try to go with T4 only. Or if you feel you need some T3 try with 2.5mcg T3 with 50mcg T4 and see how that feels.Best wishes.
hi. I was reading your post. I just want to say the T3 could be to much. I take the t3 4 days a week, and I am on Levoxyl .75 mcg. I can’t take the regular thyroid meds, cause I never felt good for years until I was put a name brand Levoxyl. I feel great. You got to get the doses right or forget it. I had no thyroid since 2006, it’s been a journey. Good luck!
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