New results on a split dose, advice please

[Incoguto]

Hey everyone,

Still on my journey to get better.

I've been splitting Armour and t3 doses for the past 10 weeks.

I take 1.75 Armour + 10 t3 at 8 am

0.75 Armour + 5 t3 at 2 pm

I used to take 2.5 Armour + 5 t3 am and then just 2.5 t3 pm.

I'm still looking for a dose that will make me functional as I need to get back to work.

My results on a split are:

Ft4 20%

Ft3 70%

Since splitting the last few weeks I've been more bloated and tired, my pulse has dipped to 60 or 70, which makes me feel fatigued. My hands are swelling, I have now a post nasal drip, I feel demotivated and I wake up too early every in the morning. I just feel tired of this. My neck is swelling and feeling stiff, everyone notices it now.

I am also waiting on MRI results of my pituitary gland.

I honestly don't know what to do, is there a dose I'll be well on. It is so hard.

[Jazzw]

Didn’t want to read and run as this post appears to have been missed and hopefully by replying I’ll get it a few more views by others. x

Just had a scan through recent posts of yours. I’m so sorry, you’re having such a rough time.

You say all your vitamin and mineral levels are optimal, so that’s not it, and it’s not menopause because all the testing for that has come back normal.

So this must be horribly frustrating. I do wonder though whether it’s the balance of T3 to T4 that’s the issue. That’s actually quite a high dosage of T3 in total? My adding up might be letting me down at this time of the evening but that’s getting on for 40mcg T3 daily, isn’t it? With just under 100mcg T4?

I know that some people need their FT4 levels to be higher in range to get that feeling of wellness. Have you experimented with more T4?

Hopefully others will weigh in—and if not, please post again tomorrow when hopefully a few more people will see your post. x

[Incoguto in reply to Jazzw]

Thank you Jazzw I needed that 💗 the struggle is real!

Yes, the only thing outstanding is my pituitary MRI result, as my cortisol fluctuates between high and normal.

I also think like you, it's the balance. At this point I either need more t4 or transition to t3 only.

You are right, my t3 altogether is 40 mcg between NDT and thybon, while my t4 is 95 mcg.

I actually got new results in today:

Ft4 1.01 40%

Ft3 3.77 95%

This is 18 hours after the 2nd dose. In fairness I took 2.5 mcg t3 more that afternoon at 2 pm because I was desperate, but that feels still real high.

My cortisol dropped from over range at 20 (3-19) to over midrange 13 (3-19), which I think makes sense, since my tfts went up.

[Jazzw in reply to Incoguto]

Yes, tricky to know how much difference taking that additional 2.5mcg T3 made to your FT3 results. On the face of it, that’s looking like too much T3.

If you do decide to raise your T4 intake you’ll need to drop your T3 dosage, as some of the additional levothyroxine will convert into T3 and send you over-range.

My gut feel is that adding more T3 isn’t going to help you. That’s a hefty amount of thyroid replacement to be taking overall—if you consider that 40mcg T3 is equivalent(ish) to somewhere between 120 and 160mcg levothyroxine, that’s stacking up to an equivalent(ish) levo dose of over 215mcg.

[Incoguto in reply to Jazzw]

Yeah I'm not really sure what to do as I used to add Levo to Armour before and it never helped unfortunately. But now I'm splitting the dose before it was all at once. I think the only two ways are: more t4 or going t3 only (never tried that). I definitely feel improvements on adding t3, but it is never enough.

Are you on NDT Jazzw?

[Jazzw in reply to Incoguto]

I am. I take Armour. And recently reduced my dosage from 3 grains to 2.5 grains, as it seems that as you get older you need less. My FT4 on Nature Throid (which suited me so well but alas no longer available) was always quite low in range but it didn’t seem to matter. Armour has my FT4 much higher and I’m not sure I understand why as there’s the same amount of T4 in Armour as there was in Nature Throid. I had a scary time a few weeks ago with a racing heartbeat and while I don’t think it was completely related I took the decision to drop my dosage. I wasn’t over-range but both FT3 and FT4 were quite high.

It’s so hard to get this stuff right.

[Incoguto in reply to Jazzw]

Thank you Jazzw 🤗 do you split your dose?I loved Naturethroid until it was reformulated. But my ft4 was high on it.

How are you feeling after dropping the dose?

I honestly don't know what to do anymore, going for a test tomorrow again.

[Jazzw in reply to Incoguto]

I felt alright(ish) for a week or three (once the racing heart thing started to sort itself out—definitely stress related by the way) but this last couple of weeks I’ve started to feel decidedly not right. It could be that I’ve picked up yet another bug but I’m thinking my FT3’s dropped a fair bit and maybe that’s the issue.

I have a private test being delivered today so will see what it tells me.

[Incoguto in reply to Jazzw]

Maybe half grain was too much of a drop. Maybe you needed max a quarter or even 1/8. What were your ft3 ft4 before the drop? %?

[Jazzw in reply to Incoguto]

You could be right. My FT4 was at the top of the range but my FT3 only mid range. It will be interesting to see what new blood tests say. Here’s a bit more about what happened at the time if you’re up for reading a novel 😂 healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

And yes, I know—half a grain was a big drop but my GP was so adamant my troubles were due to a suppressed TSH (even though I knew he was wrong) and I was so freaked out by how I was feeling and not being able to climb a flight of stairs without my heart rate going bananas (which sent me into a panic and meant it lasted hours), I thought, “Well, ok.” And I also had advice here that my FT4 was possibly too high for me.

I don’t seem to have 2 days that feel the same. Yesterday I felt really rough, today I’ve felt rather better (though not 100%). I can’t work out what’s what, to be honest.

The only constant is that work stress leaves me feeling lousy 😔

[Jazzw in reply to Incoguto]

Oh and yes—I do split my dose. 1.5 grains in the morning, 1 grain in the evening.