T3 and increased anxiety

[PillJunkie]

My current readings are: T3 4.3 & T4 10.8

My endo increased my T3 drug from 30mcg to 40mcg last week.

I have chronic anxiety, the cause of which, I think, is environmental issues. Then a strange thing happened last night:

I had a dream where I was buying something, but the seller suddenly doubled the price. I felt severe anxiety in my dream. I was aware I was dreaming, but chose not to wake! When I did wake, the anxiety was still there and is still present, but is greatly reduced, as I write this. I just have a knot in my stomach.

Clearly, the anxiety attack was not caused by environmental issues. My endo warned me thatanxiety could be a side effect of the drug.

Has anybody else experienced increased anxiety from the T3 drug, but with a relatively low T3 reading?

Thank you.

[Buddy195 Administrator]

Please add ranges in brackets after your results, as these can vary between laboratories. Was TSH also tested?

I need to make adjustments in thyroid medication super slowly, as this causes my anxiety to spike. When adjusting Levothyroxine, I only increase by 12.5mcg until well tolerated and with Liothyronine, 2.5mcg.

Remember to retest levels 6-8 weeks after any increase.

[PillJunkie in reply to Buddy195]

Thanks Buddy195. TSH was 0.01 (0.27 - 4.2). FT3 range (3.1 - 6.8). FT4 range (12 - 22).

Yes, my endo does increase my dose by quite a large amount each time. So, if that's the cause of my anxiety spike it should ease off over time. We retest every six weeks. I am hoping that at their present levels of 20mcg T3 and 200mcg Levo, we should hit optimum levels very soon.

Thank you for your guidance.

[tattybogle]

your dose changes seem a bit extreme pilljunkie.

large dose changes can make us feel awful.... and trigger anxiety

repeated changes before the body has had time to acclimatise to each change is likely to create chaos in the body (and presumably in the brain too) .

doing both together (making large changes repeatedly) is rather asking for trouble.

your post 28 days ago said this:

" ....I suddenly went from 100mcg Levo and 20mcg T3 to 150 and 30 ,respectively, at the same time, 10 days ago".

you increased T3 from 30mcg to 40mcg last week

the reply above says "20mcg T2 and 200mcg Levo " ?

has levo been increased to 200mcg ?

is 20mcg a typo ? top of this post says your taking 40mcg

i would say your endo/ doctor is making changes far too fast, and far too large.

[PillJunkie in reply to tattybogle]

Thank you, tattybogle, for your helpful reply.

Yes, I'm now on 200mcg of Levo and 40mcg of T3. You're not the first to tell me that I'm increasing too much, too fast. The thing is that my endo came very highly recommended by people who contribute to a similar WhatsApp group to this.

I've taken the view that I will have to suffer some discomfort in the short term. Your phrase "chaos in the body....in the brain too" is a good description. However, it is not vastly different (apart from the occasional anxiety spike) to what I've been living with for years before I started thyroid medication.

I would be interested to know whether anybody out there has had similar drug regimes to me and has come through the other side unscathed?

[Hidden]

I agree with above comments. I wrote a post recently on this subject - and my slavishly following the idea that ‘more is better’ when it comes to T3.

You speak of your relatively low levels. I think it’s important to remember though that the journey is as important as the destination - and it’s better to arrive safely at your optimal FT3 level by small dose increases and regular testing.

Edit:

I see your FT3 was 4.3 but I wonder how long you left between taking the last T3 and testing. Another mistake I made (I made many!) when I introduced T3 was to leave 24 hours as I always had done with Levo. This gave me a false ‘low’ and led to my making a real mess of things by adding more T3 when I didn’t really need to.

[PillJunkie]

Thank you, Rainbow-Lover; you make valid points.

I think I covered your first two paragraphs in my response to tattybogle. However, I'm interested to read that you may have experienced what I am experiencing now. Did you come through the effects of taking too much, too frequently relatively unscathed? Or was there permanent damage?

I also leave it a long time between my last T3 and Levo and the blood test - usually about 14 hours. I read that taking thyroid drugs within a few hours of testing ("Stop the Thyroid Madness", I think) would produce a false high result. Strangely enough, I haven't asked my endo this question - I will do.

Thanks, again, for your thought-provoking reply.

[Hidden in reply to PillJunkie]

You’re welcome 😉

Yes. I am now stable on my thyroid meds. No permanent effects from my over zealous dosing. It did take a while to find my ‘sweet spot’ but by using dose increases and regular testing I did get there.

[PillJunkie in reply to Hidden]

Thank you very much; that's very helpful.

[PillJunkie in reply to Hidden]

Sorry, one more question: what symptoms did your thyroid drugs cure/ ease? I'm hoping they will improve my energy and strength, anxiety, depression and weight gain. Thank you.

[Hidden in reply to PillJunkie]

That’s a long agenda 🙃

I suppose it depends on what and where your baseline levels are in those aspects of your health. If low energy and strength, anxiety and weight gain are the result of low FT3 levels, then one would hope that they will improve.

In my case, pain (mostly leg pain) and fatigue were improved as soon as FT3 was optimal

As I’m sure you know though, unexplained weight gain can be corrected if FT3 is low but it’s not a magic bullet if diet and lifestyle aren’t what they should be. Similarly, other approaches may be necessary for anxiety or depression if they’re not caused by low thyroid.

Hope that helps 😉

[PillJunkie in reply to Hidden]

Thank you, Rainbow-Lover.

[Hidden in reply to PillJunkie]

😘

[PillJunkie in reply to Hidden]

Thank you for your openness, Rainbow-Lover. I'm pleased to hear that your condition improved after reaching optimum.

I don't know what my FT3 and FT4 levels were when I first started the symptoms I listed, but having tried every antidepressant and anti-anxiety drugs in existence, I suppose I am hoping for a Silver Bullett (I'm hoping for the best but anticipating the worst).

As for the weight gain, I've always been slim but have grown an unsightly paunch over the last year and the only change to my diet and lifestyle has been cutting out alcohol. So my hopes are a bit higher in this case.