Help Please - Endo has increased my T3

[Katherine1234]

My latest blood test results - T4 17 (12-22) - T3 5.1 (3.01 - 6.8) TSH 0.01 (0.27 - 4.2).

I can never get an early morning test at this hospital, my blood test was 1pm. I had stupidly forgot and took my T4 75 mcg before bed. I did not take my T3 until after the blood test.

I still feel very unwell, low, low energy.

I use to do better with T4 up to 22/23 but I was over range at 24 when Endo decided to put me on T3. My T3 was measuring 3.06 at that time. He thought I was a poor converter. He started me on 10mcg T3 and dropped my 100 mcg T4 down to 50. I noticed a difference straight away and my hair stopped falling out. After about 3 weeks the difference went, all went south. I felt so ill, joint pains, hair very brittle and falling out. After discussions on here how he was a little brutal in cutting the T4 by half. I went up to 75mcg T4 and felt a little better.

Last visit he upped T3 to 20mcg and said to stay on the 75 mcg T4. He has always instructed me to take T3 in the morning. I take my T4 before bed.

He was reluctant to up my T4 saying that T4 will always be lower once you are on T3 because T3 is the main worker horse. He upped my T3 by another 10 mcg, and instructed me to take my 20 mcg's in the morning and 10 mcg's late afternoon.

I am thinking upping b y 10 mcg's straight away might be too much and should I start with 5 mcg's going up to 10 after a few weeks?

I am on all the companion vitamins and minerals.

Any help greatly appreciated Xx

[GlowCoach Administrator]

When did you take your last dose of T3 before the test? Recommended timing is 8-12hrs to show stable blood levels.

Really it would be best to get a private test run with correct dose timings before the test to know where you are.

Only increase T3 by 5mcgs at a time. It may be that you only need 5mcgs, you may need more Levo also.

30mcg T3 alongside levo is quite a high dose.

75mcgs Levo alongside T3 is quite a low dose.

When did you last test vitamins?

[Katherine1234 in reply to GlowCoach]

My T3 could possibly be off Jaydee as I took it at 2pm the day before and did not take it until after my 1pm blood test. Do you mean 30 mcg of T3 alongside 75 mcg of T4 is quite a low dose of T4?

I do not test vitamins apart from D3. D3 is nearly touching top of range a year ago. I came off it for the summer (what summer), will test and probably back on it in the winter. I am on B12 injections so do not test that. I can't get folate tested as my GP has them both together on her form and says she cannot separate them. Magnesium and potassium shows ok in blood tests (but they are not testing cellular level). Salt shows high in blood test. Ferritin and iron saturation was still high as of 6 months ago. I have been taken copper so I hope this helps it. I still have enlarged red blood cells, so must be hypoxic at cellular level. I have not found anywhere that tests all the vitamins and minerals.

Cortisol still low at 340. But Endo won't do anything about it.

Sorry Jaydee I have a p.s. I asked to increase T4 rather than T3 but Endo said no, and gave me the 10 mcg of T3.

[GlowCoach Administrator in reply to Katherine1234]

All of the major blood test companies will test ferrritin, folate, B12 & D3. These are the main vitamins to be concerned about.

About everyone need to supplement vit D in the summer as well as winter. British summers are terrible anyway.

I doubt you need much more T3 if any. Currently a false low of 54%, aiming for around 70%

Day before blood test split your dose so that around half or 1/3 taken 8-12hrs before the test. Delay last dose.

How often are you getting B12 injections? Some people need them every other day.

Do you mean 30 mcg of T3 alongside 75 mcg of T4 is quite a low dose of T4?

That looks like too much T3 and not enough Levo. You probably need more Levo not T3.

[Katherine1234 in reply to GlowCoach]

Endo was so reluctant to give me a raise in T4, I suspect due to my T4 being 26 before he put me on T3. I think there is a lot of new research out about high levels of T4. He had no concerns about upping the T3 normal 20 in the morning and 10 late afternoon. Would not budge on the T4.

My B12 injections are self inject every other day, sometimes I go twice a week. I keep my folate, potassium et al all up. I take selenium, l-tyrosine, copper, zinc, magnesium, cod liver oil, amino acids, minerals, vit C, B complex, desiccated liver capsules. I eat very low gluten and low carb, all organic and grass fed meats. I have only just got over a meat aversion after very strong anti biotics) so upping the protein might bring me some healing. I also had such low stomach acids and gallstone cholecystitis, I am healing that with HCL, malic acid, digestive enzymes, bile salts, probiotics.

[FallingInReverse]

I second everything Jaydee says and even suggest you might even increase T3 by 2.5 at a time for a few weeks.

Having access to that much t3 - a great problem to have!

But go low and slow or you’ll probably want to jump out of your skin!!

[Katherine1234 in reply to FallingInReverse]

I did think it was a huge jump of T3 going by information on here. I was unsure.

[Judithdalston]

An endo not frightened by TSH of 0.01…how refreshing!

[Katherine1234 in reply to Judithdalston]

No, not at all Judith, he even went into great depths about why it is suppressed and how you cannot take any notice of it once you are on T3. I off course listened very politely and did not tell him I already know that from everyone on here

[TiggerMe Ambassador]

Morning K1234,

I've now had a chance to look back at your history... 😕

Bit tricky as very light on actual test results and protocol not followed on the ones we have, but my feelings are...

Seems you are often tested around lunchtime so I don't know if that is also the case with your cortisol results? These should really be pre 9am but you do say low cortisol has always been an issue, sounds like you might have done a saliva test as some point but no results posted?

Working on this line of enquiry I don't think you are going to have a good outcome with T3 until you have resolved your low cortisol, after years of low thyroid hormones your adrenals are likely in desperate need of support and adding more T3 will just add to their burden... finding your best T3 dose timing often coincides with reasonable cortisol levels which for many is early morning or some need to split their dosing

You say you feel worse now than on levo when your fT3 was very low in range so I really don't think adding more T3 is a good route to take, if anything I'd be inclined to go back to the beginning and trialling a small dose of T3 maybe 5mcg along with your previously relatively happy dose of 100mcg T4 as I feel you have likely overshot your sweet spot with your gung-ho Endo dropping your T4 far to low when you first added T3 and your system has struggled to climb back from this... I've got that t-shirt too ☹️

This all started with a boron discussion which intrigued me and from what I can see boron is linked to Hyperthyroid treatment as a T3 suppressor but I've only just started looking into it as summer briefly returned yesterday... if my brain cells hold out, along with our power supply and the roof doesn't blow off I shall delve further today, we could probably benefit from a new post to see if others can contribute with their experiences

How long have you been taking boron?