Trial of T3

[Seabird4]

Following on from my previous posts much to my surprise I met with the Endo today who had analysed all my previous results and has offered me a trial of T3 combi action therapy with close monitoring. He has proposed I reduce my levo from 150 to 75 & add 2 x 5 T3 . Having read posts on here I asked if it was possible to have a slower change e.g. 100 levo & 2 x 2.5 T3. He is applying for the prescription so we shall see. He is also checking vitamins etc too as well as T4& T3 & TSH

Previous results as attached levo dose 150mcg

I am a wee bit anxious of this change any thoughts? 🌞

[arTistapple]

”close monitoring”? What does this mean? Do you know what it entails? In my mind it sounds great (no doubt there will be some hiccup). It sounds like proper treatment. Wow!

None of us can help being a bit anxious about new regimes, no matter how much we want to get better.

With Forum advice you can tweak this more to your own liking. Take your time and get the best out of it.

[TiggerMe Ambassador in reply to arTistapple]

Sounds totally OTT to me! 🤷‍♀️

Halving T4 and adding that much T3 to those results! 🤯

Way too heavy handed, can you imagine what that would do to you?

[arTistapple in reply to TiggerMe]

Sorry sarcasm was the wrong thing to put forward under any circumstances. I was obviously not thinking too clearly. I have only just realised re-reading it, how ridiculous that reply sounded and how I it might have been received. In fact your reply has highlighted for me how bad I was yesterday.

Crikey I apologise to all who have read this. Of course it was misunderstood.

Yes I can more than imagine what following that endo advice would do. That is probably what my endo encounter was aiming for with me before he changed his mind about treating me. I dropped my Levo by 25% (the lesser amount according to his suggestion of 25 to 50%) in preparation for the T3 prescription he discussed before he refused to treat me. It’s been very tough for now four months. I am back to my 100mcg Levo for five weeks after taking weeks to get back to it from Hell. Still far from even how I was before dropping the Levo and I was not good then!

What I meant was, feebly, that Seabird4 should take the prescription offered but do it according to the advice of the Forum!

Normally I try to be very careful what I say.

Apologies in particular to Seabird4 in particular for my crass answer and hope TiggerMe was able to fix it for you in my absence. OMG.

[TiggerMe Ambassador in reply to arTistapple]

Easily done arT 🙃 your experience is a shining example of how quickly these Endo's can make us very ill and leave us to climb very slowly out of the wreckage.

Hopefully you are about to turn a corner ready for the next battle 🤗

[Seabird4 in reply to arTistapple]

I didn't take any offence at all glad you took the time to reply thank you

[Seabird4 in reply to arTistapple]

I didn't take any offence at all glad you took the time to reply thank you. Hope you improve soon

[arTistapple in reply to Seabird4]

Thankfully you have not taken it ‘ill’. I hope you improve soon too.

[Seabird4 in reply to arTistapple]

Thanks for your reply. I'm to have an email I can contact for advice bloods taken via the hub not GP and reviewed via phone or appointment as far as I understand

[TiggerMe Ambassador]

Certainly wouldn't recommend reducing your T4 by more than 25mcg every 8 weeks ever... but your fT4 is only at 78% so why reduce at all??

Also your fT3 at 53% really isn't that low so just adding 2.5mcg T3 to your current T4 would seem far more sensible to start with and might even need you to add a little more T4 as this will likely drop with the addition on T3

You have previously said that you felt good on 175mcg so I'm puzzled, was your fT4 above range?

[Seabird4 in reply to TiggerMe]

Thanks TigerMe I was puzzled too I've attached my results. I did suggest I just add back in 25mcg T4 every second day and see if that balanced it but he said that wouldn't help? I did raise my concerns re the speed of the change as I don't want to make myself ill. I could take things into my own hands and add just a little T3 as you've suggested. The Endo said his calculation was based on how much T3 I was being prescribed and that T4 had to be reduced as I'd go overmedicated. He did accept my concerns and maybe look at just 2.5 T3 daily but my T4 would still reduced to a 100mcg daily so still a huge drop by a third. I'm unsure what to do now

Colour photo results

[TiggerMe Ambassador in reply to Seabird4]

Wow, so your last 3 results are a bit all over the place aren't they??

Feb 23 results looked pretty good and you say you felt well on 175mcg, why the reduction?

May 23 having been reduced to 150mcg you were above range... any chance you had taken your levo before this test?

Then the most recent fT4 77% fT3 54%

So we need to work with the recent results and I'd suggest you stay on 150mcg and add 2.5mg T3 and see how you feel, if you reduce your T4 at the same time then you won't know what's going on as you might feel good for a couple of weeks and then as your fT4 drops you can start to feel tragic and then it all becomes a bit of a panic...

so 150mcg T4 + 2.5mcg T3 for at least a week to see how you feel and then we can revisit, it might be the perfect dose 🤞it's the first couple of weeks you really see how your body is going to react to T3 and then we tweak 🤗

Check out Jamima 's latest post... healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

[Seabird4 in reply to TiggerMe]

Thanks for coming back so quickly. I always follow the protocol for blood tests so they are consistent. My bloods were taken at Endo appointment & I did say it was late in the day & would be difficult to compare them to my others. I am getting Vid D tested etc. too an MOT blood test as ge described it. To be honest your proposal is what I had hoped the Endo would suggest but he told me to read my copy of his information that he was sending to GP & that's when I told him I thought that was too fast a change. I have some spare T4 in case they immediately reduce my prescription so could try this routine first. It's a bit scary but at least I'll know how I react to T3 as I've never had it before.

I don't know why my blood results went over when my T4 had been reduced

[TiggerMe Ambassador in reply to Seabird4]

Sorry I missed this bit.. "My bloods were taken at Endo appointment & I did say it was late in the day & would be difficult to compare them to my others." Is this regarding the latest results? So it would have been more than 24 hours after last dose?

I struggle with this statement "The Endo said his calculation was based on how much T3 I was being prescribed and that T4 had to be reduced as I'd go overmedicated."

I don't think I've heard of anyone that has taken T3 and it has increased their fT4 levels? Taking too much T3 will certainly risk over-replacement so why prescribe such a large dose to start with??

[Seabird4 in reply to TiggerMe]

Sorry for the confusion I only had the bloods taken yesterday so no results as yet. This is the document I got

Report

[TiggerMe Ambassador in reply to Seabird4]

So he is prescribing based on old results (the original picture of calculator) and has taken more bloods yesterday? 😵‍💫

The thing is if you take 50mcg of T4 and don't convert very well it's unlikely to create that much fT3... that but if you take 10mcg of T3 you get the whole whammy but is doesn't mean you suddenly don't need the back up of the T4... Does this mean if they upped your dose of T3 to 20mcg they would reduce T4 by 100mcg?? It's nonsensical

The fact you need T3 is because they realise you are a poor converter 😕

Sorry, I don't know if that is very clear I'm really struggling to get my head around your Endo

I shall put a shout out for a second opinion

This bit.... I can't really get my head around?

[Seabird4 in reply to TiggerMe]

Yes that is old results I only got my bloods taken yesterday so he's not prescribing on these results as far as I am aware? I understand what you mean. I got a bit of a shock when he proposed to reduce by that amount. I can just go back and say I'm not proceeding and request the increase of Levo instead. I'm really concerned this is going to make me worse not improve my balance.

[TiggerMe Ambassador in reply to Seabird4]

I'm at a loss how he prescribes before seeing your latest results... can you get a prescription filled now so you have plenty of T4 and then let him prescribe you some T3 which you can experiment with and then when you next see this buffoon you can tell him what works for you! 😏

[Seabird4 in reply to TiggerMe]

I was just thinking today about to get a prescription before anything changes 🤣

[TiggerMe Ambassador in reply to Seabird4]

Yes, do it, always worth having a little in stock it gives you wiggle room 😏

[Seabird4 in reply to TiggerMe]

Prescription in first thing when the chemist opened 🌞

[SovietSong]

Best to alter one thing at a time or you will end up going round in circles.My levo dose needed very little reduction at all(125mcg daily down to 125 x 6 days and one day x 100mcg)Also you may find you need very little T3 added.Just 6.25mcg daily raised my level from 54 up to 80+.

[Seabird4 in reply to SovietSong]

That's what I thought too. I did say that we should only change one thing at a time as we wouldn't know what was affecting what?

[SovietSong]

Agree with Tigger about keeping the levo as is initially and adding a little T3.Reducing levo dose by 50% in one go whilst adding T3 sounds bonkers.If you reduce by that much and miss your sweet spot it will take a long time to work your way back up again.

[Sleepman]

Is there more than one T3 blood result. Your bloods above hardly shows a strong need for T3.

[TiggerMe Ambassador in reply to Sleepman]

I agree, looks like a classic case of clueless Endo dishing out pills and terrible advice 😖

[Seabird4 in reply to Sleepman]

Thanks Sleepman I've attached the recent ones

[Seabird4]

Sorry my head must be minced just found this NHS test from Nov 23 does this one change thoughts?

I also noticed on my antibody test in August 2024 shows in the very corner that my T4 & TSH was tested too which I wasn't aware of this shows T4 16.6 & TSH 0.07 no reference ranges given. My results seem all over the place? Same time taken early morning no levo as per protocol.

Blood test