T3 dose

[JoJoloveschocolate]

I increased my t3 to 12.5mcg yesterday after being on 10mcg for two weeks (split doses + 87.5mcg levo ). No ill effects up to now, but after my last dose (12md) I started to feel a bit dizzy and my pulse banging at the back of my head (pulse not racing). It has lasted all afternoon. I was going to take another dose of t3 at 6pm. Should I omit it tonight and then go back to 10mcg (5/2.5/2.5mcg) tomorrow?

[Jaydee1507 Administrator]

If it were me, I'd revert to where I felt OK.

Maybe give 10mcgs T3 (split) the full 6-8 weeks, the longer the better and restest on that. Some people need relatively little.

[JoJoloveschocolate in reply to Jaydee1507]

Thanks, Jaydee1507 . I’ll go back to the 10mcg and stick there. Would it be ok to miss this evenings dose off completely?

[Jaydee1507 Administrator in reply to JoJoloveschocolate]

Its only 2.5mcg so I cant see any harm in leaving tonights dose off.

I think most people get to 10mcgs then retest and assess from those results.

Hope you feel better soon.

[JoJoloveschocolate in reply to Jaydee1507]

Thanks Jaydee1507 . The gp said to gradually increase to 15mcg. But I’ll go back to the 10mcg. I’m not massively dizzy (and there maybe a bit of panic thrown in the mix too), but I’d rather play it a bit safe and drop back after just one day on the increased dose.

[JoJoloveschocolate in reply to Jaydee1507]

Jaydee1507 I just checked …..I took the 2.5mcg at lunch time so there is still a 5mcg tablet in my daily pill box! Would it be ok to leave the 5mcg tablet off? So far today I’ve had 5mcg in the morning and 2.5mcg at lunch time, 7.5mcg in total up to now.

[Jaydee1507 Administrator in reply to JoJoloveschocolate]

I'm sure that will be fine.

[JoJoloveschocolate in reply to Jaydee1507]

Thank you, Jaydee1507 . x

[TiggerMe Ambassador in reply to JoJoloveschocolate]

That's worked out rather well then as with the half life taken into account you're back at about 10mcg 😅

It could be that after 2 weeks of T3 your fT4 might have taken a plunge and I'm thinking you were only around 70% before adding the T3... like the others say, hold steady for 6 weeks on 10mcg T3 and 87.5mcg T4 and then see where you are

[JoJoloveschocolate in reply to TiggerMe]

Hehe! Hadn’t thought of it like that! 🤣

I’ve been on the t3 about 5 weeks, starting low at just 2.5 once a day, then twice a day, then x 3 and then to 10mcg. It was all going ok in terms of no ill effects, but after feeling ok for a few days it dropped off again so I thought I’d try the 12.5mcg. I’ll bail out back to the 10mcg from tomorrow, back to 5mcg am and 5 mcg pm, I think. I think you might be right about the t4! It will also work out ok if I stay on the 10mcg for six weeks total because I’ve got a blood test and appt in Dec which will be at the six-week mark. Thanks TM!

[TiggerMe Ambassador in reply to JoJoloveschocolate]

Perfect, try to just relax into it and don't over-analyse 🤗

You'll have ups and down but I hear 'normal' people do too 😅

[JoJoloveschocolate in reply to TiggerMe]

100% correct!! That is me all over! I’ve just been worrying about taking the t3 in the morning…switching my brain off now! I’m doing my own head in 🤣 Thank you so much for all your help and advice….and everyone on here who takes time to explain, comfort, talk me down off the ceiling 🤣🤣 xxx

[Rapunzel]

Hi there. I would go back to 10mcg, get tested again and take it from there. T3 is a powerful hormone and you could be overreaching your sweet spot.

[JoJoloveschocolate in reply to Rapunzel]

Yep. Agree. Thanks Rapunzel

[DippyDame]

Although it's acceptable to increase T3 after 2 weeks that can be too soon for some people

I'd be inclined to split 10mcg to 2 doses, so, 2 x 5mcg ....rather than increasing to 12.5mcg split in 3. That may be more effective and with less time watching!

T3 stays in the serum for about a day but when reaches the cells it stays there for about 3 days during which time it is gradually released in waves. It's not suddenly used up after a few hours!

While the T3 is in the serum it remains inactive and is only active once it reaches the nuclei of the cells and attaches to T3 receptors.

There is a theory that multiple dosing provides more level dosing. I need 100mcg T3 daily and take it all in a single dose at bedtime with no problems....so you can decide!!

I followed the protocol of the late T3 expert Dr John Lowe

I would tend to miss your 2.5mcg evenng dose if you feel it's been too much then revert to 10mcg tomorrow

Once the 10mcg dose has had time to settle and you still have symptoms then you might slowly increase the dose

What symptoms did you have that led to the decision to increase the T3.

It's early days, be patient!

Take care!

[JoJoloveschocolate in reply to DippyDame]

Thanks DippyDame . I was doing ok on the 10mcg which I was taking 5/2.5/2.5 at first, but then changed it to 5 in the morning and 5 in the late afternoon. I was doing ok with that too, but then started to feel a kind of fatigue crash before each dose was due and lasting a couple of hours after taking the dose too so I thought adding a dose at midday might stop that. I also had a heaviness in my thigh muscles again which is a hypo sign for me - feeling the weakness/stiffness when climbing stairs. I haven’t had today. Today I felt great - felt bright, and like I had a lot of energy, but then after i took the lunchtime dose (i took the 2.5 instead of the 5 by mistake) the dizziness started and a kind of pounding sensation at the back of my head. My pulse is 76.

I was due to take a 5mcg dose at 6pm. Should I miss that off tonight?

I’ll start back with the 10mcg again tomorrow.

[DippyDame in reply to JoJoloveschocolate]

The symptoms are possibly because you took 2.5 instead of 5mcg T3

RHR of 76 is OK

Yes start afresh tomorrow... with the correct doses!!!

[JoJoloveschocolate]

Morning all! I have survived the night. Took my 5mcg tablet when I woke at 5am and then went back to bed for a couple of hours. Touch wood - feel ok.

Had the strangest and most wonderful dream where I was stuck in a massive hotel, wandering round trying to find the reception to tell them I’d lost the key to my door, but kept getting lost down very long weird and winding corridors and ending up various odd places, meeting lots of people who kept giving me directions that I followed until I took a wrong turn and ended up back down by the pool or in the bar, constantly trying to find reception! Do you think it’s a metaphor🤣🤣🤣

[Dahliasanddaisies in reply to JoJoloveschocolate]

Haha well that does sound very metaphorical. I often dream about hotels too, it apparently means a change in direction in your life...hmm let's hope a change to good health! X

[JoJoloveschocolate in reply to Dahliasanddaisies]

Ohhh! I didn’t know that! A change in health would be mint! Xx

[Lovecake]

Hi. When I first started T3, (7yrs ago) I was told to reduce levo by 25mcg/day and add 15mcg T3. I reduced the levo, but only added 10mcg T3. I felt over medicated with 15mcg. Within a year I had to increase my Levo by 25mcg x 5 days a week. Eventually, back to my old dose of Levo. And then I added another 2.5mcg T3 about 3yrs ago.

It’s all trial and error initially. So go by how you feel and definitely not worth rushing it. Good luck, stay well 😊🧁

[JoJoloveschocolate in reply to Lovecake]

Thanks for sharing your experience and advice. Helpful to know how others get on. Originally, I planned to stay on 10mcg, but then the urge to fiddle with the dose got a grip of me 🤣 Lesson learnt there I reckon. I’ll stay on 10mcg now for six weeks until my next test. It’s a right old rollercoaster, sometimes I feel great, other times lousy, and sometimes it can flip back and forth throughout one day!

[Lovecake in reply to JoJoloveschocolate]

Totally know how you feel. It’s difficult to get all our ducks in a row. I’m sure that sometimes it’s not all to do with the thyroid why we feel so bad. But I recon we are more sensitive to issues in our bodies. I have a personal alarm when something is out of kilter with me - I get a migraine. Mostly can be controlled. I still get slumps of fatigue. My theory is that my body uses up all the available FT4 in my body and I have to wait for the levo to build up again and convert to T3. I’d like to try T3 only, but I’m too busy to go through a load of bad days if it doesn’t work out well. So that is maybe something I’ll try one day. I don’t really have a bucket list, but maybe I’d put that on there if I did 🪣 😂

[JoJoloveschocolate in reply to Lovecake]

I had a bad head yesterday with the dizzy feeling. I din’t feel dizzy today but I do feel absolutely knackered/hungover. Probably from tinkering around with the dose I guess.

Sometimes I feel so bad I do wonder if it is actually due to the CfS/ME I was diagnosed with in 2019. I only found out last year about the hashis when i tested myself after going slowly downhill from that CFS diagnosis in 2019. I thought I was dying. I wondered then if the CFS/ME had been undiagnosed hashis and hypothyroidism all along. Now I’m worried that it really is CFS/ME or the other classic GP mantra of “ must be something else going on.” That said, I’ve had some really good days that have given me glimpses of hope . But it just won’t hold steady. I keep telling myself it’s early days yet. Too early to throw the towel in just yet! 🤣

[Lovecake in reply to JoJoloveschocolate]

Yes, early days. It should improve.

I’ve often felt that CFS/ME could be twinned with thyroid issues. My friend’s mum had ME and under active thyroid. Unfortunately she was only treated basically with levo. I recon he would have done much better on one T3. Too late for her now as she passed away (in her 80s). But I do feel that many people go through a lot of needless suffering due to health professional’s ignorance/lack of understanding with all things thyroid 🤷‍♀️

Power to the thyroid people 😂💪🏼

[JoJoloveschocolate in reply to Lovecake]

That is so true. The arrogance of many health professionals astounds me! I often think to myself - oh here we go again…the ego has landed! Definitely power to the thyroid people. 🤣We all deserve a bloody medal…an award…for bravery in the face of so much bull💩! x

[Dahliasanddaisies in reply to JoJoloveschocolate]

I feel the same JoJo, I'm really scared that the thyroid meds won't make enough of a difference Trying to stay positive is so hard when ever little change takes so long. I keep telling myself, be patient, it'll work out okay but I feel like time is slipping away sometimes and it scares me

[JoJoloveschocolate in reply to Dahliasanddaisies]

Awww, I know, it’s exactly as you say. Whenever I talk someone who’s now feeling well they often talk about what hell it was to get there. I’m just trying to focus on mini triumphs and small pleasures. All we can do is keep rattling slowly along…up and down the steep hills on our cronky little tricycles. xxx

[Dahliasanddaisies in reply to JoJoloveschocolate]

And I just hope this terrible time will seem like a distant memory soon xx

[JoJoloveschocolate in reply to Dahliasanddaisies]

🫶🏻xx

[JoJoloveschocolate in reply to Dahliasanddaisies]

Good days are coming! xx

[Dahliasanddaisies in reply to JoJoloveschocolate]

Thanks lovely, I need to hear that ❤️

[JoJoloveschocolate in reply to Dahliasanddaisies]

Aww, I know, I totally get it. They are just around the corner 💖. 2025 will be our year. I’m tellin’ ya! We’ll be running the marathon …dressed up as thyroid glands…xx

[Dahliasanddaisies in reply to JoJoloveschocolate]

Haha I'm up for it if you are 😆 (might need a few more years to train lol) xx

[JoJoloveschocolate in reply to Dahliasanddaisies]

Lol. We can sneak electric scooters underneath our costumes! 🤣🤣🤣xxx

[SilverSavvy]

All good advice on here JoJo - and listen to your body. We are all different. I am still on very low dose 18 months down the line. 10mcg T3 daily is too much for me - I feel ghastly on more than 7.5mcg. Yet without it I am not well. Everyone has their sweet spot. Go easy finding yours.

[JoJoloveschocolate in reply to SilverSavvy]

Thanks SilverSavvy. I stick with the 10mcgfor a while and see how it settles. I feel a lot better this afternoon, lost that kind of hungover feeling so I think maybe the 12.5 was a tad too much right now. I think I was lulled into a false sense of security because i went from 2.5 daily, to 2.5 x 2 to 2.5 x3 then up to 10mcg without any issues or side effects.

[SilverSavvy in reply to JoJoloveschocolate]

Yes, it takes a while to figure it out. I'm still doing that I feel but T3 seems to have stronger effect than increases in T4 so I am always chary about adding more in without taking 6 weeks to check in with the outcome. Good luck finding the sweet spot for yourself.

[JoJoloveschocolate in reply to SilverSavvy]

Thank you so much. I’ll hold steady and wait the full six weeks now and see what the tests show. I think I was being a bit reckless fiddling and upping the dose as I did when I’d already been advised to go low, slow and hold. I did wonder if the t3 was actually working because there were no real effects up until I tried the 12.5mcg. Then the t3 whacked me round the head with a baseball bat! I think impatience to feel better made me throw caution to the wind. I guess we’re all trying to make up for lost time as quickly as possible. Just got to listen and trust the process more and respect the squiggly line of recovery. xx

[SilverSavvy]

Completely understandable. One of the things I (slowly!) realised is that T4/T3 are hormone replacements, not normal meds and all increases can throw significant curve balls. But it's still a learning curve to me even now three years in and as you say, most of us have waited a long time to get help to be well, so no surprise there's a sense of wanting to hurry....hope you feel much better very soon.

[JoJoloveschocolate in reply to SilverSavvy]

Thank you so much for your understanding. Only the people on this forum know how bad things get before treatment, and also that starting hormone treatment then brings its own curve balls, as you said. I’m glad you said that about hormones v normal meds. I forget that sometimes, but when you think of it that way it helps to think of everything needing time to balance out, settle and start to work in harmony in the system. My husband has been so understanding I just don’t know how he has stayed so calm and supportive. I can talk the hind legs off a donkey about thyroid issues (husband does glaze over sometimes 🤣!!). Maybe he’s just biding his time and is plotting to divorce me as soon as I feel better🤣🤣. I had a good day so far today. Went out for a wander round the garden centre, had a coffee in the cafe and then came home and managed to do a bit of tidying up in the garden. Even the back pain that has been crippling me of late does not feel as bad today! I managed to bend down and straighten up several times without it going into a massive spasm. One thing that does seem to be happening is that i have days when i feel really emotional about the wonder of the world. It feels like swinging between feeling ecstatic and feeling glum. Maybe that’s just an example of the hormone scales trying to balance. x

[SilverSavvy in reply to JoJoloveschocolate]

Maybe. Btw, I had a lot of joint pain before getting proper treatment. As I titrated up I found I was not experiencing nearly so much, even though I was getting older and it was a revelation that something I thought was age-related and progressive was down to hypothyroidism. Nowadays if it comes back I get a blood test to see if my numbers are out of balance. The high/low emotions are a trial and I had a lot of anxiety just before I was diagnosed which was out of character but which also went away once my body became more stable. I'm glad your husband is supportive. Someone on here said you need a 'degree in thyroidology' to figure it all out so I feel very sorry for partners who suffer the ups and downs of being alongside whilst also trying to understand our new passion for studying/discussing the subject. This forum helps a lot with all that!

[JoJoloveschocolate in reply to SilverSavvy]

Oh this gives me so much hope!! I’ve had awful joint and back pain for a few years - was even diagnosed with fibromyalgia because of it. Really hoping this improvement I’m experiencing is from adding t3 and that it continues to improve. I also get anxiety for no reason so if it helps that too I will be absolutely thrilled. Thank you for sharing your experince.

[SilverSavvy in reply to JoJoloveschocolate]

Yeah, the whole fibromyalgia thing...so many women of a certain age suffering and so few of them being educated about the myriad effects of thyroid disease. Every time anyone of my acquaintance gets diagnosed with that, ME, all autoimmune disease types and is suffering with no kind of explanation, I always wonder aloud whether they have had a T4 test. It's amazing how many people are fobbed off with anti-depressants and other meds when no one is looking at the root cause. It makes me furious because the government want/need us all to stay in the workforce so long these days and those sandwich years between looking after kids AND parents are so stressful on the immune system - and therefore on the autoimmune system. And we are supposed to carry all that whilst also working harder than any generation before us. Alongside being ill with issues many doctors choose not to investigate fully.

Dr Gabor Mate has a whole lot to say about acquisition/expression of autoimmune disorders but that's another research wormhole.

[JoJoloveschocolate in reply to SilverSavvy]

Yes, I got the fibromyalgia ME and IBSdiagnoses. I just trusted my doctor. Sometimes on bad days when I seem to have gone backwards I wonder if I do have these as well as hashis. It’s very scary. My cholesterol has gone up by 0.1 above range and it’s already been flagged by a gp. No doubt they’ll try to get me on the fast track to statins! I never mention feeling low to the doctor because I know where that conversation ends up. I know so much more now thanks to people like you on this forum who provide so much help and support. I’m now getting emotional again just typing that! Damn thyroid! 😂

[SilverSavvy in reply to JoJoloveschocolate]

I have seen various people on this forum say that, when properly medicated, their cholesterol returns to normal levels. This was certainly my experience. High cholesterol has never been an issue for me (not a family thing either) but just before diagnosis I was getting over that normal range. It's one of the clinical factors I used, in fact, to get my doctor to test my T4 as they could see my TSH was up and I had no previous cholesterol issues, ever. Soon as I started on meds, back it went into in normal range.

There are SO MANY ways in which this disease manifests. I had IBS for decades. Diverticular disease followed and is now the bane of my life and it makes me mad that it was unnecessary. If the docs had listened to me 20 years before, it might never have happened. Grr.

[JoJoloveschocolate]

So sorry for what has happened to you. Blimey…all that suffering over so many years…decades and all the issues that being undiagnosed/untreated/under-treated bring. It’s a scandal. Ages ago, I read a comment from a professor on the bmj site (2020) about the “consequences of tsh” and all the issues that have been created.ai can’t fully remember by I think he mentioned fibro and cfs. Very interesting.