Timing of split dose T3

[muppetme]

Hello fellow foggy people,

If one takes a split dose of T3,

is it best to evenly split the dose (as far as possible) to 3 even doses 8 hrs apart? Or is there a better way?

and, if a final dose is taken just before bed, does it disturb sleep?

[DippyDame]

I take my full dose (100mcg) at bedtime...no problems.

I'm T3-only

So long as you take a consistent dose every day, adequate for you, there should always be some in the serum.

It then moves from the serum into the cells where it attaches to T3 receptors and becomes active.

That active T3 stays in the cells for about 3 days

The T3 in the serum is not active so I've never seen the point of splitting...and clock watching all day!

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

But we are all different but this what works for me

Good luck

[Hashiboy]

I take 100mcg T4 and 15 mcg T3 - lots of trial and error but I get on best taking the T3 in 5 mcg pills at 7am, 1pm and 6pm - I’m not very strict and sometimes I’m half an hour one way or the other. I tried more in the morning and just two doses but ended up preferring 3 doses - didn’t do any complicated maths or track my vital. Just went by how I felt.

[muppetme in reply to Hashiboy]

thank you Hashiboy, I guess I should add to my post, that I also take T4, same as you.

[DippyDame in reply to muppetme]

Well that makes a huge different!!

When people ask for advice we assume they are giving us all the relevant facts, to enable us to offer as informed a response as possible.

My advice to you is now irrelevant

[Jazzw in reply to DippyDame]

Muppetme did refer to being foggy…

 muppetme , suspect you’re going to need to experiment. You may well be fine taking everything all at the same time—Levo and T3. I effectively did that for years when I first took NDT as I couldn’t be doing with splitting doses and potentially forgetting what I’d taken!

But a few years in I took the decision to take 2 half doses 12 hours apart and have stuck with it ever since—I think having the second dose later on in the day helped with sleep.

[DippyDame in reply to Jazzw]

Yes, I did qualify my reply by saying, " We are all different, this is just what works for me!"

As far as T3 is concerned I think we can all agree that It's trial and error and listening to one's body.

[FallingInReverse]

When I was about 50-75 Levo and 10 t3, I originally took it 5 upon waking and 5 at bedtime.

I then read about splitting, noticing I was napping every afternoon around 2-3 pm.

I read/studied this, one of the most useful articles I’ve read about my hypo:

thyroidpatients.ca/2020/07/...

Found the visuals towards the bottom very helpful in choosing to split 2.5 upon waking, 2.5 at 11am-noon and 5 at bedtime. This successfully eliminated my involuntary afternoon nap.

When I titrated Levo up towards optimal over time(upwards of 87.5-> towards my current 112), I found I no longer needed to split.

[BB001 in reply to FallingInReverse]

I too find the aforementioned article by thyroidpatients.ca to be invaluable as are Paul Robinson's work on CT3M and his blogs. See paulrobinsonthyroid.com

I have now been on T3-only for 4 years and I'm still exploring the best dosing pattern for me. muppetme

[redhead41]

My daughter takes 5 at 6am, 10 at 11 and 5 at 4pm and her levo at night before bed. She found if she took any t3 later in the day, sleep was not as good. T3 has a half life of 12 hours which is why I believe it is better split but do not know if it should be in equal parts.

[RockyPath]

I've tinkered with the NDT, after years of endocrinologists saying once a day was fine ... and not sleeping for several hours in the middle of the night, every night for six years. Blargh. It does seem to help with sleep now that I take half in the morning and half at 4 pm. If I get brave, I will try all of it in the afternoon.

[BB001]

Further Reading beyond thyroid patients Canada and Paul Robinson...

In the comments to the aforementioned thyroidpatients.ca article Julien suggests a book on circadian rhythms. When researching where to buy it i came across this TEDx talk on YouTube that sounds interesting. I've not yet watched it. It's in the results from this Google search

google.com/search?q=Circadi...

[McPammy]

I take split doses.

5mcg T3 at 7.30am.

5mcg T3 8hrs or so later at 3pm.

I’ve tried doing bed time but as T3 is an energy boosting drug I found I couldn’t sleep.

I also split my Levothyroxine T4. 34mcg at noon and 34 mcg at 5pm. I take liquid which is highly absorbable and very easy to adjust and split doses. Much better than tablets.

I find splitting reduces chances of spiking and the symptoms you can get from spiking. I’m now symptom free and really energised. I feel 10 years younger after introducing T3. I’m a very poor converter of T4 to T3.

[Mothebear]

This is interesting to me as a topic as I take T3 and T4. I split my dose into 3. I don’t seem to flag or lack energy with my split doses however my sleep is erratic in that I wake 2 or 3 times a night and invariably about 6am (bedtime is usually about 11.30) I have put this down to age though I'd be interested to know if there is evidence of a link between T3 and sleep.

My second point which could be wholly erroneous is that I figure the cells of the body needs these chemicals across a 24 hour period so unless one is aware of a seeming lack of T3, then distributing them over a 24 hour period can do no harm (other than perhaps my above point that they could possibly disrupt sleep). So I take a dose at 7am, another at 3pm and another at 11pm.

Comments much appreciated.

[bikebabe]

I have 100mcg t4 and 5mcg t3 at 8 am and 5mcg t3 at 3pm and have good sleep. The body has its own unique biorhythms for cell repair, metabolism etc like plants are supposed to be picked at different times of day as more potent. So I guess it’s trial and error to find out what timing suits you.

[bikebabe in reply to bikebabe]

Only just read that article. Very interesting.

[Soaping]

Good morning, I am still trying to get it right after thyroidectomy 2020. Went down to t4 75mcg and 15mcg t3 added built up slowly. 75mch levo seems to give me lots of headaches and ear pressure as when i drop it to 50mcg it goes away even though that is only a starting dose. At present taking 60mcg t4 middle of night 5mcg t3 at 7am, 2pm, 9pm and sleep well, I dont feel ill like i did on t4 only, I do not get any bursts of energy as suggested but I keep hoping. Very much trial and error but i woukd say start on 5mcg doses twice a day to start from my experience x

[Tea7light]

Hello Muppetme,

Interesting query, I take T3+ T4, I was advised by my Endo. to take T 3 am and T 4 evening. As T3 has more impact, and T4 is slow to make an impact, as it’s a store to be drawn on by T3.

{There’s another facet….about not eating 1 hr before you take thyroid meds or for 1 hr after. I find the thought of trying to do that fasting and having many wee doses of tablets, getting close to a life too dominated by tablets.}

My initial timings worked ok, until the past few years my T4 store started sliding. I wasn’t keeping it in my system.???

Anyone else had this problem?

Medical answer was to double my T4 tablets.

I became v.tired, v cold, and foggy brained. I felt over loaded…..Timings of tablets went erratic, bed time was sliding between 10 30 & Midnight. Result I wasn’t sleeping at all well. I got depressed in a fog world ,I’d stand by the fridge and couldn’t remember why I was there!

Once I stopped trying to increase my T4 I found I was happier, I reverted to my old initial proportions of T3/4. So now I have my T3 when I wake and T 4 has to be between 9pm & 9:50pm otherwise my brain becomes over active and I’m awake 1/2 the night.

We certainly are all different!

[Judithdalston]

I was prescribed my T3 by a private endo. to be taken as 5 mcg taken 3 times a day approx early am with 100 levo, mid afternoon and bedtime. Always had a supressed TSH, even on levo.only but then also FT3 in 3-13% thus why T3 offered. My Gp has been anxious about TSH of 0.02 , due to also having high HR with Long Covid, and referred me to a NHS endo.( who has a specialist interest in thyroid and cardiovascular problems) , he was happy with my 100/15 combo, said he’d have liked a higher TSH but was not that bothered and wondered if taking the T3 in two doses might raise the TSH! Bit difficult to split a 20 mcg pill into 7.5 so currently trying a 10 mcg early am , and 5 mcg bedtime but only been on that a week, so who knows whether it will alter TSH!

[muppetme]

Thanks to everyone