T3 dosing time advice, please

[kevultralight]

Hi everyone,

I’ve been experimenting with my T4-T3 dosing schedule and wanted to share my experience so far:

Original Schedule (11 Nov - 11 Dec):

Dose: 137 mcg T4 + 10 mcg T3 at 6:30 AM... 5 mcg T3 at 1:30 PM.

Experience: After about a month, I felt the best I ever had, though I still experienced occasional brain fog in the early afternoon. My endocrinologist advised staying on this regimen for six weeks and let my body get used it the dose.

Labs(12 Dec):

TSH: 0.009 (.4-4.5)

T4 FREE: 1.27 (.8-1.8)

T3 FREE: 3.0 (2.3-4.2)

Reverse T3, Serum: 15.3

New Schedule (12 Dec-18 Dec):

Dose: 137 mcg T4 + 5 mcg T3 at 6:30 AM... 5 mcg T3 at 12:00 PM... 5 mcg T3 at 5:00 PM.

Reason for Change: I moved to a new country, and my new endocrinologist recommended splitting the T3 dose evenly throughout the day.

Experience: After a week on this new schedule, I’ve been experiencing brain fog throughout the day, which only starts to improve in the evening.

Question:


Should I go back to the 2x-a-day dosing (10 mcg AM + 5 mcg PM) since I felt better? Or is one week too short to properly evaluate the 3x-a-day schedule?

[helvella]

Have the T4 and T3 been the exact same products as before? Or have you changed make, or anything?

[kevultralight in reply to helvella]

It's been the same products. Thank you!

[kevultralight]

Any help?

[tattybogle]

yes , a week is too short to evaluate ..... but to be honest ... since you felt better before ,, and since there is no reason not to ... if it were me, i'd be tempted to go back to what you were doing before and stick to that for 6 wks to see how it goes .

[kevultralight in reply to tattybogle]

thank you. Do you take t3?

[tattybogle in reply to kevultralight]

yes , but only started adding a bit of T3 in july this year having been on levo only for 20 yrs.

i'm still very much 'practicing' with T3 haven't got it right yet, not by along shot . I lowered my levo too much when adding the T3 , which made me feel off, so i've had to put that back back up a bit ..twice .

i'm taking 92mcg levo ( split am /bedtime) and 8mcg T3 in 2 doses of 4mcg ... but i'm not yet settled on the best times to take my T3 .. am trying to be consistent at 11.30 am and bedtime (taking it first thing in the morning was making me feel pants for several hours and so i was not getting anything done.. but moving it to later at 11.30 am i felt ok , maybe because i've already stared doing stuff by then) , but occasionally i still have to miss an odd dose of T3 cos it's too much. ..my need for it seems to depend on how active i've been,, and that's tricky cos my job means i;'m extremely active for one evening and the following day ... then bushed for the rest for the week.

i might try taking 6.25mcg at 11.30 am and not bother with the bedtime dose.. that might make it easier to keep taking same dose each day . i seem to be very sensitive to it.

[kevultralight in reply to tattybogle]

-Ive found sometimes when I work out I need more t3, or have more brain fog throughout the day

-Why do you say "pants" after taking t3 in the morning... like youre overstimulated? its too much?

-Why do you take before bedtime? Or why was this advised?

-Every time I've increased t3 meds, my endo slightly increased t4 dose as well...

[thyr01d]

Hi, I've been pondering this myself but can't achieve a consistent result from changing things around. (I also take both Levo and T3). Endo advises 10mcg am, 5 noon and 5 at tea time but I had to take 10 mcg am and then 10 mid afternoon (wrong meds prescribed) for a while. Your message prompted me to think and I'm wondering if being much more tired today and having brain fog is from 10 + 10 yesterday rather than 10 +5 +5. Do you think perhaps how we relates to the meds taken the previous day? I'm wondering this because I also have ME and did a brilliant cause which showed through charting that our energy relates not to the day we are on but what we did the day before. Here's a good example. We had charts to fill in, divided into half-hours through every day to indicate how tired we were and entering also what we were doing in each half hour. After two weeks we could see that the tiredness was delayed. One lady discovered that if she watched TV in the evening she was much worse the following day. I'd be interested to hear your thoughts about this.

[kevultralight in reply to thyr01d]

-Im going to be aware of the day before theory the next few days and will let you know.

-Ive gone back to 10mcg in the morning and 5mcg in the afternoon, its easier on my lifestyle to take... I ALWAYS have an adjustment period (about 2 weeks) that involves brain fog when I change t3 doses ... So changing doses regularly does absolutely no good, I am bummed I started the 3x a day change without letting the 2x a day original dose have a chance

-How long did you try the 10 mcg am and then 10 mid afternoon?....How long did you try the 10mcg am, 5 noon and 5 at tea time?.... which made you feel better?

[thyr01d in reply to kevultralight]

Hallo, I have been taking 10 mcg am, 5 noon and 5 tea time for about 4 months. I tried 10 am and 10 mid afternoon just for a few days and only because after 4 months the surgery is still getting the prescription wrong so I ran out of 5 mcg. I have gone back to 10, 5, 5 because I have an appointment with an SHO on Christmas Eve! We need to know how much T4 and T3 I have on this new since August regimen but after the appointment I might try 10 + 10 again for longer because, just as you, I find that much easier. So I'm sorry but I'm not much help to you.

Are you monitored, it sounds as if you are trying to do it alone?

[kevultralight in reply to thyr01d]

im monitored w an endo and functional doc

[TiggerMe Ambassador]

It might be you have a more even energy spread by just taking a single dose rather than splitting... many of us find this is the case and it's a whole lot easier than remembering to take doses throughout the day and possibly miss them

Personally I tried various dose sizes and timings and the most effective for me is a single 15mcg T3 along with T4 around 4-6am, when splitting I would have a much bumpier ride and needed twice as much T3.... it's about how much makes it into your cells and this relies on many things with good cortisol levels being one of them, my cortisol levels are best early morning which I believe gives me better uptake that lasts all day..... for me it's like starting the day with a fully charged battery rather than half flat and having to keep recharging throughout the day

[thyr01d in reply to TiggerMe]

Oh TiggerMe this is a really helpful post, I had no idea cortisol levels made a difference. Please can you give me more understanding. My cortisol is marked as 'border line' but I can't see a reference range so don't know if it's top end or bottom end. It was taken in the morning if that gives an indicator. Many thanks and Happy Christmas too!

PS I have just read the post from Paul Robinson in the link you kindly provided, that is very interesting.

[TiggerMe Ambassador in reply to thyr01d]

Do you have a result? Cortisol range is something like 150-550

This is a helpful read... paulrobinsonthyroid.com/t3-...

[thyr01d in reply to TiggerMe]

Thank you TiggerMe, the result is 339 nmol/L at 8.40 am. 🙏🙂

[TiggerMe Ambassador in reply to thyr01d]

Bit on the low side, ideally need a saliva test to check free levels to see what they do the rest of the day, it could be if they drop off too much that actually a single morning dose would suit you better whilst cortisol is higher you can get more into the cells and this in turn would help to raise cortisol levels across the day OR it could be that your levels rise... impossible to guess as too high or too low will inhibit T3 uptake

If you read my bio you'll see I didn't agree with him about adding adrenal help 😬

You could also read about it on Dr Myhill's website... drmyhill.co.uk/wiki/Adrenal...

and I found this one useful too....

hormonerestoration.com/Cort...

[kevultralight in reply to TiggerMe]

Thank you!

Do you, or did you take anything to manage your cortisol levels?

[TiggerMe Ambassador in reply to kevultralight]

I suffered from low cortisol, if you click on my picture or name it will take you to my bio which gives a potted history 🤗