Stopping t3 medication

[Sofie007]

My last tsh was 2.3 (1-4) and my ft4 was 18 (12-22) . I have a new endocrinologist and he refused to test ft3 and wants me quit my t3 medication cold turkey. I take 75mcg levothyroxine and 2.5mcg cytomel. Yesterday was my first day without it and I was awake all night. Today i feel a lot of tension around my heart, diarhea and very dry face. I don’t know what to do. Does it get better?

[greygoose]

Probably not without T3. Why did he want you to stop it? You were only taking a tiny dose. And your TSH was too high for someone on thyroid hormone replacement. So, what was his logic?

[Sofie007 in reply to greygoose]

He is not a fan of t3 medication because it can cause cardiovascular issues he said. He was recommended to me so I was hopeful.

I told him I became more anxious since I started levothyroxine. He says it is not related. I should quit t3 and go to a psychiatrist for an ssri.

To be honest I didn’t like his answer but he seemed so sure.

[greygoose in reply to Sofie007]

No way is just taking a little T3 going to cause cardio issues. This is scare tactics on the part of the medical fraternity. A healthy thyroid makes it's own T3 - because you need it! I bet when he said that he had a lot more T3 in his system than you with your 2.5 mcg! Was he having cardio issues? I bet he wasn't!

The body needs T3 because it's the active thyroid hormone needed by every single cell in your body to function correctly. So, if you can't make it yourself - hypo/poor converter - you need to take it. So, I think you've just been gaslighted! Or, if he really believes that, then he shouldn't be treating hypo patients.

Having said that, obviously if you take too much, it's going to have consequences. But you're not asking to take to much, just enough to make you healthy. So, it really doesn't matter what he is or isn't a fan of, it's your health and your body. So, if I were you, I'd move heaven and hell to get that T3 reinstated.

[Judithdalston in reply to Sofie007]

Sorry to hear Belgian endos.are as daft as some of ours( Uk)…lack of T3 is the more likely causes of vascular cardiovascular issues. I visited an endo.here last month who has a particular interest in hypothyroidism and heart etc, with high heart rate, but he was quite happy to leave me on my 100 levothyroxine/ 15 T3 dose, even with a long standing TSH of 0.02, because the FT4/FT3 was c.50%…the BP/HR inconsistencies are a result of Long Covid, and not as he said overmedication on thyroid hormones!

[tattybogle]

stopping T3 suddenly when your body is used to having it is not a good idea , however, since you are only taking 2.5mcg it's hard to go much slower unless you can manage to cut 2.5mcg in half to wean off more slowly.

but whatever you do , it will, take a couple of weeks at the least (and likely longer) for you to know what effect removing the T3 will have on how you feel one things have settled down again , so don't be surprised if you feel very off with all sort of wierdness happening for at least the next few days .

See how it goes over the next 2/3 weeks , then get retested after about 6 wks to see where you are without it ~ your levo dose may need adjusting to compensate.