New blood results post liothyronine

[Redroz1e]

I was so pleased when I heard that the Endo had agreed that I could try liothyronine as I thought boosting my T3s would be the answer. Unfortunately this wasn't to be as I feel even more tired despite getting around 8 hours sleep every night.

I introduced the T3 slowly before reducing my T4 and finally made the switch from 150 mcg to 75 mcg on 22.11.24 with 20 mcg of T3 and had a blood test last week. I even managed to persuade the HCA doing my blood to add in the T4 & T3 as the Endo had said TSH only.

TSH 1.7 (0.38 - 5.33) previously 0.47

T3 5.3 (3.8 - 6) previously 4.3

T4 7.1 (7.9 - 14.4) previously 10.5

I have since checked the note added by my GP which says that they are all normal with an acceptable abnormality for my T4s. No further action needed.

Also, I had a fall over Christmas and when I went for my blood test I was advised to go for an X-ray as she felt my wrist might be fractured. The X-ray didn't show a fracture but they advised me to go back to the GP to get more blood tests particularly my clotting as the extent of the bruising seemed too severe for the fall I had explained (I tripped over a chair and banged my wrist on the radiator but had pins and needles in my little finger intermittently afterwards). I have an appointment in a couple of weeks time.

I do seem to bruise easily and they seem to take a long time to disappear. This one seemed to continue growing outward for about a week and I still have it - could this be to do with my thyroid too?

Any advice greatly appreciated.

[Sleepman]

Sorry you are in the wars.

When did bloods get taken and how long after the last T3 dose.

Do you split the T3 through the day ? Last dose 8 to 12 hours before blood test. Levo/T4 is 24 hours from the test

To get repeatable blood tests etc. forum suggests 09:00 with no meds or food that morning

75 mcg seems like to big a drop off in levo to me but more experienced heads will comment

[Redroz1e in reply to Sleepman]

Thank you for your response.

The bloods were done one the morning of 6/1 with my T3 dose being the previous evening. I take it in the morning also. My last T4 was the previous morning. Only water on the morning of test and it was taken at 8.30 am.

[Jaydee1507 Administrator]

Most people taking T3 have a very low, ifnot suppressed TSH. The fact that yours is 1.7 shows you need more thyroid hormone.

Your FT4 is below range and needs to be around 70%.

Levo has been dropped far too much. Usually only around 25mcgs is needed to be dropped.

Suggest you increase Levo by 25mcgs. You may need to drop T3 a little in future but best to do 1 thing at a time.

It can take quite a while to balance your dose.

[Redroz1e in reply to Jaydee1507]

Thank you for the advice. Anything is worth a go.

[DippyDame]

Initially you didn't need to reduce your Levo dose by reducing from 150mcg to 75mcg .

Many medics are clueles about dosing thyroid hormones which is why many patients arrive here

T3 naturally lowers both TSH and FT4 as evidenced in those labs. The T4 reduction was far too big!

By that large reduction of T4 you have cut out the possibility of a useful amount T3 being produced from that reduction of 75mcg Levo

You have correctly slowly introduced 20mcg T3

However, as the T3 is a replacement dose, 20mcg is likely not now be an adequate dose for your needs... with consequent symptoms

Do you have any other symptoms beyond tiredness?

thyroiduk.org/signs-and-sym...

Two possibilities...

1. Your results may not be reliable due to wrong dosing times of T4 and T3.

Did you adhere to timing protocols advised here?

2. You are undermedicated despite a high FT3!

Like many of us ( myself included) you may need T3 above the ref range to overcome a form of hormone resistance, to ensure adequate hormone reaches the cells

"Normal" means very little beyond your result being within range, but there is more to the evaluation of results than that....and TSH. We are all different with different needs....what suits Mary may no suit Jane!!

In the first instance I'd test again after 6 weeks on a steady dose, 24 hours after last T4 dose and 12 hours after last T3 dose. Close to 8am and on an empty stomach.

Tht should give you reliable results on which to address your dose

Have you optimised vit D, vit B12, folate and ferritin to support thyroid function?

Low iron levels might affect bruising

Post the labs for more help

Good luck!

[Redroz1e in reply to DippyDame]

Thanks for your help.

I have many symptoms which is why I found myself here but it's the tiredness and sleep problems which are particularly bad at the minute.

My GP told me to reduce to 75 mcg following advice from the endo. I did do it slowly as I had been advised on here reducing it by 25 mcg a time and I hopefully followed all of the advice of early morning test 8.30 am, no medication or food beforehand etc. T4 the morning before and T3 the evening before. My T4s were consistently over range and my T3s low in range which is why they have done this. I did argue that ranges can't possibly apply to everyone as we are all different which is why my GP allowed my T4 to run high for so long.

I have been taking supplements for many years now including Vit D, Vit K, Selenium, Magnesium, Evening Primrose, Starflower Oil and I recently changed from B12 to B Complex as advised on here.

My last Folate result from October was 5 (3.1 - 19.9) and Ferritin 39 (11 - 306.8) both noted as normal. My Vit D has been in decline for some time now despite taking daily supplements and the last result was 85.3 (50 - 150). I have had a negative test for celiac disease.

I have also had a longstanding high Serum CRP ranging from 10 - 16 (0 - 5) which again has been noted as no action needed.

[Calceolaria]

I don’t suppose you are on blood thinners are you? Or even supplementing with Omega 3?

Best wishes.

[Redroz1e in reply to Calceolaria]

No, no blood thinners and only vitamin B supplements though I do eat a fair bit of salmon if that would affect things?

[SueHG in reply to Calceolaria]

Do anti coagulants affect thyroid test results. I take T3 only?

[Calceolaria]

That I don’t know, sorry.

[tattybogle]

not surprised you don't feel any better Redroz1e , your levo dose has been reduced far too much . i lowered my levo dose when adding T3 , due to high end fT4 levels , but i felt lousy and didn't start to feel human until i'd put levo back up a bit .

i lowered levo by just 12.5mcg when adding 9mcg T3 . i was very surprised by how much my fT4 fell even though i have seen many examples of it falling a bit when T3 is added on the forum.

i think the first thing you need to do is put levo back up by 25mcg , see how that feels and get retested after 6-8wks on that .you might still have to tweak further , and you may find you don't need a full 20mcg T3

, i am on very nearly as much levo now as i was before i added T3

[Redroz1e in reply to tattybogle]

Thank you. I think that’s what I need to do. I’ve noticed that I’m not liking some food much at the moment as it’s been too salty. This has been more noticeable over Christmas with chocolate. I had some M and M peanuts yesterday and they just tasted of salt. I’ve googled this and under active thyroid is coming up. I hadn’t heard this symptom before.