End of 2022 my doc and I agreed I should increase my sliding T4. I duly did from 12.5 to 25 mcg. Over 3 months then test. Those were v difficult 3 mths, I suffered brain fogs, I couldn’t think straight, I became very tired, slept poorly, l put on weight, hair thinned as another 3 months passed, I couldn’t stand taking T4 it seemed to make everything worse.
May 23 I asked to go back to my original dose of T4, that was granted. (I also take 10 mcg T3 that remained consistent though this “adventure” .)
I read an interesting report on Gastrointestanal Malabsorption of Thyroxine, and realised there were many things to cause reactions to T4. Thank you Health Unlocked.
Made a log of all my pests, eg No food 1 hr before bed, no dark chocolate after 8pm. No tea or coffee at all . etc …A long list
To help with T4, ingestion it’s crushed and taken in water, I noticed a lot of its residue remained in the glass , rinse out & drink that.
If I took T4 just before bed I had an over active mind so no sleep til wee small hours, hence previous problems.
I tried taking it at 10 pm better.
Between 9 & 9:30pm vast improvement.
So even if I go out I take my crushed T4 in a small sealed plastic container, so I add lots of water and drink it between these magic times and after a month I could get real deep sane sleep again!!
I still don’t believe it , my doc was so RELEIVED.!
There is another blood test end of Feb, so we will see then.
I also asked for a cholesterol test.
Any other tests I should have asked for ?
Many thanks Health Unlocked team.
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Tea7light
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Which brand of levothyroxine are you taking for 12.5mcg
Which brand for 25mcg
Levothyroxine and especially T3 don’t “top up” failing thyroid, they replace it
Essential to be on high enough dose
Standard treatment is to start on Levo ONLY, initially at 50mcg (unless over 65 years old) and increase dose SLOWLY upwards in 25mcg steps until on roughly 1.6mcg per kilo of your body weight per day
Aiming for Ft4 in top 1/3rd of range
If Ft3 remains significantly lower…….then looking at adding T3 alongside
Hello Slow Dragon many thanks for your thoughts again.
As I started T4 in 2018, previous 10 yrs happily on NDT. Source dried up.
May have had assorted makes of T4 in 1st year, but now on Mercury Pharma. Initially just on T4 I got up to 75mcg, came out in hives, for weeks. Put on antihistamines .
Now, I cut these 25mcg T4, tablets in 1/2.
(Antihistamines don’t agree with me as I’d taken buckets of different makes and sorts for hayfever over 8 months of the year, for 20+ years living on the Continent. In Ireland I’d very little need for them.)
This hive problem led me to the endocrinologist in 2019, who diagnosed I was subclinical hypothyroid, and put me on the trial of T4/T3 ratio 12.5/ 10 mcg. My sister had thyroid cancer.
Hi. Im not sure when the tests in your bio were done, but your FT4 is very low, and 25mcg Levo isn't going to make a dent on that.
Levothyroxine isn't very soluble in water, so disolving it into water, or drinking a lot of water when you take it, is probably counter productive. It requires a good amount of stomach acid for proper absorption, and this is something that's often diminished when people are Hypo/Low FT4, and even more so if your stomach is filled up with water.
Some studies have found benefits with taking it with orange juice, as the citric acid helps the absorption. There's also other forms (e.g capsules?) that bypass the stomach somewhat.
Thank you elaar, for your useful information, Sorry my reply is so late, I may have answered some of your questions in my reply above to Slow Dragon.
It interesting to note how we should take our T4 tablets, crushed, uncrushed, with water, & how much water. Could it be carbonated water? But it’s as you say in our gastric and intestinal levels that it is taken up and so many food stuffs can interfere with this up take of T4, eg milk, Aluminium hydroxide, grapefruit juice, coffee, soy etc
NHS, T3 when I first started, the whole 20 mcg tablet was crushed, added to a measured shot glass of water mixed up and your relevant dose drawn off by syringe. The remainder was very wastefully to be discarded! I didn’t I cut the tablet in 1/2. Some pharmaceutical companies!!
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Advice needed please -When do I have blood test on T3 and would a small amount of T4 have affected TSH.
Advised to stop all thyroid meds
Slow Release T3 - How long to leave between intake and blood test?
First blood test results now I am on a combo of T3/T4. What do these results suggest. Thank you
No action needed 😫
