Urgent - T3 advice needed.

[Numberone1]

is it possible that T3 can stop working?

I have only ever managed to take37.5 mcg as a maximum for T3 without beginning to feel overmedicated.

However I have noticed funny little tell tale signs over the last couple of weeks that maybe the T3 isn't working . These were all things that I had before I was even diagnosed and disappeared once I started being treated.

They are as follows:

Bottoms of feed hard, cracked and sore

Puffy eyes

Watery eyes that don't look clear and bright.

Excess fluid retention

Weight gain

A strang red dotty Mark on my inner ankle

Puffy tops of feet

Grubby looking elbows - noticed this today which has made me ask this question finally.

I am wondering if its possible that the T3 isn't working anymore which is a definite scary thought.

Any T3 experts out there!

Ps I don't have excessive tiredness but I did go for a very long walk yesterday and I felt fragile and weak after it.

[Numberone1]

Can I also add that my eyes are so bleary, I can't focus that well. Also I'm getting lots of numb tingling down into my fingers, again like I used to get.

[Poppy03]

Maybe your body is now using the T3 more effectively and you need an increase. Have you tried increasing your dosage? Do you take other supplements or have any other issues like low iron, low Vit D, B12 etc.

[Numberone1 in reply to Poppy03]

I am going to try increasing today and see what happens. Not successful before as had some symptoms that made me feel I was overmedicating. If its using the T3 more effectively, doesnt that mean its using it in the right way or does it mean that its using it up quickly and more is needed?

Im just a bit scared because some of these symptoms ie achy joints and weight gain (which I also have although cant decide if this is because of Easter) can mean youre taking too much.

I will just have to play it by ear. Thank you.

[Poppy03 in reply to Numberone1]

If you were really poorly before this on T4 I wonder if your body starts to not do certain things, puts you into a bit of a hibernation. Then when you start on T3 your body starts to come out of it a bit. Just how I felt really. I take T3 only and I can take more now than I did at the beginning without ill effects. I am now well on it and have been for 2 years solid.

How do you take your dose? I found I needed mine to be split into 4 doses to remove the joint aches. And yesterday, for the first time, I didn't take my 11.30am dose as forgot to take it with me, managed to take it at 2pm and boy did I feel it. I was pants for the rest of the day. My body punishing me for not taking care of it. Feel better today but woke with a stonking headache which I have not had for a long time.

I would do a gradual increase of perhaps your first dose and see how you are doing. If you feel overmedicated on that one, you can obviously move the next one later to compensate or not take another dose until you feel ready to.

Do you have Paul's book? I am off out for the rest of the day but will check in later to see how you are doing so please post how you are feeling.

[Numberone1 in reply to Poppy03]

Yes, I normally split mine into 3 doses and that way the joint aches arent as bad also.

My tablets are in 25mcg doses so I either take one whole or half a tablet in the morning and then the other half late morning and the next late afternoon. This morning I took the whole 25mcg and have taken a half just now.

So will take a quarter tablet late afternoon and see how I go.

Isnt it amazing how fine tuned we can be and can tell by silly signs that there is something off kilter. As I said, the grubby elbows which I suffered for years with and which werent grubby atall but left everyone thinking I didnt wash, disappeared miraculously even when I was on T4 which didnt agree with me otherwise.

I will keep you informed.

[Poppy03 in reply to Numberone1]

How did you feel? I wonder if splitting your doses into 4 might help with the joint aches.

[Hidden in reply to Numberone1]

Are you taking it with tea or coffee? What time is your first dose? Have you tried the CT3M?

Diuretics? I don't know anything about those but there's always the possibility that the two don't agree.

It took around 5 months of using T3 for it to have an effect, much experimenting and I allowed around 10 days for a dose change.

Some people do seem to need some Thyroxine or one of the others.

Perhaps you need to take some other supplements? It's very much trial and error!

[Hidden]

How long have you been taking it and at what intervals have you increased? It's obviously strong stuff so needs to be use carefully.

Are you taking anything else?

[Numberone1 in reply to Hidden]

I have been taking T3 solely since November and increased quite slowly over the period to now but have been at the same amount for a few months now.

I dont take anything else other than diuretics and low dose asprin.

[Numberone1]

I have also had the same batch of T3 since November and although it has an expiry date of 2014, is it possible that its become inactive?

[helvella in reply to Numberone1]

If you are keeping it in a cool, dry place, out of the light, I doubt it.

But thyroid hormones do deteriorate in the warmth (above normal room temperature such as directly above a radiator or heating pipe), in moist atmospheres (in shower room), in the light (on a window sill). But ordinary homes are usually fine - just that specific places in them might not be optimum.

Levothyroxine specifically (but probably Liothyronine as well) is sensitive to oxygen. But there is not a lot you can do about that - it needs handling in the original packaging (e.g. blister packs with an oxygen removing layer).

Rod

[Poppy03 in reply to helvella]

T3 comes in little pots. Well giant pots if you see the amount that is actually in them. I am assuming from that then they are not oxygen sensitive.

[helvella in reply to Poppy03]

Wrong. (My assumption. MHRA are, I think, doing a report on Liothyronine as well, sometime.)

It needs handing in the way I describe (or similar), but at present it is not.

Even levothyroxine, which was reported specifically to be oxygen-sensitive, is not so packed. The currently-used blister packaging for that does not (so far as I am aware), have any oxygen protection built-in.

I think oxygen issues have simply been ignored since the dawn of thyroid hormone supplementation.

[Poppy03 in reply to helvella]

That's terrible. Dear god are we just not cared about at all! I know that I used to keep a pot of T3 in the shed at the allotment and definitely felt it wasn't working as well from being in there so at least I know I wasn't crazy (well about that anyway!).

[helvella in reply to Poppy03]

Sheds are bad!

They tend to get too hot in summer, and likely too humid a lot of the year. Depending on arrangement, they can also get blasted by intense sunlight - I doubt the (medicine) pots would protect the contents sufficiently.

[Poppy03 in reply to helvella]

All of the above including freezing cold in the winter, oh and the roof got blown off so all the rain came in. mmmm not proper storage really

[helvella in reply to Poppy03]

The term "potting shed" was not meant to cover medicine pots!

[Poppy03 in reply to helvella]

Lol, I think there may be some other types of 'pots' growing in some of the sheds! Not to mention there are some pretty potty people there too. Ah life of the allotment holder.

[sandi]

Hi. I am wondering if this weather has something to do with it? I feel really hypo - all the usual symptoms and am putting on weight. All this in the last month. And I have a friend who is experiencing exactly the same. I often read that we need more thyroid hormone in winter (not that the NHS is that enlightened!) and wonder if this year the continuing cold weather has really zapped our levels.

[Numberone1 in reply to sandi]

I was thinking the same too but as its meant to be that the spring and summer means we need less, it led me to think that wasnt the case for me but equally, you are right about the dreadful weather we've been having.

It just seems strange to me that suddenely Im getting the hard sore feel, then onto the puffy feet and now the grubby elbows. Its a definite sign of being in tune with our bodies.

[Clarebear]

Hope you are feeling better today? I am on a steady dose of armour now -2.5 grains and generally feel well, but yesterday felt a bit over-medicated so only took 2.25grains. Back to 2.5 today. Getting the dosage exactly write seems to b a bit of n art form xxx

[Lunasaysso]

Taking any medication is just the tip of the iceberg to be honest it has to follow with the healthiest diet possible organic fruit and vegetables and working on the gut me personally I take a probiotic vitamin D cod liver oil I eat fish chicken in doing ok with my hypothyroid I'm on T3 also half tablet 3x daily I have a highly nutritious smoothie daily which alleviates my tiredness and exhaustion I swear we can achieve anything with a really healthy diet it works for me hope this helps (◍•ᴗ•◍)❤