Rachel, I don't know where to begin.
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Originally Posted by Sunshne24
I am taking the T3 6 hours apart 3 times daily starting at 7:30 am. I took the test at about 10 am. I did that intentionally because what I remember reading is that due to fact that T3 is so quick to metabolise you should test within 3 hours of taking your dose.
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I don't know where you read that, but it's just not true, Rachel. Yes, it metabolises quickly, but when you take in any exogenous hormone its taken in as a FREE hormone, it takes a good 8 hours for the binding proteins to gobble it up. So you want to test after 8 hours because you want to know how much is not being bound, after binding would happen. This is your body's way of showing you how much it thinks it needs. In your case it was getting FAR too much. I thought your dose was high when you initally posted it, but I assumed that was the doctor's doing.
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It is not good to have large surges of T3 throughout the day, too much stress on the heart or something like that. Testing within 3 hours will show if this is happening. I suspect if I had waited or skipped a dose these numbers wouldn't look so whack but then I would be unaware of the surges that are occuring due to high amounts of T3.
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Large amounts of T3, period, are bad - they are akin to being hyper, which we know is just as unhealthy as being hypo. This
3 hours later rule is very inacurate. T3 has a half life of 48 hours, which means 48 hours after you take it 1/2 of it will still be in your system, and 48 hours after that 1/2 of that will be in your system, and so on. While it degrades faster than T4, it's still going to be there in pretty big amounts. You were adding in more after 3 hours, your FTs would have been sky high. That FT3 reading isn't a 'real' reading, it's not THAT high, but it's high.
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I am confused  I do notice now that I have been waking up at night a little sweaty and feeling my heartbeat loudly. This only happens late at night for some reason and some nights I do not experience it. I think I went overboard with the T3.
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I agree. The ratio of T4:T3 in a functioning thyroid gland is 80:20, 80% is T4 and 20% is T3, or there abouts. If you're taking 112mcgs of levoxyl, then you'd be on no more than 22mcgs of T3. Even that might be too much. I suspect that some of your hypot symptoms are really hyper symptoms.
Here's a list of hyper symptoms:
Palpitations
Heat intolerance
Nervousness
Insomnia
Breathlessness
Increased bowel movements
Light or absent menstrual periods
Fatigue
Here's a list of hyper signs:
Fast heart rate
Trembling hands
Weight loss
Muscle weakness
Warm moist skin
Hair loss
Staring gaze
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My doc wanted me to start out taking 5 mcgs twice daily and I had read that this is the typical dose unless you've had thyroid cancer and are trying to supress TSH.
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Higher doses are usually warranted with cancer, you want the TSH supressed, but other than that the amount of T3 is based on your individual needs. Some do well with just 5mcgs, other need 25mcgs.
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The problem is that he said that dose is currently unavailable, I'm not sure why, but he has not been able to prescribe it recently. He said the smallest dose available would be 25. He wanted me taking 12.5 once a day. I started taking it twice daily because I didn't want to have an imbalance for half of the day. Then I stupidly added a 3rd dose because I wasnt feeling any changes. I would like to take 5 mcgs twice a day and raise my Levothroid to 112 but I'm not sure how I can do this.
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Not everyone feels the lag of energy taking their T3 once a day, I don't think you can just cut the T3 out completely - I would taper it off slowly. Omit two of your doses and split the other one, so you're getting 12.5mcgs 1x a day. And of course, get in to see another doctor ASAP. You need to wait at least 10 days on a much lower dose and have your labs run again, and this time no meds w/in 8 hours of your blood draw.
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I dont think I can acuratley split my dose into quarters.
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You can buy a pill splitter at Wal-mart for 4$, it does a very good job of splitting into quarters, Rachel. I'd go out and get one right now!
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Hmmmm. I havent taken any Cytomel since I got my labs back..does this mean that in 48 hrs my T3 will be depleted again?
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No, it takes a full 10 days before it's all gone. Usually 7-8 half lives.
Re osteoporosis, it's an issue if you're undermedicated and overmedicated, but it's correctable by fixing the dose. Too much thyroid is just as dangerous in the long term as too little. You're not 'killing' yourself, but you are jeopardizing your health, and you might be making some of these "hypoT" symptoms worse with this high level of T3; your body just can't handle it.
Puffy Face
which is why I'm surprised at the results. My pulse has quickened but thats about it. No palpitations, sweating, shakiness, etc. My appetite has not increased either. I am still retaining fluid...can this still be caused by the imbalance even though I have gone in the other direction? Can I still have Hypo symptoms with these test results? I know things do not change overnight but I thought I'd notice something since I started the Cytomel. When I was symptom free before RAI my TSH was usually about <.002. FT4 was around 2.0 and TT3 around 180. This is what I'm trying to get back to. I'm starting to wonder if something else may be causing my problems since nothing seems to improve...but I have not had good doctors so I've been on a roller coaster with my thyroid levels. I do want to switch docs, I am in S.F. Bay Area and I know there are some good ones around but I have Kaiser and cannot switch yet. My doc never even called with these results...I called and was told my labs were excellent! I called again for the numbers & was very surprised. Also I did have my Cholesterol levels checked. The results were good (I think)
Hybrid Mode
