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Help with T3 meds!!!

Posted , 4 users are following.

Tutu123
Tutu123

hi,

sorry for all the posts recently! I have been transitioning from Levo alone to a combination of this and liothyronine. On a high enough dose of both I felt a real difference in terms of fatigue, but I am finding that even after reducing my liothyronine from 20mg to 5mg for a while, I am still getting a constant pounding heart and my scalp has felt very hot and a slight stinging, with my hair falling out.

i went to the go this morning and explained what happened. He said 5mg is unlikely to be a high enough dose for me to make a difference to my fatigue (I am very tired and have struggled to get near the right dose due to the nasty side effects). He also said the hot scalp and hair loss may be due to the scalp "coming alive" after years of being on T4 alone - my hair had gradually thinned over the years. He said the hair loss may be because the thin hair is snapping off and it's trying to re-grow. 

My original "normal" dose was 125mg of Levo and I have been on5mg of lio and 75 Levo for the last few days. He has told me to change this to 10mg of lio and 50-75 of Levo. I am convinced the pounding heart and other symptoms will get worse, but he is trying to relieve my fatigue.

seeing an endo for the first time on Monday (thank god!!) and don't know what to take until then- scared to follow the GPs advice when he is just guessing but I'm knackered!!

any help would be gratefully received!!

2 likes, 7 replies

7 Replies

  • elizabeth2244
    elizabeth2244 Tutu123

    Posted

    Hi i am new to the group. I have hypothyroidism and take levothyroxine 88mcg to level out my hormones. 

    You may be on to much of the hormone have you doctor check to see where your T3 level is so they can give you the right dose so you don't feel this way 

    • Tutu123
      Tutu123 elizabeth2244

      Posted

      Hi- thanks for the message. I agree that I may be on too much T3, but have heard from others and read that a pounding heart is often a side effect of liothyronine so not sure what to believe.

      i found out today that the doctors have never tested my T3 levels (which I find shocking after eight years of struggling). I think it does need testing as they have just been blindly treating it. It was only in the past month I joined various forums and found out more about thyroid- I never knew it was so complex 

  • yorkrose
    yorkrose Tutu123

    Posted

    Hi Caz, I am on 50mcg of levo and I was terribly tired and foggy brain every day, I took my Levo each morning as reccomended.

    Anyway I have now started to take my Levo at night and so far I have slept better and fealt more energetic in the daytime, I only just started doing this but I am hopeful that it will work for me.It maybe worth a try if you take yours in the morning.

    I also get the tingling, burning bruised feeling on my scalp and have lost alot of hair,often get bald patches it`s a nightmare but they do grow back eventually, doc said my hair prob was alopecia which is another autoimmune thing,and there is no cure.

    good luck, it is very difficult to get things right, and I don`t think the GPs in Britain know enough about such a common but dibilitating illness.  x

  • yorkrose
    yorkrose Tutu123

    Posted

    forgot to say, i also get pounding heart and sort of get wobbly and trembly inside, not visibly but i can feel it sometimes, I think this is common too.Rose
    • Tutu123
      Tutu123 yorkrose

      Posted

      Hi thanks for your message - you're not the first person to say they have had an improvement taking Levo at night, I'm definitely going to try this! 
  • LAHs
    LAHs Tutu123

    Edited

    get your T3 measured. You can get tired from overmedication of Thyroid meds just as you can get tired from undermedication of thyroid meds. This is because your heart may be working too hard (perhaps you have a fast pulse which might give you a clue to this condition).

    You might be finally converting T3 from your T4 and pushing you slightly into the hyper range. This happened to me once, I was not converting my T4 to T3 until I bumped my T4 up to a dose which would finally produce enough T3.

    Regarding hair loss, I do not think anyone has the answer to this yet - I wish they would find out, it is also my problem.

    • Tutu123
      Tutu123 LAHs

      Posted

      Thanks LAHs it is difficult to know whats going on as i am exhausted, but have a really pounding heart so the two symptoms are confusing me. I am having tests done at the moment to see whether i have taken thryoid medication without actually needing it for 8 years (as advised by the endo) and also looking at cortisol as the random one was twice as high as the 'norm'. One day i may find the answer!!
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