[mawahit]

#1059301

Hello everyone!

It has been a while since I’ve posted here. After I had RAI treatment for Graves last fall and was put on Levothyroxine back in Dec.2011, I got my t3/t4/ths levels back to normal by this May- woohoo! i even managed to loose 10 out of 20lbs of post- RAI weight gain. I was loosing weight steadily 1-2 lbs a month and was feeling fine… until about two weeks ago when I began feeling hypo again. I gained a few pounds back in less than a week, started feeling unmotivated, tired, constipated, muscle pain- the “normal” hypo bouquet came back again. Got my levels checked last week and turned out my t3 is low!

My dr. reduced Levothyroxine by 25 mcg and added 5 mcgs Liothyronine for t3 substitution. I took my first t3 pill today. From the previous posts I gathered the dilemma many people have when weighing pros and cons of the combo treatment. Sounds like in my case, since t4 obviously isn’t properly converted into t3, I don’t have a choice but to give combo therapy a try.

I was wondering if anyone else was in the same situation after RAI and if they could share their success stories. Will adding t3 hurt t4 levels since t4 med has been lowered by 25 mcg? How long will it take to adjust to this treatment and will I feel better on the combo treatmant as opposed to t4 treatment alone?

Thanks so much! This is a great forum and I enjoy being a part of this great group!

~Maria.

[Bobbi]

#1173969

There are difficulties adding T3, because it is immediately available to your body’s cells once it enters the blood, even if you do not need it at that point in time. T4 is sort of “timed release” T3– it must be converted to T3 before the cells can use it. So. When I was put on an additional T3, I found that I had to cut the dose in half, otherwise my heart raced. I was taking half of the smallest possible dose of T3, in other words. I mention this because you may find that you need to work with your doctor to make adjustments.

I wasn’t taking it for weight issues — I took it because I had brain fog, and the additional T3 did seem to work for a while to alleviate that. But then I began to have adverse consequences (heart issues) to even that small dose, and I had to quit taking it. I was convinced that I would go into brain fog again, but I did not. So I am not sure how much of what I felt was “placebo effect” and how much help the additional, short-term boost of T3 actually did. Suffice to say, I have not taken the T3 supplementation in eight or so years, and am doing fine. The body is way more complicated than this “amateur” can figure out.

Like everything else involved with replacement therapy, it takes weeks at a single dose to be able to determine whether or not the dose is appropriate. So expect to have to make adjustments over a period of three to six months. You may be pleasantly surprised, and things will go smoothly without additional adjustments.

[mawahit]

#1173970

Thanks, Bobbi!

My dr. prescribed additional T3 medication because my actual t3 hormone was low on t4 only therapy. This is why I began to feel hypo again. Quick weight gain after steady loss throughout taking t4 while both t3 and t4 levels were normalize is just an evidence of being hypo again.

I know what you mean when you are talking about the immediate release of t3 into the blood stream. So far I have been feeling euphoric somewhat, like after drinking a couple of glasses of wine- but nothing else. But it has been just a few hours since I took my t3 pill.

When you are saying that you began taking t3 for brain fog- were your t3 levels normal or were they actually low? How long have you been taking t3 before your heart started to race? Did your t3/t4 levels increase to the hyper levels when you were on t3? Sorry to be asking all these questions, just trying to understand.

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