[Anonymous]

#1053710

Dear All,

I have been looking for time release T3 for quite some time and know that
it is extremely difficult to find. Here is a compounding pharmacy which
makes it. It is significantly more expensive (about $50/month rather than
$12/month), but some of you may still be interested.

Cytomel has been the only thing that has made me feel better since I
started feeling worse 2 weeks after beginning treatment for Graves’
Disease 5 years ago. I think I will do even better with more uniform T3
levels during the course of the day.

—

Wellness Health & Pharmacy
2800 South 18th Street
Homewood, AL 35209-2510
(800)227-2627
(800)369-0302 FAX

[Anonymous]

#1156869

Hi Feeling better!

I am not feeling better and desperately want too!! Did your
Endo perscribe the T3 for you? How did you happen on to this?
I have not really felt good since 1994 when I was diagnosed.
I have “good” days, but mostly just “ok” days. Any info would
be greatly appreciated. Thanks….Carolyn

[Anonymous]

#1156870

Hi Carolyn,

Yes, my endocrinologist prescribed the cytomel (T3). It is simply the
more active thyroid hormone. Traditional treatment, of course, is T4 and
traditonal thinking is that T4 is converted into T3 so that giving T3
is unnecessary. Well, I had no response to T4 and since all my thyroid
tests were “normal,” I spent four years looking for non-thyroid answers.
All tests were negative.

I finally asked him once more in the spring, “Are you sure you have never
had a patient that began feeling worse during their first few weeks of
treatment for Graves’? The answer was… “No, I did have one patient who
really began feeling worse. The cytomel helped. We can try that.”

He claims he has only had one such patient, and since he has probably
seen 2000+ thyroid patients over the past 10 or so years, I take it that
either T4 works fine for most patients or they simply do not mention to
him that they are feeling worse after treatment.

I assume you saw my original post on 06/24/97 10:51:30? Ignore the P.S.
I am checking the message board every few days. I have also posted a
few responses to the board since then.

So, to make a long story a little shorter, I had to pursue other thyroid
options and in the end, found one that helped.

You shouldn’t have too much trouble getting your endo to prescribe it,
unless s/he only does things “by the book” (which, of course, didn’t work
for me).

Feeling Better

P.S. – So I had two months of feeling great. The past couple of weeks I
did have some trouble which I eventually attributed to levels falling off
in the late evening and more severely by morning. (Relevant info: T3 has
a half life of 0.75 days, I was taking 12.5 mcg at 9am and 12/5 mcg at
4pm.) so I have recently taken an extra 6 to 12 mcg around 9pm and have
been doing better. The reason why I was avoiding an evening dose before
was because it can make falling asleep a bit tougher. I now find it worth
any increased difficulty.

Hence I expect my final dosing to be approximately:

9am – 12 mcg sustained release T3, synthroid (standard dose)
3pm – 12 mcg sustained release T3
9pm – 6 or 12 mcg sustained release T3

[Anonymous]

#1156871

I have the same question that Carolyn asked. I can’t remember the
last time I felt better for any significant amount of time.
I would appreciate some more info also.

Thanks, Shannon.

[Anonymous]

#1156872

Thank-you feeling better!

I think that now is the time to change endocrinologists.
My current doc has sort of a “live-with-it” attitude.
Well, I can’t just live with it! Time to go doctor
shopping….thanks again. Carolyn

[Author]

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