Just out of interest, what are you on now and did the T3 significantly reduce your antibodies/TSH etc? CAn the body (thyroid) recover after lithium without intervention? Do you STILL have a pounding heart?
I don't have to take any thyroid medication now because I recovered from the hypothyroidism. This was the only time in my life I've ever been hypothyroid. I don't recall the exact date T3 was prescribed, but I had to fight to get it. It could have been started April or May 2012.
I felt very cold when I became hypothyroid. The only thing that felt good was a warm bed, with the electric mattress pad turned on. I thought the fatigue from ME/CFS was bad. This was worse. It was brick wall worse. I was getting up at 3 p.m. instead the usual 10 a.m. I felt disoriented when getting up at 10 a.m; it felt like I was getting up at 4 a.m.
Jan. 26, 2012: Noticed much worse fatigue after increasing lithium dose. TSH was ordered and it was 8.75. Free T4 was 0.95 NG/DL (0.9 - 1.8 NG/DL ref range).
Feb 2, 2012: Doctor prescribed T4.
March 2012: The T4 isn't doing sh*t.
March 15 2012: TSH is now 2.78 (0.3 - 5.5 uIU/mL ref range).
4/26/12: TSH 3.19, free T4 1.0 (0.9 - 1.8 NG/DL ref range)
5/4/12: TSH 1.94; free T3 2.8 pg/mL ( 2.4 - 4.4 pg/mL ref range)
5/22/12 Ferritin 28 ng/mL (13 - 150 ng/mL ref range). A ferritin of at least 50 is necessary for conversion of T4 to T3.
July 2012: Heart started pounding for a few hours whenever I took T3 or small amount of venlafaxine (I'd been able to tolerate large doses of venlafaxine very well in the past).
9/12/12: Ferritin 41 ng/ml; TSH is 0.84 uIU/mL; thyroid medication stopped.
10/5/12: Pounding heart is now 24/7. Beta blocker (atenolol) started to treat pounding heart. I STILL have a pounding heart, four years later.
11/5/12 TSH is 1.4
Here's part of a note I wrote to my doctor June 6, 2012:
"I asked for two things that are now helping: Cytomel (T3) and a ferritin check. And now I'm doing better. I can't say for sure, but it seems that taking the iron supplement has reduced my need for some of the T3 I was taking. Prior to that, the T3 did its job very well by keeping me alert."
Btw, I took Floradix iron supplement, not the god-awful iron pills I've heard so much about.
As far as you trying T3 on your own without a doctor's order or without an elevated TSH, it's hard to say if you will see much benefit. Have you had your TSH and/or free T4 level checked recently? If your TSH is elevated you might stand a chance of benefiting from thyroid replacement therapy. When I was taking T3 it got me back to my usual pre-hypothyroid level of functioning, but taking more T3 after I'd reached that point didn't give me more energy.
I don't know if the body can recover from lithium without intervention. I think the best way to find more about that would be to google "lithium induced hypothyroidism." There are many published articles and discussions.