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Trying t3 only thyroid treatment...who's been there?

CW1

Messages
23
@CW1 maybe the issue is your adrenals are exhausted, which is why you were only able to tolerate the t3 for a bit. here is an excerpt from the Dr. Rind site: "Note that if the adrenals are too weak to handle the desiccated thyroid (Rx) then we often see an initial response of better energy and fewer symptoms followed by a later ‘crash’ in which energy can drop to even lower levels than before the desiccated thyroid support. Additionally, other symptoms of adrenal stress such as anxiety, insomnia, and palpitations (racing heart) can then occur. The same can be seen with fast release T3 (e.g. Cytomel) or with slow release T3."
taken from: http://www.drrind.com/therapies/metabolic-therapy

or the issue can be what i wrote in previous posts.

I think my doc may agree w you about the adrenals. I'm off the t3 for now trying to make them stronger first. Thanks for the help!
 

Misfit Toy

Senior Member
Messages
4,178
Location
USA
I tried slow release T3 and felt so hypo on it. OMG. I was slurring words. I am back on T3 only and at first felt awful...I mean, awful. No sleep, etc. This has been the craziest ride of my life. Somehow I have adjusted to 50 mcg of T3 but need to go up. I have no thyroid so you need more T3. I tried NDT this week and felt awful. Everytime I took it I wanted to sleep...then sneezing. I have no idea what goes on, but me and anything with T4 do not jive at all.
 

mermaid

Senior Member
Messages
714
Location
UK
Hi again @Misfit Toy I just reread some of these posts on here. It had been happy days for me on T3 only but not any more (more on that below). I so hope it works out for you this time. I presume you are getting some decent advice to help you with what you are doing?

Since this earlier discussion on here I have stopped my T3 only, even though I was feeling really quite good on it. Not sure yet if that was the right decision. My new Endocrinologist freaked out (as they do over here in the UK) at my low TSH and said I should reduce my dose. I was only on 55mcg so not high at all. I got down to 45mcg and was Okish after a few weeks, but when he got me to reduce further to 40mcg I began to have severe pain in my body. At that point he left his job to go elsewhere, so no chance to even discuss more with him and decided to have a little rest from Endos and go it alone for a while.

Even worse, I had a DEXA scan at his suggestion and found I had osteoporosis, and no idea if the T3 had caused it (having had a heel ultrasound test only 6 years before when I was on T4 and had low risk of osteoporosis!).

So it was at this point I decided to try out NDT, but while I get the T3 free from the NHS I have to pay for this (affordable though currently). I am getting help from someone on a Thyroid forum who believes that I have a chronic issue with my adrenals (which I have tried to address in the past), so am trying a different tack on that score now. I am 4 weeks in re the NDT and slowly getting there, though have had a run of health issues that make it hard to check out properly with what is happening.

I know you are in a much more complex situation than I am there, due to having no thyroid. That said, I don't know how much of mine has been destroyed after being 20years + hypothyroid. I gather that the antibody attacks destroy it in the end. Maybe not too much there now...........
 

Paralee

Senior Member
Messages
571
Location
USA
CW1, I've known several on T3 only with great success. I couldn't. I can't take T3 only. I do well on the natural dessicated thyroid, though (not Armour).
Some people have a hard time getting their T3 to work anyway, I don't, T3 is supposed to be about 4 (?) times as strong per mcg as T4, I think it's more like 10 for me. I just almost overreact to it. And I can't take a synthetic, although I can take a synthetic T4. We're all so different.