T3...Enough?

[stt816]

Hi. I'm a 23 year old male, very healthy workout very frequently, actually a personal trainer.

I got diagnosed with hyothyroidism and have been taking synthroid 75 for about 7 weeks now. I complained to my endo that I don't feel any better. Still feeling exhausted, really wanting to go on armour, from all the great things I've heard. She instead gives me Liothyronine (t3) but only at 5mcg. Is that enough? I feel like she just gave it to me to shut me up. Just really wanting to feel better

[flyingfool]

When adding in Cytomel, it is very common to start off with 5 mcg.  

T3 medication is about 4 times more effective or potent than T4.  As your  body directly uses the T3, whereas the T4 takes time to ramp up in your blood and must be converted into T3 before ultimately used by your body.

I agree with Barb135 that the starting or intial dose of T4 is almost NEVER the optimum dose.  It is best to start low and SLOWLY work your way up.  With T4 you need to wait about 6 weeks before the next test and then determine with symptoms and the blood labs show whether another increase and what amount of that increase.  But every six weeks seems like an eternity when you are not feeling well and only want to feel better.  But that is just the way Hypo works.

Going too fast too soon is FAR worse in almost every case.  Slow and steady wins the race.

[Barb135]

7 weeks is not a very long time to start feeling much better on Synthroid, because it takes 4-6 weeks for it to reach full potential in your body, then more time for you to get well after that... The initial dose of thyroid medication is rarely the final dose.

That said, it's impossible for us to know if 5 mcg is enough T3 or not...

The first thing we have to know is what your most recent actual thyroid hormone levels are.  Your doctor should have tested Free T3, Free T4 and TSH, prior to your diagnosis of hypothyroidism and again prior to prescribing the Liothyronine...

If you'll please post your thyroid hormone levels, and be sure to include reference ranges, that will give us some insight into your situation.  

Is exhaustion the only symptom you have?

[gimel]

Please post your last set of thyroid related test results and reference ranges shown on the lab report, so that we can give you an informed answer.  Also, please tell us about any symptoms you have besides being exhausted.

[dgmootry]

Hi well I was on Armour and yes for me it was much better then t4 but then I went one step further and decided after reading about naturthroid because it has less fillers and dyes then Armour I switched. If you do get on Amour depending how high the dose, you'll want to divide it up I take half the dose in the morning and the other half at around 3 otherwise you run out during the day and your exhausted. Also when you get your labs checked never take it before I always try and get my labs done early in the morning and I hold off taking my morning pill till after the labs, well good luck