How Much Thyroid To Take

[Steve]

So after a couple months taking 2.5 grains of Westhroid Pure absolutely nothing is happening with my temperature & pulse. Right now at 2 pm my temp is 97.9 & my pulse is 56.

My biggest problem is this dizzy/woozy head that starts about an hour after waking. It makes me feel fatigued & sluggish. If I lay down & rest the woozy head/fatigue will just stick. If I go out & do something a majority of it will fade away but often return in the evening. A heavy weight workout will make the fatigue go away for a while.

Food, including sugar has no effect on the head. Coffee vs no coffee has no effect. I'm not sure what causes it.

Should I just keep taking more & more thyroid until something happens?

Current:
TSH: 0.04.
Free T3: 3.79 (2.5-3.9).
Free T4: 0.81 (0.6-1.2)

Prior to Thyroid Meds:
TSH: 3.13
Free T3: 2.98
Free T4: 0.97

 

[Queequeg]

i think you may have overdone it with such a low TSH. I am not sure what you should do but hopefully this bump will get you an answer from a resident thyroid expert.

 

[Steve]

i think you may have overdone it with such a low TSH. I am not sure what you should do but hopefully this bump will get you an answer from a resident thyroid expert.

I can't figure it out. If I overdid it then why on earth is my temp & pulse still so low? My pulse is only in the 50's as I sit here.

The only thing I can think of is that I probably have "blocking" TSI antibodies, because I went extremely hyper a couple years ago prior to going hypo. Dr thinks it was autoimmune Grave's Disease or something similar since there were some TSI antibodies present. Apparently they can turn from "stimulating" to "blocking".

How on earth do I fix this mess?

 

[marikay]

Hi. I just listened to Ray on RayPeatClips on Youtube. He mentions low protein intake as a major reason a person my not respond to thyroid. Are you getting 100 grams of good animal protein each day? Ray says at least 80 grams is essential. Just a thought.

 

[Steve]

Hi. I just listened to Ray on RayPeatClips on Youtube. He mentions low protein intake as a major reason a person my not respond to thyroid. Are you getting 100 grams of good animal protein each day? Ray says at least 80 grams is essential. Just a thought.

Yes, I'm right around 100 or over just about every day.
Eating around 2,500 calories each day. I'm 6'1'', 193 lbs.
Look slim, but I definitely have excess belly fat.

Looking over the past few days I've been eating eggs, oranges, orange juice, pineapple, grass-fed milk, grass-fed beef, raw carrot salad, rice noodles, rice, potatoes, coconut oil, gluten-free bread occasionally, chicken breast, coffee with cream, string cheese, shrimp, 1 beer per day.

Looks like I stick around 35% fat in my diet lately. Not sure what to do. I'd be willing to pay for a ton of labs to figure this out, but I'm not sure what else to get. I've already gotten a ton of them.

 

[marikay]

hmm… have you tried other brands of thyroid? Or maybe the synthetics? Cynomel/Cynoplus works really really well for me. TyroMix worked too.

Also, do you keep a glass of OJ by your bed at night? You could try drinking that before getting out of bed. That seems to help me even hours later with blood sugar.

Is 2,500 calories really enough for a guy your size? I'm getting close to that and I'm a lot littler than you.

You don't mention any endurance exercise in your post. I'm assuming you know how bad that is for you.

What time of day are you having your one beer? Is it close to bedtime? If so, maybe move it back to early evening after some food.

For me, aspirin and thyroid are da bomb. :) Maybe taking 1/2 a 325mg tablet with the thyroid might bring your temps up.

 

[Steve]

I haven't tried any other brands of thyroid. Maybe I'll do that next. I was thinking of getting another adrenal panel also. My cortisol has been up & down & all around. Been a while since I've checked it.

I tried ice cream right before bed & drinking milk upon waking, but I didn't notice any affect. Have not tried orange juice.

I probably eat closer to 2,700 to feel comfortably full. I would say 2,500 is about as low as I go.
I do a weight workout twice a week. The other days I mostly walk. I ride a bike if it's warm enough.
I hike or bike on the weekend if warm enough, but I haven't done anything very long in quite some time as I don't have the energy for it.

Beer is usually an evening thing, but I'm going to stop it for a while once the fridge is empty. Just a couple to go.
I've been taking 1 or 2 aspirin each week, so I could experiment with that as you mentioned.

I've also greatly reduced my stress level which was probably what helped to start this mess 2 years ago.
Thanks for the ideas. I just downloaded Kate Deering's book, so maybe that'll give me some more good information.
I sure am getting sick of reading though !

 

[chompie]

@Steve did you solve your dizzy problem? If so, what was the solution/culprit?

 

[Steve]

@Steve did you solve your dizzy problem? If so, what was the solution/culprit?

It has gotten better. Some days are still awful, but there are a lot of better days now as far as energy and dizziness.
I haven't done anything special. I am guessing that being able to work from home ever since the Covid thing started probably helped.
I used to get completely trashed from social anxiety at work, and now I get to avoid that except for a ton of online meetings.

Other than that I've been lifting weights consistently as all I have to do is walk to the garage and force myself to move the weights. Some days it is absolute torture getting started, but after a while I feel better and the good feeling continues that night and into the next day.

I also eat in a pretty healthy manner just about every day. I eat too much junk some days, but I try to stick to somewhat healthy junk. I also drink pretty much every day, but usually just one beer or one glass of wine.

Another change is that my thyroid dosage is much lower than what I used to take. Currently taking 100 mcg of T4, and 2.5 mcg of T3, sometimes another 2.5 mcg in the evening or if I feel heart palpitations. I have never seen any difference with my temp and pulse no matter how much thyroid I take, so I'm not sure what the deal is with that. However when I was on a higher dose, I do think my pulse would go too high, and I'd get an uncomfortable feeling, when doing something such as climbing stairs. Sitting still though, it would just go back into the 60's.

That's all I can think of. I take thyroid, 5 mg DHEA, D3, K2.

 

[chompie]

Have you tracked your blood pressure? And have you ever tried taking famotidine or cyproheptadine alongside thyroid?

 

[Steve]

Have you tracked your blood pressure? And have you ever tried taking famotidine or cyproheptadine alongside thyroid?

Never tracked it. Checked it once in a while and it was pretty close to normal except slightly high when I'm at the doctor's office.
Never tried famotidine or cypro with thyroid. I have some Pepcid in the house which is famotidine I believe. What is that supposed to do as far as thyroid goes?

 

[chompie]

I never got my heart rate to respond to thyroid until using some type of antihistamine before bed. Not sure why.

Using one of those made a big difference. Something like 10 mg famotidine or 2mg ciproheptadine