New To Thyroid - Help Required To Understand Effects Seen

[Spartan300]

I won't go into detail but having tried diet & supplements for more than 3 years for classic hypo symptoms I decided I would give thyroid meds a whirl.

A couple of months back I tried 1 drop of T3 (Tyronene) before bed & it was great for 2 days with improvement in temps & libido but after that existing insomnia got worse so I stopped.

Around 6 weeks ago I decided to give NDT (Tyromax) a go and got to around 1 grain/day but it didn't seem to make a tangible difference.
Two weeks ago I stopped the NDT & retried the T3. This time I saw a real difference in mood, libido & daytime temps. Waking temps remained similar (35.9 - 36.2). I carried on at 1 drop with breakfast & 1 drop with dinner.
For the first time in years I felt different, more resilient, cheerful & gave much less of a sh1t about things that have bothered me for a long time. Almost bulletproof.

However..... I had an unexpected stressful event last weekend which coincided with a late night & several drinks.
Since that night things reverted to the my previous state of mood, libido etc.

So what happened? Why did the T3 stop working? Did the NDT 'prep' make T3 work this time around?
Did the stressful weekend 'use up' this buffer? Does this suggest that a T4/T3 combo like Tyromix might suit me more?

I'm going to add back in a few drops of NDT and see what happens.

 

[Goat-e]

Best advice with NDT is to not keep chopping and changing; take a starting dose for two weeks then raise by half a grain if needed. Wait two weeks (monitoring temp and pulse daily) on new dose. Rinse repeat.

I played around with Thyroid doses too much at the start and it was only adopting the above method that I was able to reach a stable and lasting improvement in health.

Micro-managing at the start will just throw an unbalanced (ie hypo) body into more disarray.

 

[Spartan300]

Thanks Goat-e. That's what I did for a month with NDT. Started with 1 drop 3xper day for 2 weeks, then went up to 2 drops 3xper day but didn't feel any effects after a month.

So are you saying you would just have kept upping the dose every two weeks until effects were noticed? I've read that the T4 can build up with NDT if conversion to T3 is poor & leads to worsening of symptoms which is why I tried the T3.
Just strange that T3 seemed to work for me after 'priming' with NDT where it hadn't previously.

 

[Goat-e]

Just strange that T3 seemed to work for me after 'priming' with NDT where it hadn't previously

I'm just guessing here but if you'd primed with NDT, then it could be the T3 got things moving and then you ran out of the T4 you'd built up.

What was the total number of drops per day you reached with Tyromax and how long did you take that for?

 

[Spartan300]

The most Tyromax I took was 6 drops/day for 2 weeks.

For info, thyroid test results (from a couple of years back):

Serum TSH level 2.32 miu/L [0.27 - 4.2]
Serum free T4 level 15.4 pmol/L [12.0 - 22.0]

 

[Goat-e]

My thyroid numbers were all in range but I still needed to take 8 drops of Tyromax twice a day (so 16 in total). Anything less I get freezing cold feet/hands, low mood etc

 

[tara]

If peopel are borderline/deficient in important nutrients, addig thyroid supp might push to deficiency. For instance. I think Peat's said it's common for people to need extra magnesium when starting thyroid supp.

 

[Spartan300]

Thanks @tara that sounds feasible, I've been taking some magnesium for a long time but it's difficult to know if it's enough so I'll try using more for a while.

 

[yeggim]

Your experience mirrors mine to a tee. Started with Tyronene. Was cautious at first and then lost interest and dosed sporadically. Bought Tyromax. Gradually increased dose till shortness of breath. I felt it but temps did not increase that much. Again lost interest and dosed sporadically.

About a year later my son sent me some Cynomel and Cynoplus from Mexico. I decided to mimic a time release protocol with T3. I think it was @ecstatichamster that brought it up here. Took a quarter Cynomel (6mcg) every 3 to 4 hours. Did this for three weeks and stopped for two weeks. Nothing earth shattering. Started again and kept it up for two weeks before stopping again. Boom. Temps were up, sometimes up to 99°. Felt great. Temps stayed good for months. They're starting to be less consistent a bit this winter. When my temps start to flag, a quarter Cynoplus (30 mcgs T4--7 mcgs T3) at night every now and then keeps them normal and\or near normal. Still feel great.

 

[Spartan300]

@yeggim thanks for your info.

So the cynomel worked the 2nd time where it hadn't the first?

Also you mentioned 6mg every 3-4hrs? Assuming you did this for all waking hours?
And then stopped after 2 weeks and the improvements you'd seen remained?

 

[yeggim]

@yeggim thanks for your info.

So the cynomel worked the 2nd time where it hadn't the first?

Also you mentioned 6mg every 3-4hrs? Assuming you did this for all waking hours?
And then stopped after 2 weeks and the improvements you'd seen remained?

Yeah but 6 mcg (1/4 Cynomel tablet) not 6 mg every 3 to 4 hours. Anyways, the first round of three weeks, I was mixing in some Cynoplus (1/4 to half tablet) which is a mixture of T3 and T4. Second round of two weeks was all T3.

I think the two week break is just as important. It took about a week after the last go round of T3 for the temps to rise. I didn't notice any increased energy but stomach seemed flatter. Lost 18 lbs since then. I mainly eat when hungry now. Usually 2 big meals a day and a snack or two.

 

[Spartan300]

@yeggim sorry, typo on my part, I meant to write mcg. So somewhere around 30mcg/day T3 only for a couple of weeks and you saw temps increase a week after stopping rather than during the dosing?

Interesting

 

[Spartan300]

Quick update & seeking advice.

After around 1 grain/day of NDT I switched to 8mcg T3 twice/day. After seeing some nice benefits to start with the effects I listed at the beginning of the thread appear to have fallen away to an extent although not entirely. After a week or two I hit 37/37.1 on occasion mid afternoon but I've not seen that once this past week.

Waking temp last two days have been 36/96.8 which is pretty much where they've been for as long as I've been measuring temps over the last 3 years.
I had bacon & eggs for breakfast yesterday & after (before any T3) temp was 36.8 - did the same this morning and after same breakfast temp was 36.4 - disappointing & confusing...

I'm sat here now, well fed, mid afternoon & temp is 36.6. Mood & libido are clearly very closely coupled to temp so not feeling as good as I was a month ago.

So do I up the dosage or accept that thyroid isn't working for me currently for some reason?

 

[Spartan300]

Any experts out there?

Sleep not great last night. Waking temp this morning 36.2, ate breakfast (milk/OJ/nectarine/buttered toasted teacake) with coffee, temp after breakfast 36.3.
Took 8mcg T3 & 30min later temp is 36.1.

So frustrating because the way I feel when I can get temps up is night & day different in terms of mood, sleep & libido.

 

[Forumer1]

Any experts out there?

Sleep not great last night. Waking temp this morning 36.2, ate breakfast (milk/OJ/nectarine/buttered toasted teacake) with coffee, temp after breakfast 36.3.
Took 8mcg T3 & 30min later temp is 36.1.

So frustrating because the way I feel when I can get temps up is night & day different in terms of mood, sleep & libido.

Damn. Sorry to hear that man. How are you doing these days? Did you figure out what you needed to do?

 

[Spartan300]

Hi @Forumer1, I continued with the T3 for a few weeks but never really achieved what I'd hoped so I switched to synthetic T4/T3 (tyromix) 2 to 3 drops spaced over a day which seemed to work a little better but my temperatures have not really improved very much if at all.

My mood seems to be a little better when on a little thyroid but that's about the only benefit I've seen. Insomnia, exercise tolerance, libido, body composition etc, no change. I've been working more on digestion/liver health with asprin, K2, B1, B3, B7 but not seen any difference there either.
Glucose metabolism seems like a confusing subject & there has been a lot of detailed discussion lately on this forum but as is often the case there's conflicting advice. Some say no starch, some say starch is necessary with hypothyroid symptoms......