Question About T4 And Thyroid

[sweetpeat]

Oh, it definitely meant that:)! But I felt more HYPOthyroid, not HYPERthyroid. How do you lower your dosage by just 10mcg? Are you getting compounded meds?

Yeah I got what you meant. Being hyper can sometimes have the same symptoms as hypo, such as the crushing fatigue you mentioned. The difference for me was that my temps and pulse were stellar. But it was pushing my system too much.

I adjust my dose by splitting the pills. I also take some NDT which gives a little bit of t3 as well. I don't need much t3 in the summer. I'm currently taking a quarter grain NDT, plus my t4. That will be changing in the next month or so. as the days get shorter.

 

[Caitlin]

Yeah I got what you meant. Being hyper can sometimes have the same symptoms as hypo, such as the crushing fatigue you mentioned. The difference for me was that my temps and pulse were stellar. But it was pushing my system too much.

I adjust my dose by splitting the pills. I also take some NDT which gives a little bit of t3 as well. I don't need much t3 in the summer. I'm currently taking a quarter grain NDT, plus my t4. That will be changing in the next month or so. as the days get shorter.

Interesting. What is NDT?

 

[Caitlin]

Interesting. What is NDT?

Is it Armour? I have never tried Armour, but I just bought some Cynomel and Cynoplus today. What type of T4 do you take? The generic?

 

[sweetpeat]

Interesting. What is NDT?

Oh sorry, that stands for Natural Desiccated Thyroid. Usually made from pig thyroid. Armour is a brand name that many people know, though there are others. It contains both t4 and t3.

 

[Caitlin]

Do you use Armour, or another brand? I ask because I remember hearing a few years ago that Armour switched up their formula and people were really disappointed.

 

[sweetpeat]

Is it Armour? I have never tried Armour, but I just bought some Cynomel and Cynoplus today. What type of T4 do you take? The generic?

Cynoplus is like synthetic NDT. I take t4 that I get from Mexico. I'm not sure if it's generic. It's called Eutirox.

 

[sweetpeat]

Do you use Armour, or another brand? I ask because I remember hearing a few years ago that Armour switched up their formula and people were really disappointed.

No, I use Thiroyd from Thailand.

 

[Caitlin]

Cynoplus is like synthetic NDT. I take t4 that I get from Mexico. I'm not sure if it's generic. It's called Eutirox.

Ah, gotcha. I used Eutirox when I was in Peru. Thanks!

 

[Caitlin]

Ah, gotcha. I used Eutirox when I was in Peru. Thanks!

Also, do you mind me asking what you consider to be stellar temps and pulses?

 

[sweetpeat]

Also, do you mind me asking what you consider to be stellar temps and pulses?

Pretty much the Peat standard: morning basal temps 97.8 to 98.2, afternoon temps 99ish. Pulse 85-90. Do you check your temps at all? It's a good self diagnostic for the state of your metabolism.

 

[Caitlin]

Pretty much the Peat standard: morning basal temps 97.8 to 98.2, afternoon temps 99ish. Pulse 85-90. Do you check your temps at all? It's a good self diagnostic for the state of your metabolism.

Yes, but I have just started. I was doing it a few weeks ago but I didn't think my thermometer was accurate (I was really low -- like 94 and 95), so I bought a new one. The last few days my morning basal temperatures have been between 96.1 and 97.6. Pulse in the low to mid 70s. As the day progresses my temp gets into the high 97s and low 98s. At 4pm today it was 98.6, but that was a first that it ever reached that high!

 

[sweetpeat]

Yes, but I have just started. I was doing it a few weeks ago but I didn't think my thermometer was accurate (I was really low -- like 94 and 95), so I bought a new one. The last few days my morning basal temperatures have been between 96.1 and 97.6. Pulse in the low to mid 70s. As the day progresses my temp gets into the high 97s and low 98s. At 4pm today it was 98.6, but that was a first that it ever reached that high!

Little victories

 

[LuckyCat]

Caitlin - I have the same problem that you do! Feel super hypo when my dose is increased. I feel better when lowering it, but then my TSH is high, go figure. It’s like I react backwards to thyroid meds.

 

[Caitlin]

Caitlin - I have the same problem that you do! Feel super hypo when my dose is increased. I feel better when lowering it, but then my TSH is high, go figure. It’s like I react backwards to thyroid meds.

Very interesting! thanks for sharing.

 

[tara]

Hi CAitlin, found Amazoniac had requoted these from Peat:

"When people have suffered for a long time with a low thyroid they are likely to have extremely high adrenalin and cortisol levels and that causes them to turn T4 into reverse T3 blocking the actual active T3 hormone and then if they accumulate more and more T4 that will interfere competitively with the little bit of T3 that they do have, so they can exaggerate the state of their hypothyroidism if they’re in that extreme stressed state."

"[..]the standard textbook idea is that T3 is 4 times more powerful than T4 but really if your liver is good you can get 100% of the benefit out of T4 and if you are a woman under stress with high estrogen your liver isn’t going to convert any of it to the right active hormone, and the more you take – I’ve known of one woman who was hospitalized and got more and more hypothyroid the higher they raised her thyroxine dose - and as soon as they gave her T3 she came right out of the myxedema coma, but I have seen people in less extreme states who got more and more depressed or psychotic or whatever when they increased their thyroxine dose."

 

[LuckyCat]

Tara - this is excellent. Does anyone know how to treat this condition? Would just T3 only be the remedy? Has Ray mentioned how to deal with this?