T3 Making Me Tired,foggy

[Tristan Loscha]

I am going to try and dose 4 mcg after a big meal instead of a small meal - today I had a small breakfast and 4 mcg then 2 hours later 4 mcg then boom I felt complexly zoned out and spaced out- I was just going thru all the past posts and I have always assumed I had low cortisol just because of years of fasting/dieting/ heavy consumption of stimulants without enough nutrients and calories and people have mentioned when they tried thyroid with bad adrenals or low cortisol rather they've experienced this type of feeling.

I think today I will completely stop the thyroid since I just want to snap out of this state and tomorrow after a big breakfast I want to try out a small dose 4mcg or even smaller to see its effects.

From what Ive read t3 doesn't shut down the thyroid unless in very high doses but would a small dose work in conjunction with whatever thyroid my body produces naturally or should I consume what my body should naturally produce in a healthy state ie 4mcg per hour so 96 mcg/day

What was your Diet background like,complete SAD Junkfood-Diet,or Bodybuilding Type,good nutrition in the past or bad.

 

[Sagitarrius90]

My diet now is very "peat" I guess you could say. Any sort of fats I do have are mostly saturated but I follow more of a high carb low fat moderate protein diet

Most of my carbs come from fruit, skim milk, protein comes from tuna, gelatin, chicken breast. I supplement with b vitamins, zinc/copper, magnesium at night calcium during the day. Take vitamin A 10,000 iu after dinner, vitamin D in the AM.

Calories right now are roughly around maintnenace since I am not working out so around 2400 calories (very sedentary)

@redsun my ferratin is pretty low right now its around 40 - so you are saying increasing iron will help me produce more cortisol? Maybe I haven't researched enough but I didn't know that... I actually stopped eating chicken and meat for 2-3 months with already low ferratin and started to feel worse so now that I am eating chicken again daily I am starting to feel a bit better but I will try and get that up a bit.

I think my game plan is today I am stopping thyroid complelty and tomorrow 4mcg after my breakfast and taking that maybe 2-3 times throughout the day like ray suggested in his email exchange. Today having a lot of t3 which was stupid probably caused me to feel the way I did.

It was a mixed bag today- I felt great mentally but I was exhausted and felt anxious thinking how I could function like that in everyday life - as we all know with the coronavirus the majority of us just stay at home so feeling this way wasn't the end of the world but I couldn't function like that at my job or just with friends I felt like I couldn't even talk that's how exhausted I felt... starting to feel better now though

 

[Sagitarrius90]

Does anyone know though if taking low doses of t3 will work in conjunction with whatever my thyroid is naturally producing or will it shut off my thyroid and totally depend on what I am taking exogenously? Based off of reading everyone's post and rays email's taking t3 will actually help lowering rt3 and help my thyroid run better.

 

[redsun]

My diet now is very "peat" I guess you could say. Any sort of fats I do have are mostly saturated but I follow more of a high carb low fat moderate protein diet

Most of my carbs come from fruit, skim milk, protein comes from tuna, gelatin, chicken breast. I supplement with b vitamins, zinc/copper, magnesium at night calcium during the day. Take vitamin A 10,000 iu after dinner, vitamin D in the AM.

Calories right now are roughly around maintnenace since I am not working out so around 2400 calories (very sedentary)

@redsun my ferratin is pretty low right now its around 40 - so you are saying increasing iron will help me produce more cortisol? Maybe I haven't researched enough but I didn't know that... I actually stopped eating chicken and meat for 2-3 months with already low ferratin and started to feel worse so now that I am eating chicken again daily I am starting to feel a bit better but I will try and get that up a bit.

I think my game plan is today I am stopping thyroid complelty and tomorrow 4mcg after my breakfast and taking that maybe 2-3 times throughout the day like ray suggested in his email exchange. Today having a lot of t3 which was stupid probably caused me to feel the way I did.

It was a mixed bag today- I felt great mentally but I was exhausted and felt anxious thinking how I could function like that in everyday life - as we all know with the coronavirus the majority of us just stay at home so feeling this way wasn't the end of the world but I couldn't function like that at my job or just with friends I felt like I couldn't even talk that's how exhausted I felt... starting to feel better now though

Well chicken isnt too great of a source of iron but the increased animal protein can be overall beneficial for the energy system regardless. Yes cortisol will increase with iron. So for actual appreciable iron you need red meat like beef steak. The issue is it is basically impossible to raise iron off of iron in foods especially foods we eat today, its only good at maintaining iron levels. Even steak you would need to eat upwards of 1lb a day for a very long time then maybe. Other foods that would be able to actually raise iron is spleen, blood sausage, possibly liver as the extra copper would help iron absorption.

Does anyone know though if taking low doses of t3 will work in conjunction with whatever my thyroid is naturally producing or will it shut off my thyroid and totally depend on what I am taking exogenously? Based off of reading everyone's post and rays email's taking t3 will actually help lowering rt3 and help my thyroid run better.

Yeh T3 will lower rt3 but there's nothing to stop rt3 from going back up if you were to then stop T3. Your thyroid quickly responds to stopping t3 or so I have heard. If internal T3 production lowers it should go back up relatively quickly when you stop regardless back to your baseline.

 

[Sagitarrius90]

@redsun would supplemental iron help in this case? I take zinc/copper together in one supplement but yeah its concerning that my ferratin was 40 and I read chris Masterjohn said a level of 50-70/80 is optimal (it was somewhere within that range) and there are a variety of factors that cause high or low iron but I know low iron goes in unison with being hypothyroid.

Even with following a peat diet I bet addressing nutritional deficiencies like this would help immensely so I want to try increasing ferratin. As well I'm on the fence with supplementing with t3 but if I do I'm going to be conservative and follow Ray's advice in his email exchanges ie 1-4mcg every few hours and go from there.

If anyone happens to come across this forum note taking a high dose of t3 might make you feel how I did it was an awful feeling so 50mcg or above might be a big mistake as it was with me

 

[redsun]

@redsun would supplemental iron help in this case? I take zinc/copper together in one supplement but yeah its concerning that my ferratin was 40 and I read chris Masterjohn said a level of 50-70/80 is optimal (it was somewhere within that range) and there are a variety of factors that cause high or low iron but I know low iron goes in unison with being hypothyroid.

Even with following a peat diet I bet addressing nutritional deficiencies like this would help immensely so I want to try increasing ferratin. As well I'm on the fence with supplementing with t3 but if I do I'm going to be conservative and follow Ray's advice in his email exchanges ie 1-4mcg every few hours and go from there.

If anyone happens to come across this forum note taking a high dose of t3 might make you feel how I did it was an awful feeling so 50mcg or above might be a big mistake as it was with me

Yes supplemental iron may help you. Best way to know for sure though is to try it. Synthetic iron supplements just to be aware are more irritating on the gut then heme iron supp which are on the market such as Proferrin on amazon which would be less irritating.

Regardless though the gut irritation is temporary but if you take iron for a bit it will be there as long as you take it such is the case for most people and is worse for synthetic iron supps.

 

[Sagitarrius90]

@redsun and others thanks for the help.

I guess I will have to do some more digging around and perhaps report back on whether a small dose of t3 will work in conjunction with a somewhat working thyroid (my tsh was 2.1 with thyroid hormones within range but on the lower end) rather than shut it down and relying on the t3. Until then if I do decide to dibble-dabble with t3 it will be a very low dose like I've mentioned throughout the day while keeping calories and nutrients high. Boosting cortisol I am sure will help - makes so much sense since I've had low cortisol and my ferratin was always on the low end of my blood work and I am not a fan of red meat -

In posts about iron overload and the dangers of iron - having it on the low end too is an issue and I should mention I've taking cilantro recently in high doses to get it really low since people on this forum have mentioned lower the better but in my case maybe this is why my thyroid hormones are always low, iron being low and my copper levels being low as well. B2 should also help increase iron levels from what I am hearing (chris masterjohn)

 

[postman]

Cells need energy to relax fully. If you're hypothyroid you haven't had proper rest in a long time. When the energy dysfunction is corrected with thyroid (or possibly other things like coffee or testosterone for example) you will go into deep relaxation. I can't know if this is what is happening to you but I think it is if it's making you relaxed as well as tired as opposed to wired and tired, that would signify that something is wrong.

It should be over in 2-3 weeks and then you'll have more energy than ever before. At least that's how it was for me. I couldn't make thyroid keep working for very long though but for a couple of months it was great...

 

[postman]

I definitely wouldn't increase iron, iron seems to be one of the main causes of thyroid and other peaty supplements not working optimally for me...

 

[Sagitarrius90]

I wouldnt say I'm "hypothyroid" per sT but my tsh is 2.1 and t3 levels are withing range but on the lower end same with t4.

I'm just hesitant to start t3 because I havent really addressed my low ferratin levels, havent addresses my low copper levels and I think I should try and work on that before jumping into t3 but again if I do I think low dose is the way to go. I dosed heavily today 50mcg all at once and I think it helped shut off my stress but left me completley zoned out so I think dosing very low and working to address other deficiencies should be the way to go

 

[Sagitarrius90]

@postman what's you're ferratin levels? Mine was 40 I believe last I checked and it has to be lower since I was trying to deplete heavily with cilantro capsules and avoiding meat for about two months so I reckon its alot lower than 40.

I'm just trying to get it to a healthy range.. chris masterjohn and others reported levels of 50-80 being a good range for ferratin

 

[redsun]

@redsun and others thanks for the help.

I guess I will have to do some more digging around and perhaps report back on whether a small dose of t3 will work in conjunction with a somewhat working thyroid (my tsh was 2.1 with thyroid hormones within range but on the lower end) rather than shut it down and relying on the t3. Until then if I do decide to dibble-dabble with t3 it will be a very low dose like I've mentioned throughout the day while keeping calories and nutrients high. Boosting cortisol I am sure will help - makes so much sense since I've had low cortisol and my ferratin was always on the low end of my blood work and I am not a fan of red meat -

In posts about iron overload and the dangers of iron - having it on the low end too is an issue and I should mention I've taking cilantro recently in high doses to get it really low since people on this forum have mentioned lower the better but in my case maybe this is why my thyroid hormones are always low, iron being low and my copper levels being low as well. B2 should also help increase iron levels from what I am hearing (chris masterjohn)

Liver would be a good addition then if you add in iron supplements. Yes cilantro chelating iron and avoiding iron in foods needlessly is not good.

 

[sladerunner69]

Hello all,

I decided to experiment with t3 after getting blood work done showing cholesterol was in an acceptable range above 200+.

I purchased cholesterol powder as well from life giving labs and given that my t3 was on the lower end and TSH was 2.3 I wanted to try out t3 (1-4 mcg every few hours) like ray peat recommended - ( I went thru the email exchanges and went with that recommendation)

First day in trying a few nibbles of t3 and I am feeling foggy and tired. Not sure If this is a short term reaction of perhaps lowering stress hormones like I have read in some forums or if its something else and I am a bit hesitant to continue

Has anyone experienced this... I have also purchased tyromix because I have read that a combo might be better than straight t3.

Any input would be much appreciated!! My BPM has lowered as well temps slightly improved but just losing focus, feeling foggy and tired are my symptoms. I do feel more content and less agitated and angry like I usually feel in the morning lol I should mention that along with the t3 I had my usual coffee and instead of perking me up its actually making me tired which is weird.

This is the effect that a lot of us get when cortisol is too low. I think it takes some time to adjust, and maybe even some people need cortisol for energy and focus.

 

[Sagitarrius90]

For people who dont have access to good doctors who would prescribe cortisol (the majority of us) I think working on other deficiencies would help. In my case being conservative should be the way to go with t3 while improving other areas. I wonder what else will help boost cortisol levels but I'm glad I know iron will cause throughout my entire life I've always been low in ferratin or on the very end of the low range.

I wonder what other people took with regards to t3 and what doses helped them. Like I said I wouldnt say I'm hypothyroid but my tsh is 2.1 and I remember when it was .9 and thyroid hormones were a bit higher and I felt amazing, deeper sleep, great hair growth and lost weight effortlessly but now with a higher tsh and lower thyroid hormones that's why I decided to start low dose t3 just still unsure about whether a low dose will shut off my thyroid or if it will actually work in conjunction with my thyroid naturally

 

[postman]

@postman what's you're ferratin levels? Mine was 40 I believe last I checked and it has to be lower since I was trying to deplete heavily with cilantro capsules and avoiding meat for about two months so I reckon its alot lower than 40.

I'm just trying to get it to a healthy range.. chris masterjohn and others reported levels of 50-80 being a good range for ferratin

My TSH was also 2.1 when I got massive benefit from taking thyroid.

I got iron tests 6 months ago, iron saturation of like 44 and ferritin was at 146 mcg/L . Been trying to decrease it ever since but I haven't gotten new tests since. Coffee, calcium, and thyroid doesn't work for me unless I keep my iron intake extremely low, at the the moment. Maybe that will change after I get my stored iron down

 

[Sagitarrius90]

Yeah you're ferratin seems high forsure. Mine was 40 mcg/L so it seems we are opposites with iron yet same tsh. What were you doing dose wise for thyroid ? Just t3 or t3 and t4 mix?

 

[postman]

Yeah you're ferratin seems high forsure. Mine was 40 mcg/L so it seems we are opposites with iron yet same tsh. What were you doing dose wise for thyroid ? Just t3 or t3 and t4 mix?

Yeah our situations are different. But I would be very careful with iron, and read Ray Peats iron article. The one time period I was taking thyroid and getting life changing benefits from it I was taking NDT, half a grain 3x per day. Brand was ERFA but it doesn't matter and they change their formulations all the time...

I've had some short term success with pure t3 but couldn't make it last for more than for about a week, not sure why. Most of the time I've taken NDT or T3 or T4 or any combination of them it has just made me wired.