I usually take my thyroid meds (T3 and T4) early in the morning.Recently I had my quarterly labs done, and it was also in the morning (fasting).
It occurred to me that taking my thyroid meds right before labs would skew the results. But my doc said that thyroid meds stay pretty constant in the body over 3 days…meaning, if I were to stop taking them, I would still be good and labs would be normal for another 3 days, and not to worry about when I took my pills in relation to my labs.
But I can’t help but think that taking my meds an hour before a blood draw would certainly show higher than normal levels.
The results came back for free T3 at 4.6 (2.0 - 4.4). So it shows me outside the top range. Do you think that by the afternoon I’m back to perfect high normal range? I cut back on my T3 med in the meantime but am wondering if that was the right thing to do.
On the other hand my T4 came back at 1.5 (0.9 - 2.1) despite my also taking that an hour before the test.
I’m measurably weaker, but recently there are a bunch of confounding variables, so I can’t pinpoint it to excessive T3. Other than that, no, I haven’t been nervous, my heart rate and rhythm is fine, and I’m sleeping okay. Blood pressure has even been lower than usual too, which is weird. I haven’t figured that one out yet.
The half life of T4 is 5-7 days and the half life of T3 is listed as anywhere between 4-6 hours and 1 day. So you most definitely could skew results taking it right before the test.
Dang. I’m contemplating cutting the T3 pills in half then…just to be on the conservative side of a slightly lower dose without having to reduce one full pill (I currently take two, 5mcg tablets/day…I used to take three, and my labs were beautiful, but eventually I went over range so I reduced to two. Now it appears that two may be borderline too many. Strange, it’s as though my thyroid is becoming more functional over time instead of less).
Honestly, and I’m sure this is probably just me, but I don’t feel any different. In fact I wasn’t sure why my doc wanted me on the meds in the first place. My numbers were all within range, but his argument was that my levels were not optimal, and that the older I get, they would just continue to decline. Why not just have optimal numbers?..especially when on TRT and the demands it puts on your metabolism…
So I said okay. But except for the time I was way over range at three 5mcg pills a day, I never felt any different. When I was over range I got muscle loss, was weak, and had heart palpitations. Outside of that I really don’t feel anything one way or the other. I was expecting to feel energetic and more alert, but all that stuff feels the same to me. I’m sure it’s helping in ways I cannot “feel” though.
@dextermorgan - sorry if this info is posted elsewhere, but what is your RT3 number again? What is your most recent FT3 number too?
Reason I ask - I’m on 1.5 prescribed grains of armour and that didn’t seem to do as much as expected. My numbers could be better, so I have added .75 grains myself. My RT3 is 15 both before taking armour and now 6 months after taking 1.5 grains.
I’m considering asking my doctor to add T3 or increase my armour script to 1.5 grains twice a day…or adding T3 myself…not sure.
Either way, I know source talk is prohibited. If you feel comfortable enough sharing where you might get some T3, I have an email in my profile I think.
Check out “stop the thyroid madness”. It’s a great website that easily explains thyroid stuff. According to it the problem with Armour when dealing with RT3 is that the T4 in Armour gets converted to RT3. So basically if high RT3 is the problem you want to take T3 only.
