Guest guest Posted April 3, 2006 Report Share Posted April 3, 2006 Hi Doug, normally t3 is prescribed at a quarter (or so) of the dose of T4 - that is why your doc has given you 25 mcg. I personally agree with your doc that they re very different hormones - even though t4 breaks down into t3 they both have distinct roles to play. The main reason why it is not simply equivalent to 100mcg of t4 is that T3 has a short half life - most of us take it twice a day and some people even more often - whereas T4 is very slow to be used by the body - so we need both. Some of us can make both hormones from T4 and some of us can't so we need to take them both. I take 250mcg of T4 and 60 mcg of T3 per day. Kerry Synthroid + Cytomel Hello everyone. I am new to this group and look forward to all the good information. I am currently taking 88 mcg of Synthroid and I continue to have hypo symptoms despite " normal " blood work. My family doctor recently wrote me a script for 25 mcg of Cytomel to combine with the Synthoid I am currently taking. After reading the prescribing info on Cytomel, it stated that 25 mcg was equivalent to .1 mg (100 mcg) of Synthroid. Doing the math, I relaized that the result of the 2 meds would be the same as taking 188 mcg of Synthroid - quite a jump. I called my doctor and she said that my logic was incorrect because 1 is a T4 drug and 1 is a T3 drug. Something doesn't sound right to me. Am I thinking about this right? I also read somewhere that people who add Cytomel to Synthroid usually only take 2.5 - 10 mcg of Cytomel. Anyone out there taking this drug combo and if so, what dosage? Thanks. Doug Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 3, 2006 Report Share Posted April 3, 2006 Doug, You wrote: > ... Something doesn't sound right to me. ... Good call. However, it is remotely possible you might actually need the 188 mcg equivalent, if your weight is extreme. Chuck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 3, 2006 Report Share Posted April 3, 2006 My weight is not extreme and my dose is 250mcg. Re: Synthroid + Cytomel Doug, You wrote: > ... Something doesn't sound right to me. ... Good call. However, it is remotely possible you might actually need the 188 mcg equivalent, if your weight is extreme. Chuck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 4, 2006 Report Share Posted April 4, 2006 Kerry, You wrote: > My weight is not extreme and my dose is 250mcg. The nominal full replacement dose for women is double that of men, so yours is in line. In fact, I am at exactly half your dose. Funny how that works out. Chuck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 4, 2006 Report Share Posted April 4, 2006 So maybe it follows that iodine or thyroid hormone has more uses in women's bodies than men? Or is there a more mundane reason for the difference in doses/ Kerry Re: Synthroid + Cytomel Kerry, You wrote: > My weight is not extreme and my dose is 250mcg. The nominal full replacement dose for women is double that of men, so yours is in line. In fact, I am at exactly half your dose. Funny how that works out. Chuck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 4, 2006 Report Share Posted April 4, 2006 Kerry Ann Faithfull wrote: > So maybe it follows that iodine or thyroid hormone has more uses in > women's bodies than men? Or is there a more mundane reason for the > difference in doses/ Blame your liver. Women evidently have double the iodine uptake and double the rate of conversion and elimination. BTW, New Rule: The National Academy of Clinical Biochemists issued a recommendation for thyroid treatment in 2002. They said that ON MEDICATION, the target range for TSH should be 0.5 to 2.0 not the reference range given by the labs for people off the street. This beats the Society of Endocrinologists! http://www.nacb.org/lmpg/thyroid_lmpg_pub.stm Chuck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 4, 2006 Report Share Posted April 4, 2006 big difference between .5 and 2, any hypo can tell you. My TSH last was ..06, free T4 at tippy-top, and free T3 over range. That's perfect. gracia > > BTW, New Rule: The National Academy of Clinical Biochemists issued a > recommendation for thyroid treatment in 2002. They said that ON > MEDICATION, the target range for TSH should be 0.5 to 2.0 not the > reference range given by the labs for people off the street. This beats > the Society of Endocrinologists! > > http://www.nacb.org/lmpg/thyroid_lmpg_pub.stm > > Chuck > > -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.1.385 / Virus Database: 268.3.5/300 - Release Date: 4/3/2006 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 5, 2006 Report Share Posted April 5, 2006 Doesn't testosterone factor in here? I thought it helps utilize thyroid hormone better while estrogen negatively impacts it. When I first went hyper on my old dose of synthroid it was after the doc gave me testosterone supplementation (I'm a woman). I quit that, but every lab since has yielded a higher testosterone number than prior to that therapy. And I have never required as much synthroid since then. Sherry > > So maybe it follows that iodine or thyroid hormone has more uses in > > women's bodies than men? Or is there a more mundane reason for the > > difference in doses/ > > Blame your liver. Women evidently have double the iodine uptake and > double the rate of conversion and elimination. > > BTW, New Rule: The National Academy of Clinical Biochemists issued a > recommendation for thyroid treatment in 2002. They said that ON > MEDICATION, the target range for TSH should be 0.5 to 2.0 not the > reference range given by the labs for people off the street. This beats > the Society of Endocrinologists! > > http://www.nacb.org/lmpg/thyroid_lmpg_pub.stm > > Chuck > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 5, 2006 Report Share Posted April 5, 2006 Same for me Gracia... I feel best TSH at .01 and T3 over range. Meanwhile my doc is telling me I am hyper. Hmmmm, I am exhausted and overweight. I have been hyper before and I definately did not feel like this!!! New doc in 9 days!!! I finally get Armour!!! p.s. when I was on cytomel I felt great, I took mcg (I think that is the amount) 3 x's a day. I could always tell when it was wearing off. Gracia <circe@...> wrote: big difference between .5 and 2, any hypo can tell you. My TSH last was ..06, free T4 at tippy-top, and free T3 over range. That's perfect. gracia > > BTW, New Rule: The National Academy of Clinical Biochemists issued a > recommendation for thyroid treatment in 2002. They said that ON > MEDICATION, the target range for TSH should be 0.5 to 2.0 not the > reference range given by the labs for people off the street. This beats > the Society of Endocrinologists! > > http://www.nacb.org/lmpg/thyroid_lmpg_pub.stm > > Chuck > > -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.1.385 / Virus Database: 268.3.5/300 - Release Date: 4/3/2006 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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