Hi guys. I have fatigue issues in the morning and wanted to know if I could use low dose T3 (5mcg) to replace/reduce the use of caffeine whenever I feel high fatigue. It bothers me to rely so much on caffeine and if I could use T3 to at least reduce caffeine use it would be great. Are there any short or long term risks with such a low dose of T3 being used randomly? Thanks for the help.
Using low dose T3 as replacement for caffeine
- Thread starter dikow
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- caffeine t3 t3 hormone thyroid
Vince Carter
Banned
Without posting labs and Thyroid tests I doubt any one is going to recommend a Thyroid treatment to you.
TSH
Free T4
Free T3
Reverse T3
Antibodies
TSH
Free T4
Free T3
Reverse T3
Antibodies
Thanks for the info. I am planning on upping the dose slowly every 2 weeks.
My main question would be if random use of T3 can mess up with how the brain works since the half life of the drug is only 1 day. I was thinking of using 2-3 times a week as I already take T4 low dose as well. Cheers.
Vince Carter
Banned
The problem with a solo T4 treatment is that there's a huge assumption being made that your body will convert it it any beneficical amount, to T3. That's usually why a T4 only treatment fails.
Vince
Super Moderator
I've never got a burst of energy from T3. At least for me it doesn't work like caffeine. If you go from hypo to hyper, you definitely would have issues. When my wife had Graves disease and she got very high T3 levels. She needed very little sleep and did get a lot of stuff done. It did cause many other issues like losing her hair getting very dry nails and skin.
Joe Sixpack
Active Member
T3 did not work at all like caffeine for me. T3 had a 1-2 hour time to onset effect that was inconsistent. And T3 never gave me that good "up" feeling that caffeine does. And as mentioned 5mcg is pretty weak sauce. I titrated up to 20mcg at one point and that was too much. Let me tell you, too much thyroid med is pretty unpleasant.
In the end I gave up on T3 and use Armour. I could never get the solo T3 dialed in properly. At 15mcg I didn't feel much. At 20mcg I felt horribly over-medicated.
You should experiment with it anyway. I may work better for you than me. As well, I came off of thyroid hormone with no hangover at all. I doubt that there are any long term repercussions of short term experimentation.
In the end I gave up on T3 and use Armour. I could never get the solo T3 dialed in properly. At 15mcg I didn't feel much. At 20mcg I felt horribly over-medicated.
You should experiment with it anyway. I may work better for you than me. As well, I came off of thyroid hormone with no hangover at all. I doubt that there are any long term repercussions of short term experimentation.
Wow, that's quite a red flag. Didn't know it could change how you feel that much titrating from 15 to 20 mcg, thanks for the info!
Are you hypo or were just doing for weight loss? Were you taking T3 everyday?
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Joe Sixpack
Active Member
I am sub clinically hypo. My free T3 and T4 are in the low normal range. Yes I was taking it daily. I was hoping that the T3 would improve my fatigue. Armour has been better for that. But even Armour does not act as caffeine does. Note though that getting dialed in with armour has made the caffeine more effective. But can't replace it.
Have you tried splitting the dose taking morning and afternoon? Maybe that could avoid the side-effects you experienced at 20mcg?
Any form of thyroid medication doesn’t give you instant energy, from my understanding. On the stop the thyroid madness fb page, there’s a post about taking thyroid medication right before bed to improve sleep. There’s hundreds of replies reporting that taking their medication entirely, or taking one of their doses prior to bed, really improved sleep quality. A ton of those people are on T3 only.
Joe Sixpack
Active Member
Oh certainly. I tried everything to try to get dialed in on T3 only. At one point I started taking 5mcg at 8, 5mcg at 9, 5mcg at 10, etc. I always got the same reaction. I would be fatigued up until a certain point and then the next 5mcg dose would start feeling hyper symptoms. I don't get the same effect on Armour. With Armour I feel appropriate stimulation on an appropriate dose.
Joe Sixpack
Active Member
I do feel better on hydro-c. But it is not something I want to take for the rest of my life. I would also be concerned about the impact of exogenous cortisol would have on cardiovascular health as well as diabetes implications
DragonBits
Well-Known Member
I keep thinking ritalin would be a better and safer replacement for caffeine.
I could likely get a prescription for ritalin since I do have ADD?
I could likely get a prescription for ritalin since I do have ADD?
You can't live without cortisol. The symptoms you have say you don't have enough to support the T3 your taking. You have to have a sufficient amount of cortisol before you can use T3.
Symptoms of low cortisol - Stop The Thyroid Madness
Joe Sixpack
Active Member
Thanks Captain. Very perceptive of you actually. On cortisol labs (the 4 times a day saliva type) I typically do measure low normal, except for the 10PM reading when I am high, which interferes with sleep of course. Trouble is, I have not found a way to get my morning and noon cortisol readings to be higher, while lowering the late evening one. I have tried adaptagens and herbs, but they didn't do much. I would like to be able to take hydrocortisone, but as mentioned I don't want to be on it for life. Plus it elevates my blood sugar. Not a good thing.
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