Just curious if anyone has any stories about adding Cytomel to their synthroid. I'm going to see a naturopath tomorrow with the idea of doing this. Did you take a compounded time-release formula?

How big was your dose? How did you time it?

I've tried natural thyroid in the past and it just didn't work out for me. I've always been low on Free T3 whenever tested.

I tried using Cytomel with a synthetic T4 (both Synthroid and Levoxyl). It was ok, but it didn't work as well as the desiccated thyroid. It was better than just the T4. If you are having symptoms now of hypothryoid, than I would suggest trying out the T3.

I have also heard that T3 goes really fast, so some people will split it into two and take it 2 times a day??

If that doesn't work, than you may have adrenal problems or a problem with another type of hormone.

I just thought of something else with low free T3. If you aren't having hypothyroid symptoms it could be that your body is really good at using the T3??

I take only cytomel - haven't ever had synteroid. I take 100 mcg / day - best if I take 25 mcg every 4 hours or so. Some days I take an additional 25 mcgs.

It took probably about 6 weeks to get used to it, but it seems that my body tolerates it very well. I'm quite happy with it. My hair is starting to get thicker and I'm not cold all the time anymore

ETA: I don't take the time release formula and I don't have any problems falling asleep even if I take a dose before I go to bed.

I don't have a functioning thyroid gland at all, so I don't produce any thyroid hormone myself. I thought there were some tissues in the body that actually use T4 directly, so I'm not sure I could completely skip the T4.

The natural stuff I've tried before as I mentioned, it just made me feel awful. Too much T3 in it I think.

Nancy,

if you are going to add in T3 make sure to split it when you take it as it only has a half life of about 6 hours.

I'm wondering if the reason you couldn't handle the dessicated is adrenals? I've read that your adrenals have to be either healthy or supported in order to tolerate the T3 in higher doses.

I talked to my doctor about it, naturopath, and he said it's unlikely to be adrenal burn out if I'm not under a lot of stress. I'm not.

I guess we'll see. I feel hyper when my TSH gets down to around 1.5 on just T4... hm, I should have mentioned that to him.

have you done the 4x salivary cortisol?

Just mentioning because as a comparison my adrenals are shot (low cortisol in morning then dropping off the chart for the rest of the day) and I'm not under stress NOW but was under significant stress 2 years ago.

the website scarlet mentioned: realthryoidhelp has some good threads and stickies about how the whole endocrine system is inter related. I'm now starting to look at ratios of potassium and sodium which seem to have a significant part in how you feel.

Have you fixed your adrenals? I don't think I've ever actually encountered someone that has said their adrenals are now fine (and retested).

He said we would look into adrenal testing if I couldn't tolerate the T3.

Oh hey, on the cytomel issue, does anyone feel the generic is as good as the original?

I haven't fixed them yet, working on it and I'm seeing a new doctor next month that is apparently good with both thyroid and adrenals. as I mentioned in another thread also think I might have an Rt3 problem as my tsh was quite low before meds (below .8) and my T4 was higher than my t3 apparently this combo might be indicative of Rt3 problems. been taking 1.5 - 2 grains of erfa and still feeling hypo despite my T3 being at the top of the range.

re: cytomel from what I've read on that realthryoid site the cynomel from mexico is supposed to be quite reliable and better than most of the other versions. I also read a review by the mod of the yahoo rt3 site that rated it quite highly, hth

Nancy did you end up trying cytomel?

I was on armour and synthroid for a while. My dr flipped the synthroid to cytomel. I had to take a lot more than the calculated amount to feel as good as on synthroid. Quite a few people on the yahoo thyroid board complain about chest pains and palpitations from cytomel. Is that what happened with you on armour?

The generic cytomel didn't work as well for me as the regular canadian one.

The generic Cytomel is fine to use but my endo does not want me taking generic Synthroid as the amounts of T4 vary greatly according to what generic your pharmacy uses and they also switch generics frequently.

My naturopath sends me to the local compounding pharmacy to get methocel, which is a generic form of Cytomel...and apparently can only be made in a pharmacy especially to time-release. I take this in addition to my levothyroxine, and it seemed to be the only way to get my thyroid back on track after a whirlwind of stagnation and typical hypo symptoms.

I haven't tried the cytomel yet. I've been kind of waiting for my thyroid levels to settle down before getting the tests done. I missed a bunch of doses. :x

I don't think I have adrenal issues. I read the symptoms and really have none. I just couldn't tolerate Armour thyroid well.

Yeah keep things steady for a while before you change things up.

keep us posted!