Guest guest Posted August 1, 2011 Report Share Posted August 1, 2011 Hi , Sorry to hear about your brain fog, I know how awful it can be. The reason some doctors are against Cytomel is that it is a fast acting drug and its short half-life can contribute to unsteady T3 levels. Complaints due to unsteady T3 levels include: fluid retention, muscle aches, anxiety, irritability, increased heart rate, and increased awareness of heartbeat. For some people it keeps them up at night so you will need to experiment to see what is right for you. Also, I have read several places where doctors have told patients that Cytomel makes you feel spacy (Whatever that means). The ideal way to take it is small doses throughout the day. It comes in 5, 25 50 and 117 mcgs. You should avoid stimulants such as caffeine, nicotine, decongestants, etc. to prevent heart rate increasing. Anyway these things are not good for us. The dosage depends on how much thyroid replacement medication you are currently taking. If you take one grain of Armour, you can start at 5 mcgs vs 9 mcgs you get in NDT. You can also take another 5 mcg tablet later in the day if needed about 6-9 hours after the first dose (make sure to take on an empty stomach). Or lower a T4-only med a bit and add on 5 mcg of Cytomel wait a couple months, retest and adjust as needed. You can also get slow-released T3 from a compounding pharmacy that is taken every 12 hours to supposedly keep T3 stable. I used it for awhile. the downfall is It's expensive and was not covered by insurance. I do much better on NDT, Erfa from Canada. Although there are some studies that say T4 only is the best way to treat hypoT, I found this one that you can print out and give to him. It says a combo treatment of both T3 and T4 is appropriate. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19666698 Also, if the Endo is still against Cytomel, request that he changes you to another T4-only drug, such as Unithroid. That is the only T4 drug that I could somewhat tolerate and the only T4 drug I allow my daughter to take (she is taking it as an add-on for her Hashi/Graves' symptoms; she also takes an antithyroid drug). You can get in a generic; just make sure it says Lannett on it. Lannett markets name-brand, Unithroid and generic levothyroxine for Jerome s Pharmaceuticals. It is exactly the same drug only marketed differently. HTH, ~Bj >> Hi all...> Could someone please explain to me, in simple terms, why endos are so paranoid about prescribing Cytomel? I have asked my endo about it before and he refuses. He wouldn't when I was on Synthroid, and he won't now that I am on Armour.> I really think it would help me. If I could understand what his issues with it are, maybe I could discuss it further with him? > The mental fog that I have is significant at times. I have taken advanced medical classes before and my memory recall used to be amazing. Now I really struggle. So if you choose to answer this, please don't share in depth medical lingo that I will have to look up to understand.> I hope I am not asking too much.> Thank you,> in TN> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 26, 2012 Report Share Posted April 26, 2012 i posted a message a week or more ago saying that my doc stopped my synthroid coz i was gaining weight, and kept me on cytomel only, 2.5mcg, twice a day. my pulse has slowed down to 52 in the a.m. and 72 in the p.m. with synthroid it was up to 88. if it's just cytomel, shouldn't i be taking more, like at least 5mcg/daily? would appreciate hearing an opinion from anyone in the group. when i post a message and it doesn't appear here, is there a way to find out why or if, it's been rejected? thanks, lois Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 26, 2012 Report Share Posted April 26, 2012 Hi Lois - I haven't rejected any of your messages. We only reject spam (which we still get sometimes). So there was probably an error in posting. How is your heart feeling and what do your thyroid labs say? I would say it's probably time to up your dosage if you are tolerating the Cytomel OK - at least, most of us need a higher dosage. > > i posted a message a week or more ago saying that my doc stopped my synthroid coz i was gaining weight, and kept me on cytomel only, 2.5mcg, twice a day. > > my pulse has slowed down to 52 in the a.m. and 72 in the p.m. with synthroid it was up to 88. if it's just cytomel, shouldn't i be taking more, like at least 5mcg/daily? > > would appreciate hearing an opinion from anyone in the group. > > when i post a message and it doesn't appear here, is there a way to find out why or if, it's been rejected? thanks, lois > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 27, 2012 Report Share Posted April 27, 2012 thanks susan, that's the second post of mine that got lost. i must be doing something wrong. now that i know, i will repost if i don't see my message come up. thank you for your response too. doc didn't want to do my labs until just before my next appointment. so i'll know in about 3 weeks or so. my heart is back to normal now. the synthroid caused a loud pulse. the cytomel does nothing except wake me up with a headache. in the morning my pulse is 52, it goes up gradually throughout the day and ends up at about 82 in the evening. that's something that never happened before. my pulse before medicating was in the low 60s all the time. on the synthoid it was about 88 all the time. lois > > > > i posted a message a week or more ago saying that my doc stopped my synthroid coz i was gaining weight, and kept me on cytomel only, 2.5mcg, twice a day. > > > > my pulse has slowed down to 52 in the a.m. and 72 in the p.m. with synthroid it was up to 88. if it's just cytomel, shouldn't i be taking more, like at least 5mcg/daily? > > > > would appreciate hearing an opinion from anyone in the group. > > > > when i post a message and it doesn't appear here, is there a way to find out why or if, it's been rejected? thanks, lois > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You are posting as a guest. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.