Help! First few days on cytomel....what is going on?

[Guest guest]

I was hoping someone could help me out here...

I just started taking cytomel this last Saturday for my RT3 issues. I had an

iron panel done not too long ago, and I just did the saliva test, but don't have

my results yet.

I'm taking 25mcg of cytomel, half at 6:00 a.m. when I am just leaving for work,

and the other half when I get home at 6:00 pm...in the middle of the day I'm

taking my vitamins...biotin, iron, multi, stress B vitamin complex, half an

iodoral, lysine, zinc, vit. C, l-carnatine, evening primrose, and that really

stinging magnesium oil spray, BHR Biest and progesterone cremes, D3, and B12. I

feel like I rattle when I walk.

I'm supplementing iron, as Nick had said folks on here like to see things at 35%

saturation at least, and I'm below that....will post results here at the end of

this missive...

I see a lot of people on here supplementing with massive amounts of iron and I'm

only taking 65mg per day a couple hours post-cytomel. Is this not enough?

Before the cytomel, I never experienced the nasty tummy side effects of the iron

I felt BRILLIANT on iron alone, sort of skippy-happy, but it didn't deal with my

main issues around RT3. Now that I've started the cytomel, my tummy has well,

ceased all action so to speak AND worse of worsts....the symptoms I want to

avoid are back en masse especially......ergh....

Hair loss!!! ----- weight gain, really sad and weepy, and waking up at 2-3 a.m.

every night unable to get to bed...a huge drag since I teach high school 2 hours

from my house and have to be up and at em by four or five a.m. at the least.

Hair loss has been THE worst...vanity I know, but I'm not vain about much else

in my life, and my hair was my one thing I felt good about. I've lost half

since on the journey...and put on 40 pounds in about two months two years ago

without ever being able to take it off in spite of all the working out. Blah!

I've got the painful foot, and the trigger finger, and the hair loss, and the

oh, man the list is endless. but everyone on here knows this already....

oh, lord, I'm rambling, coz I'm freaked out....

So, started the cytomel...and within one day: Massive hair shed. Just a heck

of a lot coming out in my hands. And still waking up middle of the night/early

moring WIDE awake...and dang it, put on a pound with actually eating LESS in all

the heat we are having. My heart rate seems fine, (I monitor my BP daily as it's

been so HIGH since this all began) and I'm pretty relaxed all day 'till now,

around 8 pm. when I need to hit the sheets...my heart and brain start to race.

Ugh.

Is it normal to lose hair again on cytomel? Am I not taking enough? Or too

much too soon? Will it continue? Crank up iron? My doc. won't prescribe

cortisol for me, if in fact it turns out I need it, 'though she's really good

about everything else. I'm so flipped out about the hair loss, especially all

the new lovely ones I'd managed to grow in since starting BHR a few months

back.....

Val had mentioned I might treat my reverse t3 issue with iron and cytomel...I'm

just pretty much a-trippin' that I'll end up bald, and nuttier than I already am

owing to vast quantities of sleep deprivation. Anyone know the feeling? Any

advice to this wandering stranger?

Thanks for reading my post...I know it's long.

Lab tests

TOTAL IRON BINDING CAPACITY 345 228-428 ug/dL

IRON 85 35-160 ug/dL

TOTAL IRON BINDING CAPACITY, UNSATURATED 260 92-365 ug/dL

TRANSFERRIN % SATURATION 25 15-55 %

thyroid peroxidase antibodies < 10 range <35IU/ml

thyroglobulin antibodies <20 " <20 IU/ml

TSH 1.48 range .40-4.5 mIU/L

T4 Free, 1.19 range .8-1.8 nd/dl

T3 79 range 76-181 ng/dl

estradiol 96

free T3 2.4 range 2.0-4.4 pg/ml

reverse T3 296 range 90-350 pg/ml

I just have no idea what to expect and the massive hair shed realllly has me

worried. I'd so like to hang on to what I have. Single chicks in their forties

NEED their hair! :-)

Thanks much for any information or advice!

Kel