Cytomel for women
Common Questions and Answers about Cytomel for women
cytomel
Hi,
I have many symptoms of hypothyroid but my thyroid levels are normal, so my physician prescribed low-dose (5mg) Cytomel in the hopes of alleviating my symptoms. Has anyone taken Cytomel (not the sustained-release form, just the regular instant-release form) for Wilson's Syndrome? If so, could you please share your story? Did Cytomel work? Did you try the sustained-released form of T3?
My family doctor reluctantly agreed to let me start the Cytomel again. My psychiatrist started me on 25 mcg of Cytomel. I felt better for one day, and then everything went down hill. I started having night sweats, shaking, constantly sweating during the day, chills, some wheezing at night when laying down, and a productive cough. My temperature never went higher than 99.0 F.
I am not sure I am on the right thread. Have not been on this site for a while. My girlfriend's had greave's disease and went through RAI about 8 years ago. She been stable on Armour and Cytomel and 50mg Zoloft. But recently about 4 months ago, she have been very aggressive and breaking stuff and slamming doors. She gets stress out so quick too. I am thinking she might happen to be too high on her meds. She is taking 75mg Armour and 5 mg cytomel.
I sent you a PM more specifically about RAI and thryogen, but yes. After my TT I was started on Cytomel only, in preparation for RAI. It's a weird drug but for the most part I did fine on it. It stays in your system for a matter of hours not days or weeks. And therefore it's the perfect drug pre-RAI.
I had a TT in October for papillary carcinoma. This was followed by RAI even though the nodule was small (12mm) and had not spread to the lymph nodes. After RAI, I was put on 125mcg L-thyroxine and up to 75mcg cytomel a day. As I tapered off the cytomel, my hypothyroidism symptoms began to return. Blood work was done (TSH 0.03) and my doctor's PA reduced by L-thyroxine to 116mcg per day and by then I was totally off cytomel anyway.
I just checked myself on the ferritin reference ranges. Reference ranges are different for men and women, but they don't change for pre- and post-menopausal women. However, vitamin D should be 50-70 for proper metabolism of thyroid hormones and ferritin should b 90-110.
Typically, iron and D would both be approached by your PCP, if he understands that both of these have to be higher for hypothyroid patients.
How much levo and Cytomel are you taking?
Ask for the cytomel in 5 mcg tabs - then you can split the dosage much easier.......Mine are 5 mcg, which worked out perfectly when I was on 10 mcg/day - I could take one first thing in the morning, then another later in the morning, without having to split pills. Now that I'm down to 5 mcg/day, I still don't have to split the pills - they just last twice as long.........
To get the 12.5, you will have to go with 1.5 pill twice/day, unless you can get it dropped to just 10 mcg/day.....
The other endos tell me that I need to get off the ctyomel immediately as it causes heart problems and osteoporosis in menopausal women. The endo that put me on cytomel told me that these endos were full of sh**!! And that he himself has been on cytomel for years, so why would he put himself on a drug that risks his heart?
I am torn as to who is right here.
Oh good! Get some Cytomel, that should hold you for a few weeks. I wish my doctor would give me some, but he won't. I'm on 150 eight times a week and I'm still so tired. I felt better when I was on Cytomel and 125, but my doc says that it makes it difficult to monitor for recurrence, so he's not a fan of prescribing a T3 med longterm.
BTW, what were the results of your WBS? Everything OK?
I am getting worse the longer I am self dosing with cytomel only (currently 2.5 mcg, 3xday). Is that a normal amount for cytomel or a small amount? I have an appt this week to go over my labs from last Thursday but feel like I will collapse before then. My doctor will not want to do labs for a month. Is it possible to do them after two weeks on Armour and see if it is working? I get scared as soon as I start feeling worse on a new medication.
I believe that is a test for free T3 (FT3), not total T3. Since lab results will vary from lab-to-lab, they sometimes have their own slight variation in reference ranges. That said, the range for FT3 that I see on my lab report shows 2.3 - 4.2 Pg/ml. Your result is in the lower end of that range. If you have no hypo symptoms, that result is just fine.
I think the reason your TSH drops low is because you were using fast acting Cytomel. After you take it, you get a blood level spike of T3 for several hours and that high spike is what lowers your TSH. Personally I am using compounded slow release T3, which supposedly releases the T3 over 12 hours, so your blood T3 level does not spike nearly as high. For comparison, my TSH on 100 T4 + 5 T3 was 2.29, and on 100 T4 + 15 T3 was 1.52.
Armour comes in 1/4 grain (15 mg) sizes.
I was using a hair and nail vitamin but it didn't help. my nails peel terribly. I believe it contains the b-12 and I take d3 with my calcium. maybe the ferritin would help. I do take the liothyronine but it is still a pinch when you add up the high cost of the generic dostinex and also my hrt. So much for generics!!! So taking a higher dose of synthroid won't take care of getting me off cytomel??
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