Intermittent T3 use

[Makavelli]

(First of all, all T4 (synthroid) gets converted to T3 (cytomel) anyways, but taking only T4 will cause severe depression. Straight T3 is better on the body, however I was completely under the impression (somewhat educated) THAT YOU MUST take T3 daily and ramp up slowly and RAMP BACK DOWN VERY SLOWLY, otherwise your body will not function or produce normally==it will shut down its production!!!!!

Please educate me if I am incorrect.....

That's right bro. Don't use T4, it's a waste. Your body needs to convert it to T3 to be effective and during a dieting phase, this doesn't happen very efficiently. Yes you need to taper up and taper down with T3 and use it daily.

 

[will b huge]

V

 

[Jenetic]

(First of all, all T4 (synthroid) gets converted to T3 (cytomel) anyways, but taking only T4 will cause severe depression. Straight T3 is better on the body, however I was completely under the impression (somewhat educated) THAT YOU MUST take T3 daily and ramp up slowly and RAMP BACK DOWN VERY SLOWLY, otherwise your body will not function or produce normally==it will shut down its production!!!!!

Please educate me if I am incorrect.....

Please refer to the below quote:

Thyroid dangers are extremely overstated, oversimplified and misleading

N Engl J Med 1975 Oct 2;293(14):681-4 Recovery of pituitary thyrotropic function after withdrawal of prolonged thyroid-suppression therapy.

Vagenakis AG, Braverman LE, Azizi F, Portinay GI, Ingbar SH

In 1951, Greer reported the pattern of recovery of thyroid function after stopping suppressive treatment with thyroid hormone in euthyroid [normal] subjects based on sequential measurements of their thyroidal uptake of radioiodine. He observed that after withdrawal of exogenous thyroid therapy, thyroid function, in terms of radioiodine uptake, returned to normal in most subjects within two weeks. He further observed that thyroid function returned as rapidly in those subjects whose glands had been depressed by several years of thyroid medication as it did in those whose gland had been depressed for only a few days

Patterns off recovery of the hypothalamic-pituitary-thyroid axis in patients taken of chronic thyroid therapy

LG Krugman, JM Hershman, IJ Chopra, GA Levine, E Pekary, DL Geffner and GN Chua Teco

To determine the patterns of recovery of the hypothalamic-pituitary- thyroid axis following long-term thyroid hormone therapy, TRH tests were performed on 8 euthyroid nongoitrous patients, 5 euthyroid goitrous patients, and 5 hypothyroid patients while they were taking full doses of thyroid hormone and 3, 7, 10, 14, 17, 21, 28, 35, 42, 49, and 56 days after stopping it. Serum TSH, T3, and T4 were measured before and at multiple intervals over a 4-h period after giving 500 mug TRH iv. In euthyroid non-goitrous patients, the mean duration of suppressed TSH response to TRH (maximum deltaTSH less than 8 muU/ml) was 12 +/- 4 (SE) days after stopping thyroid hormone and the mean time to recovery of normal TSH response to TRH (maximum deltaTSH greater than 8 muU/ml) was 16 +/- 5 days. None of the euthyroid nongoitrous patients ever hyperresponded to TRH; their average maximal deltaTSH was 24.5 +/- 2.2 muU/ml. Serum T4 fell below normal in 4 euthyroid non- goitrous patients, reaching lowest values at 4 to 28 days. While serum T4 was low, deltaTSH was subnormal. Normal increments of T4 and T3 after TRH occurred at 19 +/- 5 and 22 +/- 6 days, respectively. In the 5 goitrous patients, patterns of recovery of pituitary and thyroid function assessed by the same parameters were much less consistent. In the 5 hypothyroid patients, the mean duration of suppressed basal TSH and suppressed deltaTSH was 13 +/- 3 days; mean time to attain a supranormal basal TSH (greater than 8 muU/ml) was 16 +/- 4 days and to reach a supranormal deltaTSH (greater than 38 muU/ml) after TRH was 29 +/- 8 days. Following prolonged thyroid therapy in euthyroid patients, recovery of normal TSH responsiveness to TRH preceded recovery of the normal T3 and T4 response to TRH by 3 to 6 days. Basal serum TSH may be used to differentiate euthyroid from hypothyroid patients 35 days after withdrawal of thyroid therapy; the response to TRH does not improve this differentiation.

Jenetic

 

[fireflyer]

Please refer to the below quote:



Jenetic

So in laymen terms is this saying that the whole shut down thing is unlikely to happen and that recovery of normal T3 levels will take place quickly? What is a safe and effective cycle to use? I've read it's the start with half a pill and increase by half a pill every 3 days until you get to three for three days then ramp back down the same. Is that the only safe way to do it? Are they talking about 25mcg pills or the 50mcg pills?
A little more info please Jenetic - I know you know this stuff.