Cytomel and Anxiety?
rose1617
Posts: 469 Member
Hi all,
My GP (who I love btw) has tested a full thyroid panel every time he's taken my blood work since I started seeing him two years ago. I told him in April that I was feeling really foggy and still having trouble losing weight (despite lots of working out and eating well). He said my T3 was a little off, so he prescribed cytomel (started at 5/day, then up to 10 after a week). Great, right?
Things were going great! First week in May I was at my lowest weight in 3 years, PR'ed a 5k and was able to maintain my weight after a weekend vacation.
About two weeks later I started having severe fatigue, brain fog, and anxiety. My doc said that it was just that, anxiety, and put me on Lexapro (started at 5 for first week, went to 10 second week, up to 20 two weeks later when I told him it really wasn't getting better). I went from being able to run 5-6 miles no problem to not even being able to finish running a mile. Went from not able to focus to having 4-5 panic attacks/day and panic attack after every workout/in the middle of running.
Not sure why I didn't think of it before, but I realized all of this came about 4-6 weeks after starting Cytomel, 4 weeks after upping the dosage to 10/day.
Saturday, I decided to try to split the dosage of Cytomel (5 morning, 5 at night). Didn't take the Lexapro. Wouldn't you know it - I ran almost 4 miles and forgot to take the second dose of Cytomel because I was feeling so great. No anxiety attacks and I slept like a baby.
Been that way for the last four days, still only taking one 5mcg pill and I am starting to feel much better. I haven't had an anxiety attack in at least two days and am starting to crush it at the gym again.
Anyone have a similar issue with Cytomel? Could it be because we didn't decrease the Synthroid?
Sorry for the long post.
My GP (who I love btw) has tested a full thyroid panel every time he's taken my blood work since I started seeing him two years ago. I told him in April that I was feeling really foggy and still having trouble losing weight (despite lots of working out and eating well). He said my T3 was a little off, so he prescribed cytomel (started at 5/day, then up to 10 after a week). Great, right?
Things were going great! First week in May I was at my lowest weight in 3 years, PR'ed a 5k and was able to maintain my weight after a weekend vacation.
About two weeks later I started having severe fatigue, brain fog, and anxiety. My doc said that it was just that, anxiety, and put me on Lexapro (started at 5 for first week, went to 10 second week, up to 20 two weeks later when I told him it really wasn't getting better). I went from being able to run 5-6 miles no problem to not even being able to finish running a mile. Went from not able to focus to having 4-5 panic attacks/day and panic attack after every workout/in the middle of running.
Not sure why I didn't think of it before, but I realized all of this came about 4-6 weeks after starting Cytomel, 4 weeks after upping the dosage to 10/day.
Saturday, I decided to try to split the dosage of Cytomel (5 morning, 5 at night). Didn't take the Lexapro. Wouldn't you know it - I ran almost 4 miles and forgot to take the second dose of Cytomel because I was feeling so great. No anxiety attacks and I slept like a baby.
Been that way for the last four days, still only taking one 5mcg pill and I am starting to feel much better. I haven't had an anxiety attack in at least two days and am starting to crush it at the gym again.
Anyone have a similar issue with Cytomel? Could it be because we didn't decrease the Synthroid?
Sorry for the long post.
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Replies
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My endocrinogist decreased my Synthroid when he added Cytomel.
Cytomel has a short half life, so it needs to be taken several times a day. My endo wanted three, but we compromised on twice.0 -
I have never been on Cytomel as my T3 is always OVER the normal range but I do experience anxiety from Synthroid if the dose is too high.0
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I had the opposite problem, actually. I was way over on the T3 so my GP had me cut back. I lasted a few weeks only, then reintroduced half of a second dose. Before cutting back, I was on 100mcg twice daily, then cut to 100 once daily. Self-added in 50 at night and after several months, so far, so good. Have upped the exercise so I am waiting for the usual collapse to see where the metabolic edge is.0
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