My Access to T3

Written by Natalie Guy
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Taken from our monthly ‘Talk Thyroid’ column in Health Triangle Magazine, where we discuss a wide range of subjects relating to Thyroid health. Currently 1 in 20 people in the UK have a thyroid disorder, which may be temporary or permanent.

This is Natalie's personal account of her own lived experience and she hopes that by candidly sharing her story it will help others feel less alone. The Thyroid Trust would like to add that whilst all views are the author's own,  from the thyroid patient community they help support stories of patients not feeling listened to and challenges around accessing T3 or Liothyronine are sadly commonplace. These patient stories just highlight that thyroid patient voices have been overlooked for too long and why there is such a desperate need for change. 

My journey to taking liothyronine medication has  been on a steep’ learning curve’ to find what works on an individual level for me and I couldn’t access them at all via the NHS.

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Like  so many thyroid patients, I do not fit neatly into everything being great with just a daily dose of levothyroxine only treatment.  I have been told that old chestnut of a thyroid saying -  ‘you’re in range’.  That one ‘phase’ that covers everything and has some thyroid patients shaking their head with total frustration and the lack of being able to access a full thyroid function  blood test panel, including T3 levels, to show the full picture of thyroid health.

My quality of life wasn’t and still isn’t perfect. I am a shell of who I used to be; it’s a lifelong journey to being back to the  joy of great personal well being and gaining my full life back. 

 My thyroid story has been a long road, with a lot of medical gaslighting along the way.  I  was finally diagnosed with widespread papillary thyroid cancer after a long struggle to get a second option, the cancer was found after my total thyroidectomy in histology in every single layer of that biopsy.   Bye, bye butterfly gland and hello to a new world trying to navigate critical medication to support my ‘system’ to feel well again. I never knew what my thyroid controlled and had influence over. 

For  the past couple of years  my dosage  was  levothyroxine treatment only  and it  has been adjusted and monitored with blood tests.  The brain fog, the mood swings to name a few,  the quality of life hasn’t been good, not much of a life at all if I’m honest  and I have been brushed off by my traditional professionals and not been taken seriously. Navigating thyroid symptoms has sometimes  felt like walking through treacle with a blindfold, in the dark, alone. 

For example,  my one and only  NHS endocrine consultant appointment, ( My follow up at has been cancelled) the discussion about talking about T3 meds, told over quite a lot of that appointment I had waited so long for,  that I shouldn’t be taking them and that they are not prescribed on the NHS in Dorset. 

I have been prescribed a low dose of liothyronine by a private doctor based on symptoms, blood tests, tight monitoring and even within a week when I first started taking them, I  started to notice a difference. 

For instance  some of my symptoms  such as my brain fog, woolliness, feeling wobbly on my feet, forgetting words and not being able to express a comprehensive conservation, my mental ability was so much clearer,  I felt so much brighter, my roller coaster  of hormone instability of crying one moment and being semi okay then next, has been so much settled, my friends and family have noticed a big difference ( and said so!).

It was after a really considered decision to start taking private medication, as the financial impact, the regular private testing, monitoring is a big step to take and  not taken lightly. 

I found the honest conversations on forums to be so helpful; reading trusted research, information and not to feel completely alone. It will be a lifelong quest for great thyroid health; especially with the barriers traditional medicine has put up,  the insatiable costs the pharmaceutical  companies are raking in; the constraints of the current NHS system  including the costs of prescribing T3 meds and navigating a mainly old dated system. Awareness, education and being my own advocate is key. 
That saying, If you do the same old, you get the same old seems very apt. 

Bio: Natalie Guy lives on the South coast in Bournemouth after moving 15 years ago from London. She was diagnosed with widespread thyroid cancer in October 2020 and is still on her healing journey. Natalie was self employed  mosaicist prior to the diagnosis and due to the glass dust and grout, is currently pursuing other creative avenues.