I read this over at massmonsterz
There are many misunderstandings about the thyroid. You have about a 2 month supply of T4 stored in your thyroid (5000 mcg in the average 20 g gland) plus another 1000 mcg stored peripherally. TSH enhances the release of the stored T4, but some will diffuse out even in the absence of TSH. Moreover, the body has a poorly understood "thermostat" that upregulates the conversion of T4 to T3 when T4 is depressed (1). In (1) subjects were put on a month long T3 cycle: 50 mcg/day week 1; 75/day week 2; then 100/day weeks 3 & 4, then stopped abruptly. Six days after withdrawal TSH was back in the normal range; 8 days after withdrawal it had returned to baseline and then spiked above baseline until dropping back to baseline by day 42. The point being TSH recovery is very fast.
As for thyroid hormone levels, after going cold turkey T3 dropped to only 22% below baseline and had returned to normal within 2 weeks. The 22% drop in T3 compared to a 60% drop in T4 represents the "thermostat" upregulating conversion of T4 to T3 in a state of thyroid suppression.
Your thyroid will come back quickly after only a minor suppression of T3 (22%) during a relatively heavy cycle (100 mcg/day). I would not even worry about trying to speed recovery.
(1) J Clin Invest. 1984 Feb;73(2):570-5.
Peripheral tissue mechanism for maintenance of serum triiodothyronine values in a thyroxine-deficient state in man.
Lum SM, Nicoloff JT, Spencer CA, Kaptein EM.
There are many misunderstandings about the thyroid. You have about a 2 month supply of T4 stored in your thyroid (5000 mcg in the average 20 g gland) plus another 1000 mcg stored peripherally. TSH enhances the release of the stored T4, but some will diffuse out even in the absence of TSH. Moreover, the body has a poorly understood "thermostat" that upregulates the conversion of T4 to T3 when T4 is depressed (1). In (1) subjects were put on a month long T3 cycle: 50 mcg/day week 1; 75/day week 2; then 100/day weeks 3 & 4, then stopped abruptly. Six days after withdrawal TSH was back in the normal range; 8 days after withdrawal it had returned to baseline and then spiked above baseline until dropping back to baseline by day 42. The point being TSH recovery is very fast.
As for thyroid hormone levels, after going cold turkey T3 dropped to only 22% below baseline and had returned to normal within 2 weeks. The 22% drop in T3 compared to a 60% drop in T4 represents the "thermostat" upregulating conversion of T4 to T3 in a state of thyroid suppression.
Your thyroid will come back quickly after only a minor suppression of T3 (22%) during a relatively heavy cycle (100 mcg/day). I would not even worry about trying to speed recovery.
(1) J Clin Invest. 1984 Feb;73(2):570-5.
Peripheral tissue mechanism for maintenance of serum triiodothyronine values in a thyroxine-deficient state in man.
Lum SM, Nicoloff JT, Spencer CA, Kaptein EM.