I thought you weren't supposed to take thyroid meds alongside calcium?!

[Jane104]

I noticed the other day that on my bottles of Nature Throid it lists the main ingredients as (per 1/2 grain)

liothyronine 4.5mcg, levothyroxine 19mcg, and calcium 9mg (plus magnesium, sodium (each) less than 1mg)

In the full list of ingredients on the leaflet it says 'dicalcium phosphate' which as well as being used in pharmaceuticals is used to fortify flour, breakfast cereals etc. So is that slightly counterproductive or is it too small an amount to matter?

[tegz]

For what it's worth my GP gave me D3 +Calcium [ for low normal spine density] along with Levo without a word.That's 1000 mg Calcium [eq:elemental] daily- and it's not supposed to be good for Levo uptake. 9 mg should be OK on this basis-

Also, Iron is in the same ball park as needed for T4 conversion, but again- stopping some Levo effect when co-administered.[Again low level in your case]

Like so much in the thyroid world- it's a case of trial by stealth

The important fact that you get some T3 saves the day, it would seem!

T4 is inert, till converted- no wonder it gets zapped by all and sundry in the diet and can get left out by poor liver function etc. on the way to whatever success it gains.

This Nature Throid seems the business How's progress?

[Jane104 in reply to tegz]

Progress is painfully slow.

[helvella Administrator Thyroid UK]

An interesting question.

It is possible that dicalcium phosphate, for some reason, has less impact than other forms of calcium. We tend to say "calcium" as a shorthand for "calcium-containing substances that interact with thyroid hormones" - but the truth is that we do not have sufficient information to know how much each substance can and does interact. Simply that some of them can have quite an impact.

The point about quantity is almost certainly a significant part of the explanation.

It appears that dicalcium phosphate can help to improve stability and product life of thyroid hormone tablets.

There are at least two thyroid hormone products in the USA which do not have any calcium - Tirosint gels and RLC's new-ish Westhroid P. (And the liquid levothyroxine products.)

Rod