Hi, I am very confused; With reference to taking Armour (NDT?) which many of you lovely people have posted about recently. I did used to

[Booblet]

think that one substituted NDT (Amour) from example, Levothyroxine? because NDT contains T3? Yet I have read that some members take Amour and additional amounts of T3? Is it due to different conditions of the thyroid?

I am seeing an Endocolgist on Tuesday - I have undractive thyroid and taking 50mg of Levothyroxine, it is doing me no good what so ever, and, I have had allergic reactions from it....I suffer from Excema and it has become more sever, also I seem to be more depressed and have more mood swings???

Sorry to put too much within this question but I am quite concerned ..can any body give me andvice? Regards,. Ollybear

[shaws Administrator]

Usually Natural Dessicated Thyroid products only need to be taken alone as they contain everything our own thyroid gland used to produce but now doesn't, either efficiently or not at all. NDT contains all the thyroid gland hormones, T4, T3, T2, T1 and calcitonin and maybe other things we are unaware of. There are quite a few NDT's, Armour, Erfa, Naturethroid (hypoallergenic).

Some people like to add a little T3 and others who take T3 alone may add a little T4. It is just a personal preference. I took my NDT alone but now I am on T3 alone.

I doubt 50mcg is doing you much good as it is a starting doseI I hope you have a decent Endocrinologist who will allow you to try other than levothyroxine, as some GP's wrongly believe that keeping the TSH within range is the right thing to do, despite the patient still having clinical symptoms of hypothyroidism.

Don't worry. If this Endocrinologist isn't responsive to either giving you T3 (he may want to add T3 to your T4) or prescribe NDT. You can get a recommendation from [e-mail] who has a list and one may be near you.

I wish you luck and let us know how you get on.

[Booblet in reply to shaws]

Thank-you so much for your quick responce! Can you tell me where you get T3 from? Can you just get this through our NHS? I will try the email you provided for other NDT, especially the hypoallergenic - 'Naturethroid" . Thank-you again for your suppport. Regards, Ollybear. I will certainly let you know how I get on - fingers crossed xxx

[shaws Administrator in reply to Booblet]

My GP prescribes T3 for me. I am fortunate. An NHS Endocrinologist also added some T3 to my T4 (proper names liothyronine and levothyroxine (T3 and T4) originally.

[Heloise]

Hi Gilla, Shaws gave a good summary of natural hormone. Levo is cheaper and some people do okay with it. It is synthetic T4 and if your adrenals are good and you have no deficiencies in iron, folate, D, ferritin, etc., you will probably process the T4 into the other T's Shaw mentioned. T4 goes to the liver and then there is a chain reaction until freeT3 gets into every cell of your body. But as you can imagine, a lot can go wrong and that's why many of us are posting.