Seeking recommendations on best brand of T3 and... - Thyroid UK

Thyroid UK

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Seeking recommendations on best brand of T3 and where to buy it without a prescription.

TimelessRainbows•

10 years ago•12 Replies

I live in the UK and would be most grateful if you would send me a private message with your feedback,

as I need to find a reliable source at a reasonable price.

Appreciative thanks

Marie

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TimelessRainbows

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12 Replies

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helvellaAdministrator10 years ago

Not sure about others, but I tend not to answer questions about where to buy T3 when the person asking gives us no background or other information. I am happy to do so if I am convinced that the person asking does understand what they are doing.

Please convince us that we can sleep soundly after telling you where to buy T3. (The thought that information I supplied had directly harmed someone would be intolerable.)

Rod

TimelessRainbows• in reply tohelvella10 years ago

I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism in 1997 by an endocrinologist and was first prescribed Levothyroxine T4, but as it did not clear all my symptoms I was eventually prescribed Armour Thyroid, later to be replaced by Erfa Thyroid. I was referred back to my GP's medical care, who will no longer prescribe me Erfa Thyroid because of subsequent normal blood test results. I in turn became very ill with untreated hypothyroidism, so I managed to purchase some T3 over the internet, which will meet my needs for the short term, but not for the long term. In terms of actually obtaining printed out blood test results, this has been somewhat of a very stressful ordeal, as GP surgeries that I have requested them from in the past are very reluctant to provide them, if at all. I have a strong feeling that I am either unable to convert T4 into T3 and/or that not all of my T3 is getting into my cells, or being utilized by my cells, which may not always be apparent in blood test results, blood test results which in turn can come back as normal, as in my case.

Clutter• in reply toTimelessRainbows10 years ago

TimelessRainbows, patients are entitled to their test results under the Data Protection Act. It should be free of charge if the request is within 40 days of the test other than a nominal £1/£2 to cover the cost of printer ink and paper. Contact your practice manager and request your recent results. If s/he is not helpful tell him/her you are making a subject access request for the results with the lab ref ranges. You can also request your entire medical records from your GP practice for £50 or ask for an appointment to view your records online at the surgery and make your own notes. ico.org.uk/for_the_public/t...

TimelessRainbows• in reply toClutter10 years ago

Appreciative thanks Clutter for letting me know the correct protocol to follow in order to obtain my test results, which is most helpful, and one that I will definitely undertake in future.

TimelessRainbows• in reply tohelvella10 years ago

Appreciative thanks Rod for sending me a PM and letting me know where to buy T3.

susie5910 years ago

I can help you as I am self medicating, but I did post my blood results and got loads of advice on my results and symptoms first, I also got a lot of help from members who also take T3,

post as much info about yourself as you will definitely need all the help you can get ,

are you taking T4? have you been diagnosed?

is very important.

TimelessRainbows• in reply tosusie5910 years ago

Appreciative thanks for your kind feedback. I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism in 1997 by an endocrinologist and was first prescribed Levothyroxine T4, but as it did not clear all my symptoms I was eventually prescribed Armour Thyroid, later to be replaced by Erfa Thyroid. I have no concept of time, but I think it must be at least one and a half to two years ago since I last had a thyroid function test, which came back as normal, therefore, I have no longer been presribed Erfa thyroid medication by my GP since that time of those blood test results. I also felt that my GP was none too happy in prescribing that Erfa thyroid medication. I have found it extremely difficult to obtain copies of my blood test results in the past, so in the end it was just not worth the stress of it all, so on that same note I don't even have a copy of my last thyroid function blood test results. I did manage to buy some T3 over the internet, which I am currently self medicating with, but I need a more reliable source of a better brand of T3. I also have vitamin B12 injections once every three months, which is my only prescription at the moment. I also buy and take the following supplements: Selenium, chelated magnesium, L-Tyrosine, Inositiol, vitamin B vitamins, vitamin C, iodine, Omega 3 and Omega 6, Ubiquinol (Co-enzyme Q10), vitamin D3, and chelated iron, but in terms of the vitamin D3 and the chelated iron I do not take these all the time, but only now an again to maintain my existing levels of vitamin D3 and iron.

• in reply toTimelessRainbows10 years ago

Hi TR, sounds as if it's time you had a new blood test. Thyroidism doesn't just go away. I know (mine is the same) doctors don't seem in the least bothered if one just disappears, thyroidism and all - but it is careless of them, not to say callous. You aren't well, you strongly suspect your thyroid to be the cause, your doctor must at least listen to your symptoms. You need an appointment, to which go armed with a list of your more debilitating symptoms and, preferably, a friend/relative (they aren't so dismissive when there's a witness). It sounds as if you should be referred back to the Endocrinologist.

It will always be a struggle getting NDT prescribed in Britain (until we get a change in the way thyroidism is treated). Were you well on Erfa? Have you considered trying Thyroid S (which is NDT)? It is probably easier to source than T3.

Note you say you are looking for a 'better' brand of T3. Which one are you using now? And what don't you like about it?

Sorry we keep quizzing you!

TimelessRainbows• in reply to10 years ago

Hi Humphrey, yes I agree, it is time that I had a new blood test, which I thought I might have already had by now, but unfortunately the house move we are planning hasn't taken place yet, where we are still looking for a house to rent in or near Southport, as we want to live by the sea. Therefore, in the meantime I will make an appointment next week to see a GP and ask him to arrange for the necessary blood tests and if he agrees then when I get the results of those tests I will post them on here.

It wasn't my present GP who referred me to that particular endocrinologist, that referral was arranged by my former GP, who works within a different doctor's surgery; also that former GP would not have referred me to an endocrinologist if it had not been for my son's intervention, that was because my son had attended a doctor's appointment with me at that point in time. I had left that former GP's surgery as he had stopped my vitamin B12 injections and yet I have lack of the intrinsic factor, so he shouldn't have stopped those injections, but he stopped those vitamin B12 injections on the pretext that my vitamin B12 blood test results were normal. I naturally became very ill without those vitamin B12 injections, which I had been having once every eight weeks, but my present GP at this new doctors surgery will only let me have my vitamin B12 injections once every 12 weeks, as is I am led to believe the standard NHS protocol. My endocrinologist had referred me back to my GP as he is no longer seeing thyroid patients, therefore, it is not possible for me to see him again.

Were you well on Erfa? I felt that Erfa was not as good as Armour Thyroid, that is before Armour Thyroid had been reformulated in 2009.

Have you considered trying Thyroid S (which is NDT)? I had read on the internet that Thyroid S is not so easy to purchase now, where at one point I was led to believe it was only possible to purchase it via the USA, but I did not want to have to pay the additional taxes and custom/handling fees etc at this end. Also I am not keen on the long list of ingredients it contains.

I have also purchased both of Paul Robinson's books: "Recovering with T3" and "The CT3M Handbook", so this time round I would like to try using only T3, as I have a strong feeling that I am either unable to convert T4 into T3 and/or that not all of my T3 is getting into my cells, or being utilized by my cells. As an aside I also have a number of other books in relation to the thyroid, including "Hypothyroidism Type 2 : Epidemic" by Mark Starr M.D.

• in reply toTimelessRainbows10 years ago

I can see you've done your homework - well done you. It is a sad reflection on the NHS that one has to be one's own specialist and then cajole these doctors into helping one get well. The way doctors keep popping in and out of your life can't be helping either. F Y I Louise Warville has a list of Endocrinologists who have been found to be helpful. PM her for the list if you want it. You can ask to be referred where you like, I believe. Also, do you use Facebook? If you do there is a closed group on there (url = facebook.com/groups/Recover... which is dedicated to recovering with T3, although it does cover combination NDT/T3 and T4/T3 therapies as well.

Here's hoping you find a sensible and helpful doctor where you're moving to. Moving doesn't help, does it? I'm trying to move south to the coast myself. When one feels so bleah it's hard to sort out the tarting up and throwing out that has to go on before that For Sale board can go up.

Happy landings!

TimelessRainbows• in reply to10 years ago

Yes, I started to undertake medical research not long after the mid 1990s when I had bought my first computer and had it connected to internet. Although that medical research was an exceedingly slow process given the state of my health at that point in time, but I eventually began to connect the dots, as it were, and so in turn my ongoing health problems began to make sense to a certain extent; but as you know medical research never ends, as it is a continual learning process. I should be a walking encyclopedia by now, but sadly that is not the case as I have always had a poor retentive memory, therefore I have never been any good a memorizing facts and figures etc., even when I was a young girl at school, which I think might have been also thyroid related. It was only after my diagnosis of hypothyroidism that I was informed by one of my aunties that my maternal grandmother had hypothyroidism, but I had never known my maternal grandmother as she had died in her forties, so there is a genetic link there in terms of the thyroid, or what is termed as a genetic jump, as it missed my mother, who fortunately did not have any thyroid problems.

Appreciative thanks for letting me know about that list of Endocrinologists, which will be good to have after I have moved to our new home. Yes, I use Facebook, so thanks for letting me know about that closed group on Facebook too, which is dedicated to recovering with T3, as well as covering combination NDT/T3 and T4/T3 therapies. I totally agree, moving certainly does not help when one is not in the best of health, we have been gradually sorting through each room over a number of months and also gradually packing 80 litre see through plastic containers with lids that are stackable, as at least then one can see what it is in those containers, which makes it less of a nightmare. Therefore, we have everything packed up now apart from essential everday items. But sorting through things can also be fun at times too, especially when coming across something that one has forgotten all about, or coming across something else that brings back fond memories.

TimelessRainbows10 years ago

The following are the blood tests that I had requested on Wednesday, 13 August 2014 during a GP's appointment, where that GP had informed me that as my last thyroid function blood tests were normal he would not able to request those below listed thyroid antibodies tests :

Thyroid function

TSH

Free T4

Free T3

Thyroid antibodies

TPOAb

TgAb

TRAb

Iron

Ferritin

Serum iron

Full Blood Count

Vitamin B12

Folate

Vitamin D

>>> These are my blood tests results dated 26 Auguust 2014:

Serum free T4 level - 4.1 pmoI/L (10.40 - 24.50 pmoI/L)

Serum TSH level - 29.8 mu/L (0.30 - 6.00 mu/L)

Plasma glucose level - 5.3mmoI/L (No normal range given)

Serum C reactive protein level - 7 mg/L (0.00 10.00 mg/L)

Serum folate - 11.2 ug?L (3.00 - 20.00 ug/L)

Serum vitamin B12 - >2000ng/L ( 160.00 - 1000.00 ng/L)

Serum ferritin - 47 ug/L (10.00 - 160.00ug/L)

Bone profile

Serum calcium - 2.29 mmoI/L ( 2.20 - 2.60 mmoI/L)

Corrected serum calcium level - 2.25mmoI/L ( 2.20 - 2.60 mmoI/L)

Serum total protein - 77 g/L ( 60.00 - 80.00 g/L)

Serum globulin - 31 g/L ( 18.00 -36.00 g/L)

Liver function

Serum total bilirubin level - 3 umoI/L ( 0.00 - 21.00 umoI/L)

Serum ALT level - 45 iu/L ( 3.00 - 53 iu/L)

Total akaline phosphatase - 88 iu/L (30.00 - 130 iu/L)

Serum albumin - 46 g/L (35.00 - 50.00 g/L)

Renal profile

Serum sodium - 145 mmoI/L ( 133.00 - 146 mmoI/L)

Serum potassium - 4.7 mmoI/L (3.50 - 5.30 mmoI/L)

Serum urea level - 6.9 mmoI/L (2.50 - 7.80 mmoI/L)

Serum creatinine - 70 umoI/L (46.00 - 92.00 umoI/L)

Serum vitamin D - 112 nmoI/L (>50 nmoI/L is sufficient) (1 ng/ml equates to 2.5 nmol/L)

Full blood count

Haemoglobin estimation - 150 g/L (115.00 - 165.00 g/L)

Total white cell count - 9.0 10*9/L (4.00 - 11.00 10*9/L)

Platelet count - 375 10*9/L ( 150.00 - 450.00 10*9/L)

Red blood cell count - 5.01 10*12/L ( 3.80 - 5.50 10*12/L)

Packed cell volume - 0.450 (0.36 - 0.46)

Mean corpuscular volume - 90.0 fL (76.00 - 100.00 fL)

Mean corpuscular haemoglobin - 30.0 pg (27.00 - 32.00 pg)

Mean corpusc. Hb. conc. (MCHC) - 333.0 g/L (310 - 360.00 g/L)

Red blood cell distribut width - 13.5 (10.00 - 15.70)

Neutrophil count - 4.9 10*9/L ( 2.00 - 7.50 10*9/L)

Lymphocyte count - 3.1 10*9/L (1.50 - 4.00 10*9/L)

Monocyte count - 0.4 10*9/L ( 0.20 - 0.80 10*9/L)

Eosinophil count - 0.3 10*9/L ( 0.00 - 0.40 10*9/L)

Basophil count - 0.1 10*9/L ( 0.00 - 0.10 10*9/L)

% MICROCYTIC - 0.7 %

Percentage hypochromic cells - 0.8 %

Nucleated red blood cell count - 0.00 10*9/L ( 0.00 - 0.15 10*9/L)

>>>>>>>>>Following the receipt of those blood test results that GP prescribed me a repeat prescription for 28 number Levothyroxine tablets on Wednesday, 3 September 2014, where each Levothyroxine tablet contains 100 micrograms, and which I have been taking since that appointment with my GP. These particular Levothyroxine tablets are produced by Almus Pharmaceuticals. I think the last time I was prescribed Levothyroxine was in 2004, where back then I was being prescribed either 150 mcg or 175 mcg Levothyroxine each day. but like a noteable number of thyroid patients have found, including myself, it eventually stopped having the desired effect where my hypothyroid symptoms began to return.

I also have been and am still currently taking each day T3, which I purchase myself, and which this doctor is unaware that I am already taking it. Prior to being prescribed the aforementioned Levothyroxine I had been taking 75 mcg of T3 each day, but I have now reduced that to 50 mcg of T3 each day to err on the side of caution.

I also have to go back in three months time to see that GP for a review; though it might be another GP if we have moved house before then.

My main ongoing symptoms are poor energy levels and poor concentration, so I have to space out what I do each day, as if I do too much in any one day I can still feel the repurcussions of doing that two to three days later.

I would truly appreciate your feedback on all of this, as I am not quite sure what I should do at this stage.

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