NTD and steroids

[Maggiemay12]

I was very close to my correct dose of NDT .was taking one and a half two days and one and three quarter third day ,I knew I was slightly out as I could feel some of the symptoms I had when I was too high . Had a steroid injection a week ago and I feel my thyroid has gone a bit too high that I had to drop the 1/4 grain ,maybe it is the warmer weather but does anyone know if anything like steroid would effect my meds .doctor doesn't know anything about NDT .

[shaws Administrator]

Weather can affect our thyroid hormones. If it is too hot, we can need less and when too cold we might need an increase.

I don't think steroids have an affect on NDT as steroids are also 'natural' to our bodies. This is an excerpt:

While the potency tends to be fairly stable within a particular brand name -- or generic manufacturer -- they do vary from brand to brand and manufacturer to manufacturer. Still, if you're stabilized on one brand, shifting to another brand -- or being on generic levothyroxine and having refills come from different manufacturers -- can cause some swings, based on the different potencies of each maker's drugs.

Another hitch? Hot weather can degrade medications in general, and thyroid drugs are particularly susceptible. So, mail-order medications that sit in hot trucks and mailboxes for hours and days, drugs that sit in hot cars or storage in hot homes without air conditioning can all have a fairly quick and dramatic effect on potency of medications. (For more information, read Warning: Hot Temperatures May be Hazardous to Your Drugs: Your Medication Can Be a Casualty of Heat Waves and Power Outages.

thyroid.about.com/od/gettes...

[Barrister]

I'm not sure whether steroids have an effect on NDT but they certainly have an effect on me when I take thyroxine. They seem to increase the effect and my TSH becomes non existent. The first time it happened my GP didn't think steroids could do this and the second time he insisted that I was over medicated ( on the same 75 mcg that I had been on for months) but agreed to retest 3 weeks later. Sure enough, my TSH had stabilised again. So as thyroxine is T4 and NDT contains T4 as well as T3, I I wouldn't be surprised if it does affect it. There doesn't seem to be any studies on it. I'm now taking NDT ( only for last couple of days) but had to start steroids due to colitis but I'm not going to get any tests because I know that it will probably freak him out until he realises that this is what happens with me! Clemmie