I have just recieved my first bottle of a new to me product. It is a british made porcine ndt. All it contains is porcine thyroid gland 65mg, organic rice starch and gelatine. The pigs are reared outdoors and recieve no growth hormones, routine antibiotics and are not exposed to pestisides, So they say. It cost £26 including postage for 180 capsules and toke 3 days to arrive. I am a bit concerned that it might not be legal to sell this supplement in UK so I am not posting its name but if anyone wants to know how to get it then private message me.
new product: I have just recieved my first bottle... - Thyroid UK
new product
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Sounds interesting. Could you please PM me?
Mandyjane, How much T4 + T3 does the product contain? Feel free to post the name of it.
I dont think they publish how much t4 and t3 in it. \\it is just 65mg of porcine thyroid gland.
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Mandyjane, There is no British NDT so you've bought a glandular supplement which has probably had the active T4+T3 removed. Please don't assume it can replace Levothyroxine or NDT like Armour, Erfa, WP, NatureThroid or Thai NDT.
Thanks clutter I will proceed with caution.
Clutter,
If I'm not mistaken, it is:
Metavive I, Porcine Thyroid 65mg (180 caps)
Absolutely no claim for thyroid hormone content - just the usual "because we don't do anything to get rid of them you should assume they are still present". Deeply unsatisfactory.
A while ago, PR4NOW and I were pushing back what we knew about the beginnings of desiccated thyroid such as Armour Thyroid. Some of the very clearest evidence was that the thyroid hormone content of animal thyroids varies significantly through the year.
"Official" desiccated thyroid products, as we know, use various techniques of measuring, dilution and blending to achieve consistency. It is difficult to know whether these people do the same - but don't tell us. Or simply don't. Which would you bet on?
Helvella, The latter. If it doesn't say exactly how much T4 &/or T3 it contains I think it's snakeoil. There may be some benefit for someone with mild thyroid dysfunction but anyone on thyroid replacement will become profoundly hypothyroid if they switch from Levothyroxine or NDT to a supplement which has had most of the active ingredient removed.
The company making this product claims it's the equivalent of Nutri-Meds porcine glandular. The latter was available as 130 mg capsules. Metavive is available in both 130 and 65 mg capsules. I was on Nutri-Meds porcine glandular for years before I could find a doctor to prescribe NDT. I combined Nutri-Meds with prescription thyroxine, and felt much better on it than without it, although I had to take several capsules of day to feel a real difference. I read an estimate somewhere than a 130 mg capsule is roughly the equivalent of 1/4 grain or 15 mg of NDT, and I think that is a fair assessment.
It is a raw glandular with nothing added or removed. I found out about it through someone else on the forum who did very well on it so must contain hormones.
Sorry if I'm missing something obvious, but if it doesn't give any info about hormone content, why would you want to take this rather than the prescription NDTs?
Prescription Ndts cost much more, more than I can afford. It costs to get the doctor to prescribe then it costs to pay for the prescription. I was on armour for a short while but it was way more than I could afford
Oh well yes, Armour is mega expensive. It seems to increase in price evry time I look it up. But other brands are cheaper and lots of people buy them without a prescription.
Can you please message me with the names of cheaper brands and how to get them. Do you know how to get some thing like nature thyroid cheaply or can you suggest other brands I might try.
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My endo says I can supplement my levo with NDT but won't help at all, though she won't abandon me!!! I have no thyroid gland, removed 14 years ago due to papilliary cancer. I do ok on levo but have various side effects and would like to supplement just a little NDT so I can have the T1& T2 as well. Could you please PM me with details of other brands of NDT and how to get hold of it without a prescription. Thank you
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Mandyjane, the point is, how much hormone does it contain?
I have managed to do a link. They have replied to me and said they are unable to answer my question about amounts of t4 and t3 as doing so would make this supplement a medicine and illegal to sell. They do however describe in the link that they do not do anything to remove the hormones and process carefully to prevent loss of hormone.
I have also messaged person I knew was taking it to see how they are.
I feel reasonably well on it today and will experiment on myself as I have been doing for about 3 years now. At least I dont feel terrible like I did on thyroid s
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"real" thyroid meds and supps, contain given amounts of hormones. I believe that Dr. Lowes Thyrogold, has given amounts. I certainly wouldn't take it or trust it, if you have low thyroid. You need thyroid hormone to keep your organs and entire body functioning properly..it is a huge deal, very important.
Can they even answer if the amounts are likely to be similar from batch to batch?
That was a critical issue in early desiccated thyroid. And one of the reasons for choosing porcine rather than bovine, ovine or anything else. Pigs have less seasonal variation than the other species. Even then, considerable effort is and was expended in measuring, diluting and blending. Despite all of that one of the criticisms levelled against prescription desiccated thyroid has always been inconsistency. (Albeit that modern analytical techniques are quite capable of achieving a high order of accuracy, that criticism is still made.)
Do these new product suppliers do all that - and yet not tell us? Or do they not do all of that? I really don't know. And taking it on trust is a touch further than I'd be willing to go.
I dont know how much hormone it contains but I didnt know how much hormone was in thyroid s either and felt dreadful on it. I will phone procepts tommorow and ask.
I have been taking thyrogold for a while it doesant really suit me but I do OK on it, I dont think Tammy Lowe says how much t4 and t3 is in thyrogold to avoid it being called a drug.
Can you private message me with what ones thye are and how to get them. I have tried thyroid s and was really ill on it. I think I need something without fillers.
There is no thyroid medicine without "fillers".
Every formulation of desiccated thyroid, T4, T3 and any combos - they all have excipients (other ingredients). You couldn't make tablets without adding things. You couldn't make gels, liquids, even capsules (because the capsules themselves are an added substance - and desiccated thyroid needs added ingredients to make it consistent).
All you can do, if you are sure you want desiccated thyroid, is choose the next one and try it. You can read ingredient lists and something might jump out (except for the Thai products which don't publish them).
When I was on NDT through the GP I didn't have to pay.
I have been taking westhroid for 16yrs. I was hoping to change to levo to save money but was very sick on a trial. I may try again at a later date. But the doctor I get my westhroid from (I can't name her but she is a well known CFS specialist) has said that she is switching her patients to the British made metavive pocine thyroid gland. I think they don't say what's in them so they can sell them as supplements. I don't know for sure but imagine they contain T3 and T4. I might give them a try when my westhroid runs out . Better price if they work ok but I don't know.
I think metavive can be sold as a supplement as it is not regulated or standardised. So it is just dried pig thyroid gland of uncertain dose. I think some people do well on it and the thyroid glad does not produce a pharmacetical regulated amount of thyroid hormone anyway. I am currently taking nature thyroid and thyro gold but it is expensive.
Just been catching up on all your feedback on Metavive as I have been taking it for almost a year now. Have been feeling very good and blood results were fine until this month when my TSH went up to 9.1. Strange indeed.
Are you still taking it in any measure and do you have any more information on it? Thanks
Snooks,
TSH is high because you are not getting enough T4 and/or T3. Metavive is sold as a food supplement to get around guaranteeing whether it contains active T4 and T3 and, if it does, how much. You will either have to experiment with higher doses of Metavive until TSH is <1.0 or ask your GP for Levothyroxine.
Thanks Clutter. I saw my GP yesterday and I'm taking an extra 25mg of Levo in addition to the Metavive to see if this does the trick. Will also speak to Dr P when I can.
Not taking it now taking thyroid gold which seems to really suit. Good to hear you have been doing well. No more info on it I am afraid although I gather Dr Peatfeild has been recommending it to some of his patients. I wonder why you tsh was up. Did you feel ill at all before the blood test and how is your pulse and temp. If you feel well then I don't think you need to worry to much.
It's all very strange but feeling ok at the moment. Well I was, until I found out that my TSH level had risen so much! Planning to contact Dr P this week again to hear what he has to say. Temperature and pulse are fine.
Where do you get your Thyroid Gold from mandyjane? Thanks for trying to help.
Snooks,
It is ThyroGold and it's available from naturalthyroidsolutions.com...
Iget it from America. I tend to just google thyroid gold when I want to order. It ismuch more expensive than metavive.
Thank you! How did you work out your dosage. Are the T3 and T4 levels clearer with Thyroid Gold?
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