Worrying results

[serenfach]

I decided to bite the bullet around 6 weeks ago and moved to NDT. I knew I was underdosing after a couple of weeks and moved up to slightly more NDT than the equivalent T4 and T3 I had been taking. I was on 100 levo and 10 Liothyronine a day, and now am taking 1 and a half grains NDT.

I had a blood test yesterday and a GP from the surgery has just phoned (not the one I discussed moving to NDT with). She is very worried as my TSH came back as 37, with my T4 at 6.5. (No T3 done!) Now obviously this is waaayyyy off. When I told her I had moved to NDT she said "your body was fit on the old drugs and you are harming yourself". I pointed out I was not well on the old drugs and had discussed the move with my GP, but she almost said I was a fool and they would not look after me if I carried on.

Have I got my sums wrong? What would you recommend I do? I dont feel 100% but better than on the old drugs. HELP!

[Brubru]

I was on the same amount 100 and 10. And I'm doing well on 3 grains of thyroyd S. I'm not very good with the conversions but with that TSH shows you are undermedicated

[shaws Administrator]

As T3 is in NDT that's why your T4 will show as being lower. I'm not sure why your TSH is a lot higher which would indicate that you aren't on sufficient thyroid hormones.

1 gr of NDT is between 75mcg and 100mcg of levo so your dose of 1.5 NDT might be too low for you since your TSH has risen.

[Jazzw]

I think your sums are wrong.

There's 35-38mcg of Levo in a grain of NDT (depending on the type - what are you taking?) and 8-9mcg of liothyronine.

So you were taking 100mcg of Levo and 10mcg of Liothyronine.

You're now taking 70-75mcg of Levo and 12-13.5mcg of liothyronine. So that's significantly less Levo and only a titchy bit more Lio - not enough to make up the shortfall.

If you weren't right on your Levo/Lio combi, then I'd say a half grain increase to 2 grains is probably in order.

But more important than any of that - how do you feel? Do you feel like you need a bit more?

[serenfach]

Thanks for the replies. The GP went off on one but got a very polite but icy replies and I countered all her arguments using information I had gleaned on this site. and when she realised I knew more than she did, she was not happy! Tough!

I will up my dose again, but the odd thing is I do feel better than on the old regime. Maybe I can feel well one day. We can all hope for that!

Thanks again for replying. I do rely on this site for a great deal and you have never let me down!

[Glynisrose]

The only danger is swapping the NDT dose directly and raising too quickly. Try lowering your dose and start again. DON'T directly swap your levo to NDT your body needs to get used to the extra T hormones slowly. GP's are mostly useless when it comes to diagnosing or treating under active thyroid, so ignore the negativity from your doctor.