Switching to Nature-Throid

[SVA57]

Hi,

I am currently on 4 grains of Thiroyd. My lab results show that I am over-medicated. However, I do not have any hyper symptoms and still have all hypo symptoms. My doctor has prescribed me 2 grains of Nature-Throid.

Do you think it would be better if I stop taking Thiroyd for a couple days and start on a low does of Nature-Throid then increase it gradually?

Here are the result:

TSH <0.01 [0.40-4.50 (mIU/L)]

FT3 5.7 [2.3-4.2 (pg/mL)]

FT4 1.6 [0.8-1.8 (ng/dL)]

Reverse T3 37 [8-25 (ng/dL)]

Thank a lot.

[Redditch]

They do day that thyroid symptoms are very similar hypo and hyper.

I think temperature is a good test for you. get a digital thermometer, take your temperature every morning as soon as you wake up.

Drop your meds to 2 grains, see what your temperature does.

The endo could be right

Or, you could be not absorbing it properly - are your Vitamin D, folate and ferritin levels good?

Or it could have stopped working for you

Where do you get it from? Are you sure it's genuine?

Actually I am in exactly the same position, taking 2 grains, feel terrible, great D, Ferritin, and Folate, TSH of 0.01.

My endo is testing adrenals and suggests I go to Levo for a week just to see if it works better.

I am so down about this, I felt great for the first eighteen months of NDT, now I'm putting weight back on, tired, brain fogged, and cold.

Let me know what you decide

[Hidden]

It could be that you are getting too much T4, which is then converted to rT3 which in turn blocks the action of the active hormone T3...which could explain why you still have hypo symptoms with labs indicating you are overmedicated. However, a decrease from 4 to 2 grains sounds a bit drastic to me. Could you not decrease it more slowly, say, by half a grain, see how you react, and then by another half grain if needed?

When you are getting direct T3 from the NDT, your need for T4 may decrease...at least that is what happened to me. While on T4 only drugs, I needed my FT4 levels to be at the very top of range in order to function at all; however, on NDT (I take Thyroid-S) my FT4 levels are below midrange and I feel fine as long as my FT3 levels are in the upper part of range.

The TSH is unimportant when taking drugs containing T3, as T3 tends to suppress the TSH below range even if your FTs are in range. When on NDT, you need to go by your FTs (especially your FT3 levels) and symptom relief.

Naturethroid, as far as I know, contains cellulose as a filler while Thiroyd doesn't, and that may affect the absorption of the hormones. I seem to need more of NDT brands containing cellulose than brands without cellulose...but I guess that is highly individual.

[silverfox7]

I am trying to think what I was told to do when I went over medicated. I was on 3 grains Thyroid S and realised I had recently gone a little high. I think I was told to leave off for 10 days then start back on 1.5, raise in quarters but not to go over 1.75! I didn't feel worse without medication but different. I then remembered I had felt better on the way up but had probably gone passed my sweet spot. I didn't quite last the 10 days as I had a serious flood on the 9th and you can imagine the stress of water appearing on two ceilings so started back on day nine! Very slowly started back up but taking more notice of how I felt and went back up to where endo had said! Well he was right but it was my early days on NDT and I was now realising there was not much between being under and over, very similar symptoms. I've had a very slight variation since but have learnt now if I feel like an increase to drop my levels slightly first and see what happens, if I feel better for dropping it I have crept over again but if I feel worse then I did need it raising. It I found it was a fine line that was right for me.

So to be safe I would make sure the extra is out of your system then restart at a lower dose and see how you feel in that after a while. Like me you may find he is spot on so give it a go at this level and not be in too much of a hurry to increase and miss your sweet spot again.

[Geniler]

I have a great private consultant who always makes any change to my dose as slow as possible. When I have had to go up it's by 0.5 of a grain twice a week and the same if I need to reduce. At the moment we are trying to reduce my NDT from 2 grains Monday Tuesday Thursday Friday and Saturday and 1.5 grains on Sunday and Wednesday down to 2 grains every second day and 1.5 on other days. I stay on this protocol for six weeks and then do blood work through NHS and send him a copy. Then we look at the FTs and determine if I stay as is or reduce by a bit more. This way I have remained stable and feeling really well with no reemergence of my hashimoto symptoms.

[Glynisrose]

How do you FEEL? Its more important than numbers!

[Clutter]

SVA57,

If you took NDT before your blood test that will be why FT3 is high. If you left 8-12 hours between last dose and blood draw you are over medicated but not so much that you need to reduce dose by 2 grains.

As you don't feel over medicated there's no need to stop taking Thiroyd for a couple of days. You could just reduce to 3 grains.