Switching from levothyroxine to ndt or T3

[wowserclo]

With a tsh of 3.2 and T3 of 5.1 I'm shock of shocks having a bad time with levothyroxine.

Is it safe for me to switch myself over to ndt or T3 only?

If I want to do this how do I get hold of the other drugs? I can't get it from my GP or endo they say they only have levothyroxine and go on about how great I'm doing on it (hahaha)

[Kell-E]

I just switched from 100mcg levo/10mcg cytomel to 2.5 grains NDT. The conversion chart they supply says something like 1 grain = 100mcg levo. It is more like equal to 75mcg levo. Each grain has 38mcg T4 and 9mcg T3, so if you are not accustomed to T3 they say to introduce NDT slowly in increments. I was already taking 10mcg of T3, but I swapped right over an noticed no ill effects in pretty much doubling my T3.

[Redditch]

Lots of us have done it, I was 5 months in bed on levothyroxine with my GP telling me it was kind my head 6 years later I'm a stone lighter, fobyoga every morning and am holding down a six figure salary job on Erfa thyroid that I buy myself. They know nothing. Read all the books you can Dr Barry Currant Peatfield's book is the first one I read. Don't be scared. A normal life is achievable with the right meds supplements and diet.

Good luck

[thyroidnodules in reply to Redditch]

my story is similar. switched overnight to thiroyd - tsh came down and I have lost a stone and still coming down. gone back to work 4 days instead of two. I am 66 and feel loads better - went to a talk by dr toft who said that tsh should be 1 or below when taking thyroid meds and that the medical profession is stuck in the dark ages about t3 - he says he used to be of the same mindset but after dealing with patients who did better on combination t4/t3 or t3 alone he has changed his mind. he also said that docs will tell you that a low tsh will cause osteoarthritis but he says the opposite is true and mainly agreed with everything on this forum

[sue_b in reply to thyroidnodules]

Yes, I just bought Dr Toft's book on amazon, £4.95, 'Thyroid disorders'. I switched myself from Levo to NDT 2 years ago. My Levo was 125mcg which kept my TSH at just above 2. I took about a week to build up to 3 NDT. I found taking 4 gave me hyper symptoms. Best wishes

[sue_b in reply to sue_b]

The book just arrived. I would say that it is mainstream in terms of the content and advice and gives a very good over-view. There is a thorough description of the signs of hyperthyroid, very helpful. There is advice about doses of T3 when switching to treatment with T4 and T3.

There are sections on hypothyroidism in pregnancy, goitre, temporary thyroid issues and drugs that interfere. He talks about the effects on the body of long-term inadequate treatment

The book glances over the issue that some people don't convert saying that research evidence is inconclusive that adding t3 helps but that most consultants would have observed that adding T3 does have benefit for some of their patients.

Not a bad book to have on the shelf for reference

[Repton1]

I also switched to NDT. I did it gradually - probably too slowly, but I never felt any ill effects and I am now holding down a very demanding job which I cannot imagine I would have been able to do whilst taking thyroxine. I buy my own Naturethroid as the GP will not prescribe it.