Binders and fillers?

[Cdallio]

Hi, my endo switched my t3 from 10mcg once a day to 5mcg twice a day. Weny went to pick it up at the compounded pharmacy the 5mcg were the same size as the 10mcg. Shouldnt they be smaller? I questioned the pharmacist and asked if they justadded more fillers and he said yes, we have to do it that way. Is this true? Does anyone know?

[Clutter]

Cdallio,

The amount of active T3 in a 10mcg or 5mcg tablet is tiny. Most of the tablet is made up of other ingredients/fillers.

[Cdallio in reply to Clutter]

Either way, it seems im getting,more of the "other" ingredients. Why bother? Why dont they just give me a smaller capsule?

[Clutter in reply to Cdallio]

Cdallio,

You would have to ask the pharmacist or manufacturer that.

[helvella Administrator in reply to Cdallio]

Cdallio,

There could be any number of reasons.

For example, on the capsule size issue, perhaps there is only a limited number of capsule sizes a capsule filling machine can fill? Yes, we know that there can be different capsule sizes in large scale commercial products, but the machines that "specials" or compounding pharmacies use might not work with multiple sizes.

It is also possible that the capsule filling machines have a minimum content they can deal with - say 50 milligrams of powder. Assuming they mix some form of bulking agent with the active ingredient and then blend, they would have to ensure each capsule has 50 milligrams of content. The difference would be how much active ingredient there is in the mixture. (Perhaps the machine cannot reliably and accurately weigh less than 50 milligrams content?)

You are talking about 5 micrograms of active ingredient. I am suggesting a possible capsule content of 50 milligrams. That is 10,000 times as much. The difference in amount of bulking agent between a 5 and a 10 microgram capsule would be that the first one would contain 49,995 micrograms of bulking agent; the other would contain 49,990 micrograms of bulking agent.

So an absolutely irrelevant difference in the amount of bulking agent between the two capsules. But yes, as you say, taking two a day more or less doubles the intake. Surely, though, you have discussed the bulking agent to be used and agreed one that you can readily tolerate? So we would not expect an issue by taking a few extra milligrams of that.

[Cdallio in reply to helvella]

That makes sense. It just every time i take it i get sick about 1-2 hours later. Head fog, dizziness, typical,thyroid haze. It seems i only feel somewhat normal about 12 hours after. Thats when the fog starts to lift. Around 4pm. I didnt take it this am. Im gonna take it around 7pm and see if maybe ill sleep through the fog. I have no thyroid so i have to take it. I also take tirosint 75. Thanks for your reply.

[helvella Administrator in reply to Cdallio]

Cdallio,

Is it possible that you are taking the T3 and feeling the effect one to two hours later? BUT, if you usually don't have enough, that temporary improvement in T3 level might feel very odd.

[Cdallio in reply to helvella]

I experimented on my own as a last resort cause ive felt terrible for the last year ive been on t4. I took t3 only for 6 weeks. The only lab that changed was my tsh. It was up so endo said to take the t4 again. I didnt feel great on the t3 alone but felt better so last week started taking both again and im back to my miserable self