Dose query of Metavive or Nutri Thyroid

[MCDW]

After initially starting on 25mcg of Levo, I'm now on 100mcg daily. I'm considering switching to Metavive or Nutri Thyroid as symptoms are not improving - but how do I know what dose to take?

[Clutter]

MCDW,

Guesswork and experimentation. Neither Metavive nor NutriThyroid state how much, if any, active T4 and T3 their products contain so there's no way of working out a dose equivalent to 100mcg Levothyroxine.

[Heloise]

I would say the average dose is a bit higher so you may have not reached the correct dose for you. Are you doing anything else to improve symptoms, often there are nutritional deficiencies when you have had low thyroid for a while. Ferritin, B12, vitamin D, Folate are usually low and are necessary for your body to utilize thyroid hormone. You might also consider cutting gluten from your diet.

[MCDW in reply to Heloise]

I posted my recent bloods on a separate thread, and it's been suggested I supplement with Vit D - which I am now doing. Thanks

[Heloise in reply to MCDW]

Very good, make sure it is D3 and because it raises calcium levels find a D3 that contains K2 as well. K2 is found in spinach also.

[HighlandMo]

Start low and gradually increase. I've never been on Levo as I am one of the many "borderline" people according to the THS test. They definitely work because when NutriThyroid was unavailable I felt awful and my test results were bad too. Now I'm on Metavive and feel fine. As you've been prescribed Levo I'd gradually introduce the Metavive and if it helps gradually reduce Levo once you're confident. Are your adrenals OK because often they need help before thyroid meds will work.

[Verity72]

I find it very interesting that Nutri Thyroid doesn't actually contain any active thyroid hormone. So I assume that the body knows what to do with the thyroid tissue. It makes me think of Japanese people making fish stock with fish heads (presumably containing the fish's thyroid gland). Boiling the stock would doubtless kill off any active hormone. Maybe Nutri Thyroid is only suitable for those with borderline low thyroid. Does anyone else have any thoughts on this?

[helvella Administrator in reply to Verity72]

Nutri Thyroid might contain thyroid hormone. What we don't know is:

How much T4;

How much T3;

How consistent it is.

[helvella Administrator in reply to Verity72]

Verity72,

Don't assume that the thyroid gland is in the head in fish! It is far, far more complicated than that.

Most teleost species present a diffuse gland with some cases of compact thyroid or gathered lobes in some sub-groups (Appendix I). One of the strangest thyroidian patterns is the scattering of ectopic thyroidian follicles from the branchial region to large blood vessels, the cephalic kidney and the choroid region (Fig. 4) that means far away from the ventral aortic region (Fournie et al., 2005).

The anatomy of the thyroid gland among "fishes": Phylogenetic implications for the Vertebrata (PDF Download Available).

researchgate.net/publicatio...