Can someone please give me some advise, I switched from Levo to Erfa NDT about a year ago and felt better taking x1 30mg Erfa tablet each morning, Levo was making me ache all over and feel like my whole body was suffering with inflammation. However I had bloods done 3 months ago and although my levels had improved they still needed to improve further. I have Hashimotos. So I decided to increase the Erfa to 1.5 tabs each morning ie. 45. Mg. I now feel achey all over my body especially wrists, elbows.
Should I consider splitting the dose?
Thanks
Written by
janeycp
To view profiles and participate in discussions please or .
I can't say exactly what you should do but my understanding is that raises in NDT should be 1/4 grain every two weeks. You have jumped up 50%. Maybe that is too quick? Better advice will be coming soon I'm sure.
I take 165 of Erfa. I'm guessing you feel rubbish because you're undermedicated . Erfa is T3 and T4 and the average dose is 1.5 to 3 grains. That's 90 - 180 mcg you're taking 45mcg . If you are properly hypo you're not taking neatly enough.
Thank you never had adrenals tested but know I have been very stressed for about 1 year. I don’t really understand stress cortisol and adrenals but will look into what I can do help myself in this front
I took 125 of Levo and needed about 1.25 grains of NDT initially but after three years on that feeling fine had to up dose to c1.75 but it is acella (NPThyroid)/Naturethroid/ThyroidS that I have taken not erfa.
This guide might help it is very good on finding the optimal dose of NDT
janeycp I felt a lot better for going gluten free I kept it simple by avoiding wheat and all those processed gluten free Mock bread /cake type products a lot of which contain soya which I also steer clear of.
janeycp you will find your diet is much more healthy and the weight fell off me with no effort. I also started taking NDT so not sure how much was down to gluten free but you can try it and if it makes no difference always revert back again
It used to be slightly stronger ( at least in some opinions) than the US brands of NDT.
Before erfa I was on Armour. The makers changed the ingredients and it stopped working.
Extensive conversations with many led me to erfa where I was an extremely happy camper for 7 years.
I had always needed 60 mg 2x a day of Armour but upon switching to erfa I did much better at 30 mg in the AM and 30mg in the pm. ( around lunch time) Over time I even dropped to 15mg for the pm dose.
Then BOOM! erfa, who promised to never change their most precious beloved NDT - CHANGED !
erfa became ERFA and when the label changed so did the NDT. The tablets changed in appearance, texture, taste, and odor, yet the company swears they changed nothing meanwhile they didn't work anymore.
The symptoms you describe nearly crippled me.My hair was falling out in clumps. It was awful.
They stopped using raw powder from Europe and started using US thyroid powder when they switched their manufacturing to Spain.
I believe the US thyroid powder is the only powder available to ALL the producers of NDT now and that's the problem.
They are not processing it the same way anymore and it is not as effective.
The monopoly the US has on it has allowed them to skyrocket the price of their worthless crap all over the world and leave us without when they can't keep up with demand.
Such a shame what is allowed to go on with our health.
If we were smart we would all get together and produce our own...
Check out Stopthethyroidmadness.com and learn more from others experiences. Also check in this site on the ERFA subject. I guess what I would do if I were you is since you are already started on it give it a fair chance. The recommendation above is the best way to go. Raise your dose at 15 mg every 2 to 3 weeks paying close attention to changes in how you feel as you go. It it becomes unbearable or you get up to 2 grains with no improvement chances are the ERFA is crap. That's the way I would reason. Currently I'm on Naturethroid. It's not even close to as good as the old erfa was but it's better than what they have become. Keep us posted as you go...Maybe by some miracle they have fixed the problem... fingers crossed!
Took Erfa all of 2017 I bought enough Jan.2017 to last then in Dec. 2017 bought more different batch and it's not the same made me feel awful headache,tight in back of neck,jittery. I too am very sad they can not stop doing this to us.
Your dose of 30mg of Erfa was extremely small - equal to around 50mcg of levothyroxine.
When we begin NDT, we start on a dose equivalent to the dose of levo and then every two weeks thereafter, we increase by 1/4 tablet until we are symptom-free and feel well.
When we take NDT, the blood tests we have were introduced for levothyroxine (T4) only. Therefore when we take or add another thyroid hormone it will not correlate. Therefore it is all a about how we feel on a particular dose which is the guide.
Will try increasing fortnightly, thought my aches and pains were due to over medication so I have been reluctant to increase. I am unable to view the link you have provided
Content on HealthUnlocked does not replace the relationship between you and doctors or other healthcare professionals nor the advice you receive from them.
Never delay seeking advice or dialling emergency services because of something that you have read on HealthUnlocked.