Metavive advice needed

[foxrabbit]

Hello all,

Could anyone that is currently taking Metavive please give me some advice on how much they think is required as an equivalent to 100mcg of Levo? I think the dose I’m trying is too low and I really need some pointers.

Many thanks

[Anthea55]

Personally I don't think equivalents matter. You have to start low and work up to see what works for you. I changed over from NatureThroid, not from Levo, so my body was already used to taking the T3 which is part of NatureThroid. You may find it helpful to reduce your levo and take a small amount of Met. Then after a time reduce levo again and increase Met. etc etc. allowing your body time to adjust.

When I first bought metavive they were temporarily out of stock of Met11, so they suggested I buy Met1 which is exactly half the size. This was really useful to help me build up slowly.

[foxrabbit in reply to Anthea55]

Hi Anthea55, thanks for replying.

I added a Metavive 1 to my 100mcg Levo for a week to see if I had any reaction to it and it was fine. I then stopped my Levo and started one Metavive 2 an hour before breakfast and the same an hour before lunch so I was taking 60mg per day. I did this for two weeks and then added a Metavive 1 to the morning medication so I was on 75mg per day for two weeks. Yesterday I upped it again so that I’m now on 90mg.

I’m just feeling tired in the afternoon and as there isn’t too much information on Metavive I’m wondering if I’m on too little or if I’ve gone up too fast. I felt I needed to up the dose after two weeks each time as I could feel the Levo in my system wearing off and leaving me feeling under medicated.

Do you mind me asking how many you take per day?

[Anthea55 in reply to foxrabbit]

Dr Barry Durrant-Peatfield recommended Metavive. He said that it's better for the stomach to take it with meals. He takes it himself. I'm sure he would not have recommended it if it varied from batch to batch.

You say you added to the morning medication. What else are you taking? Some things should not be taken with thyroid meds.

You went from 1 x Met 1 (= half a Met 2) to 2 x Met 2 per day in one go, which might be a bit fast.

Currently I take 1 x Met 2 while I'm cooking breakfast and another while I'm getting lunch, but what you need will be different.

[foxrabbit in reply to Anthea55]

I spoke to a very helpful guy at Procepts last year when initially trying to decide what to try next and he said that there might be a small variation between Metavive batches but they try to minimise it and it would be a difference of 10% maximum. I’m sure our needs vary by that much most days so I wasn’t worried about that!

Don’t worry, I just meant that I added an extra tablet of Metavive to the other one I was taking, I don’t take any other medication or vitamins with my thyroid medication.

Yes, I completely cut my Levo out so felt I needed to compensate with enough Metavive so I went for two Metavive 2 per day. From reading other posts about it I thought that swapping 100mcg of Levo for 60mg of Metavive was going in the low side and I though it best to build up from there. I’ll stick at what I’m on for a few weeks now then and see how it goes.

[Anthea55 in reply to foxrabbit]

Thanks, that's really interesting about the possible variation in Metavive batches. I do wonder also if batches reduce in strength with time.

I agree about our needs varying. I know Dr P encourages us to adjust as needed - you need more if you are active or if the weather is cold, but less if you are on holiday somewhere hot with your feet up.

I had to adjust my dose a few months back. The test I found useful was the one where you hold your hands out in front of you and see if they quiver; mine were, so I cut back for a bit.

By the way I find that having Metavive with meals is so much more convenient than trying to take it hours away from food etc. Dr P isn't the only one who suggests taking with food. Dr Kenneth Blanchard also recommends it.

[foxrabbit in reply to Anthea55]

I haven’t heard of the hands out in front of you method before! I’ll have to try that one then.

I’ve always stuck to taking Levo without food so thought it would be the same with NDT. It is a pain fitting it in on an empty stomach so maybe I’ll relax a bit on that! Thanks for your suggestions.

[Anthea55 in reply to foxrabbit]

From what I've read you can take levo or NDT with food. Dr Ken Blanchard suggests it and thinks that there may be a problem with thyroid hormone contacting the stomach wall, which may be a factor in weight gain.

Anyway plenty of people take their levo with food because they haven't been told not to!

[Angel_of_the_North]

It's really impossible to tell as Metavive may or may not include any active hormone at all and could vary from batch to batch. So really, it's the dose that makes you feel well. Buying Thai NDT would be cheaper and easier to manage

[foxrabbit in reply to Angel_of_the_North]

I looked into all the other NDT options when I decided to make the switch and I just don’t feel happy taking something when I don’t know what the ingredients are so it ruled out the Thai NDTs unfortunately. I was too worried about the availability of the American ones to risk starting them in case I found one I liked and couldn’t carry on getting it. I figured for a ‘look see’ experiment Metavive would be my best bet to try but thanks for the suggestion

[Angel_of_the_North in reply to foxrabbit]

Yes, it's annoying that the Thai authorities only make the manufacturers list the active ingredient, but at least you know there is one, which you don't with Metavive. I think that Thyroid-S has the most nasties in it because of the coloured coating (but the amounts are tiny - no gluten) and Thyroid has the least. Not sure about TR, except that it is supposed to be lactose free. You can find list of ingredients including fillers on the web.

[helvella Administrator Thyroid UK in reply to Angel_of_the_North]

But can we believe the listings of ingredients? STTM post two different lists of ingredients for one of the Thai products.

[Angel_of_the_North in reply to helvella]

Who can tell? But products do get reformulated. Probably no worse than most of the tablets you get for the GP, which tend to be full of unnecessary colourings etc (just look up ferrous fumarate capsules if you want to feel really bad!)