What does this stand for and how is it used? Is it available in the US and do we decide our own dose? Info please. Sounds like something I'd like to know more about. Never heard the term over here/ US.
MEANING OF NDT: What does this stand for and how... - Thyroid UK
MEANING OF NDT
Read more about...
28 Replies
•
Natural dedicated thyroid. As an alternative to Levothyroxine. It contains Liothyronine and T1&2 also calcitonin. You are able to get it on prescription in america but most self source. Use the search bar or Google - Efra thyroid, Thyroid-Gold. Thyroid-s and NDT. It’s easier for Americans and Canadians to get hold of. You can also source it from Thailand
I thought it was mostly T4 and T3 but, in the commonly pork thyroid version, with higher proportions of T3 than in human thyroids. It works well for those of us who do not process T4 into T3 properly, such as me, my mother and my partner. 
We do not know if there is any calcitonin left in desiccated thyroid, nor whether it can survive the stomach/gut, or be absorbed even if it does. No-one claims to standardise any calcitonin content so that could vary considerably. Further, porcine calcitonin is at least a little different to human calcitonin.
With all those questions, it is difficult to make any supportable claims for it. 
All true. But we know for sure that synthesised T4 contains none.
It has been very successful at getting people to stop hassling about changing to Levo during Hospital stays, and obviously there are other reasons why I take NDT ( natural desiccated thyroid) as my first choice hormone replacement.
The medical profession prescribe calcitonin sourced from salmon I believe? I think this is what my mother was given when she had Paget's disease. It made her feel so ill she stopped using it though.
shawsAdministrator
Natural Dessicated Thyroid hormones were the very original thyroid replacements. Since 1892 and before that people had an awful death and then a myxedema coma.
It contains all of the hormones a healthy gland would, i.e. T4, T3, T2, T1 and calcitonin.
It is made with pigs thyroids glands and there is also one made with grass-fed cows' glands.
It is used exactly the same as levothyroxine. It is taken with one glass of water either a.m. or bedtime. Stomach has to be empty.
I read often that people split their doses but one specialist doesn't agree and states one daily dose. This means that one dose is taken and people don't have to worry about having an empty stomach etc etc and that food wont interfere with the uptake of the hormones.
One doctor would only use NDT or T3 (for his resistant patients) and never levothyroxine.
The measurement is in 'grains' i.e. approx 1 gr is stated to be approx equivalent to 100mcg of T4 due to it containing T3 which is more powerful that T4.
It is available in the US but due to 'rewards' by Big Pharma to doctors, it has gradually been replaced with levothyroxine which is T4 alone. It is the same in the UK, false information made in order to withdraw it from being prescribed. It used to be and T3 has now been withdrawn recently. Many members did well on a combination of T4/T3.
'
I really enjoyed reading your post shaws. Thank you for sharing it.
Recently, I taken to writing up my own encyclopaedia to refer to. So here's another nugget to add.
Thanks again
If you are in the UK, we were prescribed NDT and when levo was introduced and became the preference of the Professionals (not the patients) NDT was stopped through untruths (nice word for lies) and (like T3 recently) patients were left high and dry and had to source their own. (They do now anyway) but the BTA and RCoP issued a Report and despite Dr Lowe sending them the following with a follow-up for three years requesting a response, they never did reply, Dr Lowe died through an accident.
thyroidscience.com/Criticis...
• in reply toshaws
Thank you. Will read in a few hours. My restless legs have calmed down so going back to bed for a few hours. It's almost 5AM. Another night of 'restless legs' sleeping routine! 3 hrs sleep 1-2 hours up and back again. Thank God I'm retired!!! Take care, irina1975
Some patients though do find it best to split their dose, particularly as the T3 has a much shorter half life. My daughter splits her dose and that is best for her, but for others once a day may be best.
I do know people split doses. Dr Lowe was an expert on T3 and he took 150mcg a day himself but he stated (he was also a scientist) that the purpose of T3 was to saturate all of our T3 receptor cells and then the work of that one dose lasted between one to three days. Excerpt:
Dr. Lowe: Whoever posted the statement was right. In my experience, for thyroid hormone resistance patients, sustained-release T3 is a poor alternative to plain T3 taken once per day. We don’t have enough evidence to know why plain T3 is more effective...........
Lab studies have shown that mutant, low affinity T3-receptors properly regulate gene transcription only after they're exposed to saturation amounts of T3. Under normal conditions, T3-receptors aren’t saturated, and the use of sustained-release T3 isn’t likely to provide saturation. Saturation isn’t likely to occur with sustained-release T3 because the T3 enters cells only in small amounts over an extended time. As a result, it’s not likely that large enough amounts of T3 will reach the receptors at one time to saturate them. But plain T3 in single doses enters cells in larger amounts. These larger amounts may provide the saturation needed to provoke transcription regulation by mutant T3-receptors. If so, these saturation amounts of T3 may induce waves of transcription that on the clinical level relieve symptoms of hypometabolism..
"medical Definition of hypometabolism
: a condition (as in myxedema or hypothyroidism) marked by an abnormally low metabolic rate"
Hi shaws, do you know why Dr Lowe took such a large dose? I'm just curious as it seems a colossal dose to me.
He was thyroid hormone resistant and he found this out when a young man. His father and some of his father's siblings committed suicide.
Dr Lowe then began to research and came to the conclusion that suicides could be caused by thyroid hormone resistance i.e. not getting into the receptor cells (T3). He did state in his website that some of his patients had to take huge doses of thyroid hormones to relieve their severe clinical symptoms, doses that may knock the rest of us off our feet.
I think, due to his family's history, that he was very sensitive to suffering and also to deaths which might have been unnecessary especially as it also affects the whole family and beyond.
Being mindful, before blood tests were invented, we were given NDT until our clinical symptoms improved so no blood tests to restrict patients' doses. It was all about the relief of clinical symptoms.
Dr Skinner also stated that we were beholden to blood test results and restricted to keep the results 'in ranges'. He didn't agree with that at all and stated (if I remember correctly) that doses were kept too low that symptoms weren't relieved and which used to be between 200 to 400mcg (I am assuming NDT). I am sorry they removed his site as there were lots of useful info in it. We also know that if we complain about disabling symptoms doctors are apt to prescribe another medication and few test our Frees.
Keep in mind I am not medically qualified.
That is so interesting, shaws. Thank you
So, having a fT3 in the high end of the "range" will not necessarily be enough?
I've had problems with depression since I hit puberty, and took an overdose at 24. I manage it all a lot better now, but it's something I battle with on an ongoing basis.
It's taking me a while to feel comfortable with taking T3 off my own bat. I'm paranoid with every little thing that it could be a symptom of over-medication!
I felt a significant shift in how I felt when I stopped levo and was just on T3 but am not feeling so good now. I'm wondering if there are known patterns to the body responding initially well to T3 but then less so.
I think I've read that there is some form of test re thyroid hormone resistance. Is that right? Or is it more a case of trial and error?
Dr Lowe only took a blood test for the initial diagnosis, thereafter it was all about how the 'patient felt' on particular doses. He wouldn't use levothyroxine which was introduced along with the blood tests and if we use another thyroid hormone the blood tests are skewed in a way as they were for levo alone. Not for a combination or NDT. The following might be informative:-
web.archive.org/web/2010103...
Good grief!! I just looked up his book on Amazon amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-listi... And these were the second hand prices!! 
Cheapest is £179
Scarcity makes things more expensive unfortunately. The best I can do is give you some links but some within the pages might not work.
web.archive.org/web/2010103...
web.archive.org/web/2010081...
tinyurl.com/ya5blrr2
tinyurl.com/y7ejh9sh
tinyurl.com/ycxpz565
(You will have to copy and paste the last three).
shawsAdministrator
This is some background history of NDT:-
"Presidential Candidate Treated with Natural Desiccated Thyroid ...
hypothyroidmom.com/presiden......
9 Sep 2015 - Hillary Clinton is being treated with natural desiccated thyroid (NDT) for hypothyroidism – a kind of treatment which most mainstream doctors refuse to prescribe even when their patients still have hypothyroid ... And on top of that a woman with hypothyroidism – a disease that many women suffer from"
healthcentral.com/article/a....
google.co.uk/search?q=woman...
• in reply toshaws
WOW- great research and very interesting. Will pursue this later today. It seems when someone famous has a medical problem it often is taken more seriously,
• in reply toshaws
Hi shaws. Took a few minutes to read hypothyroidmon,com before going back to bed. Signed up on her site. Thanks. Goodnight! irina1975 PS I have been on levothyroxine since 1984 (when radiated) and have NEVER felt really well in the levo. Never offered other options just kept jumping my dose around til it finally got high enough to add atrial fibrillation to my list of ills. To say I'm a little P.O'd. would be an understatement.
My goodness - unwell since 1984 - a lifetime of ill-health.
I strongly believe (and I have my thyroid gland) that if someone has it radiated or removed should, at the very least, be given a T3/T4 combination. I know they've stopped prescribing T3 which is ridiculous and members have had to source their own. I have my gland and felt awful on levo but when they added 10mcg of T3 to a reduced T4, it made an enormous difference. The only thing was that at my next blood test they wanted to take away the T3 and I refused, so they reduced T4. So I was undermedicated. They are very concerned about the ranges as they believe we will have a heart attack etc but are more likely to get heart problems with too low a dose. I have self-medicated for a number of years now.
You can source your own T3 and add 1/4 tablet every two weeks and see how you feel. You have to be careful so go slowly. We are more likely to ge heart problems through too low doses rather than too high.
Our Advisers who are scientists/researchers had a Paper accepted that T4/T3 is beneficial.
Irina1975,
Natural Dessicated Thyroid (NDT) is a T4+T3 combination therapy. The T4 and T3 are derived from pig thyroid. Armour, NatureThroid, NP Acella and Erfa are American and Canadian brands you may have heard of and Thyroid-S and Thiroyd are Thai NDT.
You asked me on another thread:
"Hi Clutter. Is there an exchange schedule that equates NDT grains with levothyroxine microgram doses? ie: my current levo dose( Which I think is low) is 125 mcg. What would this be in NDT terms and how would one raise the NDT appropriately? Thanks, irina1975"
1 grain (60-65mg) NDT contains 38mcg T4 and 9mcg T3 which is equivalent to 65mcg Levothyroxine. Rather than start on 2 grains NDT it would be better to titrate NDT and Levothyroxine by reducing Levothyroxine by 37.5mcg and introducing 1/2 grain NDT and continuing this titration at 2 week intervals until Levothyroxine is stopped and you are taking 2 grains NDT. You should hold at 2 grains for 6-8 weeks and have a thyroid function test including FT3 before increasing further.
I live in the US and I take NP thyroid. My endocrinologist prescribes it for me.
Hi Irina. Since you are in the US you could phone or e-mail the manufacturer, Activis or Allergan (used to be Forest Pharmaceuticals). Ask them how you can buy their NDT. They know you need a prescription for Armour (a good NDT) and might give you a lead on who will prescribe it. They might also send a list of distributers but then you have to call each of them and ask who prescribes for them - and so on and so forth, it's a long list but you will hit on someone helpful eventually.
Not what you're looking for?
You may also like...
Meaning of blood result
Hello, I need some help understanding my blood results, not sure if Docs explanation is correct....
quality controls of Thai NDT?
I have a (perhaps naive) question: is Thai NDT safe? We are often told that the EU, the US, Canada,...
NDT with Hashimoto's?
In several US forums, I have read that patients with autoimmune thyroid disease should not take...
Meaning of Thyroid test results
Hi!
Please could you help me interpreat these test results (pic enclosed). I've been diagnosed with...
Endo hadn't heard of NDT !!!
Can't believe what I sat through this am with the Endo appointment I had.
It started with her...
NDT...?
Shelf life of NDT
Price of NDT vs T3. 
Meaning of a Suppressed TSH anyone ?
