I have an underactive thryroid discover by ultrasound, not labs, and doctors wouldn't treat it, even though they clearly see it's deteriorated, and my diagnosis is Hypothyroidism, but my labs are within range. I took matters in my own hands and ordered Thiroyd. The first few days I took one pill and saw no results, the third day I popped two and happened to not eat all morning and had a hypoglycemic episode. I haven't had those since I was a child and since I still had a half way functioning thyroid. Normally I eat very little, because if I go over 1200 kcal a day, I gain weight. This gave me hope, I was able to bring blood sugar up immediately with orange juice and food and then had to go to the bathroom. First time I have a normal bowel movement without laxatives or coffee in years. And first time I feel I can eat normally and within my caloric range for my height and that the food will be converted to energy that I will be able to use. Looking forward to this. I am 38 years old and suffered from this from my early teens. Developed an eating disorder around food and body issues always carrying that extra 30lbs around.
THIRD DAY OF TAKING THIROYD - HYPOGLYCEMIC EPISODE - Thyroid UK
THIRD DAY OF TAKING THIROYD - HYPOGLYCEMIC EPISODE
Your doctor is clearly an ass. But, how big are your Thiroyd tablets? 1 grain? It really was not a good idea to start on 1 whole tablet. The normal starting dose is 1/4 tablette for two weeks, then in increase by 1/4 tablette every two weeks until you reach one grain. Then hold for six weeks and test. It certainly wasn't a good idea to double your dose after 2 days! That's an awful shock for your body. You've probably been hypo for a long, long time. That's probably what caused your weight issues. Your body has slowly adapted to being low on thyroid hormone over a long time, and suddenly you slap it with 2 grains? It needs time to slowly adapt to having thyroid hormone again. With hormones - any hormones - you always start low and increase slowly. I really would suggest that if you want to succeed in your self-treatment, you lower your dose - first down to one grain, then 1/4 - and start again. 
Thank you for responding! Good advice, thank you! I agree I think I have been hypothyroid for a long time, and my poor body has made all kinds of adjustments to compensate for it. I had thyroid nodules discovered, when I was a kid, but no one seemed concerned about them and I didn't know any better, I was maybe 9 years old at the time, I figured everybody had them. I am going to be more careful with the dosing and see what works. 1 pill didn't seem to do anything, but maybe 1.25 was all that was needed. That means the pills will last me a year. I am not opposed to this.
The tablets are Thiroyd from Thailand, 60mg each.
60 gm is 1 grain. We usually talk in grains when we talk about NDT.
Maybe 1.25 grains will be your final dose, who knows. But it's certainly not what you should start on. You should start on 0.25 grains.
Most people do have nodules, and for the most part, they are not a problem. The problem is usually the thyroid itself. And that is determined by blood tests. Do you have any blood test results to share with us?
Thank you for your help. Starting on a low dose makes sense. Didn't quite know what I was doing. I had labs done last October, I'm going to search for them, I think I may still have them somewhere. Doctor was sending me to expensive specialists that Obama Care didn't cover. I gave up on the whole thing after spending sever hundred and realizing it will be many more hundreds I didn't have. The first specialist was smirking and rebutting everything I was saying, when I was telling him why I was there even though I had my primary care physician's referral with me. He ordered lab work, but I couldn't get to that appointment, I was too tired. I had to sit it out. Thank god for the internet and reading about Thai Thiroyd somewhere years ago.
Hi Aggie, it sounds as if you are in the US, me too. I use True Health Labs (THLs) for my blood tests, you buy a purchase order (~$280) via the internet, go to any local Quest Lab for a blood draw (THLs will send you a list of local ones) and they will do a complete thyroid panel. After you have stabilized on your dose you only need to do this once a year just to keep an eye on your levels. It sounds as is your doctor is an idiot, many of them are about thyroid matters so it wouldn't be a bad idea to get one who is interested in the subject (because most of them hate it). I managed to find one who would prescribe me Armour Thyroid but beyond that I self regulate my dose and get my own blood tests via THLs. It is expensive to start with because you have to check things more frequently in the beginning but you will get to your optimal dose faster - and then it is plain sailing. I do not know the ins and outs of Obamacare (God bless him!) since I am old and on Medicare but I pretty much had to fund my own medication and blood tests but I am glad I did.
One last point, watch your blood pressure (BP) when varying NDT, T3 can send your BP up - well it does mine. I do not know why some react this way and others do not, perhaps it is age, I don't know. I also believe this is that basis of the "T3 will affect your heart" mantra that doctors say. Well, yes it might but it will affect the heart if you are under dosed as well as over dosed, you have to get to that critical point - and that takes time and a lot of fiddling around.
Another "one last point": Make sure your vitD, B12, folate, ferritin and selenium are all in the upper half of what is called normal - these are all factors necessary for the whole thyroid process to take place efficiently.
Thank you so much for your reply. This will make my life so much more mabageable. I never wanted to go this route because I figured the doctors knew best, but it seems like self treatment is the way to go. This is a new primary care doctor, but to be honest, he is not a complete idiot, because he figured I was hypothyroid (I didn’t tell him, he took my blood pressure (high), took one look at me and knew), he just couldn’t figure out why and was stumped by the seemingly normal test results and an ultrasound that told the opposite story. He sent me to a specialist and that’s where I dropped the ball, couldn’t deal with that person/ requirements/ money and testing from that point on. But I can definitely afford $280 once a year plus the pills from Thailand.
That's funny that you say that about your PC doc because the best PC docs I have had were the ones who were interested in seeing blood test results and were fascinated with them. Those were my two best docs (the 1st one retired). I have had two useless Endos and I now have a real sweetheart who prescribes NDT and doesn't keep track of how fast I use them up (i.e. I take more than he prescribes). My (good) Endo has now passed me back to my current PC doc who, thankfully, is interested in thyroid problems. He showed great interest when I explained to him that the stupid variety of Endos were passing along hypothyroid patients to him to fix problems that are caused by mismanaged thyroid care. Poor guy he is trying to fix problems generated by the Endos who are causing the sickness. I gave him a book on the topic and I think it helped him a lot.
Anyway, good luck with the self management, thousands of us do it successfully.
Thank you! Yes, the Endo is the one I didn’t have the energy to deal with. I’ve had a great psychiatrist, who helped me for many years to manage my cognitive/ psychological symptoms, and that’s how I have survived all these years and was able to hold down a job, etc., but that’s all I’ve been able to do. No one seems to want to treat this condition and maybe don’t know how to. Although the treatment seems so easy. My primary care ordered to get off my psych meds because he thought maybe they had caused my high blood pressure, but it was increasingly clear after a while after getting off them that it was somebting else. I’ve heard of great Endos, and I may still go to one if I muster up the courage and save up money, but it’s day four on Thiroyd and I’m getting more and more functional.
Thing about the blood pressure is I think some of us have a condition - thyroid hormone resistance - and don’t quote me on this, but I read this in the internet and it makes sense. Heart for example has a lot of beta receptors. It reacts to the hormone, while other tissue with less beta receptors doesn’t react as much and may even be resistant. And I think it’s the same with blood pressure. It’s all a very complex system. Not all thyroid patients are created equal, but we all seem to benefit from the same treatment. Apparently there is not treatment for this other than beta blockers that’s approved in the US.
I started in NHS NDT over thirty years ago and never had any problems with it other than a strike after several years and so many months without it. Finally I gave Levo. Good and was reasonably well on that for many years until menopause and things went haywire. I decided to go back to NDT as always felt more stable then. I then spent 5 years reading, asking questions and a few years ago I found this forum and decided to make a move to go it alone. During this time I realise that those taking Thyroid S and Thiroyd differed. People tended to only get on with one and not the other but no reasons suggested as to why. Thyroid S seemed more popular and I started on that. Found it worked well for me and found the stability I first felt many years ago but I continued to look at posts of both medications. I was however concerned about the long list of supplements in the Thyroid S I was taking so after a while bought some Thiroyd. Within days I was struggling with debilitating headaches. Never felt anything like that before so went back to my tried and tested Thyroid S and continued in it and now in my third year. I can only think something in the make up of Thiroyd was upsetting me very badly so my observations were correct for me also.
Interesting, thank you for your response. This is my first time trying any thyroid medication and Thiroyd is the one I bought. I think it’s working and my hypoglycemic episode was from not eating and taking a fairly high beginner dose. I’m so used to not eating as a hypothyroid and taking Thiroyd/ having thyroid hormone in the first place was a big shock to the body, it brought down my blood sugar and I had to eat. It was kind of a happy event although it was a little scary in the moment.
My current dose is 1.75, 1.75, 1.50 then repeat. So doses can vary from person to person. Before I changed over I got my vitamins etc up to scratch so my thyroid was working better and had very little trouble since but take it slowly and keep testing to check you don't go over. One any form of T3 then results read differently. TSH will. E suppressed. FT4 can drop down in the range but FT3 should be high in the range but never over. The big problem though starting on NDT is that results don't sure if you have a conversion problem as the FT4 drops so nothing to compare FT3 with as you would have done on just taking T4.
Just wanted to update where I am in my journey, now five months later. I take 5 grain of Thiroyd a day. I know this sounds like a crazy amount, but that's what works for me. I have not been depressed since I have been on this dose and my life is better. I do not have any more of the cognitive hypothyroid symptoms, which was my biggest gripe. I have lost about 10-15 lbs give or take since I have started without any changes in my diet. I eat the same amount of calories now, I just have a little more energy to exercise, which must have contributed to the weight loss. I now have eyebrows, which I didn't have for years, or they were so thin, they are much thicker now and I have to regularly trim them.
So pleased you've improved on Thiroyd 5 grain isn't a crazy amount if that's what works for you, years ago we were only treated on how our symptoms were, I took Nature Throid for over 15 years which at first was prescribed by my GP who was forward thinking, Unfortunately the cost to NHS rocketed and they wouldn't pay it so had to source it myself which wasn't cheap or easy, the reformulation didn't work as well for me. I took 5 grains of Nature Throid but have swapped to Thiroyd now and found as it's slightly less potent than NT I have to take 6 grains split into 3 doses during the day, I feel fine and are very happy with it! Good luck
Another update: I had a stressful event a month ago, a miscarriage. And my thyroid completely tanked. I’ve now gone up to 10 grain a day to keep the hypo symptoms at bay. Still thankful that this treatment is out there and accessible and inexpensive to buy from Thailand. Just have to remember to have a regular supply. I have finally managed to schedule an Endo appointment, but not until October. Still hope to find one that will take me seriously. Otherwise, grateful that I have Thiroyd and that it occurred to me to take more to fix symptoms. I’m doing ok again.
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