Help with NDT please

[Rachel357]

I first started taking NDT (Naturethroid) seven weeks ago. I have been increasing by 1/4 grain every two weeks. I'm now on 1 grain (1/2 grain taken am and pm) and I'm feeling worse than before I was taking it. I feel very tired, my muscles ache, I have brain fog and my memory is very poor. I know that 1 grain is probably a very small dose, but I'm not sure if I should be feeling better with each increase that I take?

I have been recording my pulse and basal temp. My pulse is usually around 53 first thing in the morning and about 60 in the evenings. It has been gradually going down, as a few weeks ago my pulse was usually around 60 first thing in the morning. My temp has gone up very slightly from 36 C to 36.2C.

I just wondered if it would be okay for me to increase by 1/4 grain every week instead of every two weeks? Normally I get heart palpitations a few days before I increase the dose. Although, at the moment I'm getting heart palpitations a lot since I took my last increase on Wednesday.

Also, I've read that a lot of people are having problems with Naturethroid since they reformulated it. I only have about a month's worth of Naturethroid left and was thinking of changing to a Thai NDT in case it's the Naturethroid that isn't working. Do you think this would be a good idea?

Any help, would be much appreciated. Thank you.

[Scazzoh]

Hi Rachel, it sounds as if you are not raising quickly enough. Usually you need to raise by 1/2 a grain every two weeks to prevent symptoms returning. Here is a link to a very good Website, called 'Stop the Thyroid Madness'. The important bit is:

'Those who start on natural desiccated thyroid (one grain is common apparently) report that they found it wise to raise by approximately 1/2 grain every two weeks or less to prevent hypothyroid symptoms from returning due to suppression of the internal feedback loop in the body, which can happen if we stay on a low dose too long before raising. They also want to introduce the direct T3 wisely so their bodies can adjust to it.'

stopthethyroidmadness.com/n...

I would add 1/4 grain into the morning dose and see how you get on. I was on 1 1/2 grains of Naturethroid but have now changed to a Thai brand (Thiroyd) and am taking 1 1/4 grains of that, as it is much cheaper and I haven't been charged VAT and the Royal Mail fee at customs, which was happening with the Naturethroid from the States. I have sent you a link on where to source Thai NDT.

[Rachel357 in reply to Scazzoh]

Thank you! I will take an extra 1/4 grain in the morning.

[shaws Administrator]

Usually a starting dose of any thyroid hormones is equivalent to around 50mcg of levo. Dr Lowe only prescribed NDT or T3 for Thyroid Hormone Resistant Patients.

This is an excerpt which may be helpful:-

January 30, 2002

Question: I’m hypothyroid and take Armour Thyroid twice a day. My question is about the right time to take it in relation to when I eat. Should I take it two, three, or four hours after I eat? I've read all those times in different places. Thank you very much for your time—and your great website!

Dr. Lowe: As a rule, our patients take thyroid hormone only once per day. An advantage of this one-per-day schedule is that it’s easier to find a window for good intestinal absorption—when the stomach or small intestine doesn’t contain food.

(to read the whole answer go to the date above on the link below). I have read elsewhere on Dr Lowe, that we start on a 50mcg equivalent of levo (1/2 gr NDT) and every 2 weeks add a 1/4 tablet until symptom-free taking pulse/temp several times a day and if either goes too high reduce to previous dose.

web.archive.org/web/2010103...

[Rachel357 in reply to shaws]

I started on 1/4 grain as I seem to be very sensitive to thyroid medication, as I could never tolerate 50mcg of Levo, the most I could take was 32.5mcg. Two weeks later, I increased to 1/2 grain and I felt ill and over-medicated so I split the dose and I was fine on that. I do intend to take it all in one dose in the future. Do you think I will be okay to increase by 1/4 grain tomorrow morning. Last Wednesday I increased from 3/4 to 1 grain. Thank you.

[Hidden]

Hi when I first started on NDT I took 1/2 a grain x 2 per day i.e. one per day and then I increased after 10 days instead of 14 days. I finished up on 2.5 grains per day.

I have just ordered and received my thyroid s I have been taking this and ordering from the same supplier in Thailand for nearly three years now.

After taking this new batch for only a few days I started to feel unwell and after only 8 days ended up in A & E badly banging my head with a blackout.

Since then I have tried the batch again to check out the pills, for only one day and exactly the same feeling happened to me apart from the blackout which I knew was coming and I sat down for a few hours. I am now taking T3 and feeling back to normal.

I am never ill and have never been to A & E before this has put me off taking thyroid s from Thailand now.

[Scazzoh in reply to Hidden]

That's awful. Did you contact the Thyroid S suppliers to see if anyone else has contacted them about it?

[Rachel357 in reply to Hidden]

That sounds scary. Glad you're okay now.

I think I'm going to start increasing every ten days instead of 14. I have ordered Thiroyd. I would have preferred to try NP but it's too expensive.

[Hidden in reply to Rachel357]

Good luck

[Hidden]

Not yet I am still recovering from the bang on my head. I will and post the reply on here soonest. I did actually blackout, not faint falling backward straight onto my head, ouch!