Dosing advice please

[tootired]

For the past 3 years I’ve been self medicating with NDT, I decided to switch to T3 after a return to my old symptoms and frustrated with the constant price increases and not being able to get the brand/ dosages of NDT.

3 weeks ago I decided to go back to T3 I’ve been taking 37.5mcg everyday, I take one dose of 25mcg am then half a tab (12.5mcg) at 2pm. Is 25mcg the equivalent of 1 grain of NDT? Feeling really dim , think I’ve under calculated my daily dose. I used to take 4 grains of NDT everyday a split dose. Migraines have been out of control the past few weeks, daily am temperature on waking is 36.3 , been really tired in the afternoons, been very forgetful was thinking it could be the menopause 😩 so I need advice on raising my dosage please. Thanks in advance

[MaisieGray]

I grain NDT contains 38 mcg T4 and 9 mcg T3.

Therefore 4 grains of NDT contain 152 mcg T4 and 36 mcg T3.

If all you are now taking each day, is 37.5 mcg T3, you are no longer getting the benefit of the missing T4 element of the NDT, and 152 mcg is a lot to now be without (using a multiplier of 1:4, that would be the rough equivalent of just under 40 mcg T3).

[tootired in reply to MaisieGray]

Thanks for that I’m wondering if I should just increase the t3 a little? I’m due to see my gp next month for an mot , blood test and get some t4 on prescription.

[MaisieGray in reply to tootired]

It perhaps depends if your symptoms were returning because you were on too low a dose of NDT, so that now, on an even lower equivalent dose of T3, you might expect things will get worse. Or were your symptoms due to being over-medicated, in which case you might expect to feel better? Or third scenario, were you taking Naturethroid, and feeling the similar effects as others who are taking it and reporting feeling symptomatic? Without knowing what were your test results on 4 grains, it would only be guessing.

[tootired in reply to MaisieGray]

Hi I posted my lab results in my previous post from 5 months ago I’m unable to upload a photo of the results, nothing really obvious stood out from the results , I didn’t feel over medicated but played it safe and reduced my dose slightly , I was on naturethroid, in the past I’ve ranged from just under 4 grains to the max of 4 1/2 grains mostly been on a 4 grain dose. I find it really difficult trying to get the dose right? After years of being on only t4 I didn’t factor in the importance of it when calculating my new dose of t3. As my body temps still low I think I’ll just increase my t3 by 6.25 mcg and see if there’s any improvement, and see what the dr says next month but I really rely on this site for helpful advice as I feel the gp just fixated on numbers and not symptoms. Thanks

[LAHs]

Hi tootired, MaisieGray has this pretty much covered (and superbly). I would like to suggest a couple of other possibility for your declining health. You know, unless the quality of drugs are closely vetted by the pharmaceutical companies or the FDA then they can fluctuate in dosage a bit. I think even Armour NDT fluctuated a little in my previous prescription (but it's OK now). Could you have experienced a "low" batch of your NDT? My second idea is, have you put on weight over the period during which your health has declined? Dosage is initially based on weight, if weight goes up then you will need more meds.

Anyway, just a thought.

[tootired in reply to LAHs]

Yes I have gained weight over the past few months it seems to be what I’m best at 🧐thanks for the advice, I didn’t know that!