I hope to get a prescription today for Thyroid by Erfa. I had no idea so much was involved. Thought I just popped a pill and voila! Dumb me! As if life is ever that simple. I only have a GP. Never had an encro I saw one twice in over ten years or more. My GP just checks my TSH once or twice a year and that’s it. If I wait to see one now it will be at least six months or more and I want help now. It’s very demoralizing not having my life I used to have.
The Thyroid comes in 30 and 60. At least due to shortages that’s all I have tracked down. Any thoughts on how much I should start out with. I’m sure you people on here know more than my GP. He’s lovely but only 31 so not years of experience.
I am going to answer a post now that someone sent me and I will have a bit more info there
Thanks in advance
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mikkymouse
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Start with 1/4 of a grain (15mcg), stay on this dose for 7 days and if no adverse reactions add another 1/4 of a grain (1/4 morning, 1/4 afternoon).
Stay on a total of 1/2 a grain for 3 weeks.
Then add another 1/2 grain, total 1 grain daily, 1/2 grain morning, 1/2 grain afternoon. As long as no adverse reaction, stay on this dose for 3 weeks.
Then add another 1/2 grain, total 1 and 1/2 grains, 1 grain morning, 1/2 grain afternoon. As long as no adverse reaction, stay on this dose for 3 weeks.
Then add another 1/2 grain, total 2 grains, 1 grain morning, 1 grain afternoon. As long as no adverse reaction, stay on this dose for 3 weeks.
If you need further increases then 1/4 grain at a time with 3-4 weeks between increases, until you find your sweet spot. If you become overmedicated (symptoms of overactive thyroid) drop back to previous dose.
Thanks Susie for your help. I still don’t even know if I will be given a prescription today. Find out in an hour. You are the second person who had told me to start out at 15 and work up waiting a few weeks in between. I’ll follow that advise I think. It’s the med itself that makes me sick. Took it a couple of hours ago and I feel horrible.
Mikkymouse, are you currently taking thyroid hormone? If you're swapping over rather than starting from scratch, you may want to just start on an NDT dose roughly equivalent to your current dose.
It's worth saying as sometimes people don't realise, NDT, Levothyroxine/Synthroid/T4 and T3 are all thyroid hormone, and all 'add together' to get your total dose. If you add in NDT, you must reduce or stop taking any thyroid hormone replacement you're already taking.
Thanks for your reply. Yes, I have been in Synthroid for over ten years and want to switch over. I feel it’s the med itself that is causing me all the grief. Maybe the fillers? I am very med intolerant and any chemicals seem to affect me.
The first question is, how confident are you that you're on the right dose? If you've got pod tests to share you can have some feedback on that. If you're on roughly the right dose, you can work out the roughly equivalent NDT dose and start on that.
1 grain of NDT is equivalent to about 75mcg of Synthroid, so you can use that to work out your starting dose. My preference is to round down to make the NDT dose a little lower, so that then you increase upwards to find your sweet spot. It's easier than wondering whether you need to increase or decrease if you don't feel well.
You can then either change over in one go, or do it in a few stages. If you've never tried T3 before, you'll probably want to start the NDT slowly, as some people find it gives their system a big shock.
Thanks SA. I love the names people come up with. Mikky is the name of my granddaughter and it wouldn’t accept it so I added mouse.
I am happy with the dose I’m on. Lots of trial and error and this seems to work. The only number I have is my TSH and it’s 3.2. I have a requisition now to get the T3 and 4 tested so I will do that ASAP.
I was thinking of starting with one grain or maybe a bit less. I’ll go in the advise of the naturopath I’m seeing today.
If you've got someone good advising you it's a lot less stressful to follow their recommendations!
A TSH of 3.2 sounds a bit high. Everyone is different so it's possible our ideal dose, but it would be unusual. Most people feel better with it quite low, close to the bottom of the range.
I was surprised you thought my TSH was a bit high. Here it’s considered good. England may have a different way of measuring it. I know blood test measuring is different in some countries.
Are you in the US? I believe the TSH is the same, but freeT4 and freeT3, as well as some vitsmins, are in different units.
Doctors will often say that just being inside the range is fine. Unfortunately its common for them to know very little about dosing
Its possible if you've struggled on T4 it's because you've never had your dose adjusted correctly. Often people are kept on a low dose for years, and it's probably the number one reason people don't get on well with T4. Doctors often think we'll be fine on any dose at all, but with thyroid hormone its very important to tune it for exactly the right dose for us.
That usually means freeT3 high in range, when on T4 monotherapy that requires freeT4 to be high in range, and TSH 1 or below - most people need it well below to feel well. Symptoms are more important, so the dose we feel best on is more important than great looking blood numbers.
Hi there. No, I’m Canadian. I have had my doses changed several times over the years. The worst I ever felt was when I was On a high dose and my numbers were 1.3, 2.3, and 0.86. My hair was falling out faster than snow in January lol. Thinking back over five years I haven’t been good and that was when my body decided it didn’t like me taking any meds. That is why I think it’s the Synthroid. I didn’t take it yesterday and today and feel a bit better.
I agree with you that drs don’t know much if anything about thyroid and dosing and it’s how you feel that counts.
I think when you get a puzzling result like that, you really really need to see the freeT4 and freeT3, as well.
It might be that, for example freeT4 is over range and freeT3 is very low, which can still give you a raised TSH. But over range freeT4 causes other problems. Or even some other more complex thing.
It really is fumbling in the dark to dose on TSH only
Will you be able to get full thyroid panels once you're on NDT? It tends to push down TSH, and also give a low freeT4, so you really need to see the freeT3 to get a good guide. Some people go on symptoms alone, but I think that's a little scary! I use symptoms, blood tests, and temp and pulse measures.
Just got in from blood lab. TSH AND T3 and T4 tested. Is free T a different test? Anyways I have a standing order for a year so that’s great. No more having to beg for them.
There is freeT4 and freeT3. Sometimes if people just say T4, they mean freeT4. But you can also have totalT4 and totalT3, which are different tests and can't be interpreted in the same way, so it's worth doubke checking to make sure you're getting the free versions.
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