I have been writing about wanting Thyroid. I finally got it today but was surprised at the dosing. I’m to take 30mg to replace the 75 mg I am currently taking of Synthroid. Does this sound about right? My TSH IS 3.61(0.32-5.04)
Thanks in advance.
Opinions on med dose please: I have been writing... - Thyroid UK
Opinions on med dose please
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mikkymouse
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You're taking 75 mcg Synthroid, not mg. 
You’re right. Here we call it mg. I have never once heard anyone including drs use that term. Habit???
It's not that you call it mg…. How can I explain this. If it were mg, it wouldn't be 75, it would be 0.075 mg Synthroid. mg is 1000 times bigger than mcg. You just measure it differently.
NDT, on the other hand, is actually measured in grains. 1 grain = 60 mg. But, the T4/T3 content is actually measured in mcg: 38 mcg T4 + 9 mcg T3 = 1 grain/60 mg.
Hope that's not confusing.
Of course it’s confusing lol. I meant that it says on the bottle mcg but we never say that. We say mg.
But they're two different measures. mg is a thousand times more than mcg. You surely can't use one when it's actually the other. That could lead to some life-threatening misunderstandings.
I wish I had never even mentioned about the mg versus mcg. It is no big deal!!!! Maybe I should have said we (as in people I know) just say mils as in I take 75 mils of Synthroid.
THE END LOL
No, it's not the end. And, I'm sorry, but it is a very big deal. And, if you said 75 mils of Synthroid, you would be implying that Synthroid is liquid. As in millilitres. How can anyone possibly know what you're talking about if you don't use the right measurements? You wouldn't say that 4 oz is the same as 4lbs, would you?
Well, that is just barking, like calling metres kilometers - oh, it's 20 kilometres to the post office ... and so you don't try to walk ... a day and 18 km later you still haven't got there as you overshot it by a very long way.
Sorry but I don’t have a clue what you mean???
Calling micrograms milligrams is barking mad and can lead to extreme misunderstanding
Because of the endless possibilities for confusion, I created what I hope is a simple document to try to make clear the units that might be used:
dropbox.com/s/q00vyt5703f4u...
greygoose I absolutely agree about life-threatening situations. The saving grace is the unlikelihood of having thyroid hormone in milligram quantities.
It is also widely said in the UK that the abbreviation mcg should not be used - always write microgram in full. (Though all too often ignored.)
Angel_of_the_North also agreed.
It is also confusing that some people/places use 0.1 milligrams or 0.05 milligrams rather than 100 micrograms or 50 micrograms. In my view, avoid decimal points and leading zeroes and zeroes after decimal points.
But, if you're going to use a decimal point, please do use a zero in front! 0.5 is so much clearer than .5, where the point could be a typo.
I agree!
Just trying to keep it simple.
I'm also not dead set against, for example, 12.5 micrograms. (As in Teva levothyroxine.) But some countries seem happy to say 12 micrograms. Not sure if the measured amount would be 12.5 or 12.0 but the difference really is vanishingly small.
Mikkymouse,
I think you need to question some of the things you've been told by current doctors. If a doctor or pharmacist confuses milligrams and micrograms that is a huge red flag that they don't know what they're talking about, and/or are very careless with their patients' health.
Its very common for doctors to do a bad job, and when that's happening they will often deflect patients questions, reply with nonsense, or just tell them that things are normal and fine. For example saying a TSH of 3.61 is good. But then you see the rest of the thyroid panel and it all consistently shows you've been kept undermedicated.
Read my reply to the Grey Goose
Hi! Didn’t see your post - Too many threads! LOL Can’t follow them either! Did you get your NDT ? How did it go with naturopath? Hope you are having a good day - and feeling a little better - Elena
Hi Mikky,
Whoever is telling you that is wrong - in Canada we use micrograms for Synthroid - mcg . If you have 75 of Synthroid it is micrograms. Same for Cytomel (T3) - it is dosed in micrograms not milligrams.
I can’t speak for the other thyroid drugs as I am not familiar with the dosing, but I hear people talk about grains for NDT.
Hope this helps!
Read what I said to Grey Goose
OMG! Maybe you will understand being a Canadian. So much to do regarding the mg versus mcg thing. No one is getting what I was trying to say. I was just meaning how we say things differently than other countries sometimes. Like how the English say vitamins. I gather you know they rhyme the VIT part with BIT and we rhyme with BITE. I wish I had never said the whole thing.
I understand completely - I was worried you would take wrong dose and feel sick, and that’s why I posted.
You’re going to take 30 of what to replace 75 of synthyriod? T3?
Thyroid made by Erfa
mikkymouse,
No, the equivalent of 75mcg Synthroid would be 3/4 of a grain (or 28.5mcg T4 & 6.75 T3) because the manufacturers say NDT is biologically stronger (ie 65mcg grain is equivalent to 100mcg T4 in our bodies).
I don't think your results (whichever way the ranges are 😃) indicate any conversion issues and your symptoms are most probably the result of an inadequate dose of Synthroid, indicating no definitive need for additional T3.
T3 is about 3 or 4 times as powerful as T4 and because you haven't medicated T3 before, it must be introduced slowly. As you are already under medicated you will not need to reduce Synthroid but just add a quarter grain of NP Thyroid once a day taken with your T4.
If no ill effects are felt after a week, add another quarter and reduce Synthroid by half. This will give you the equivalent of 70mcg T4, so biologically just over 100mcg T4.
After another week, as you introduce the third quarter, you must stop Synthroid completely and hold this dose, testing thyroid hormone levels six weeks after starting regime. Symptoms often lag behind good biochemistry.
It would not be wise to do a straight swop of Synthroid to NDT. I experienced a headache and inner heat after introducing each T3 dose raise but they passed after about three days. If you experience problems, look at iron levels and/or high thyroid antibodies as NDT can show intolerance to either. Post results after six weeks for members comments.
The important thing is not to rush.
This made sense but will see what the naturopath has to say.
No, the equivalent would be 1 grain (60mg) or slightly more, and you are currently undermedicated on levo with a TSH over 1
I agree with others, NDT is measured in milligrams, or more traditionally in grains. Most of the discussion on the forum is in grains. 1 grain is 60 or 65 milligrams, and we often talk about quarter and half grains, too. Sounds like you've been prescribed 30 milligrams (mg), which is half a grain.
NDT contains both T4 and T3, and as others have mentioned these are in micrograms.
Because NDT contains both, there is no complete equivalency between this and your previous dose. However for my own dosing I assume T3 is 4x stronger than T4, so a 25mcg dose of T3 is the equivalent of 100mcg of T4. Using these assumptions, 1grain of NDT is equivalent to about 75mcg of T4.
The NDT you've been prescribed is half a grain, and your previous dose of T4 was 75mcg, so this is a large dose decrease for you. The new NDT dose is half the size of your old T4 dose.
I agree with others that you shouldn't take a large dose decrease. Previously you were very undermedicated, so if anything you need an increase, not a decrease.
Have you been advised to take this at the same time as your T4, or any other specific way of taking it? I think Radd's suggestion to change over slowly is a good one. Don't allow your dose to be decreased, and also introduce the NDT slowly, because having been undermedicated for a long time you're at risk of finding it hard to introduce.
Mikkymouse, I really think you need to stay around the forum and read for a while. Maybe don't change your dosage at all but just read, at least for a few weeks. You've suffered a lot at the hands of doctors, and you need to get to the point where you have your own knowledge and are capable of making your own judgement and decisions about your thyroid treatment.
Thanks Silver. Your answer was one of the good ones. I’m getting so upset here I think I will make a general post to everyone who answers me. When you feel as sick as me and maybe you have been it’s hard to even think straight. Never mind take in all the I do coming your way.
I am very upset at the med strength I got prescribed yesterday for NDT. I was told they dr would call today so I hope she does. I will question her on that.
But I did tell you about that above. I'm sorry if I've confused you, but I've just tried to sort out the confusion for you. Obviously, I've failed. But, I never meant to upset you.
1.5 tablets of Thyroid contain 58.5 T4 and 13.5 T3 which is probably the closest to your 75 mcg of Levo. You have to start off very slowly when taking T3 start with just a half and then increase every two weeks.
MaisieGray in reply to
Closest in mass perhaps, but not in effect. 1.5 grains of NDT is the loose equivalent of somewhere between 99 and 111 mcg T4 if you use a 3 or 4 multiplier.
On this forum we use the word grain which is ( one grain = one tablet )
MaisieGray in reply to
Well it isn't that this forum uses grains, what's important is how the drug manufacturer provides it. For instance, on its labels for Armour, Forest provides both measures in this way: 1 GRAIN (60 mg). But you can't assume that a tablet is only 1 grain as Naturethroid for instance, manufactures 13 different tablets in doses from 1/4 grain to 5 grain.
Nature-Throid also convert one grain as 65 milligrams! (Rather than the 60 milligrams Armour quote.)
Very important clarification about different dosage tablets.
Exactly. A random online search does seem most often to come up with the number 64.79891. It's perhaps time to leave grains in the annals of pharmaceutical history.
Except, as I recently posted:
300 milligram aspirin tablets are that size because that is five grains. In the USA, you often see 325 milligram aspirin where they converted at 65 milligrams to the grain.
Even if we leave the word, we have the legacy!
in reply to MaisieGray
I thought that Thyroid was in just one size? This is the one that Mikkymouse was taking about.
MaisieGray in reply to
She mentioned earlier, wanting Canadian ERFA Thyroid, and if that is what she has, I believe it comes in 30 mg, 60 mg and 125 mg doses.
in reply to MaisieGray
I missed that, I stand corrected, it's probably a good idea for me not to comment on other peoples dosage and leave it to people who are more experienced. Thank you.
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