Help stranded in Rome

[rubyred]

Hi everyone,

I’m in Rome was due to fly back to

Uk Friday. Flight was cancelled. The rescheduled one for yesterday (Saturday) was also cancelled. I am a graves no thyroid after RAI

Our new flight back is tomorrow evening. Rome has thunderstorms scheduled for tomorrow all day and into evening.

I’m half expecting our flight to once again be cancelled fingers crossed it isn’t.

I am currently taking nature thyroid 3 grains. I only had one dose left for today along with some T3. I split today’s does so half today half tomorrow and have added some T3 to my NDT.

If our flight is cancelled tomorrow I will need to

Move back to T3 if which I will only have 2 days left so sort of moving into mild panic mode.

I spoke with the airport pharmacy last night. She told me Rome no

Longer do NDT. She said all I could have was thyroxine. I can’t take it.

I am going to Pharmacy today to see if they do T3. Does anyone know if they do and if so what’s it called.

If I can’t get T3 how long will my medication stay in my system before I need medical help.

Thank you x

[SeasideSusie Remembering]

According to the information Helvella is collecting, in Italy T3 is said to be prescription only but you may be able to buy it over the counter

dropbox.com/s/h9ti2sdagf3qs...

His notes say

Some uncertainty –levothyroxine seems to be widely OTC, but liothyronine may be limited –e.g. one bottle of Liotir.

As for how long the medication will stay in your system, T4 has a half life of 7 days and T3 has a half life of 24 hours, so the T4 in the NDT will be hanging around but reducing over a few weeks, T3 will be out of your system completely in about 2 weeks. You should be OK until you get home but possibly not feeling as well as you normally do.

[rubyred in reply to SeasideSusie]

Thank you that’s very helpful and has caused me some relief. Fingers crossed our flight tomorrow isn’t cancelled. There is a pharmacy round the corner from me so I will check with them to see if they will allow OTC. Fingers crossed but at least the most important I should be ok until we are home. Xx 😘

[Quokka]

A couple of years ago a pharmacist in northern Italy offered to sell me some liquid liothyronine . They use the same word, with an "a" on the end, I think. I showed her my NHS prescribed container as I didn't have a prescription with me. I decided to leave it as I wasn't sure of dosage, and I hadn't run out. It's worth asking in an emergency though. Good luck!

[rubyred in reply to Quokka]

Thank you. All being well fingers crossed we get our flight tomorrow night. Just concerned as the flight coming out of Luton might not take off If storm

Is bad in Rome or surrounding area. Once I settled past panic stage and thought it through. If it’s prescription only in Italy I have holiday insurance which I discovered yesterday only really covers me for medical and lost stolen items. I will contact them then see a doctor to get prescription. Thank you so much. Xx 😘

[Quokka in reply to rubyred]

I think it's worth talking to a pharmacist, as they often take pity on tourists who need emergency medication, even if they don't have a prescription.

[rubyred in reply to Quokka]

Ok thank you. I will ask fingers crossed as will also be cheaper than needing a doc for script xx

[SilverAvocado]

I've had to stop all thyroid hormone a few times for RAI. On those occasions it was up to 14 days with no tablets at all, and I have no thyroid, so although it is unpleasant it is hopefully not dangerous.

Of course you can expect to feel just as rubbish as you expect once you run out of tablets. I think it depends a lot how sensitive you are how quickly you'll start feeling worse, and how much worse you'll feel. I think a lot of people won't feel too bad on the first day with no tablets.

In my experience I've always had a big crash around day 3 with no tablets, which I assume is the last of the meaningful levels of T3 being used up.

I would advise resting as much as you can to conserve T3 and energy. If you can eg spend the day lying reading or watching TV in your hotel you will probably feel much better than if you try to walk around and do activities. Be kind and gentle to yourself.

[rubyred in reply to SilverAvocado]

Thank you so much for your reply. My NDT is now used up. I have 2 days T3. At this point not 100% sure what my body will think going back to it in a sudden way but needs must. We are off to the airport again tonight. Hopefully 3rd time lucky. The flight coming from Luton to collect us at this point looks to be heading here and on time. Xxx will post on here tomorrow if I get my flight. Xx 😘

[SilverAvocado in reply to rubyred]

Good luck! NDT contains T3, so hopefully it won't be too much of a surprise to your body when you start taking it. The leftover T4 from the NDT should last quite a few days.

I forgot to mention that when I stopped everything for RAI I was on T3 only, which leaves the body the most quickly. T4 will hopefully take several days if not a whole week before the levels in your blood start reducing too much! I think NDT may be even slower in how long it takes to flush out, because it contains more complex molecules than synthetic T4.