Ordering NDT versus staying on T4 / T3

[Koola]

I’ve been taking T3 along with T4 for 8 days (Tirosint & a Greek brand of T3). Only slight betterment. I tried to order NDT from Thailand and it didn’t work out (they wanted to be paid with Bitcoin…). As of today, I got a message that it’s okay, they accept Visa again. But there are only bottles of a 1000 caps and thus, expensive. Apparently, Thyroid S, Thiroyd and TR are all appreciated and it is, as usual, an individual matter. I suppose I’ll wait till they deliver small quantities again. Having to wait up to 3 weeks for a medicine that might not agree with me and then trying the next one etc. seems a too lengthy & costly process!

Does anyone have any advice?

Meanwhile, I’ll again have all my vitamins, iron etc checked and hope that I can stay on “regular” T4 & T3. Hope to hear from one of you experienced and oh-so helpful people on this forum. Thanks!

[SeasideSusie Remembering]

Koola

TR has been discontinued, the only stock now is what any supplier has remaining.

Thiroyd is rumoured to also being discontinued. Apparently the Thai government want to have NDT licensed and the manufacturers don't want to. Another rumour about Thiroyd is that the manufacturer is waiting for enough orders to make a production run. Again any stock will be what is currently with the suppliers - apparently.

That just leaves Thyroid-S about which no problems have been reported.

If you've only been on your Levo + T3 combo for 8 days you could very well still have a lot of tweaking to do, it took me months and months of adjusting dose, waiting 6 weeks to see how my levels adjusted and I felt, then tweaking again. For now it might be better to just stick with the Levo + T3 and give it time.

[Koola in reply to SeasideSusie]

Hi Seaside Susie,

Great name by the by Thank you for your advice. I will keep on trying T3 /T4 and tweaking. I've noticed that taking it at the same time as T4 puts me in an awful state, like today-- 2nd and last try! My newly found, decent endo. also warned that T3 produced in Greece is unreliable as batches differ greatly, so maybe it's the new T3 box I opened....

Thinking of ordering T3 from elsewhere. Have you noticed differences re different brands of T3?

[SeasideSusie Remembering in reply to Koola]

My newly found, decent endo. also warned that T3 produced in Greece is unreliable as batches differ greatly, so maybe it's the new T3 box I opened....

I have been taking Greek T3 since 2015/16 and I haven't found the batches to differ. However, I did buy all mine over a period of a few months and the last lot I bought was in April 2017. I bought a lot so am using stock that is either out of date or close to. I don't have any recently produced batches.

There hasn't been any mention on the forum from users of Greek T3 that they have noticed any difference.

I have only used one other brand - Grossman Cytomel - and I didn't like that so much yet other people say it's the best T3 they've tried. Just goes to show how we're all different!

I've noticed that taking it at the same time as T4 puts me in an awful state,

Try taking them at different times and see if that helps.

[helvella Administrator in reply to Koola]

I have no evidence as to how much it varies - whether that is almost not at all or hugely.

But I would certainly want some evidence of a claim like that. If you get the opportunity, I think many of us would appreciate any hard evidence, so please ask.

[Hidden in reply to helvella]

Well, that seems to be one of the greatest mysteries of all times...kind of "how and when was Earth created"?!??!

[Koola in reply to helvella]

Hi Helvella,

I can ask my endo how many patients of his have had issues with T3. More "hard evidence" I'm unlikely to get. The big difficulty or Mystery, as the Cat68 pointed out below, seems to be that it all varies individually... I'm calling it The Big Bummer because I"m wrestling with doses etc daily!

[Hidden in reply to Koola]

This is what I know: I have several friends on Greek T3 (and a couple on Turkisk Tiromel, from the same supplier). They all state that Unipharma from Greece seems very potent, slightly more potent than Tiromel (one person I know prefers Tiromel for that reason, given that she's very sensitive to the rise and fall in T3 levels...she has tried both brands and feels that the Greek brand is slightly more potent, but also that she can feel its effects rise and fall more quickly than Turkisk Tiromel which she described as more gentle so she decided to stay on it). What I am trying to say is that I know several people on Greek Unipharma T3, and they have not reported any potency problems...quite on the contrary, a couple of people even thought it was a tad too strong, and one even prefers Turkisk Tiromel because of that (just like I prefer Thyroid-S which seems to be released more slowly and result in more stable hormone levels than Thiroyd and TR, both of which I tried but found too fast-acting for me).

[Hidden]

Well, let's hope Thyroid-S will remain on the market...!!! There were recent rumors about it being discontinued, but the manufacturer denied it. It's also available from all the suppliers I know of and nobody has mentioned any supply (or other) problems so far. So, fingers crossed...!!!

I agree with SeasideSusie: you need to give T3 + T4 more time before you decide it does not work for you.

After ten years on T4 only drugs, I spent a year on synthetic combo drug Novothyral before trying NDT. The latter worked much better for me because it felt like the hormones were being released much more slowly throughout the day, whereas on Novothyral, I felt like I had been "kicked by a horse" within an hour of taking it. I had to split the doses, whereas I can take NDT once daily and forget about it for the next 24 hours...a huge relief for me, but I know many people split both synthetic drugs and NDT and have no problems with it - so it's all highly individual.