Help finding a NDT that still works

[jjf255]

My husband is presently taking NP thyroid. After taking a good look at his pills, I believe his are still the older ones that seem to still work. He has a 90 day supply, but after that, I don't have any idea which one he should switch to. He did fine on Armour until their change...same with Nature Throid, now NP. I've been reading reviews on the reformulated WP and they aren't good. His Dr. had suggested maybe switching to T4 and T3 but he has other health issues that have improved greatly taking NDT. I take Thyroid S, but oddly his Dr. said he's not comfortable with him taking it. We are in the U S. We also have a compounding pharmacy near by. Does anyone have their NDT compounded? Thank you for any suggestions.

[MaisieGray]

As this is a UK-based forum, there won't be many, if any British members who have their thyroid meds compounded since there are very very few retail compounding pharmacies in the UK. Unless your husband's Dr can validate his statement about ThyroidS, it's merely an opinion - probably based on professional snobbishness - or jingoism even. Many with hypothyroidism do well and are very happy with the Thai NDTs, and in any case, if your husband has not got on well with the US ones it's hardly a validation of them in any case..... Having said that, not everyone has had negative effects with the ones you mention (a friend of mine did very well with Naturethroid even after others were reporting problems) and your husband should perhaps not preempt how he might get on with WP based on other's reports alone. You mention that he's experienced other benefits from NDTs, but has he actually previously taken a synthetic T4/T3 combo to know how that might benefit him? I swapped from T4/T3 to Naturethroid, then to ThyroidS, and then back to T4/T3, with no difference at all, except to my bank account.

[jjf255 in reply to MaisieGray]

Thank you for you reply. My husband took T4 years ago and did not do well. He's a poor converter. He has not tried T4 along with T3. He did great on each NDT that he took until each became unavailable. Then he would switch to another. As many are finding when these NDT return to the market, something has changed. Just wondering if anyone has found any of the new reformulated NDT to work for them?

[MaisieGray in reply to jjf255]

Well, as I mentioned, my friend has had no problem whatsoever with Naturethroid, before or after the changes, which she has had via a private prescription from her NHS GP for years. He has just retired and his replacement is set against both NDTs in general and the issue of private prescriptions, and in the last couple of weeks has forced her to swap to mono-Levo. As a consequence her health has plummeted considerably - proving again how well she was continuing to do on Naturethroid. The fact of your husband not doing well on mono-T4 shouldn't per se, mean he wouldn't do well on a combination of T4 and T3 - many of us do, and it can be the difference between night and day for many.

[jjf255 in reply to MaisieGray]

Thank you

[Hidden]

I get mine compounded but I'm in Australia. It's how it's done here. We have lots of compounding pharmacies here. Compounded is all I know but for consistency I always use the same pharmacy.

[jjf255 in reply to Hidden]

Thank you. Compounding may be his best alternative.

[Hidden]

Cannot your husband try Thyroid-S and if it suits him take it without telling his doctor (if the doctor thinks he is on another brand of NDT)?

There seems to be huge problems with the availability and consistency of prescription NDT, unfortunately. Both Armour, Erfa, Naturethroid, and NP are reported to have been reformulated and to work less well, and now WP as well...?! Incredible.

There is also Thyro Gold by the late Dr. J. C Lowe which is sold as a supplement but is prescription-strength. It contains bovine thyroid, not porcine, but many patients swear by it and it has good online reviews. I believe it was formulated specifically to be an alternative to prescription brands of NDT and the T3/T4 ratio should be more or less the same as in prescription NDT.

[jjf255 in reply to Hidden]

Since we live in the U S, there is always the concern that Thyroid S will not be available to us ( due to possibly being held in customs) and my husband does not want to lose his Dr. since he is a specialist who is treating my husband for other issues besides thyroid.

[Hidden in reply to jjf255]

That's understandable. I hope your husband's doctor will be willing to prescribe compounding thyroid!

[JumpJiving]

My understanding is that certain batches of NP Thyroid are thought problematic, and that the manufacturer thinks that future ones should be ok. I've just ordered a load (more than a year's worth), some of which are the same batch as I had previously (M330H18-3) which were fine, the remainder being batch M330C19-2 (which doesn't currently appear on the list of problematic ones). I am keeping my fingers crossed re. M330C19-2.

Your pharmacy should be able to check lot/batch numbers for you before you order. Hopefully that way, you can get batches of NP Thyroid that still work.

[jjf255 in reply to JumpJiving]

Thanks so much. His scripts are always dispensed in other pill bottles that don't contain a batch #. I'll have to ask the pharmacist what the batch # are that they are working from. It's good to know that the company that makes NP Thyroid is looking into the problem. I wish they would recall the bad lots. Where were you able to find the batch#s of the problematic ones?

[JumpJiving in reply to jjf255]

The batch numbers of the suspect ones can be found at stopthethyroidmadness.com/2...

I've just paid for my ones, and whilst I had the pharmacist on the phone I had him compare tablets from the two batches visually and in terms of smell. He reckons they look and smell the same, so hopefully M330C19-2 should be a good batch.