NDT - Anyone take with their Levo?. I had 7/8ths thyroid removed 30+ years ago.

[DoeStewart]

Hello folks, I have purchased Thyroid S which arrived today. I take 100mg Levothyroxine. Last thyroid bloods taken at GP surgery TSH 0.11 ( 0.30 - 5.50)

T4 18.2 ( 11.5 - 22.7)

As you can see no T3 test. I had Medichecks test in February 2019 which included T3 and the result for this was 4.41 ( 3.1 - 6.8). My GP will test vitamins on Wednesday 13/11 - I stopped taking my supplements a week ago so as not to skew them. Should I start my thyroid s or wait till after vitamin results come through? I am thinking of adding bit of ndt to my 100mg Levo which would increase my T4 and bit of T3. Does anyone else do this? Any advice would be greatfully received. My hair is shedding and my joints are aching but my GP only interested in my under range TSH.

Thank you good people.

[greygoose]

What was your FT4 result that went with that FT3? You can only tell how well you convert by comparing the two done at the same time.

If it were me, I wouldn't have gone for NDT, I would have gone for T3. You will only be adding a teensy weensy bit of T3 to your levo if you only add a bit of NDT - all scientific measurements, you'll notice! lol And, you probably don't even want any more T4. If you just have synthetic T3, you're far more in control of exactly how much T3 you add.

[DoeStewart in reply to greygoose]

Thank you for replying Greygoose.

Medichecks result from February 2019

TSH 0.183 ( 0.27 - 4.2)

T4 16.2 ( 12 - 22)

[shaws in reply to DoeStewart]

T4 and T3 tests are different from a FT4 and FT3 (F for free). An explanation:-

thyroiduk.org/tuk/testing/i...

[DoeStewart in reply to shaws]

Sorry shows- these should be FT3 and FT4.

[Hidden in reply to DoeStewart]

I agree with what Greygoose says; if you need T3 because of impaired T4 to T3 conversion, it's not a good idea to add a little NDT to your current levo dose. Instead, you should either switch to NDT completely or add T3 to T4. Some need to decrease levo somewhat when they add T3, others don't, so it's highly individual.

[DoeStewart in reply to Hidden]

Thanks Cat68 - I am just testing the waters at the moment. I have been on Levo for 31 years so as you can imagine it is a big step to go over to straight NDT. I had thought about purchasing T3 but besides the cost I wasn't sure about future supplies?

[Hidden in reply to DoeStewart]

You should never go from levo only to a full replacement dose of NDT, but start by adding a quarter grain of NDT (so about1/4 pill of Thyroid-S) to a reduced (-25 mcg) dose of levo, hold it there for about two weeks, then decrease levo by another 25 mcg and add 1/4 grain of Thyroid-S and so on until you've found your optimal replacement dose. You need your body to get used to the direct effects of T3.

The Thyroid-S pills are quite hard but surprisingly easy to split in my experience. I used a pill-cutter from the pharmacy and they did not even crumble.

[DoeStewart in reply to Hidden]

Thanks for the information. I get confused to be honest, some people seem to switch from Levo to NDT straight away( stop Levo one day and start NDT the next) others do as you have suggested and reduce Levo and start ndt gradually. I feel like I am leaping into the unknown. Can I ask if you take NDT?

[Hidden in reply to DoeStewart]

Yes, I've been on NDT since 2011. I started on Armour, then moved to Thyroid-S from Thailand in 2014, mainly because Armour was horribly expensive and Thyroid-S available at 1/10 of the cost.

It's true that some stop T4 one day and start on 1/4 or 1/2 grain of NDT the next day. Some do fine that way, others prefer to taper off T4 while slowly adding NDT to the mix. What you should never do is to go from levo only to a full replacement dose of NDT in one go, but start low and go slow. T3 is stronger than T4 so your body needs time to adjust to it.

[DoeStewart in reply to Hidden]

Thank you for replying Cat68. Did you switch from Levo to NDT? Does your Dr know what you take and do they support you at all? I know for a fact my GP would be horrified at me sourcing NDT so I am keeping it to myself for the time being. It may not even suit me and I'll end up back on Levo.

[Hidden in reply to DoeStewart]

Yes, my doctor knows because she's the one who prescribed NDT in the first place.

If you take T3 (synthetic or NDT), your TSH is likely to drop very low, possibly even become suppressed, so even if you don't tell your doctor about the NDT s/he is likely to tell you that you are overmedicated on T4 and to lower your levo dose...

I switched from 200 mcg of T4 daily to NDT.

[DoeStewart in reply to Hidden]

Are you in UK? I don't get next thyroid NHS bloods done till Sept 2020 so enough time to have a try of other meds. GP not happy with my TSH anyway as it's under range. If NDT suits me I will inform GP that I'm taking it.

[Hidden in reply to DoeStewart]

No, I'm not in the UK. I understand it's very difficult to find a doctor to prescribe NDT (or T3) in the UK.

I think it's a good idea to inform your GP if you take NDT and feel well on it. There is no need for you to suffer needlessly so that your doctor can be happy about your TSH...!

[DoeStewart in reply to Hidden]

Oh yes NDT and T3 are the devils work here in the UK. I will inform the GP that I am taking NDT once I see if it suits me or not. In the mean time I will keep getting my Levo scripts In case I need to go back to T4 only. Thank you for your advice.

[Hidden in reply to DoeStewart]

Best of luck and let us know how it goes, will you?

[DoeStewart in reply to Hidden]

Will do, thank you for your time.

[silverfox7]

I went straight from Levo to NDT with no problems but I followed the STTM method to do that and I can’t remember the fine details now but remember your body already has a store of Levo that it can draw on. Think I started on half a grain for two weeks then increased if my body was saying it needed more. I think I was told to increase in half grains to 2 grains then increase in quarters. I actually got up to 3 grains but realised I wasn’t improving so knew I was probably over medicated. I’d first started my thyroid journey in the 1980’s so was familiar with it. But I’d also decided to make the switch just before my next Endo appointment so he could ask for the checks for me. Yes I was overmedicated and he told me to drop down to 1.75 which I thought would be too much but he was spot on! So if you are doing this alone then make sure you take it slowly and get checks done to make sure you are within ranges. Then get fine tuning on board.

[DoeStewart in reply to silverfox7]

Thank you for your advice silver fox. I will have to do Medichecks tests as GP unaware of what I am doing and I had my last bloods taken at surgery in September. How long do you think I should wait from starting NDT to having bloods taken

[silverfox7 in reply to DoeStewart]

Tried to send you info but I keep losing it. Will try again a bit later!

[DoeStewart in reply to silverfox7]

Ok thank you.