dosage

[thyroidnodules]

hi there, i have recently switched from NDT to combo levo and T3. I was previously on two and one quarter grains of Thiroyd. my endo has prescribed 50mcg levo and 10mcg T3 twice daily. I am a bit wary of this and wonder if anyone can tell me if this is an accurate switch. Thank you

[Hidden]

Hey there, t3 seems reasonable, but not sure about the drop in Levo...was your t4 high on thiroyd? I was on 2.375 grains of Nature Throid before and right now I take 112 Levo and 15/17.5 t3. Not sure about such a drop in the Levo part. But again, everyone is different!

[thyroidnodules in reply to Hidden]

I have to take 100mcg levo in split doses and 20mcg of T3 also in split doses. i take 50mcg levo and 10mcg t3 in the morning and same again at night. my T4 is always at the very bottom of the range, my T3 was middle of the range and my TSH was suppressed at 0.04. she is aiming to reduce this dose as she wants to get my TSH to a more "acceptable" level. I was always under the impression that one grain of NDT was equal to 60mcg of levo and the rest T3. i am getting confused. I felt well on NDT but it was getting difficult to obtain plus my gp wrote to my endo to discuss me taking NDT and more or less said they wouldnt be happy about treating me for thyroid if i continued on this course

[Hidden in reply to thyroidnodules]

Ah I see, 50x2 Levo plus 10x2 t3.

Is there a reason why you take 50 mcg of Levo twice daily? I used to split it before , but I lacked of energy because of it. Do you have labwork when you used to take thiroyd? Do you know what your levels were?

[thyroidnodules in reply to Hidden]

i usually took my ndt in one dose before bed and this suited me fine. i dont know why she told me to take it in two doses and i had been considering just taking it in the one dose but as i wasnt sure about the equal ratios to ndt i did it in two lots but after getting advise on here, i may just take it in one dose in the evening same as ndt - my thyroid readings are in my post above as i was on thiroyd when bloods were taken. i have only switched over to combo levo/t3 for the past five days

[Hidden in reply to thyroidnodules]

Okay, splitting dose can make it feel weaker, but again, it's trial and error. I see , your t3 was 4.7. as SeasideSusie said, your equivalent would be 85.5 and 20.25. you could potentially take 88 mcg t4 and 20 mcg t3 all at night. However, you need to see ,t3 in NDT and t3 in thybon or other brand can feel different.

[greygoose in reply to thyroidnodules]

Be very, very wary of an endo that wants to get your TSH to a more 'acceptable' level. Acceptable to whom? Not you, I bet! If you're taking T3 it's unlikely to rise, and removing your T3 would make you ill. She doesn't really know what she's doing, I'm afraid.

[thyroidnodules in reply to greygoose]

i know gg. that comment worried me as i know my t3 will always be suppressed. when i tried to speak to her about it she went all technical on me about the pituatary gland, osteoporosis, stroke etc. etc. basically said i lost weight because i was on a higher dosage of ndt, which was nonsense, she ignored all my other symptoms of being on levo alone. She basically poo-pooed everything i learned on this forum. she also wrote to my doc to request a blood test before my next appointment in may to see how i am doing with the combo t4/t3 but told them not to bother with testing t3 as she does not find measurement of this terribly helpful!! she suggested to my gp that they should try and reduce my total dose of thyroid hormone a little bit when they next see me if my TSH is still low (which of course it will be). i was fine on thiroyd but i now cannot get this anymore

[greygoose in reply to thyroidnodules]

Well, she's wrong about the osteoporosis, it's not caused by suppressed TSH. Nor are strokes. She's bluffing to cover up her ignorance. Basically, she's a menace!

[Hidden in reply to greygoose]

When will the doctors start reading research papers, understand statistics and listen to symptoms. This generation of doctors was brought up on pharma, they know less to nothing on how to diagnose on symptoms. When will they educate themselves. Ah wait, they are too busy giving us BS at their 5 minute appointments, same spiel different day. Greed and ignorance at its best. And for some reason it is completely legal to treat us like children. Buffons! Having a bit of a moment here

[SeasideSusie Remembering]

NDT generally contains approx 38mcg T4 and 9mcg T3 per 1 x grain. You should be able to work out the equivalent of your 2 and 1/4 grains. I make it 85.5mcg T4 and 20.25mcg T3. Do you agree?

[thyroidnodules in reply to SeasideSusie]

yes, thats what i thought but there were a few comments i read previously which suggested one grain of ndt was equivalent to 100mcg of levo and i wish to get it right so that i know what i am doing with dosage so then the amount my endo has prescribed would appear to be a good equal dosage switch. thank you

[Hidden in reply to thyroidnodules]

But you also take t3 so you can't calculate it the same way. People think that 38 mcg t4 and 9 mcg t3 in NDT equals to 100 and takes that 9 mcg t3 into account. Also, I would go more but how you feel and previous bloods where you were.

[SeasideSusie Remembering in reply to thyroidnodules]

there were a few comments i read previously which suggested one grain of ndt was equivalent to 100mcg of levo

That is when you're swapping from NDT to Levo only. You then work out how much the T3 in the NDT equivalent is in T4 then swap the total amount of T4 to the same amount of Levo.

This website lists the amount of T4/T3 is all brands of NDT

stopthethyroidmadness.com/a...

Scroll down a bit to find Thiroyd and it is actually slightly different from the others and has T4 at 35mcg of T4 and 8.31mcg of T3 so that would make the equivalent of 78.75mcg Levo and 18.7mcg T3.

[thyroidnodules in reply to SeasideSusie]

ok, think i have got it now. thank you gals. its just that i am keen to get it right with the combo meds as my thiroyd supplier has advised that he cannot get it anymore and the other ndt brands he stocks have all gone up in price and thiroyd was the one i was good on. So thank you for your patience

[Hidden in reply to thyroidnodules]

No worries at all big hugs