Does taking NDT affect your blood pressure - Thyroid UK

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Does taking NDT affect your blood pressure

cbraffe profile image
17 Replies

Hi all,

I trust you are all well and thank you I'm advance. I have been taking NDT since January. I have realised that my heart races, I get a dull headache that last the whole and my blood pressure goes up. I would like to try adding T4. I have put in more weight . I take 2 grains. I had a total thyrodectomy in July of last year. Please advise

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cbraffe profile image
cbraffe
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17 Replies
Jazzw profile image
Jazzw

It looked like you were undermedicated 3m ago. healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

Did you try raising your dose?

Being under-medicated can make your heart go faster than usual and your blood pressure rise. Your heart rate might also be fast if you have iron deficiency—do you know if you do?

cbraffe profile image
cbraffe in reply toJazzw

Thank u for responding. I am on iron supplements. My Endo asked me to reduce the dose. It is just frustrating that they go by the TSH only. I was due to see a private Endo. All is on hold due to the current situation.

Marz profile image
Marz in reply tocbraffe

How long have you been taking iron ? Do you take VitC too - aiding absorption.

How were your levels of B12 - Folate - VitD ? Do you take iron 4 hours away from your NDT ?

I have often read here it is best to have all your ducks in a row before embarking on NDT or T3 🌟

cbraffe profile image
cbraffe in reply toMarz

Thank you for replying. I do take vit c and B12

Marz profile image
Marz in reply tocbraffe

OK - how long have you been taking iron ? How low were you when tested ? VitD ?

cbraffe profile image
cbraffe in reply toMarz

I have not had a blood test since Jan. I posted my last blood test on here a while ago.

Marz profile image
Marz in reply tocbraffe

Yes I have found the post of 6 months ago - no Iron results posted there !

cbraffe profile image
cbraffe in reply toMarz

I will try and get them and repost. Thank you.

pennyannie profile image
pennyannie

Hey there cbraffe

It so hard, as we are all starting from different set points, but I do think vitamins and minerals need to be optimal for good conversion of NDT.

There is fixed ratio of T3 and T4 in NDT which tends to suit most people, but do read of people adding back in either a little T3 or T4 when they are close to being at their ' sweet spot ' .

Some people split their NDT - is this something to consider ?

Has NDT helped you at all ?

The TSH is of no value when medicating with NDT - and in fact if I went to a doctor to monitor my progress, I could easily be told I was over medicated, depending on the timing of the blood test and the taking of the thyroid hormone supplement, as my T3 can go over into the mid ' 7's ' but I am not ' hyper ' in any shape or form, and my TSH is stuck down at 0.01 and not a reliable measure of anything as I have Graves Disease.

Not many doctors know of NDT and how to treat with it, and read functional doctors are more receptive to what seems to be seen as an alternative treatment to mainstream NHS.

NDT was the successful treatment for over 100 years and you were dosed to the relief of your symptoms, there were no blood tests. Patients were believed and a little slither of pig thyroid would be given to the patient to chew on. If the symptoms persisted, a slightly larger piece of pig thyroid would be suggested, so forth and so on.

cbraffe profile image
cbraffe in reply topennyannie

Thank you. My B12 is fine. It is a difficult journey indeed. Take care

Marz profile image
Marz in reply tocbraffe

Fine is not a result - was it over 500 ? Did you manage to obtain copies of all your results so you can monitor your own health and check what has been missed !

.EDIT : Have reread some of your earlier posts and see that your B12 was over 500 - had you been supplementing at that time ? - as this will skew results.

cbraffe profile image
cbraffe in reply toMarz

Yes I was. My GP asked me to stop supplementing. Thank you

TSH110 profile image
TSH110

Thyroid hormones do affect blood pressure and I would think that NDT will have an effect. I could find all sorts of references to T3 affecting blood pressure but nothing specific and scientific about NDT. I take NDT and my blood pressure has risen but it is my systolic, my diastolic remains low. But I suspect its cause is hereditary and the NDT is not directly related it’s just purely coincidental. I have a lot less angina than I did on Levothyroxine or before treatment which indicates the T3 in it has helped in my case.

I found this article that may be of interest. I think Dr Westin Child’s info is supposed to be ok:

restartmed.com/thyroid-medi...

Splitting your dose might help. A comprehensive blood test could reveal if you are overmedicated or not. TSH is of little value on NDT. Free T3 is most important for determining this. Despite what he says, I definitely had many more heart palpitations and angina on T4 monotherapy that I have ever got on NDT.

You might find Dr Malcolm Kendrick musings on treating blood pressure interesting too. I stopped worrying about mine when I read it:

google.com/amp/s/drmalcolmk...

cbraffe profile image
cbraffe in reply toTSH110

Thanks so much. Very informative. Stay safe

hipolion profile image
hipolion

Hi, can I ask you, wath kind of ndt you take?

cbraffe profile image
cbraffe in reply tohipolion

Thyroid s

cbraffe profile image
cbraffe

Thank you.

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