Starting Desiccated Thyroid

[taylor123]

Hey guys,

Would love some input on a couple of questions i have.

I have Hashimoto's and I am finally going to commence NDT as my Prolactin is elevated, and as some of you will know this can be a result of elevated TSH.

I have never taken nay thyroid medication.

I have recently gone two months with no gluten, but it doesn't appear to have made much difference (so far at least) so I am now going to increase how strict my elimination diet is. I am tempted to go Carnivore for a month, with added collagen and extra organ meats.

My TPO antibodies have slowly been declining since September 2018 but my TA remain off the charts.

Anyway, I have a 100 tablets of 1 Grain WP Thyroid at hand.

1) My inclination tells me to start with a 1/4 grain and retest in a month. Do you guys agree this could be a good strategy? I have heard it said its best to start with a whole grain? But all I am reading is start slow? And that makes the sense to me as well.

2) Is it true WP Thyroid isn't very good now? Are NDT's in general losing stability?

3) What about if one was to take Levothyroxine plus T3 for a more stable medication?

I am attaching my blood results here. My vitamin profile is good as well.

I initially swung hyper before going hypo by the way.

Huge thanks to anybody who comments

[SeasideSusie Remembering]

taylor123

1) I don't take NDT (did years ago under guidance of a renowned practioner) but I have read that this is the protocol:

Starting dose: 1/4 grain (15mgs) in the morning and quarter of a grain in the afternoon and stay on this for 7 days. If no adverse effects:

Week 2: increase your dose by another 1/2 grain (30mgs) a day. Take half a grain in the morning and half a grain in the afternoon (total 1 grain daily) and stay on this dose for at least 3 weeks. If no adverse effects:

Week 5-6: increase by another 1/2 grain and take 1 grain (60mgs) in the morning and 1/2 grain (30mg) in the afternoon (total 1 and 1/2 grains daily). Stay on this dose for 3 weeks and again, if no adverse effects:

Week 8-9: increase by another half grain and take one grain in the morning and one grain in the afternoon and stay on this for another 3 weeks (total 2 grains daily).

This may or may not be enough. If you are still symptomatic, increase by 1/4 grain (15mg) every 3 weeks. If you feel overmedicated then drop back to the previous dose.

2) Is it true WP Thyroid isn't very good now? Are NDT's in general losing stability?

This article says WP Thyroid has been problematic since 2019:

stopthethyroidmadness.com/a...

I have read various things about NDT lately including that pig feed contains soy and that soy isn't good for the thyroid anyway.

3) What about if one was to take Levothyroxine plus T3 for a more stable medication?

NDT did nothing for me at the time I took it (2000-2002) but I now realise that my nutrient levels were never checked so that could have played a part.

I take a combination of Levo and T3 and I have found that the fact that you can tweak the ratio of T4 and T3 to suit you is better than the fixed ratio in NDT.

You say your nutrient levels are good, are they optimal? Recommended levels are:

Vit D - 100-150nmol/L (or 40-60ng/ml)

B12 - top of range for Total B12, for Active B12 a minimum of 70, better is 100+

Folate - at least half way through range

Ferritin - half way through range

[jgelliss in reply to SeasideSusie]

Thank You SeasideSusie for a great detailed post . I had a eureka moment when I read that you mentioned that the pigs are being fed soy now . It's not surprising to hear this since many on NDT's are finding that it's not working as they used to. Many on NDT are wondering why the same dose a while back was working fine and now the same dose does not . And needing to raise their dose to feel better.

Never a dull moment .

[Rita-D]

I had NDT Thiroyd for about a year but I could never get optimal on it no matter what I did. I went back on Levothyroxine and kept gradually having to increase to dose up feel well but after a few weeks I would go back to having all the symptoms again. I have Hashimoto’s Disease. I did genetic testing and found that I am heterozygous for DIO2, which means I inherited a faulty gene which means I “may” not be able to convert T4 to T3 easily. This was like a lightbulb to me. I eventually was able to persuade an endocrinologist to let me have a trial of T3 and after about a year he gave in. I reduced my Levo from 150 to 100mcgs and started T3 too at 10mcgs. I started to feel better. Endo suggested increasing to 20mcgs as I wasn’t optimal. I put on a stone in weight in a month from odema! I stopped everything for 2 weeks knowing I would be ill (and I was) and restarted the 100mcgs of Levo and 10mcgs of T3. Started to feel better again. I’m now on a dose of 125mcgs of Levi and 10mcgs of T3 on an NHS prescription which I purchase from Germany.

I was feeling really good for 2 years and had finally managed to lose a stone when I was diagnosed with breast cancer in May last year. This has kind of taken my focus of my thyroid disease.

Let me tell you though, the fatigue from being under medicated really helped me cope with the fatigue from the cancer treatment. There is no comparison! Thyroid disease left me so tired that I struggled to get out of bed every day and falling asleep in the car on the drive hike from work. Cancer just left me tired, not fatigued!

Combination therapy seems to working for me.

Hope this helps. X