Hi everyone, any advice would be appreciated. I had STT about 18 years ago. Was on 150/175 Levo for most of it. Now on 2 grains of Thyroid S. feel okish but still tired. I take various supplements plus tibolone Hrt for night sweats. Still struggling with weight gain thinning hair plus arthritis.
Any advice would be great.
Thanks x
Papillon201
When on NDT it's essential that FT3 is tested, this is the most important test.
Taking NDT tends to lower, even suppress TSH, and also tends to lower FT4. Some people are fine with FT4 as low as yours, others need it higher. But it's FT3 which tells you if you are over or under medicated. Most people would need FT3 in the upper part of it's range.
When doing thyroid tests we should take our last dose of NDT 8-12 hours before the blood draw to give a measure of the normal cirulating amount of hormone. Any longer and you get a false low FT4/FT3 and any closer to blood draw you get false highs.
Ferritin is fine.
What supplements do you take and if vitamins have you tested recently to check your levels?
Where abouts in their ranges are the antibody results?
Hi. Thankyou for replying so quickly. I asked for all the tests to be done as recommended on this forum but for some reason there are no results for T3. I did take my last NDT the night before being tested and stopped biotin a week before.
Other test results were
Vit D. 140.3 (80-150)
Serum calcium. 2.25(2.10-255)
Serum inorganic phosphate 0.90(0.8-1.5)
Serum albumin 39(35-50)
Corrected serum calcium 2.27(2.10-2.55)
So that’s all the test results I have.
Papillon2011
As you said you take various supplements what these were, if you are taking them for vitamins then we should retest at least once a year to ensure we keep our levels within the recommended ranges.
Your Vit D is fine, are you supplementing that? If so you just need a maintenance dose, and D3's important cofactors magnesium and Vit K2-MK7.
Yes I have been supplementing D3. I will look at the magnesium and vit K2-MK7.
Should I try upping my NDT? As my T4 was low?
Papillon2011
Reason for D3's cofactors are D3 aids absorption of calcium from food and Vit K2-MK7 directs the calcium to bones and teeth where it is needed and away from arteries and soft tissues where it can be deposited and cause problems such as hardening of the arteries, kidney stones, etc.
D3 and K2 are fat soluble so should be taken with the fattiest meal of the day, D3 four hours away from thyroid meds if taking D3 as tablets/capsules/softgels, no necessity if using an oral spray.
Magnesium helps D3 to work. We need Magnesium so that the body utilises D3, it's required to convert Vit D into it's active form. So it's important we ensure we take magnesium when supplementing with D3.
Magnesium comes in different forms, check to see which would suit you best and as it's calming it's best taken in the evening, four hours away from thyroid meds if taking magnesium as tablets/capsules, no necessity if using topical forms of magnesium.
naturalnews.com/046401_magn...
drjockers.com/best-magnesiu...
You probably only need a maintenance dose of 1000-2000iu D3 now.
Should I try upping my NDT? As my T4 was low?
You need to test FT3 (at the same time as FT4 and TSH) to know if you need to increase your dose.
Thankyou for your help. I will try and get GP to agree to do another test.
Hey there -
Can I just ask " what is a STT " ??
Hi. It is a sub-total thyroidectomy.
Hey there, thank you, I thought that but couldn't find more details and my search bought up Special Investigations or car tyres !!!
Yes, as already explained with NDT is more about the relief of symptoms than blood test levels and of all the blood tests it's the T3 that gives you an answer to the question.
If you are still with symptoms and haven't tried maybe nudge up a 1/4 full grain at a time and see how you go :
I'm with Graves Disease and had my thyroid ablated with RAI back in 2005 becoming very unwell some 8 years later. I'm taking Thyroid S and my T4 is around 13 and my TSH at 0.01 with a T3 just at the topping over the range - I feel pretty good, and definitely not hyper in any shape or form. I would like a bit more stamina, but guess at 73 I've a bit of wear and tear going on there anyway.
Thankyou for your reply. So how much ThyroidS do you take? I think I will give it a try increasing it by 1/4.
I'm only on 1 + 1/2 full grains which seems quite low, and have tried an increase but became a bit nervous and anxious so need to stay put here: I've still lingering Graves symptoms, it never goes away, so choose to run a little hypo rather than feel uncomfortable and nervous.
No thyroid hormone works well if ferritin. folate, B12 and vitamin D aren't at optimal levels and I supplement these year round along with adrenal glandular as I believe the RAI damaged these glands as well.
There are other reasons why conversion can be compromised like long term chronic pain, depression and of course other illness and drugs you maybe taking.
Thyroid S is said to be slow release and I take it all together at around 3 am. to dovetail in with the circadian rhythm of the body - some people split the doses - it does become very much what suits you best, and there is no one number or dose that is right or wrong as you dose to relief of symptoms, and we all come at this from different situations and health issues.
Your Thyroid and How To Keep It Healthy is written by a doctor who has hypothyroidism and, I believe, takes NDT. Barry Durrant-Peatfield writes in an easy to understand manner and although we now don't have this amazing little gland we do need to know how it works and what it does so we can try and compensate accordingly.
Thankyou. It’s so good to have someone else to discuss things with. It’s all very complicated taking tablets at different times of the day and some away from food etc. It is all very much trial and error and my GP is just letting me get on with it.
Just checked on multi vit and it does contain all necessary additional vitamins.
Ok, but it's suggested on here that vitamins and minerals should only be taken when needed, through having had them tested and all independent from each, as some need to be taken at different times of the day and away from each other especially iron tablets.
SeasideSusie is very well informed in this area , maybe read a few of her very detailed posts. on when and how to take the necessary vitamins and minerals.
But yes, it's good to talk things through as doctors do not seem too well informed on the nature of NDT and the necessary cofactors needed for effective conversion and optimal medication levels.
I would be very interested to learn from SeasideSusie about what vitamins are needed and when to take them.
Thanks for your help
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