I started taking my meds 1 grain of nature throid every other day after missing several days and seeing no issues. Just trying to use less and make my prescription last longer. 2 weeks in and no issues. Has anyone else tried this? After all who says we have to take it every day the pharmaceutical companies so they sell more?
Just an idea
Thanks
Er... thing is, you’ll only be getting half the dose. So I think you might notice the difference after a few weeks! This isn’t about Big Pharma’s profits, it’s about your health. If you can manage on half your dose, well that’s a separate issue, but I think you’ll find that half of a grain isn’t enough to keep you going for long.
NDT has T4 and T3 in it. It is usual to take T3 every day because it has such a short half life.
This is not so much of a problem with T4 which has a long half life of roughly 7 days, so alternate day dosing of Levo e.g. 100mcg one day, 125mcg the next, is quite common.
If you don't get any symptoms from taking only half the dose of NDT then you might save money by taking just Levo.
Taking T4 every other day or different doses on days is not a problem. You should not take T3 differently on different days however. And as NDT has T3 in it this also applies to NDT.
Why? T3 is an active hormone and has a short half life. It stays in the blood and the cells for 2 to 3 days and if you are active can be used quickly. The body also likes a steady regular dose of T3 at the same time or times each day because of the way it works.
T4 is a storage hormone. What you take today adds to the store until you need it. It lasts longer in the system which is why you can take different doses of it.
What sort of issues were you expecting? Your right leg won't drop off nor your head explode, but you just won't get better taking different amounts of T3 on different days. They body needs a guarantee that the extra T3 coming in will continue to come in on a regular basis. If you don't take the same amount every day, the body will not feel secure enough to switch back on the receptors it switched off during the time you were hypo. So, symptoms will continue.
It’s only been 8m or so since you raised your dose to a grain—at the time you said you had pins and needles in your fingers. Your blood test results at the time certainly indicated you needed a rise in dosage.
Taking NDT isn’t like taking paracetamol for a headache—it builds up in your system over time. So if you were to start from having no tablets it would take 6-8 weeks to feel the full effect of the dosage you’re taking. Similarly, it takes 6-8 weeks to fully leave your system—the half-life of T4 is about a week, the half life of T3 a day or two at most.
Speaking as someone who experimented with reducing medication (on purpose—I was worried about an upcoming blood test for an unrelated illness—my hypothyroidism has never been formally diagnosed because I have a doctor who thinks a TSH at the top of its range is just fine...), I’d very much advise NOT doing it.
You feel absolutely fine for the first few weeks—and then one day, it’s like being hit by a truck. Like falling off a cliff. And then it can take weeks and months to get back to the level of health you were at previously.
Does anyone else take different levels of thyroxine every other day?
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