T4 vs NDT

[Surprize]

Hello I wonder if anybody switched from Levothyoxine to NDT and had good outcomes. I know that we are all different, but I hope to hear from anybody with a success story. Thanks

[pennyannie]

Hello Surprize and welcome to the forum :

There is nothing on your profile page so presume you have a thyroid issue of some sort :

Ok, a fully functioning working thyroid produces T1,T2,T3,T4, and calcitonin :

T1 and T2 are said to be at too low a level to have a measure put on them and it's suggested that T3 and T4 are the two main thyroid hormones produced with a rough daily approximation of around 10 mcg T3 and 100 mcg T4 :

T4 is a storage hormone and needs to be converted by yor body into T3 the active hormone that the body runs on and is said to be about 4 times more powerful than T4 with the average person using about 50 T3 daily, just to function.

I haven't a fully functioning thyroid as I have Graves disease and my thyroid ablated with RAI, and burnt out and disabled in situ :

I was prescribed T4 monotherapy and ultmately became very unwell some 8 years later. I was refused both T3 and NDT by my doctor / endocrinologist I am now self medicate with NDT and for me it's the difference between being in the dark, depressed and anxious, or having the light switched on and my brain being back in gear again.

Hope that helps:

[Surprize in reply to pennyannie]

Hi Pennyannie, thanks very much for the detailed and very informative reply. Like you, I do not have a fully functioning thyroid and have been on T4 but do not feel well at all. Thanks will try NDT also. Could you please send me a private message about your source for NDT, if you can. Thanks very much

[pennyannie in reply to Surprize]

Hey there,

Now, here's the rub !!

You can buy NDT from various places and at very different prices but today we have heard of a couple of Stateside brands being recalled and if you look the other way towards Thailand currently it is very difficult to purchase NDT because of widespread swine flu throughout Africa where it appears the bulk of pig thyroid is sourced.

There is also the option of taking Liothyronine, synthetic T3 so take a look at that as well.

I have tried both options and they both lifted my ongoing disabling symptoms.

[Surprize in reply to pennyannie]

Thanks very much.

[Canu in reply to pennyannie]

Which brands have been recalled?

[helvella Administrator Thyroid UK in reply to Canu]

I suggest you go to this post:

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

RLC products are recalled.

[Canu in reply to helvella]

Thank you helvella!

[helvella Administrator Thyroid UK in reply to pennyannie]

I think you'll find that it is African swine fever in China and other Asian countries.

I am not aware of any desiccated thyroid ingredients coming from Africa. (Doesn't mean none does, of course. My ignorance covers an awful lot of things. )

[pennyannie in reply to helvella]

Ah, maybe so - I read African Swine Flu and presumed the country of origin - so - I think I " trump you " as this is my ignorance on this matter - and I'll stop short next time and not presume - thank you :

[hilary33 in reply to pennyannie]

Can you private message me too please regarding your source for Thyroid S.

Thanks.

Hilary

[pennyannie in reply to Surprize]

Sorry,

I forgot to write that Natural Desiccated Thyroid is pig thyroid dried and ground down into tablets referred to as grains : NDT grains contain all the same known thyroid hormones as a human thyroid gland with each grain offering a fixed ratio of T3 and T4 at around 38 T4 and 9 T3 : should this fixed ratio not totally suit you I read of some people adding back in a little T3 or T4 also.

[parsnip888 in reply to Surprize]

Hi Surprize

Please can you also message me with a private message on your supplier of NDT as I have had half my thyroid removed and my doctor is threatening to take me off of NDT and put me on synthetic meds again which I do very badly on... thank you 🙏 I

[Hidden in reply to pennyannie]

Can I ask which brand of NDT you use (sorry if this has been mentioned already)?

[pennyannie in reply to Hidden]

Thyroid S :

[Hidden in reply to pennyannie]

Thanks!

[Jazzw]

Surprize, it’s more than possible that you don’t need to switch, so make sure you’ve checked out a few things first before going down what can be an incredibly expensive (and rather lonely) route.

First of all, do you know what your blood test results are on your current dosage of levothyroxine? Does your doctor routinely check FT4 and FT3 as well as TSH? Do you know whether your B12, folate, Vitamin D and ferritin levels are optimal? Because if they aren’t, then NDT probably won’t help either.

And we see (all the time here!) people who’ve been kept on too low a dosage of levothyroxine by doctors who don’t understand how to interpret thyroid blood test results.

[Surprize in reply to Jazzw]

Jazzw, thanks very much for the very helpful reply. All my Thyroid tests results seem OK and my vitamins are also in good range but lately I started having many of the classical symptoms, including muscle pains, dry skin and eyes quite tired and so on. Hence the decision to try something else. May be this the best that I can achieve! Once again thanks very much

[Jazzw in reply to Surprize]

Ah, but what does “seem ok” mean?

It’s fine if you don’t want to share more but honestly, the people who post here love nothing more than cracking a thyroid-related problem. “In range” blood test results often aren’t optimal.

If you have the blood test results to share and want to see what others think about what your next step could be it’s probably best to start a new post with them.

Wishing you all the very best and hope you find a good way forward soon.