I was on 60 (1 grain) for a number of months but have had lingering hypo symptoms and can’t lose a pound despite going gluten and dairy free. I just moved up to 2 grains and so far, no change. Thoughts?
My iodine is low, ferritin is low in range, vitamin d is low in range. T3 and free t3 were low in range at last labs.
Hello Kikiweight
There is no one size fits all - you need what you need to feel well and simply dose up to the relief of symptoms being experienced.
NDT was successfully used for over 100 years to treat hypothyroidism prior to the medical science, of blood tests, ranges, guidelines and computer target driven controlling numbers.
Obviously with low core strength vitamins and minerals your ability to convert the T4 component of the NDT into T3 will be compromised and the more you are reliant on just the T3 component of the NDT the more NDT you will need.
I read of some people taking 5 + grains of NDT which equates to about 50 T3 which I read is what the average person uses in a day just to function, and personally think if this is the case, maybe T3 only is a better, cheaper option.
If with any other health issues and medications these too may have a bearing in your ability to convert NDT as well as you might.
Oh wow 50 T3- that’s a lot!
I know it’s not one size fits all, but I’m curious what ranges people tend to be on. I’m essentially self medicating so trying to tweak and understanding if 60 (1 grain) is considered a lot or a little would be informative. I wish the doctors could help but clearly they can’t!
Hey there
I too am self medicating :
Natural Desiccated Thyroid contains a measurable amount of T3 and T4 :
My grains are in a bottle which details on the label that each grain contains, amongst other things 9 mcg x T3 and 38 mcg x T4 :
I am taking 1 + 1/2 grains in one dose and am much improved :
You need to take what you need to reduce the symptoms of hypothyroidism:
One's ability to convert the T4 component into T3 can be compromised by low vitamins and minerals, and / or physiological stress ( emotional or physical ) inflammation, depression, aging or dieting, and possibly any other health issues you are dealing with and possibly other drug interactions.
I need to supplement ferritin, folate B12 and vitamin D on a daily basis to maintain my vitamins and minerals at optimal levels and i also take adrenal glandular.
I have Graves disease and following RAI thyroid ablation in 2005 i now manage lingering Graves, thyroid eye disease and hypothyroidism.
50 T3 is not a lot :
It is simply said to be about the amount used by an average person on an average day :
Good to know. My doctor has me nervous about moving up on AT bc my TSH is down
I was on 88mcg prior to trying NDT and anything under 120mg was too little however 120mg was slightly too much of an increase of T4 and T3 at the same time. It took 2 weeks after raising to 120mg for me to feel the hyper effects. I've since switch to a Levo/T3 combo but if I went back I'd probably try a combo of 105mg of NDT and 12.5mcg of Levo or extra T3 added. NDT isn't a perfect fit for everyone as some need more T4 or T3 added to it, which is okay. Everyone is different and there's a lot of factors at play that will determine what you need.
Hi, it’s so hard to get this correct especially bc I don’t seem to have a doctor who appreciates optimal levels, although I’ve tried to find one repeatedly. So I’m essentially self medicating w a little oversight from doctors.
I just upped to 120 AT and I feel fine. I split the dose, AM to PM. Last week I noticed some agitation and headaches but it seems to have passed. I would really really like to lose weight and hope I can finally find a dose that allows that. I’m on a highly restricted diet as it is, and supplementing like crazy, and the scale budged a few pounds which got me excited, but now it’s up and stuck again. I gained close to 30 lbs over the last few years and I’m just not going to feel good at this weight I realize, even though I am thankful I don’t feel as bad as I did before starting on AT.
I've been adjusting my medications as well. How long have you been on 120mg? Once you get to a significant amount of T3 from the NDT you should start losing. I took NP Thyroid and found the T3 to be very effective in that brand and they don't use many fillers. Some people need even more than 120mg but when you do lose weight you may have to reduce a little. I was on 88mcg of generic Levothyroxine for 10 years and my T3 was 39% in the reference range for the past three years and only 60% the previous 7 years. I have a functional medicine nurse practitioner that runs her own practice. She has hypo and takes Tirosint and Cytomel. My generic disappeared, which left me trying different brands. Had to switch a few. I've settled on 88mcg of Levoxyl and 12.5mcg of generic T3 by Sigmapharma. I had to call each pharmacy to find out which generic T3 they carried and the ingredients. The T3 helps with the stomach bloating when you get enough of it but I've noticed it has a lot to do with the ratio of T4 to T3. Less T4 more T3 results in a flatter stomach and leaner muscle, is my experience. I never restrict calories because it pushed my TSH higher. The only restrictions currently are gluten, limited cows milk, and white/brown sugar. I only bake with , cocoa, honey or maple syrup if I want sweets.
Wow, how did you figure out all this? I am struggling to make sense of it all.
I’ve been on 120 for only about two weeks now. I was on 60 for months and saw an improvement from baseline (like slogging through cement) but still had lingering hypo symptoms. No doctor really told me to adjust up bc my labs look in range (and my TSH is now depressed, which a few doctors have remarked as problematic and I’ve ignored). On 120, I do feel pretty good- more energetic than before- other than a few days w some agitation. But I’d really like to see that scale move!
I've done so much reading since last December and I have about 30 bottles of different thyroid medications in different strengths that I've fiddled around with. On 120mg my TSH was 0.05 but that's normal when you add T3. On 90mg my TSH was 0.94 and I was well underdosed. Usually on NDT you should only make adjustments of 15mg every few weeks. So from 60mg to 75mg, then 90mg, 105mg, 120mg. I split my 30mg pills in half with a good pill splitter.
It really is trial and error! I’ve been working w a functional medicine doctor and I’ve got loads of vitamins and supplements that she has me taking too. It’s all a bit exhausting!!
Silly question maybe but is NDT the same as AT?
I went up pretty fast from 60 AT to 120 AT and it’s been mostly ok. I feel pretty good today other than my ongoing sore throat which I’ve had for months now, and my weight. But my energy is good, and for that I’m thankful. Before AT, I could barely make it through a day.
That's how the first clinic I went to instructed me to take it. The nurse said to start with 60mg the first week and then jump to 120mg the second week but it put me over the range on both T4 and T3 because I took Levothyroxine, which is a T4 only medication, for ten years and T4 can stick around for a month or more until it's completely depleted out of your system. NDT is short for natural desiccated thyroid and DTE is short for desiccated thyroid extract-same thing. Armour thyroid is NDT. NP Thyroid is the NDT I tried. You're lucky because I lived a better life before thyroid medication even with half a thyoird! but that's because I didn't know all this stuff back then.
It could be a problem with Armour itself. Just over two years ago (when Armour was owned by Forest) I was on 2 grains of Armour and felt better than I had in years and lost my excess weight too. My health board refused to prescribe it any more so it left me trying to manage my illness myself (Levo doesn't work). I have bought Armour myself privately recently and it has changed. It just doesn't seem to be working (even taking 3 grains) . I feel completely unmedicated, not like before when I felt great on it.
How are you doing on increased Armour? You said you had increased but tjat was a while ago and Im interested as I'm tkg 1grain and thinking of increasing as winter "low"
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