I am going to start T3 for the first time. Previously I was using NDT but I'm switching to T3/T4 therapy. I see that Tiromel is much cheaper per tablet than Unipharma. (I picked these brands because I can get them without a prescription.)
What I'm wondering is if there's any difference between them? I am likely to be cutting the 25mcg tabs into quarters so is that easy to do for both of these? Any other quirks I should be aware of when choosing between the two? I'd prefer 5mcg tabs but I don't see them coming without a prescription with anything like a comparable price.
Many thanks,
June
Written by
June25
To view profiles and participate in discussions please or .
Hi ,When I first started taking T3 I took Unipharma (Cytomel) then when it was easier to get hold of Tiromel I changed to that , I can honestly say I didn't notice any difference , I too cut my tablets in to pieces with a pill cutter . Good luck.
Hi June, can you private message me where you are getting the Tiromel. I had a friend of my husband's going to Turkey a while ago, but he came back and said his Pharmacy friend told him that they could not be got, that the company had stopped making them. Honestly, I didnt believe him as he tends to be quite odd when it comes to paying for anything, in case he doesnt get the money back, eg, he paid for something for my husband on credit card and turned up next morning at 9am with his bank details to get it back. so I think he just didnt want to spend the money and wait to get it back on his return. so I am without the Tiromel now and would like to find a new source for it. I know it it Private message as not allowed to post this information on open forum. thanks
Hi shaws, many thanks for the document. I wish I would have had it a few years ago and could have sent it to my cousin who was on T4 therapy. She was obese and had fibromyalgia and a host of other health problems. I tried for years to get her to test her T3 but she stuck to her doc's bad advice, just as described in the paper. She died in her sleep last year, age 57. I miss her a lot. So I know first hand about the tragic consequences mentioned.
It is distressing to think that you may have been able to help her but don't let it be a burden on yourself - you tried your best and it is the medical professionals that are to blame for hypo or some other patients' early demise.. The only problem is re thyroid hormones is they've to follow the advice from those at the TOP who make thei guidelines
It is surprisingly few medical professionals seem unaware of how best to treat patients. It's like me telling someone to put a chicken in the oven at 1000degrees without telling them an approx the time it should be in the oven so that when they go back 4 hours later it is burned to a crisp.
I think there is many more people dying through GPs advice than we would have thought.
My mother had Pernicious Anaemia - had injections for years then the GP said her 'bloods were fine' and that she no longer needed injections. Both my sister and I thought that was 'good news'.
Due to that doctor's decision my mother developed stomach cancer and we had to plead for optimum pain relief towards her end of life. A truly awful experience.
I'm so sorry to hear about your mother. One of the most difficult deaths to come to terms with is the one that could have been prevented. I know this because I lost another loved one in 2018 for no other reason than medical negligence. I have gone through all the channels available in the UK to bring the doctors in question to justice but without success. The system is rigged in favour of protecting doctors.
There are without question many more people dying because of incompetent doctors than we know about, and I include hospital doctors. Doctors know that they can get away with it, especially if the patient is an older person. They can write it off as an age related death. They are untouchable, even more so since covid. I'm over 70 now and I view admission to an NHS hospital for me as a virtual death sentence. I'll die in my bed before they'll get me there. What a terrible indictment of the state of medicine in the UK today!
You are very correct in stating "a terrible indictment " as that is what it is, otherwise people wouldn't be searching the internet for help/support/advice.
Many people may not have internet - especially retired people - so have to trust their doctors but I don't anymore.
If you click on my name you can read my journey to, finally, be diagnosed.
I have read your profile before and I've read it again today. Despite the horror of your journey, your eventual arrival at wellness without having to go to massive doses of T3 has given me the most hope yet that I can do it too. I'm grateful for that. It also gives me confidence that my decision not to involve doctors in my recovery is not only the right one but has saved me from the massive stress of dealing with them.
And once again my heart goes out to you that your mother had to depend on NHS palliative care which failed her. I can imagine nothing worse for both of you. My mother died of dementia but along the way it was a full time job to protect her from the tender mercies of her 'carers'. Thankfully her partner and I kept her at home where their opportunities to inflict suffering were limited by our watchful presence.
It bothers me a lot to think about all the vulnerable people who don't have protection from the very people who should be protecting them, and the people who don't have the wherewithall to self-treat but trudge off to the doc every year for their levo script and never feel well again.
I think compassion is a word that isn't understood by many people as they, themselves, have never had a reason (yet)to depend upon kindness or sympathy for any autoimmune disease or don't understand what autoimmune means. Neither did I or I suspect many others on our forum.
Thank goodness I found Thyroiduk shortly after I was diagnosed and that's when I found Dr P and Dr S. Both wonderful doctors.
We would imagine all GPs knew - at least at the very basic - about dysfunctional thyroid glands and (at present have a wonderful doctor who's restored my T3) )
It's a pity tother doctors seem to only take notice of the TSH alone.
To awake every day feeling very symptomatic, it's no wonder people get depressed especially when they're given a prescription which they hope will resolve their symptoms.
I'm fortunate I have a new doctor at the surgery who is considerate and who reinstated T3.
What worries me is that when I tell people about the failures of care that I have experienced they don't believe me because they haven't been through it themselves or had to care for a loved one. Well they might believe that I've had some incidents which were exceptions, but they don't believe that the whole system is as rotten as it really is, or how much suffering and death is happening because of that.
I see it as a giant cover up that is being perpetrated under our noses and so far the powers-that-be have gotten away with it, no matter the clamour of voices such that come out of places like ThyroidUK.
I'm so glad for you that you have managed to win through to a good place, also for others like me who can take inspiration from that.
Once one of the doctors in the surgery phoned to tell me that my TSH was too low, T3 too high and T4 too low.
I said "that's how I expect it to be as you know I take T3 only. Therefore my T4 will be low - I take none. T3 will appear higher as I take T3 and TSH will be low due to taking T3. GPs response (and he is in his late 50's) .
GP ) "but T3 converts to T4". No doctor that's untrue!!!!!
And there you go. You might be dead already if you had depended on that doctor. Maybe dead ten times already if you had not taken matters into your own hands. That's how easily it happens and nobody is counting the bodies.
The ability to reply to this post has been turned off.
Content on HealthUnlocked does not replace the relationship between you and doctors or other healthcare professionals nor the advice you receive from them.
Never delay seeking advice or dialling emergency services because of something that you have read on HealthUnlocked.