NDT or levothyroxine?

[Lislaw]

I’ve just read about NDT for the first time and now I am curious. I take 75mg of Levo but have food intolerances I never had before…sleep is often not great and I get headaches at night (probably tiredness headaches) do people tend to tolerate NDT more than levo? I’m not thrilled by the thought of it being made with pig glands it has to be said.

[SlowDragon Administrator]

When were thyroid levels last tested

75mcg levothyroxine is only one step up from starter dose

ALWAYS test thyroid levels as early as possible in morning before eating or drinking anything other than water and last dose levothyroxine 24 hours before test

Approx how much do you weigh in kilo

Guidelines on dose levothyroxine by weight is approx 1.6mcg levothyroxine per kilo of your weight per day

Unless very petite likely to need to be on at least 100mcg levothyroxine per day

Essential to regularly retest vitamin D, folate, ferritin and B12

What vitamin supplements are you currently taking

[SeasideSusie Remembering]

Lislaw

NDT doesn't suit everyone and possibly don't consider it unless you know you have a conversion problem and need T3 as well as T4.

I think the first thing to do is post your latest test results for TSH, FT4, FT3, thyroid antibodies and key nutrients. If all these are OK then consider the brand of Levo you are taking as some people have adverse reactions to fillers. It might be worth trying a different brand, particularly if you get Teva brand as this is a problem for many members.

[shaws Administrator]

NDT was the very original replacement for those people who developed hypothyroidism.

It doesn't suit everyone but many do recover their health The problem - if you are in the UK - it is no longer prescribed and that decision upset many who felt well upon it.

It saved lives from 1892 and still does today if it suits their bodies.

I trialled it myself but it didn't suit me as I need T3 (liothyronine) alone to feel healthy and well. Again -

[serenfach]

NDT put me on the path to better health. And pigs are lovely - we can use all sorts of bits of them to help us. My father had a pig valve in his heart for years.

But it is your choice. I was on Levo and never well, no matter the dose. Then on Levo and Lio and felt much better but not right. Many say I am still not right, and never have been, but I can work now and the cows dont mind me leaning on them for a bit.

[ThyroidSuser]

I went onto NDT - Initially ThyroidS which became impossible to source from Thailand when Covid hit & now Metavive1 (produced here in the UK - YAY!) from levothroxine as I just could not tolerate levo at all. Both myself & hubby thought I was dying as I had EVERY bad reaction to levo that it was possible to have. I've felt SO much better on NDT's & it suited many thousands of people before that dreadful synthetic levothyroxine came on the scene. A synthetic drug that has NEVER been tested fully, or hadn't up to 5 years ago, by the way!

[Lislaw in reply to ThyroidSuser]

Thank you for your reply. May I ask what reactions you had to Levo? I’m still trying to work out if how I am now is related to levo or something else.

[ThyroidSuser]

OMG It's been so long ago now & it's more like what reactions I didn't have & I can't think of any I didn't have, it was THAT bad. I am SO much better taking NDT than I ever was taking that damned levothyroxine.

Off the top of my head the worst reactions I had & believe me I had MANY more were :-

Just falling down for no reason at least 10 times a day ie. standing up walking around talking to hubby 1 second the next millisecond face planted on floor & unable to get up.

Losing complete control of my bladder for no reason.

Getting completely breathless, again for no reason, even sitting down doing nothing.

Aches & pains throughout my body, again for no reason.

It was SO bad that we both thought I was dying FAST.

I had taken myself off all my drugs in turn for 2-4 weeks or so because of those or other reactions I'd had. I left levo until last as I'd been on it for years before with hardly no side effects but also as I found later no benefits. I also knew I had to take it slowly going off it. As soon as I'd dropped down to 1/2 my 150 I started feeling a little better, dropping it off totally then all my problems disappeared over the course of 2-3wks.

It really would be easier if you said what problems you had as I had just about every problem that I later read up you can have with levo. I'd just not attributed them to levo.

I asked doc for NDT - no could do, so he sent me to a consultant, The consultant was a complete waste of time, treating me & every woman he spoke to as if they had the brains of an amoeba (the groans of all the women there when it was announced he was the consultant there that day should have been enough to warn me) Luckily I had hubby with me as he wouldn't take ANY answer I gave him as the truth unless hubby also told him the exact same thing, only after hubby reiterated the exact same thing would he take it down. I went to see him 3 times (twice with hubby). The 3rd time hubby was in hospital so when it was announced he was there I went up to desk to see if there was anyone else there I could see as no way was I going in to see him on my own. I saw someone else but she had to go check with him. He told her to put me back on Levo. I refused the prescription & walked out. My docs had an unbelievable letter from him, telling them i had refused his advice & recommending that they put my levo up to 250!!! Doc suggested I tried to get NDT myself & added they'd monitor me as I raised up the NDT to the level I needed. They knew I was an educated patient having worked for a major pharmaceutical as a senior analyst & then as a manager in a few different occupations. That damned consultant - I wrote to the hospital complained about him refusing to believe anything I said unless hubby repeated it. Nothing was done!