NDT medication and blood results

[Chelleyws]

Hi all, fairly new to being under active and on 1.5 grain in morning and 1.5 again mid afternoon (to space it) of armour.

Have felt loads better on armour than T3 and T4 didn't work for me at all - just got fatter and more tired.

blood results this week were:

T4 - 14.1

TSH 0.03

I had taken my armour an hour before (I totally forgot I was being tested)

Thats good though right? TSH is low but as I said I had not long taken my armour.

thanks for any advice

[pennyannie]

Hello Chelleyws :

The TSH is the least important number and once on any form of thyroid hormone replacement the TSH means very little seen is isolation.

Armour is a brand of NDT and they all generally peak in the blood around 8-10 hours after ingesting.

On NDT you should be tracking your T3 readings :

You T4 may be lower than when on T4 monotherapy :

NDT was used successfully for over 100 year and long before the " science " of the blood tests, guidelines and ranges which were all introduced by Big Pharma, on the back on NDT around 70 odd years ago for their T3 and T4 medications for hypothyroidism.

Are you tracking on your blood pressure, pulse or temperature ?

[Chelleyws in reply to pennyannie]

hi there, they didn't test my T3 but ill get it done privately this week. I love NDT - its treating me well I dont track blood pressure etc - im menopausal so my temp goes up and down all day lol

[SeasideSusie Remembering]

Chelleyws

It's impossible to interpret your results without the reference ranges that come with them, these vary from lab to lab so we always need to see the ranges that come with your results.

they didn't test my T3 but ill get it done privately this week.

Are you getting FT3 tested on it's own or TSH, FT4 and FT3? Best to get all done at the same time so you can see how your FT4 is within it's range as well as FT3.

Don't forget to take last dose of NDT 8-12 hours before the blood draw.

[shaws Administrator]

Before levothyroxine was invented, we were all prescribed NDTs (Armour etc) and many hypo patients recovered their health. Doctors diagnosed us by clinical symptoms alone.

NDTs were the very first replacement hormone to be prescribed from 1892 and from then on many lives were saved.

Unfortunately, if you're in the UK they withdrew this (due to cost I believe) and many hypo patients were distraught as their symptoms returned.

[helvella Administrator Thyroid UK in reply to shaws]

However, there were problems even then!

For example, the United States Pharmacopoeia did not have desiccated thyroid until 1914.

And there was no British Pharmacopoeia specification until 1932.

Even then, the specifications were very different. USP stated protein-bound iodine. BP specified iodine in thyroxine.

The amount of thyroid hormone in USP product could be up to twice the dose per grain as BP - but might not be.

[shaws Administrator in reply to helvella]

Thanks you helvella - I appreciate your response.