advice on meds

[Denny39]

I stopped 25/mcg 50mcg levo combination altogether as per the doctors advice and started NDT armour 15mcg on a morning and 15mcg on a lunch time. I have been on it 7 days and yesterday I only took the morning dose and today none as I have been sweating Terribly, have loose stools, sickness, agitation, anxiety & feel like death. I am worried I am now in a thyroid storm and I am out of the country so my GP can’t advise. I am waiting for my consultant to ring me as I am not sure if I should be going back to my levo today but I am defo feeling unwell and hoping this passes in a day or two. I read it can take 4 days to get t3 out of your system and it’s been 1 day for me. What do you think? Thanks

[greygoose]

T3 has a half life of about 24 hours, which means that if you took it at 8 am this morning, by 8 am tomorrow there will be half left, minus what got into the cells. What gets into the cells stays there for about 3 days.

But, you're only taking 4.5 mcg T3, which is a tiny dose, and hardly likely to cause over-medication. Especially as you were taking 25 mcg previously. And really unlikely to cause a thyroid storm, which would mean a very, very high FT3.

Do you have Hashi's? If so, what you are experiencing could be a Hashi's 'hyper' swing. Or, you could have caught some sort of bug, and it's nothing to do with the NDT at all. Either way, be very careful what you say to your consultant, because if you lose your prescription, you're unlikely to get it back.

[Denny39 in reply to greygoose]

Yes I have hashi’s. Can you let me know what a hashi’s hyper swing is? I was taking 30mcg NDT - 15mcg in a morning and 15mcg at lunch. Yesterday I only took 15mcg in the morning and today I have took nothing.

[greygoose in reply to Denny39]

No, I don't think you were taking 15 mcg NDT. That would be a miniscule dose. You're more likely to be taking 15 mg x 2, which contains 19 mcg T4 and 4.5 mcg T3 - which is a tiny dose.

OK, so if you have Hashi's, your immune system attacks your thyroid from time to time, with the intent of destroying it. During an attack, the dying cells deposit their stock of hormone into the blood, causing levels of FT4 and FT3 to rise sharply, which causes hyper-type symptoms. But, this state is only temporary. Eventually, the excess hormone will be used up or excreted and you will be come hypo again. That's Hashi's: swinging between hypo and false hyper, and back again.

If you are having a 'hyper' swing, you did the right thing in stopping your thyroid hormone for a while, until you feel hypo again. But, it's always best to do this on your own, because doctors have absolutely no knowledge of how Hashi's works, will assume you are over-medicated and reduce your dose. And when you want your dose back again, because you are once again hypo, you will have trouble getting them to increase it. At least, that's the usual scenario!

[Denny39 in reply to greygoose]

Yeah that’s correct 15mg x 2

[greygoose in reply to Denny39]

So, you see what a tiny dose it is, and how unlikely it is to cause you to be over-medicated? Under-medicated, more like it.

[Denny39 in reply to greygoose]

I am having really bad sickness, loose stools for the last 2 days. I feel anxious and really weird. I can only put this down to the T3 ?

[Lalatoot in reply to Denny39]

It also could be down to the fillers in the NDT. NDT doesn't agree with everyone and brands are different.You last results were low in range so I don't think you will be overmedicated or having a thyroid storm. More that NDT or that brand of NDT is not right for you.

[greygoose in reply to Denny39]

No. Why should you put it down to the T3? Sounds more like some sort of bug, to me. I've never heard of T3 doing that to anyone.

[Denny39 in reply to greygoose]

I spoke to the consultant who prescribed me it, he said it’s definitely from the NDT. He said I need to ride it out and should see improvement in 2-3 days. He said NDT can make some people very poorly.

[greygoose in reply to Denny39]

Yes, it can make some people very poorly, but not those specific symptoms. So did he tell you to carry on taking it? If you do, and the symptoms go away, I would think that's proof that it's not the NDT.

[Denny39 in reply to greygoose]

He told me to stop immediately and start taking levo 25mcg today but he said tomorrow and the following day to either not take any drugs or to have the levo dose. Do you know what the symptoms of a thyroid storm is?

[greygoose in reply to Denny39]

Well, he would, wouldn't he. I don't suppose he likes you being on NDT. None of them do. They only 'understand' levo.

You cannot possibly be having a thyroid storm. FT4/3 levels would have to be about ten times higher than normal. You are under-medicated. You just can't have a thyroid storm on 1/2 grain of NDT, it's not possible. Even if you were having a Hashi's 'hyper' swing, the levels wouldn't go high enough. Thyroid storms are caused by long-term un/under-treated hyperthyroidism: Grave's.

[Denny39 in reply to greygoose]

Feel like I’m dying 🥲

[greygoose in reply to Denny39]

Sounds like a virus. Although, as Lalatoot says, NDT doesn't suit everyone. It didnt suit me.

[SeasideSusie Remembering]

Denny39

Lots of advice in reply to this question when you posted yesterday

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

Personally I wouldn't have thought it was a good idea to change things just a few days before going on holiday.

Looking back to your original post it's obvious that you were undermedicated on Levo and the most sensible thing to have done would have been to take the advice given back then and increase Levo rather than go onto Armour, NDT doesn't work for everyone, it certainly didn't for me.