Hi all, After a disastrous health meltdown on levothyroxine I've been very happy on Armour NDT for several years - except now I can't afford it. Can anyone explain how to get comparable NDT medication within the EU? How good are they and what kind of cost? Do I need a prescription and if so how do I get one? I'm thinking of Germany or Denmark but are the Netherlands and Belgium also possible? How about Greece where I have family? I would even travel there to buy NDT, that would be much cheaper than buying Armour these days! It's so depressing always facing the huge barriers to access for a simple medication that keeps me well. Thank you for any help you can offer.
NDT from Germany or Denmark: Hi all, After a... - Thyroid UK
NDT from Germany or Denmark
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There are some fragments of information about desiccated thyroid within Germany and Denmark in my rest of the world document.
Never heard of anyone getting desiccated thyroid in Greece - but my inability to read Greek might be part of that!
You would need to contact the companies to find out about their prescription requirements.
helvella's medicines documents (UK and Rest of the World) can be found here:
helvella - Thyroid Hormone Medicines
helvella has created, and tries to maintain, documents containing details of all thyroid hormone medicines in the UK and, in less detail, many others around the world.
This link takes you to a page which has direct links to the documents from Dropbox and Google Drive, and QR codes to make it easy to access from phones.
helvella.blogspot.com/p/hel...
helvella 'Never heard of anyone getting desiccated thyroid in Greece '
There is a website offering to sell you Armour and the Thai NDT brand Thyroid-s without prescription, run by an unscrupulous supplier we think is based in Greece. Beware! If you order from them, you may or may not receive what you paid for.
HattieLouise22 If anyone messages you with sources for any desiccated thyroid products, you are advised to first check with an admin to see if we have any feedback on the supplier.
Ah! Yes - was (possibly understandably) forgetting them. My mind was focussed on actually going to Greece to buy some.
How much are you taking and how were you buying it before. If you are getting a Private Prescription in the UK the cheapest Armour is from Canada, this may help. I am just starting on Armour I had been on Thyroid s for seven years but it's been reformulated and now doesn't work. I had some Armour which I ordered during lockdown. I used to take 2.25 grains of THyroid s which was perfect for me. I am on 1.5 grains of Armour so far it's so expensive so I am trailing adding some Levo as a top up at night. There is a Belgium Doctor in Brussels who prescribes NDT but it would be expensive, I think.
Thanks for your reply Brightness. I was taking 2 grains of Armour and doing fine. But the cost of it was becoming impossible - private blood tests, doctor 'consultation' and an additional cost to write the actual prescription and the Armour alone was over £400! So I tried to cut down on the Armour by taking half the dose and adding in T3 which I bought very cheaply over the counter in Greece. Problem is I'm struggling to get back in balance and I really would like to go back to NDT only. I've found a company called Bioiberica in Spain who are making NDT on a commercial basis but the unanswered question is, who are they selling it to? That's what I'm trying to find out.
A reply I made in December on a thread that is over a year old:
In case anyone is interested, I found this reply by Bioiberica to someone who contacted them:
Unfortunately we only sell our NDT to companies located in Germany, Netherlands and Denmark.
We would like to be of help but we are not aware of any pharmacy in Portugal or Spain who is currently selling our NDT compound.
healthunlocked.com/thyroidu....
That information is also available in my Vade Mecum.
helvella's Vade Mecum document is available here:
helvella - Vade Mecum for Thyroid
The term vade mecum means:
1. A referential book such as a handbook or manual.
2. A useful object, constantly carried on one’s person.
So Brightness, even the retry on the next batch of Thyroid S did not work for you. Was that how you felt on & labs with that batch as well? Simply curious. Or nosy. 😊
I had been very well on Thyroid s for over seven years 2.25 per day in two doses. My Lab results were always perfect too. FT3 6 plus.
I started on the new batch of 1000 back in Sept 2022. Within 40 days I was falling over and felt very unwell. I had a blood test which read FT3 2.76 so not good. I had noticed that the new ones were shiny, greenish and smelt different too. Anyway I had some of the old 2021 ones left so I started on them for 10 days they then ran out. By the eight day I was fine and back to my usual wallking. I then ordered two more lots of 500 from two different suppliers both 2022 lots. These never worked either. Since then I have been trying to get well again, nearly seven months now. I have just started on Armour and have found a source in Canada which is very low cost. I just need to get a UK private prescription. Longish story.
There is no NDT in Greece - but there is / was a bogus website that gave the impression they sold various brands of Thai and Stateside NDT / T3 and T4 and operating out of Greece rather than a telephone box at the end of the road and some forum members have come a cropper - hence Red Apples reply further up. !!
I find it disturbing a natural product is illegal in France
Ditto -
I find it disturbing that if you afford to go private you can have the choice of all 3 treatment options for hypothyroidism that are said to be available on the NHS.
I think it also depends on the skill set within the endo department - I remember when hyperthyroid and having to have regular hospital o/p visits - every 6 weeks for around an 18 month period and I only saw the same endo twice.
When I questioned ' the same one ' he said well of course, as this is just part of our rotation throughout the hospital so we get an idea where we would like to settle and then specialise.
Years later, when I saw a ' named ' endocrinologist at the same hospital she was in fact a diabetes specialists and though I say so myself, by that time, I knew more than her about Graves Disease and post RAI thyroid ablation.
It is currently a NHS post code lottery and driven more by financial constraints than medical need and with hospital trusts ( mis )- interpreting the NICE guidelines and drilling down anywhere they can to balance their books
I had a quote from the Canadian Armour source now I am trying to email them regarding the price. I think it's in Canadian dollars and not US I will find out. I will also look into the NDT in Germany too. I live in France but remember a little German from School. If it's in Canadian dollars the price would be so much cheaper too.
Brightness, can you PM me information about your source as well, thank you.
So far this morning I have emailed the Canadian source just waiting for a reply. If it's Canadian Dollars the price for 2 x 60 daily of Armour for 10 months would be around £325. Plus of course the dreaded UK private prescription. Next the German NDT watch this space!