Changing over from NDT

[Joant24]

Good morning good people, I’m here again for advice.

yesterday I spoke to my Dr who agrees that Armour isn’t the best treatment for me and is moving me on to Aristo 50 mcg once a day and 5 of Thyborg Henning 3 times a day. I’m currently on 1 & 1/4 grains of Armour. This dose of Armour is lower than I need but all I could tolerate until my appointment. She is happy I go in all guns blazing and I shouldn’t have a problem. I almost felt my best around 1.5 grains so that’s what she’s basing it on to start.

Question is, do I blaze away or take it a little slower?

Also, I now have calcification on my Achilles tendons which is quite uncomfortable. I did have trouble with my ATs a few years after a long course of Ciprofloxin, a known side effect being inflamed ATs. So putting it down to that and age is a factor so I’ve been told, another “joy of getting older” ! Anyone have similar experiences?

Happy days 🥰

[Joant24]

Update: cannot have Thyborg Henning as they only do 20mcg tablets. They’ve given me ones from Sigmapharm I think , a USA company. It seems quite expensive to me but still cheaper than Armour. Is there a price list available to compare?

[GlowCoach Administrator in reply to Joant24]

Most people on Thybon Henning use a pill cutter to quarter it into 5mcg doses. This makes for a huge cost saving over buying 5mcg tablets. Thybon Henning costs 50-60p per tablet.

I did once find a cost comparison. All I can see at the moment are coded entries. Perhaps helvella can help us find the cost comparison that isnt in code.

helvella.blogspot.com/p/cur...

[Joant24 in reply to GlowCoach]

Thanks for reply. I asked the Pharmacy about cutting them and he says there’s no problem cutting them in half but not quarters they powder easily! If I need 20mcg in the future he said he’ll automatically change over to TH make. They don’t make anymore from a £200 prescription than a £17.50 one so will happily change when needed. It still worked out slightly cheaper than Armour, small mercies.

[GlowCoach Administrator in reply to Joant24]

I personally take Thybon Henning and can vouch that the tablets do not crumble or turn to powder. It's you who's paying for the medicine after all so your choice but you will be paying more than double getting T3 in 5mcg tablets.

[Anthea55 in reply to GlowCoach]

Agreed. I take Thybon Henning and they don't crumble. Line the pill up carefully on the pill cutter, then turn for the 2nd cut. There's usually a few crumbs which I take with the next dose.

[FancyPants54 in reply to Joant24]

I’m trying Armour at the moment but before that I was happily cutting Thybon Henning tablets into halves and quarters. I even did eighths, but needed to cut those with a scalpel. Pill cutter is fine for quarters.

[Joant24]

Grumpy pants here now as I’ve already organised it. I will certainly change over next prescription. I’m so keen to change over from Armour I went a little gung ho! Still a little cheaper than the NDT so small mercies.

[FancyPants54 in reply to Joant24]

Why didn’t you like Armour?

[Joant24 in reply to FancyPants54]

It was difficult to get the right dosage. I had a new batch and my levels went over range, I felt terrible. We think I need exact quantities and can’t cope with the variations in strength. I also have a rash on my neck that’s really itchy that started same time I started tablets. Also felt nauseous about an hour after taking each dose. I just got fed up with the ups and downs. Lots of people do really well on Armour and I was sad I wasn’t one of them. Fingers crossed these new ones will be fine.

Good luck with yours, I’m sure you’ll be fine. 🥰

[FancyPants54 in reply to Joant24]

That's so unfortunate. What a shame it was like that for you. I switched from Levo + Thybon Henning in December. But I've not got far. I was on 2 + 1/8th grain until today. But yesterday I had my blood results back and now at least I know I feel dreadful because my levels are too low. But raising them causes me issues. I bumped up to 2 + 1/4 grain today. I hope my body will like the extra. Can't say it did today, but that's early days.

I hope your new treatment works well for you. It's a lot cheaper, that's for sure.

[Joant24 in reply to FancyPants54]

Slow is so much better that’s for sure. I had problems with loose bowels whenever I raised the dose but it usually wore off after a while. I hope it works well for you, fingers crossed. My new pills are due today and I’m trying not to be too excited but am feeling really low at the moment as I had to cut back to 1.25 grams from 1.75 as it was all I could tolerate and I didn’t want to stop completely until my Drs appointment. Let’s hope you are one of the success stories 🥰

[HeartWoman in reply to Joant24]

I had the same issue on NP Thyroid. I never felt well on it. I was all over the place and my bloodwork was never stable. I am now trying to find my right dose of T3 and T4. I test 1 1/2 weeks. I still feel awful, so hopefully my bloodwotk will show why. I am on 75mcg T4 and 5 mcg T3. Hopefully my doctor will listen to me.

[Joant24 in reply to HeartWoman]

Sorry you are struggling but it’s reassuring that I’m not alone. Dr has put me on 50mcg thyroxine daily and 5 mcg T3 3 times a day. I’m a little worried that it’s a lot of T3 when I’ve cut right back on the NDT. I think my levels are much lower now as it was all I could cope with whilst waiting for my appointment. I was just like you, all over the place it was awful. Maybe you need more T3, hopefully your blood results will help you get the help you need cos most Drs only bother with them and not how we feel. Good luck 🥰

[helvella]

Not sure what you are expecting regarding Aristo. Currently, Aristo levothyroxine is only available in 100 microgram tablets in the UK.

If being supplied by some specialist pharmacy, they might be specially importing 50 microgram tablets.

In many countries, Aristo include instructions for splitting their tablets - but not in the UK. (Same tablets but different rules.)

Aristo levothyroxine is also supplied as Vencamil in the UK. Same product different packaging.

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.

The UK document contains up-to-date versions of the Summary Matrix for tablets, oral solutions and liothyronine available in the UK.

helvella.blogspot.com/p/hel...

[Joant24 in reply to helvella]

thanks for replying, not splitting Aristo, they are sending me 50mcg pills. It was an issue with Thyborg Henning being much cheaper if you split them into 4s than the American ones they are sending me. I will change it next time.

My main concern was around taking 50mcg Aristo and 5 mcg x 3 of T3 from being on 1.25 grains of Armour. My Dr said it would be fine to just swap but I wondered if I should take it a little slower, maybe 5mcg x2 a day + Aristo 50mcg to start?

[helvella in reply to Joant24]

I suspect you'll be charged handsomely for those Aristo tablets.

UK 100 microgram Aristo are £1.77 for 28. (Official price.)

I don't take T3 so am badly placed to try to advise!

[Joant24 in reply to helvella]

£17.50 so not complaining about those it’s cheaper than the others 😂

[helvella in reply to Joant24]

So a bit over nine times the price of the UK product! (Yes, I am using the price for the 100 microgram tablets.)

Additional dosages of Aristo (including 50) are expected sometime this year but there have, apparently, been some delays in getting approved.

[Brightness14]

When my gallbladder was removed back in 2006 it was chock full of only calcium stones, after I queried it I was told to have my Vitamin D tested. It was so low that now years later I supplement with Vitamin D plus K2. This has helped me.

[Joant24 in reply to Brightness14]

interesting link to Vit D. I’ve got mild osteoporosis so take Vit D with K2 every day so I think that’s unlikely but thank you. Hope you are okay now.