do I switch to natural glandular ?

[Sanshia]

I’ve been on levothyroxine for 15 years and I’ve never felt any benefits Whatsoever I’ve just recently been to see somebody who has given me Thyroid natural glandular by allergy research group is this going to be a suitable alternative for me? Does anybody know?

and do I dose just by how I feel?

[greygoose]

That's a question only you can answer. Some people do very well on glandulars, for others they do nothing at all. You have to try them to find out if they're right for you.

There are two possible reasons why levo has never done anything much for you:

1 you're not taking enough - doctors do love to keep their patients under-medicated!

2 you have difficulty converting T4 (levo) to T3, the active hormone. Doctors tend to know nothing about conversion.

But, we cannot tell which of these problems is yours without seeing full thyroid testing results and ranges. If your doctor only goes by TSH, then you're probably under-medicated.

[Sanshia in reply to greygoose]

Thank you for your reply in your opinion and for testing purposes do you think I should stop my levo and start with the glandular and just see how I feel?

[greygoose in reply to Sanshia]

The trouble with glandulars is that we never know a) if they contain any hormone or b) how much hormone they might contain or even if the level is constant from batch to batch. Totally unpredictable. Some people find them helpful even if they don't contain any hormone, but not everybody.

So, stopping the levo would be taking a huge leap into the unknown. Personally, I wouldn't take a glandular at all, but only you can decide if you want to or not, or if you want to risk stopping the levo.

But, are you sure it is a glandular and not NDT? What's the brand name?

[helvella Administrator Thyroid UK in reply to greygoose]

I think it is this product:

allergyresearchgroup.com/th...

Note: contains gum arabic (acacia)!

[greygoose in reply to helvella]

Oh! Is that the name of the product? I wondered why allergies were being mentioned. lol

Well, it doesn't say it does contain hormone (if it did it would no-longer be allowed to be sold without a prescription) but then again, it doesn't say it doesn't. So, it's a bit hit and miss, really. This person who 'gave it to you', is s/he a doctor? Do they take it themselves?

[Sanshia in reply to greygoose]

No, she’s an alternative health practitioner 🫣 I’ve always been really interested in taking armour as opposed to the Levo I’m not sure if the one I’ve been given is the same as Armour,

I honestly just don’t understand any of it and feel really uneducated and not in control of my health!

[greygoose in reply to Sanshia]

No, it's not the same as Armour. Armour is made from pig thyroid and has controlled levels of thyroid hormone in it, so that you know what you're taking and how to increase. A glandular is a bit like groping your way around in the dark. But, frankly, that doesn't surprise me from an 'alternative health practitioner'.

[radd]

Sanshia,

Allergy Research Group is a respected UK brand but this supplement is being sold as such and not as a replacement for your thyroid hormone meds. this is a 'glandular' made from whole desiccated thyroid gland (sometimes confusing known as food grade NDT) but the hormone content can vary from batch to batch and is un-measurable.

Brands such as Armour are prescription NDT and the thyroid hormones extracted from the gland, the ratios measured in a precise and controlled manner all overseen by the FDA and listed in the US formulary.

Many members appear to benefit from glandulars and we have some members claiming to medicate only glandulars such as Metavive which come in 40mg and 80mg as generally higher amounts are required, eg several tablets, sometimes multiple.

I personally didn’t get on supplementing glandulars as they made my head all 'swimmy', but if you wanted to try I personally would suggest adding to your Levothyroxine. If you have read ‘Your Thyroid And How To keep It Healthy’ by Dr Peatfield you will know he was a very strong advocate for this strategy which helped lots of his patients make their Levo work better.

There is a biochemistry reason for this which involves the combining of different thyroid hormones even when in tiny amounts, and if you try, start low and slow.