increase my natural thyroid dosage?

[Decaston]

My wife( female) is 70yrs old, she has had hypothyroidism for 15/20 yrs, but still battling to get thing’s right, because GP’s don’t have the time. She weighs in the 9 stone range, about 5’3”

Could not get on with just Levothyroxine, has been purchasing earfa thyroid privately for a number of years, the tablets come in 60mg tbs, has tried taking 1 tablet but that was too much and gave her palpitations, so at the moment trying to take just about 3/4 of a pill.

Just got the results of blood tests : TSH =2.40, T3 =4.7, T4=9.4

Sodium 133 mmol, red cell 3.78, sodium urea level 2.3 mmol, Haemoglobin 116g

Please advise as to what dosage she should take to improve the low sodium, anemia etc.

because of hypothyroidism she also has IBS, and we are having to learn about SIBO/SIFO, as doctors have cleared her for cancer of everything, but symptoms of SIBO still persist.

any comments and advice gratefully received. Regards Stephen

[pennyannie]

Hello Decaston and welcome to the forum :

Do you have the ranges for this results please and what is the reason for your wife's hypothyroidism ?

Efra is a brand of Natural Desiccated Thyroid and 100 years ago long before we knew the science of the blood test an ranges and guidelines - NDT was the only treatment for hypothyroidism and you simply dosed to the relief of symptoms.

Efra - NDT contains a measured dose of 8mcg T3 and 35 mcg T4 in each grain.

3/4 of a grain/tablet of Efra maybe sufficient - it's impossible to know without more information.

Was she ever well on T4 / Efra - - if so - what dose was she then on - and do you have the blood test /ranges relating to then ?

No thyroid hormone replacement works well until the core strength vitamins and minerals - those of ferritin, folate, B12 and vitamin D are up ad maintained at optimal levels.

We generally feel best with a TSH under 1 and likely down towards the bottom of the range.

What has the doctor recommended for SIBO ?

Food intolerance seem to be a common problem if your wife's hypothyroidism is caused by an Auto Immune Thyroid Disease - has your wife been checked out for celiac disease ?

We generally feel best removing gluten from our diet an d checking for other food intolerance - you might like to read around on thyroidpharmacist.com

Sorry - but I can't help further on the other issues even if we knew the ranges.