Accurate weighing scales recommendations

[J972]

Hello everyone,

I wonder if anyone could please recommend a set of scales suitable for weighing tablets which have needed to be cut, accurate to the nearest mcg? I’m hoping that there’s a reasonably priced set out there somewhere…..🤞🏼

Thank you!

[J675]

I've been using ORIA Digital Pocket Scale, 20g/0.001g Mini Scale from Amazon all year and they've been really good. They're easy to use, easy to calibrate and I haven't had any issues with them.

They only go down to mg, which is good enough for capsule splitting.

[J972 in reply to J675]

Thank you for your response, the tablets I need to split are mcg so I’d need a set of scales which were suitable for that 🙌🏼

[jimh111]

You don't really mean to the nearest mcg do you? You would need a sealed cabinet with research standard scales. Only a tiny fraction of a tablet will contain hormone and it may not be perfectly distributed. Even with liothyronine small variations will have little effect due to the pharmacodynamics (how the tablets are absorbed and the T3 slowly finds its way to receptors.You should be able to find scales accurate to 1 mg but nothing near mcgs.

[helvella Administrator Thyroid UK in reply to jimh111]

I bought a modest price milligram scale. I wouldn't actually trust it to be accurate to the milligram but it can reliably show one tablet as heavier than another by one milligram. (Reality being the difference could be from half to almost two milligrams.)

Have found thyroid hormone tablets I've weighed have been roughly in the range 50 to 100 milligrams.

To get to 100 micrograms (a typical levothyroxine dose) you'd need to divide the tablet into 50 parts. Then take one of those tiny parts and divide it into ten equal parts. Each of those would be 100 micrograms. Something like one single grain of sugar - and not the largest ones!

I really don't think most of us appreciate what tiny doses of thyroid hormone we take.

[jimh111 in reply to helvella]

I have a useful guide here ibshypo.com/index.php/refer... . Note how thyroid hormones are at the extreme left part of the diagram.Probably one of the best economic ways of getting a cheap scales is to buy a record stylus force guage such as this one harrowaudiohifi.co.uk/en/pr... .

[J972 in reply to jimh111]

Hang on…..this is me right now 🤯

So am I to understand that the “100 mcg” element of a Levothyroxine tablet is the active element (the hormone bit) and the *actual* tablet weighs more, due to fillers?

[helvella Administrator Thyroid UK in reply to helvella]

Image of ordinary granulated sugar.

To see 100 micrograms, you need to remove 90% of the sugar. Then remove 90% of what was left. A microgram is so small you might well be totally unable to see it.

Screenshot from my vade mecum

[J972 in reply to jimh111]

So if the hormone isn’t evenly distributed, is it ever a good idea to cut tablets? 🤔

[jimh111 in reply to J972]

All is now clear. Only a tiny bit of the pill is liothyronine, so you don't need to measure in mcg. Purely a guess but I imagine a 20 mcg liothyronine tablet would weigh about 120 mg or 120,000 mcg.I'm sure the liothyronine is fairly evenly distributed throughout the tablet as they have to guarantee fairly accurate dosing. I think it used to have to be within 90% to 115%. If they didn't make a fairly homogeneous mix they would have to carefully dispense 20mcg T3 into each tablet. I can't see that happening.

In the UK where liothyronine is still vastly overpriced the manufacturers have suggested that for smaller doses you dissolve the tablet into water and throw away the proportion you don't need. Thus wasting many overpriced tablets This will not be as accurate as splitting the tablets as liothyronine is barely soluble in cold water

I don't think you will benefit from weighing tablet pieces, it's a level of precision that isn't needed and may be difficult to achieve.

[J972 in reply to jimh111]

Thank you very much for that helpful response, I’ll stick to the pill cutter in that case 👍

[jimh111 in reply to J972]

I would. T3 has a 24 hour half life so after a day you will still have half of your T3 tablet left in your blood plus 1/4, 1/8 etc total 2.Imagine on one day you split your 20 mcg LT3 into 11 and 9 halves. It looks bad but on the first day you would be taking 11+10 =21. On the next day it would be 9+10.5=19.5. So, the fluctuations are quite small, much less than jumping from 11 to 9.

[J972]

Just a quick response for now, still at work.

You’re all so generous with your suggestions, thank you very much. I’ll have a proper look later 🙌🏼

[J972]

My conundrum is this: I need to start T3 and slowdragon suggested that I start low, 2.5mcg per day. The trouble is, the only T3 tablets I can currently get hold of are 25mcg. I’m concerned that I’m going to end up with dust of differing proportions if I use my cutter! Hence why I came up with the bright idea of weighing…..but I can see that isn’t such a bright idea after all!

[Regenallotment]

oh blimey I just cut and hope for my 100mcg Levo, my Lio capsule is unscientific ally and sleepily pulled apart roughly half sprinkled into the last few tablespoons of my drinking water from the Levo then the two ends of the capsule shoved back together and saved for the following day. My justification for this slap dash approach is that within 4 days all has evened out and I’ve taken the total 4 days worth. Seems to work for me, I’m pretty stable-ish now, give or take a bout of Covid, stressful job, peri menopause etc (life!) 🌱

[J972 in reply to Regenallotment]

I’m sure you’re right! I’m just trying to make sure I’m being as systematic as possible. Unchartered territories etc. Pretty sure that the ones I’m getting are tablets….