Doseage Armour Thttpid

[Karen-Eleanor]

Plotting my most recent bloods into this % converter I’m thinking an increase in doseage would be a good idea. I take AT 1 grain am and 3/4 pm. Could I increase to 1 grain pm on alternate days? The Endos kick off due to suppressed TSH.

[Lalatoot]

No you cannot do alternate days with t3. Your t3 dose needs to be the same each day.

[pennyannie]

Hello Karen-Eleanor :

When taking any form of thyroid hormone replacement - when optimally medicated your TSH will likely be low/suppressed and especially so if you take any medication including T3 and NDT contains a unique ratio of both T3 and T4 and the original treatment option for hypothyroidism and used successfully for over 100 years and long before we had the ' science ' of blood tests and the guidelines and ranges we now need to ' sit in ' :

On NDT your TSH will be low suppressed and your T4 likely lower than when on T4 monotherapy BUT your T3 should be proportionately higher than when on T4 monotherapy.

Are you monitoring on clinical symptoms of blood pressure, pulse and body temperature twice daily as you build your dose ?

Did you slowly build up your dose in 1/4 grains weekly/fortnightly and how long have you been this dose as NDT does take time to settle and bed into the body.

How long did you leave from last dose to blood draw on these fasting blood tests and have you experienced any relief of any symptoms ?

On NDT you track on the T3 and the TSH pretty much irrelevant and it reads as though this endo is out of their depth.

[Karen-Eleanor in reply to pennyannie]

Hi Pennyannie I left 12 hours between the last dose of NDT and blood draw which was done at 7:30 am. Dose was reduced from 1 am and 3/4 pm in to 1 am and 1/2 pm in June. I raised it again in July as felt awful. I’ve not really monitored blood pressure or temperature but do monitor pulse. I’m less tired 😴 than I was on previous dose plus the heart burn has almost gone. Post nasal drip is better but still needs nasal spray. Also still a bit constipated.

[pennyannie in reply to Karen-Eleanor]

Well your dose did not need reducing and guessing your endo is TSH driven so it's a total waste of your time and money taking instruction from him.

Do you have any readings for ferritin, folate, B12 and vitamin D as these still need to be maintained at optimal levels for any thyroid hormone replacement to work well.

I self medicate NDT and found tracking on blood pressure, pulse and body temperature whilst building my dose helped me understand my body better - I found my blood pressure and pulse remained stable but my temperature slowly rose from 35.4 to 36.6 which encouraged me whilst waiting the 8 weeks until a blood test.

Blood tests are just a snapshot in time and with NDT its more about dosing to the relief the symptoms -

but my T3 and T4 literally switched places from when on T4 monotherapy as now my T3 is around 90/110% through its range with my T4 coming in at around 25/30% through it's range - 10 hours post last dose with a fasting blood test.

I do take vitamin C to bowel tolerance as constipation not totally resolved - but it's a small price to pay as I value more having my brain and cognitive function restored as I thought I was dealing with dementia.

[Karen-Eleanor in reply to pennyannie]

Yes unfortunately the Endo was TSH obsessed and I don’t plan to see her again! I’ll sort out a vitamin D, iron, folate and B12 as suggested.

[pennyannie in reply to Karen-Eleanor]

I was looking back at your previous posts and so cross to read you had Armour on the NHS which was taken away from you when you moved surgeries - so wrong :

You have been on and around this same dose for several years haven't you but never settled with symptoms resolved for any length of time - ?

Were you diagnosed with Hashimoto's - which does throw a spanner in the works as your own thyroid hormone production tends to be erratic - which means adjusting your dose accordingly - and second guessing what's going on - and I have read some patients can't tolerate NDT as it tends to trigger their immune system response further - and they do better on a synthetic T3 / T4 combo ?

It's just a thought and I maybe totally wrong in my assumption re the Hashimoto's .

I 'm very settled on NDT - but then I don't have a thyroid as I'm with Graves and post RAI thyroid ablation in 2005.

[Karen-Eleanor in reply to pennyannie]

Thank you for taking so much time to help me. It’s odd as I started taking AT in 2004. My dose was stable T 1.5 am and 1 pm until 2019. That year I stopped work, moved house and swopped from Kliovance to Oestrogel/Utrogestan HRT. But at the same time I also experimented with Throid NDT. This didn’t work for me. Because I’d moved 80 miles north I changed GPs and the new one won’t even discuss NDT. The FMD I saw has now retired and the Endo I saw this year is TSH obsessed. The local NHS Endo might offer me a trial of T3. Especially now it’s been agreed I don’t have osteoporosis or cardiac arythmia.

[TSH110]

Don’t alternate doses, the t3 does not want to be upped and downed every day it needs to be the same every day, Better to just try one grain pm every day.

How do you feel? That matters most of all.

At first needed to spilt my NDT dose ( 3/4 grain am 1/2 pm) but over time (about a year) I was able to take it all in one dose. I now take it just before bed as the hormones are supposed to be better absorbed than in the morning. I had to up my dose over the years to 1.75 grains. I don't bother with any doctors I just look after myself - I can do a much better job of it!

[Karen-Eleanor in reply to TSH110]

That’s the problem I’m still tired and constipated with allergy symptoms. I can’t take AT at bedtime as it affects my sleep! I take my morning dose at about 5:00 am and am awake no more than 90 m later . I once took it at 3:00 am and was wide awake at 4:30!!

[Brightness14 in reply to Karen-Eleanor]

I always take my 1.25 grains at around 6,30 am. The other 1 at around 1.30pm, everyday.

[TSH110 in reply to Karen-Eleanor]

yes that can be a problem. I did find it bothersome the first time I tried taking it at night but I tried some time later and found it was ok and I didn’t lie awake all wired up like the first time.

I think your dose is not optimised, your free t 3 isn’t high enough, constipation is a sure sign I need to up my dose and you should not feel tired if your dose is correct. I now add a little t3 in with my NDT and it’s helped. Only 3mcg. Amazing how such a small amount can make all the difference

[Brightness14]

You could do with an increase yes, but not on alternate days. The dose must be the same everyday.