Interested to hear how others do their NDT dosing where insomnia is a big issue.
I’m about to have a NDT increase (currently 4 months into treatment, at 3/4 grain)
Insomnia is chronic. Horrible. Even on 20mg amitripyline, it’s still an issue.
I recently tried one dose NDT at 6am because I thought split dosing (6am/2pm) was affecting sleep. But I’m wondering how others dose to help sleep…
I know someone who says the NDT wakes her up. I take the whole 1 grain / 1-1/2 grains (alternating days) at 5:30 am, and then go back to sleep for another hour or two. As far as horrible insomnia, I had a sleep study, various prescription sleep agents, such as the one you take, for a terrible chronic inability to maintain sleep. Through no help from clinicians, I determined that I needed more vitamin D and K2, since it is widely known (in clinical literature) to be a factor needed to maintain sleep. I stopped the pharmaceutical sleep agents 18 months ago.
An integrative medicine specialists said he has a patient who needs 15,000 IU of D in order to sleep properly. He told me to take as much as necessary and just get tested periodically so somebody has awareness of what else might be going on. I take 5,000 IU every morning with breakfast (and a slug of K2). If I take it later in the day, it wrecks my ability to maintain (resume) sleep through the night.
After menopause, I began to have difficulty maintaining sleep. A brain injury ten years later just made it much worse. I managed to convince my GP to prescribe a small dose of estradiol via patch, and 100 mg Progesterone. The progesterone is known to induce sleep, so I take it before bed. It does seem to help a lot.
There are a lot of factors of which clinicians seem quite unaware. An osteopath once observed of her colleagues in the medical field, "If all you have is a hammer, everything is going to look like a nail." In other words, if all you know is prescribing pharmaceuticals, as a shot in the dark, keep prescribing them and blame the patient if it doesn't work.
Good luck in your journey. Sleep is the brain's self-cleaning cycle. Inability to get enough sleep really degrades one's experience. I feel for you.
I supplement with my Vit D in the evening and I wonder if this is causing sleep disturbance! Thank you 🙏🏻 will try earlier in the day. I was trying to take it as far away from my thyroid meds as possible.
The first integrative medicine guy said, "Vitamin D will keep you awake." Then I researched it and learned it is also required for sleep maintenance. It does both!!
Good luck!
Thanks for this info. I’ve been taking BetterMe D3000+K2 daily and it’s still low (posted latest results below). I’ll increase it in the morning.
I’m peri-m and on 50mg HRT patches (starter dose!). I’m going to ask for a review because I’m getting hot flushes.
Thank you.
Hi. I take 1 grain when I wake up and 1/4 grain around 2pm. If I forget and take it later in the afternoon I suffer with insomnia. I take D3/K2 in the morning.
What are your thyroid and vitamin results
That’s a low dose NDT
T3 is slowly increasing. Aiming for high in range.
Will be working on vitD, I take the BetterMe 3000iu spray daily.
New prescription is 1 grain, retest with vits end Feb. Two doses in and I’m feeling better (internal agitation/trembling gone), slept a bit better last night. I needed that increase.
I have iron panel done quarterly by nhs haemotology. Much better since heavy periods were treated.
Hi Insomnia
3/4 grain is not even a starter dose. Most people start on 60mg and then optimise up to 120 or even 180 plus. Don't worry about blood tests, TSH, Levo to NDT conversion tables blabla. Focus on how you are feeling. Do you feel like you once did before hypothyroid issues. Energy levels, body temperature, hair growth/loss, nails, skin radiance, happiness, breathless walking stairs, eye function and dryness, feel abnormally cold or hot. With NDT you just keep taking more slowly over 6-12 months (optimising) until you have a side effect and then back down a little and that's the right spot. You need more in winter less in summer, more if you do 60 min aerobic exercise per day (every body should be) less if you are sitting in front of the TV/computer all day.
I'm a 58 Y old male. I take 60mg with breakfast (yes you can eat if you get enough NDT) and then 60mg before dinner. If I'm feeling over cooked I drop the dinner 60, but then most times if I do that I end up waking up with sore back and tossing an turning at 2am. So I then take the 60 I missed and get back to sleep within an hour - but then I often sleep in. I do 40-60min Jogging or swimming 5 days a week and 20-30min weight training each night on the back veranda . The weights make a massive difference to how I sleep too.
J
Thanks for sharing. Wow, I look forward to having that kind of energy again!
I was untreated before, couldn’t get Levo on nhs, so NDT started slowly and it increases 1/4 grain at a time. New prescription is 1 grain daily. Two doses in and I’m feeling less agitated and anxious, slept better last night.
I find with every new dose I get improvements, then it tails off I feel rough again and I’m ready for the next increase. In 2024 I will be optimised!
I figured out when I had too much NDT. Two grains cranked up my mitochondria too far. I was exhausted by noon every day. The right amount is when I don't collapse in a heap at dinner time.
It's nice to sleep at night.
NDT multiple, tiny doses
New User of NDT dosing and timing issues
NDT Users - Split Dosing
NDT dosing confusion, how to make it work? 
NDT Efra dosing and timing advice 
