Desiccated thyroid vs synthetic

Common Questions and Answers about Desiccated thyroid vs synthetic

armour-thyroid

1797743 tn?1389213685 ve been reading up on the dessicated vs synthetic and found that synthetic only treats one thyroid hormone, while dessicated treats 5. Are you familiar with this? I have an appt soon and will be discussing it with my doctor and if he's not willing to work on it with me then I will look into an Endo.
Avatar f tn NDT is natural dessicated thyroid. Desiccated means it's dried aka the moisture has been removed. Although the Armour pills are manmade, the actual hormones are pig (porcine) made. :-) The only manipulation is that the hormones are dried and mixed with whatever fillers/binders into specific dosages and made into pills.
Avatar f tn This does not seem to be your case but I do not know your labs. When on a natural desiccated thyroid medication the Free T3 and Free T4 MUST be looked at each time increases or decreases of meds occur. This product has a direct T3 natural hormone directly going into the system and the TSH is very unreliable on dectecting how well you are doing on the dosage you are taking. The product "Armour" has been changed since Feb 2009.
607546 tn?1222299144 I just wanted to mention that everyone is different so some people may do just as well on a mix of Synthroid and Cytomel as oppose to natural thyroid like Armour, Naturethroid, etc but others don't do well on the synthetic version. I've taken both forms and after a short while on the synthetic we realized I get an allergic reaction to the synthetic thyroid and cannot take it at all.
Avatar f tn t had them since I started taking thyroid 7 years ago. After 1 month, I gained 8 lbs without changing my diet. After 3 months, I was getting heart palpitations and my hair/nails/skin was dry/brittle. I complained to my endocrinolgist, who just shook his head, and said it was from something else. I saw my primary and complained. He switched me to Natur-Throid, and within 2 days, the palpitations stopped. The endo held his ground, stating it was "in my head".
Avatar n tn I'm a dork! I found this for starters: "Levothyroxine, also known as L-thyroxine, synthetic T4 or 3,5,3',5'-tetraiodo-L-thyronine, is a synthetic form of thyroxine (thyroid hormone). The natural hormone is chemically in the L-form, as is the pharmaceutical agent. Dextrothyroxine (D-thyroxine) briefly saw research as an anticholesterol agent but was pulled due to cardiac side-effects" Both are in the same chemical form, so is it an isomer?
Avatar f tn Dessicated thyroid is the thyroid that is made from pig thyroid. Armor was 1 brand (though it's out of favor at the moment due to reformulation quality issues), ERFA (from Canada), Nature Thyroid, and it can also be available from some compounding chemists. I take the erfa brand and I feel good. Way better than when I took thyroxine (t4 only med). Some people do better on this and some do fine on just T4 meds, another alternative is taking a T3 and a T4 med.
Avatar f tn I started on desiccated thyroid about six months ago. My doc has given me leeway to adjust the dose myself (within reason of course). Started with 1 grain Naturethroid and worked my way up to 3 grains when I finally noticed my symptoms were improved. But the relief only lasted about three weeks. I have been increasing my dose by a half grain every month or so and each time I have a "honeymoon period" then start feeling bad again after a few weeks. I'm up to 4.
Avatar m tn Hi, was wondering if anyone knew the equivalance of 162 Synthoid to NP thyroid ? Synthroid or elevated T3 is causing my nervous condition. Past few day's, upon waking I'm fine, I take synthroid approx 2 hours later, the nervous condition kicks in. I've taken Synthroid for past 9 months, no problems till approx 3 weeks ago. Trying to figure out what's causing jittery conditon. My whole body constantly shaking, after a few hours calms down, I get headache, then exhausted.
Avatar f tn It takes 4-6 weeks for the T4 component in desiccated to reach its potential in your blood. Taking thyroid meds is not like taking an antibiotic that makes you feel well in short order. Thyroid meds require time and patience. They have to build up in your blood. Also, if you've racked up an array of hypo symptoms, it can take your body time to heal, even once your FT3 and FT4 levels are good. T4 is a kind of "storage" form of the thyroid hormones.
Avatar m tn RLC labs is getting Naturethroid back on the pharmacy shelves this month in 1 grain tablets. Other grains will follow in the next few months. I haven't followed Forest Pharmacuticals Armour lately - because of their reformulazation of the med. Due to filler changes in the medication becoming more absorbable in the GI track, many hypothyroid patients found the additional cellulose added made their hypothyroidism symptoms return within days.
Avatar f tn I have been thinking about switching from levothyroxine to a desiccated thyroid. Have been on 75 levothyroxine for about a year, and still having symptoms even though my Free T4 is ok, wondering if Free T3 could use a boost. I have Hashi's, if that makes any difference. I have heard that lots of people feel better after switching, but also that lots have had problems with the new Armour.
Avatar f tn I hope your doctor will give you a choice if you go synthetic or NDT. (NDT is a natural desiccated thyroid) It is made from either pigs or cows thyroid and contains all the T's your body naturally makes. I know for me I did horrible on synthetic. I didn't start feeling better until I switched to Armour, which is an NDT. Since Armour has readily available T3 I pulled through the crashes faster.
Avatar f tn Do you feel like it is better to add a synthetic T3 than try to go to a natural dessicated thyroid medicine? Thanks a lot Barb!! I feel like I've just jumped into a whole new world that I didn't even know was out there. This forum has helped so much. Do you think the pounding headaches will eventually diminish with adding the T3? At the risk of being too much of a whiner, those headaches are changing my life - and not in a good way.
665125 tn?1273023924 There's a thread on page one called Synthroid vs. Natural Hormones you might want to look at.
Avatar f tn There are 2 ways to calculate the dosage of desiccated vs synthetic. Dessicated has 38 mcg T4 and 9 mcg T3 per grain, so if you'd raised your desiccated according that, ahmee's calculation would be correct, and would seem logical; however, according to the conversion charts, 1.5 grains (90 mg) of Armour is equivalent to 150 mcg levothyroxine "or" 37.5 mcg cytomel (liothyronine), so if you'd raised to 2.
Avatar f tn My HMO only prescribes Levothroid (my doctor wanted to up my dose again to 175) and after 13 years on synthetic and not feeling well I visited my Naturopath and he gave me Nature Throid in different dosages to try out.
Avatar m tn when it comes to thyroid hormones involves some manipulation of synthetic meds with or without a desiccated component to replace in roughly a 20:1 ratio. I don't know what you were reading. Many women have reproductive hormone issues as well as thyroid issues, so he might have been referring to a therapy that involves both.
Avatar f tn Actually doctors here tend to check only TSH level because most people are on synthetic levothyroxine. Natural dessicated thyroid is forbidden and cytomel is not used (some endocrinologists don't know it even exists). Maybe panic attacks were caused by hypothyroid but decreasing my hormones dose surely decreased tachycardia, tremors, hot flushes and all those anxiety symptoms common to thyroid disorders. So it suited me to decrease the dose somehow.