You’ve read about T3 and natural desiccated thyroid medication options for hypothyroidism and you’ve finally found an open-minded thyroid doctor to prescribe it but it’s NOT WORKING. Now what?
Written by David Borenstein, MD
Time and time again thyroid patients visit my office feeling sick and tired for years or even decades. The vast majority have only heard about T4-only levothyroxine medications like Synthroid. These medications are the only treatment most conventional doctors will consider but many patients fail to be well.
Then there are the well informed thyroid patients that have read about the benefits of combining synthetic T3 and synthetic T4 levothyroxine medications or taking natural desiccated thyroid instead but struggle to find doctors open to prescribing it. Once the right type of thyroid medication and dosage is found for that patient, the vast majority of their symptoms disappear and the remaining ones diminish. Their lives can change just like that.
Then there are the patients that have finally found doctors to try T3 and/or natural desiccated thyroid but it’s just not working. They either find no change at all or they feel worse including experiencing heart palpitations. Their doctors will conclude that T3 and NDT are just not for them, but the patient is left without a solution.
Treating the thyroid is the most complex condition that I have found in my practice. Each patient is bio-individual. There is no one thyroid medication or dosage that will be right for every person. There just isn’t. Finding what is right for YOU is the key and it takes careful trial and error with a knowledgable doctor.
Here are some key findings that I’ve discovered over my 15 years working with thyroid patients.
Adrenal Fatigue
Adrenal fatigue may be exposed during thyroid hormone treatment, especialy while taking synthetic T3 along with T4 or natural desiccated thyroid NDT medication or even T3 alone, as T3 is more potent than T4. I always adress the adrenals before starting my patients on any T3 therapy. I check morning AM cortisol at a minimum with salivary or blood testing but it is ideal to check cortisol levels at different points over the day. If the cortisol levels are abnormal then I recommend a blend of adaptogenic herbs
and high dose Vitamin C,or adrenal extracts in some cases. The vast majority of supplements that I use are from the brand Ortho Molecular. I also recommend improving sleep, reducing coffee intake, starting a gluten and dairy free diet, and implementing relaxation techniques.
Iron Problems
I find that low iron leads to poor T4 to T3 conversion which is a common problem for hypothyroid people in particular because of lower stomach acid and chronic inflammation. Heavy periods that can come with hypothyroidism in women can cause iron deficiency. The solution is adding iron. I always run comprehensive iron lab testing before recommending iron supplements and retest over the course of supplementation to avoid iron overload. I advise my patients to take iron supplements including multivitamins with iron 3 to 4 hours apart from thyroid medication.
Type of T3 or NDT
There is a significant difference between fast and slow release T3. Fast release preparations like the brand Cytomel can cause more symptoms, such as palpitations and anxiety. I find my younger patients tolerate fast release T3 much better. When I prescribe fast release Cytomel, I advise my patients not to take their daily dose all at once but rather divide their daily dose into 2 or 3 smaller doses throughout the day. In older patients, I usually recommend sustained release T3 (available through compound pharmacies) to reduce risk of side effects like palpitations. Slow release T3 has been particularly helpful for my patients with high Reverse T3. Instead of the body converting inactive T4 to the active T3 hormone needed by the cells, the body can instead convert it to inactive Reverse T3. The are many reasons this can happen including calorie-restricting diets, chronic illness, inflammation, infections, gut imbalances, stress, and even certain prescription medications. However even with slow release there may be problems if the person has digestion issues. There is no one solution that is right for everyone. Make sure the compound pharmacy is experienced in sustained release T3 compounding because many are not.
For each brand of thyroid medication, there are different fillers, binding agents, dyes and other ingredients that will vary. Our bodies will vary in terms of the sensitivities we experience to the different brands. A patient will visit my office and ask to be put on Armour because her friend is doing brilliantly on it. Then she will try Armour and may not respond well to it (the reactions will vary too) and find that another brand like Nature-throid is better for her.
Thyroid Medication Shortage
Over the years there have been shortages of one or another thyroid medication brand, including the recent Nature-throid and WP thyroid shortage. Doctors and patients have had to scramble to find alternatives. Reformulations of brands have happened too leaving patients feeling unwell on the new versions. Now what? Finding an alternative can be tricky as our bodies are all different. In cases where my patient reacts poorly to every brand we try, I usually compound the NDT for these people and in most cases they feel better. Compounding pharmacies can custom make formulations and remove ingredients to which the person reacts poorly.
Dosage of T3 or NDT
I find most conventional doctors are not familiar with T3 and NDT thyroid medication options and actually use very little. I have many patients come to my office that report finding no improvement on T3 and NDT and I find that the problem is the dosage was far too low. In the case of patients with heart palpitations, doctors may put them on too high a dosage to start. I start at a moderate dose and increase incrementally over time until I find the ideal dosage for that particular patient.
Nutrient Deficiencies
I find nutrient deficiencies common in thyroid patients and comprehensive lab testing can be invaluable including testing for Vitamin D, Vitamin B12, Iodine, Selenium, Zinc, and Magnesium. In cases where patients experience palpitations with low dose T3, I find supplementing with magnesium 500 mg a day helpful.
Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis
Most of my patients with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis do well on T3 and NDT. However, a small subset of patients will feel worse on NDT. Their symptoms worsen, TSH and antibodies all increase. Hashimoto’s is an autoimmune disease where the immune system erroneously attacks the thyroid gland. Given that NDT is made from pig thyroid which is biologically similar to human thyroid, it is not hard to imagine why this may happen. I use a combination of synthetic T4 and synthetic T3 in these cases.
Another word on Hashimoto’s, I’ve found low-dose naltrexone (LDN) treatment very helpful. I also find LDN great for fibromyalgia. Before I use LDN for Hashimoto’s, I work on diet, blood sugar imbalance, digestion, inflammation, infections, and toxicity. After we’ve tried everything, then we consider LDN.
Success Stories
It Takes Time
For the vast majority of thyroid patients there are multiple health conditions from adrenal issues to nutrient deficiencies to individual sensitivities going on. Don’t expect a quick fix in one or two appointments. It is well worth the time it takes to work with a knowledgable doctor to find the right thyroid treatment for you.
About David Borenstein, MD
Dr. David Borenstein is the founder of Manhattan Integrative Medicine. He obtained his medical degree from the Technion Faculty of Medicine in Haifa, Israel and completed his internship at Staten Island University Hospital. He has been published in the European Journal of Ultrasound and has been the Chief Investigator on a research project on Spinal Cord Injuries.
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hello! my husband is on 60mg Armour and 25 mcg Cytomel daily (raised from 12.5 4 months ago). His most recent blood work shows low RT3 (lower than before raise in Cytomel) and low FT4 (also lower than before raise). I work hard to understand his blood work and usually can decipher, but this time around I just don’t know what’s going on! His FT3 is just above mid range and TSH .29 ( he has always felt better below 1). he does have Hashi’s, but any thoughts for the low numbers? Usually I can find the answers for him and discuss with doc, but I am at a loss now.
I was on 120mg of NP Thyroid and my doctor lowered NP Thyroid to 60mg and added 25mcg Liothyronine. I noticed the first 2 days taking the adjusted dosage that my bp lowered (heart rate stayed about the same) and I was extremely sleepy and felt lethargic. I also over-slept both mornings. I’m curious about the mechanism of this. It seems to be having the opposite effect.
Sonja, Ask your doctor to test your Free T3 levels as part of your thyroid testing. I feel lethargic and sleepy along with other symptoms of hypothyroidism whenever my Free T3 is in the middle or low end of the range. I feel my best when my Free T3 is top quarter of the normal range and tweaking the dosages may be what is needed from your doctor. Here’s an article that I wrote about this at Hypothyroid Mom: https://hypothyroidmom.com/the-thyroid-worlds-queen-t3/
I have been taking T3 medication only for around 18 months. The first 12 months, it went great. I was able to lose 10kg of the weight I had gained prior to diagnosis with Hashimoto’s. A few months ago, everything changed and a lot of my symptoms returned, along with the weight (8kg of it so far). What could be causing this change?
Hi Christine, There are many possible reasons. We can have sudden changes in thyroid health often from stressors or changes in sex hormone levels. When it comes to stressors, they can be physical, chemical or psychological from loss of a loved one, job loss, financial stress, car accident, muscle injury, surgery, pathogen exposure, toxin exposure, infection, etc. Also, there are three times in a woman’s life when she is most vulnerable to develop a thyroid condition or worsen an existing one: Puberty, Pregnancy, and Perimenopause. When our sex hormones shift, our thyroid hormones can falter too as I’ve personally experienced multiple times. It takes a good integrative type doctor to investigate your case closely to see what might be the trigger for your sudden change. Other possible things to check are nutrient deficiencies such as Vitamin D, B12, zinc, selenium, iodine, and magnesium. Good to have you at Hypothyroid MOm.
My husband had his thyroid removed and takes T4 only, 4 years ago started having palpitations,anxiety, hand shaking, difficulty sleeping. Several times his test came normal. He was suggested to take CBD to help with the anxiety and that made everything worse. We also discovered his medication was high but was not coming in the blood work because biotin affects results and TSH values reported are not reliable. After years of wrong those he is starting to do better in a lower dose. Please stop taking biotin at least 1 week before doing thyroid test.
Hi Adriana, I’m sorry to hear all your husband went through. Yes, about the biotin. The American Thyroid Association has issues warnings that biotin supplements taken close in time to blood thyroid lab tests can skew the results. https://www.thyroid.org/patient-thyroid-information/ct-for-patients/december-2018/vol-11-issue-12-p-3-4/ Good to have you at Hypothyroid Mom.
Has anyone experienced hair loss??? I have been loosing hair for years since hypo, even on meds
Hi Kim, I went through a terrible time with hypothyroidism hair loss and spent over a year researching women’s hair loss to stop mine thankfully. Here is the article where I share some of the things that helped my hair: https://hypothyroidmom.com/10-things-that-stopped-my-thyroid-hair-loss/
It took we over 15 years, numerous hours of webinars with “Dr. Eric” and then taking that information, to,3 different endocrinologists.
Finally, the last, very “seasoned” endocrinologist, agreed to add .5mcg of cytomel to my .88mcg of Synthroid, and I turned back into a human being.
It is 2021 and I an Euroid.I am a size 6 from a size 14, no more naps, and my skin is not “alligator”, no more constipation, or puffy face.
It took ME, researching and attending WONDERFUL Dr. Eric’s seminars to get to this point.
Every doctor, primary to OBGYN missed/ignored obvious patterns of complaints, that = HASHOMOTO’S.
I am not going to dwell on this another minute, because I do not want their lack of awareness or lack of listening to steal the rest of the JOY, left in my life.
Why TSH is not part of pregnancy bloodwork is beyond me, since pregnancy triggered my Hashimoto’s.
The first 2 endocrinologists were too lazy to justify to insurance, why they were adding Cytomel and the test to check in it.
We don’t want her to feel that much better???
Who is dr Eric? I’d be interested in watching his webinars.
Hi, just started NP thyroid 1g 3 weeks ago, also have type 1 diabetes since 1989 and am gluten intolerant. How soon does the thyroid start to make a difference in how you feel? I have tried Armour which made my blood sugars rise a lot and also Synthroid but didn’t feel a difference at all. I also doing Bioidentical Hormone Pellet therapy, it made a huge difference in energy and stamina for the first few rounds but now I’m just so tiered and am wondering if it’s the NP thyroid side effects??
hi! I am writing because I started having this terrible palpitations… Last year I started taking T3 (first 20 mcg and then 10 mcg because it gave palpitations also). I took t3 for 6 months and felt great (along with 50 mcg of t4. I was taking 75 and lower it to 50) but suddenly I started having mild palpitations again so I stopped taking t3. Well… the fatigue came back and I started loosing my hair like crazy so I started taking t3 again very low dose. First 2,5 and the increased to 5 mcg but the palpitations came back! and stronger then ever….I started taking q10 (to lower colesterol and tryglicerides). Bad combination? I also take omega 3, magnesium and zinc. Any thought? Don’t know what to do….
After having half my thyroid removed I have been on NDT after switching from thyroxine, I felt pretty good for a long time but this past year I have been dragging my butt around, no motivation, no energy,weight gain,I have been thinking of adding cytomel, in hopes to get my energy back. Any help would be appreciated.
I had graves and got my thyroid radiated!
Took levothyroxine the generic for several approximately 4 years!
Began coming extremely weak and ill all of a sudden and then nauseous every day!
I took some antibiotics for 10 days for what doctors diagnosed as hpylori! Then 3 days later was unable to take any theyroid meds without horrible reactions! It’s Been awful!
I’ve tried every t4 medication and nature throid and np Thyroid.. still reacting! Had to be put on IV synthroid daily for 4!hours a day to get into body slowly! Please any ideas or suggestions would be greatly appreciated! I just want to take a pill again!
How awful to endure such pain & uncertainty! I am not a doctor, I speak from my own experience. You need a sophisticated, experienced endocrinologist to check the health of your system: the hypothalamus, the pituitary, the adrenals, the thyroid, the pancreas, and so on. You need to pinpoint the source of the trouble. Also, you may want to check the website stopthethyroidmadness [dot] com. There are interesting ideas there for good health. Best of luck!
This may sound too simplistic but what’s your iron and B vitamins status and minerals? Iron needs to be at the higher range…it’s not enough to just be IN range. Sorry you are experiencing this. I too could not tolerate any thyroid meds for years. Adding iron helped tremendously as well as addressing nutrient deficiencies, especially Bs.
I, too, am finding I can’t tolerate any levothyroxine brands, I had a total thyroidectomy so I have no choice but to take thyroid meds. I also can’t tolerate NDT, either. I have an extremely sensitive system. I’m going to try taking levothyroxine in tiny amounts all throughout the day. I ordinarily take 75 mcgs a day so I’m going to get three 25 mcg pills and cut each one into quarters. I will take a 6.25 mcg quarter every hour for eleven hours of the day. According to my research, on the rare occasion that a patient can’t tolerate levothyroxine, doctors give tiny amounts throughout the day to help the body acclimate. I’m going to try that approach. It’s a pain in the butt — but at this point I’ll try anything to regain my health. Maybe this approach would work for you, too.
careful with this as eating and drinking within 1hr affect absorption up to 60%… you will never know what real dose you are taking.
I came across this post in my recent research on hypothyroidism. In the past year, I’ve slowly had my NatureThroid increased from 1.5 gr to 3 gr and still having low FT3 and low FT4. I switched physicians recently and one thing we are doing is adding Cytomel 2x/day in incremental, small doses to my NatureThroid. It’s starting to help me, but it’s slow! She did more extensive bloodwork and we discovered I DON’T have high reverse T3 and NOPE, I don’t have thyroid antibodies that are high, so not likely Hashimoto’s. Over the summer, I had a thyroid ultrasound and it came back normal. So, it’s just wait and see. I keep wondering if something is up with the NatureThroid formula, due to their shortages. I also do wonder about my ability to tolerate the NDT type of thyroid medications. I’ve been on them for 20+ years, but interesting that it’s the synthetic T3 that is helping me to feel better, but added with the NatureThroid. I hope to reduce my NatureThroid. I’m super petite, 105 pounds at 5’2 and marvel at taking such a high dose, haha! One thing to mention is that checking a woman’s hormones using a dried urine test method such as DUTCH testing (not saliva one since it won’t show metabolites!) is important! We discovered I have been estrogen dominant, which is not something you’d expect from just looking at me, a lean person. Estrogen dominance can suppress the thyroid and it’s my understanding that TSH especially can be suppressed. My new physician changed my progesterone bioidentical cream dose, delivery method and application site. So far, I’m feeling way better. Hormone balancing is such a delicate thing. I agree re: comments about healing the gut and iron aspects. I do feel though that eating a vegan, whole food plant-based diet has helped me and my thyroid more than any other medical intervention. I reduced my inflammation significantly, which I believe put my Hashimoto’s in remission, along with creating a negative ANA in my case. I had stellar levels of B12, D, selenium, iron, magnesium, and iodine, even though I eat plants (I do take B12 supplements). I’m having to address a zinc deficiency though with supplements. One thing to also look at is copper levels too. If they are too high, it can cause issues. Thanks for letting me chime in.
I just switched from Nature-Throid to NP Thyroid (May 2019) after reappearance of hypo symptoms in the past year, and I am astounded at the difference. I might as well just have taken sugar pills as taken Nature-Throid! It’s a shame, because Nature-Throid was like a life-preserver in deep water when Armour Thyroid had problems in 2008. Sheesh! How hard is it to maintain a drug formula? Is it really that much harder than baking a good cake consistently from scratch? I took chemistry in college, and I’d venture the answer is ‘no’.
The reformulated nature throid is not working for many people. I gained 16 pounds in 1 month on itl. Many people are having this problem. I read the reviews on everydayhealth.com.
Have you had your cortisol tested? I have the same problem. I am 5’2″ 112 lbs with a perfect TSH of .75 and extremely low FT3 and FT4 and I’m on 90 mg of NP Thyroid and 5 mcg of Cytomel. Have you tried NP Thyroid? Progesterone cream does help but only during my progesterone phase. You can only apply it during that time if you still are getting periods. I heard the adrenals may sequester progesterone to make cortisol and that is why it’s working. I am considering an early morning cortisol test because my medication doesn’t work at all in the morning. When you said that your TSH was suppressed do you mean that it was very low? Two days ago I cut back my iodine intake to under 100mcg per day. I was getting almost 1,000 per day and I discovered that it can interfere with thyroid absorption and damage your thyroid. Take a look at Dr. Alan Christianson, NMD who has done extensive research on iodine and thyroid patients. I believe we have been misled by Dr. Brownstein who was never an endocrinologist but Dr. Alan is and he has first-hand experience.
I was taking Armour Thyroid (15 mg) for three years with no problems, however, the following year I began having throat and chest pains. Has anyone else had this problem and if so what did you do to alleviate the problem. I don’t understand why I tolerated it well for three full years and now I can no longer.
I am 43 was recently diagnosed with hypothyroidism. My Dr. prescribed Cytomel to begin with and I started on a generic brand. I started sleeping well, loosing weight, and regaining cognitive abilities that had greatly deteriorated. It felt like a miracle! One day, I was doing a simple crafting project with my daughter and could not follow simple instructions. I checked my script and noticed the generic had been changed on a recent refill. Not only was my weight increasing but I developed a nasty itch on one leg. I called the pharmacy and switched the medication for the first generic brand. Things very slowly improved. I spoke to many people including doctors and pharmacists about my issues with the generics and found that many of them suggest brand name only. I spent the big bucks and began Cytomel. For the last month I have not been sleeping well. I am up multiple times and my husband reports that even when I am asleep, I kick,scream, talk, toss and turn. Yet again, I just switched back to the first generic. I do not feel my Thyroid is regulated correctly yet but I do feel much better. This is a crazy ride getting this figured out!
Interesting. I took brand cytomel and couldnt sleep. I alos have gained a lot of weight on brand cytomel(king brand). What generic brand do you use?
Im curious if some of us, just dont need thyroid meds and thats the reason we cant tolerate it? My tsh was barely elevated(5.8) after a couple of years on prozac and a 3 year course of accutane(both induce hypo), and was drinking a ton of coffee and eating a lot of wheat, when i was diagnosed. I have since gone gf, quit caffeine, taken hc for years, taken cytomel. I have studied this extensively. I have followed the yahoo forums and sttm protocols to the tee. Iron has been optimal, adrenals supported(with hc, florinef, potassium and celtic), taken pepsin etc.
In all of that, I still cannot sleep. I have suicidal inducing tinniuts(brought on after my doctor was insistent I switch from cytomel to armour, and start iodine) When first diagnosed, I was started on armour, thanks to finding sttm in time. I felt great for two months! But I couldnt sleep. Then I crashed. I had to not take thyroid and I could sleep again. I had to work on iron levels(which took me two years to raise and a lot of money and labs[my poor arm vein will no longer give blood-thats seriously not right]), and supporting adrenals with hydrocortisone. I never really felt quite balanced, except for a maybe a month in 2013(when i took compounded bio sex hormones) yet at that time, I was dealing with insomnia again. Currently have had to take ativan since 2013 to sleep. That is so not right. I am battling weaning psych drugs to be able to sleep on my own. If thyroid meds make me not be able to sleep on my own, I am examining how.
Apparenly t4 and t3 are used to make adrenaline. Thats what wakes you when youre sleeping. Cortisol suppresses adrenaline and raises blood sugar. If thyroid meds are using up cortisol then perhaps the adrenaline is what is keeping me awake? I have severe racing thoughts, feelings of doom, anxiety, like the acelerator is constantly depressed. I should not have to take hydrocortiosne just to tolerate taking thyroid meds.
The thyroid summit was a great wealth of information. Dr Wilson talks about his t3 protocol and jump starting the thyroid into working again with cytomel. Makes me think very hard that I am overmedicating. I know the tsh is a pituitary hormone, but my current doctors don’t understand or acknowledge the reverse t3. Even so, Ive dealt with rt3 a couple of times and fixed it with cytomel, iron. Recent lab showed very suppressed tsh on no thyroid and 12.5 cytomel. That says I am hyper thyroid and would expliane ALL of my symptoms.
There is something to be said of people who are insistant that once youre hypo you will always need meds. I do not believe that is the case in everyone. My situation, only time will tell. I think it is dangerous thinking.
I also think sttm is dangerous advice. I get and understand their protocols but they preach it so hardcore and if you dont follow it exactly, then youre not gonna get well. Its their approach or nothing. It REALLY REALLY feels like a lot of people are border HYPER(perhaps a little too much t3), the way they talk in such a matter of fact way. When youre that chraged up, you canNOT be swayed(i know ive been there, its like having blinders on, trapped in your thoughts). The saying, Stop the
Thyroid Madness, doesnt belong to figuring out how to tolerate thyroid meds, it belongs to stopping all the madness and hoop jumping to try and tolerate them(labs, allergy tests, taking dangerous steroids that are really only for true addisons patients, writning legal presentations to present to doctors to convince them of the proper way to treat thyroid etc, ad nauseum, vomit, so sick of it all)!!!
That thyroid treatment can be so difficult, and complex as to overtake ones life; monitoring, timing doses, reading etc. is just not something I EVER wanted to spend my life doing.
Im now on more drugs than when I was diagnosed, I weigh more than
Ive ever weighed in my life, i have zero energy from the lsych drugs I need to calm me donw enoigh to be able to sleep, tens of thousands poorer spend on doctors, labs, supplements, etc, cannot function, consumed and angry and just burnt out. Is it really worth all the bs if it is this difficult? Please I canNOT be the only one who is fed up!
I have now stopped np thyroid(currently the best ndt). No thyroid meds for now. Yeah I feel more tired or could be the sleeper meds? We will see.
Susan I feel your pain.
I was diagnosed with Hypothyroidism 10 years ago. Took 3 years fighting to be prescribed anything other than T4, felt well on NDT for approximately 4 years… Now, out of nowhere, 18 months ago all of my symptoms have reappeared and I’ve gained back 30kg AGAIN. I cannot believe that I am yet again in this predicament… I have read everything STTM has to offer and I’m so fatigued and fed up with it all. Absolute life-ruiner this condition is. Oh and now I’m off all meds, my TSH has mysteriously returned to “normal” and the drs are yet again claiming I’m fine. The nightmare continues.
Susan:
Get your sex hormones tested, including testosterone, pregnenolone and dhea. Get your RT3 and cortisol levels tested. And don’t forget your thyroid antibodies. You might have hashimotos.
You don’t say how old you are but I’m willing to bet you are mean or in menopause and your real problem is LOW HORMONES PARTICULARLY PROGESTERONE. If you’re over 45 then you need to top up Progesterone as once your ovaries quit and ovulation stops you’re not making hardly any Progesterone which is thermogenesis, helps burn fat, facilitates thyroid hormone uptake, keeps you happy and flexible, helps hair growth phase, and bones too.
My dosage has had to be lowered several times. I’m hoping I can stop the meds at some point. My hair has been falling out like crazy but when I took cytomel it stopped the hair loss. However the cytomel caused me to have AFib. I noticed no one here has mentioned hair loss.
Hi JoAnn. If you have symptoms of stomach acid issues, then do research Hydrochloric Acid and Pepsin.Symptoms of low acid are the same as high acid and I believe, especially as we get older, that our stomach acid is likely to be too little rather than too much, thus needing supplementing.
Unfortunately my journey wasn’t a simple one. I had to resolve working and living in a place with toxic mold/mycotoxin/biotoxin, endogenous retroviruses and environmental pesticides too. These issues are more prevalent and causative than many people and professionals know or admit. Learn about these, see if it applies then do what you need to do to live. We breath a lot more often than we eat so it’s not only about food and supplements. Air quality, water quality and light quality….and amounts for all of them matter.
After years of trying Levoxyl/Armour, Armour only, Nature-Thryoid only, Levoxyl/Nature-Thryoid, Levoxyl only and Cytomel only…. my Doctor and I have never found my maintenance dose. Never. I tried LDN, it did absolutely nothing for me. In fact, if I take anything more than 1 grain of NDT, my weight EXPLODES. I gain on average 2.5 pounds every week until the meds are lowered back to 1 grain. I know its the T3 because I gained 23 pounds on Cytomel as well when I took that alone for several months. Yet, I’ve tried T4 only as well that that doesn’t work for me either. My symptoms are so extreme I can barely move some days. Some days I seem to have all 300 thyroid symptoms it seems like. I’ve taken every adrenal supplement there is, had MTHFR testing, you name it. Nothing has ever worked for me. Hypothyroidism has destroyed my life.
Have you ever tried an elimination diet? I have found a few additives make ‘hypo symptoms’ a lot worse – some completely floor me. Artificial sweeteners and acacia (gum arabic) are the main culprits along with alcohol. Tiny amounts make me feel ill e.g. drinks dispensed from a soda gun where other ‘diet’ drinks are also dispensed, so contaminated with artificial sweeteners. Also some meds have acacia in them so I have to always check the ingredients of everything including pain relief etc. Recently discovered mint candy I was eating also contained acacia – I was blaming new meds which I thought weren’t working. Really worth a try to find if something is making things worse.
Hi Katie. So sorry for your troubles. I was diagnosed with Hashi’s as well as Celiac and Type 1.5 diabetes at 45 yrs old. It took me 9 years to finally get what I needed. I guided my doctors to get proper lab work and we discovered that my body is not converting the T4 to T3 properly. My doctor had a combination T4/T3 made for me at a compounding pharmacy this past August. The results were astounding, like being reborn. No one should suffer for years like that, everyone is different too, keep trying. I also have had great success with a whole food, plant based diet (gluten/dairy/grain free as well).
I really appreciate your site and the valuable information shared among the many of us who have been “neglected” by medical professionals. I am perplexed however, on some conflicting info. I was diagnosed with Hashi’s at age 25 and prescribed Synthroid, Later while at my peak of health ( or at least feeling healthy & regularly exercising) was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis. ( my feet became seriously inflamed and I could barely walk) at age 42. I understand that those with Hasi’s as having a “low acid” gut but noticed a lot of information about taking baking soda to reduce inflammation. I am gluten free & dairy free. On Orencia weekly injections and taking Nature Troid plus many supplements. Your thoughts?
did you know many are having problem with the new nature throid reformulation product and foot pain is a sign of undermedication in many instances….i loved NT but now i have that foot pain too,had it in the past years ago and a increase in med made it go away but i think it is nature throid so i am trying np thyroid……do you still have foot pain…did you find a answer…..
yes, I hate the foot pain. I get it when my free T3 levels are really low. it gets so bad I can barely stand for long hours without my feet hurting and it causes toe pain so bad I can barely wear shoes.
I find this interesting as I have been hypothyroid and hashimoto ‘s for 36 years, since my sin was born. I’ve never felt right since. I have had foot issues for years!! My TSH is always high but fluctuates between 6-10. My free t3 is smack dab in the middle of normal and my Free T4 is borderline
Normal/low. I take 30 mg of NP thyroid twice a day and one compounded Capsule of 3mcg of T3 and 14 of T4. My doctors over the years have tried to increase the dosage to bring down my TSH but I can’t tolerate any increase, even 1 mcg of T4, which was the latest attempt. I do have some adrenal issues with low morning cortisol but I am taking licorice for that. I’m tired of feeling blah all the time. My current dr has worked hard to get my gut function in top shape and my thyroid levels have been more steady since but TSH still high. I take zinc, selenium, D3, magnesium plus othe supplements for gut health. Does ANYONE have ANY ideas to try? I’m to the point where I almost don’t care. I have gained twenty lbs in a year and I’m wondering if there had been a formula change in NP thyroid? Thanks for listening!