Why Doesn't Dessicated Thyroid Help More With Symptoms?

[Derek]

post 107953 Ray has said that most if not all NDT's on the market are unreliable. He doesn't recommend any brands of NDT. Are you aware of this? Have you had a thyroid panel done? What did it look like? Can you be more specific about your daily diet?

I've had many done. On the last one my my T3 and T4 were both on the low end of the range and my TSH was very low. Before I started the thyroid it was around 5.5

More specifically about my diet well let's see.

I normally have 3 or 4 eggs cooked in butter for breakfast with a potato and a generous helping of homemade apple sauce and a very ripe banana. The applesauce is probably an apple and a half with 2 tbsp of sugar.

Snack is some leftover dinner from the night before, maybe a bit of meatloaf and a piece of fruit.

Lunch is more leftovers with a potato and an orange.

Another snack of maybe some oatmeal with milk and some honey or sugar or some corn chips instead of oatmeal.

Then dinner is usually some kind of beef or chicken or fish with potato and some fruit and a tbsp of gelatin.

I don't do much in the way of dairy or OJ because they seem to give me congestion.

A snack before bed doesn't really seem to make much of a difference.

Since I don't do well with OJ I've been drinking some lemonade with added salt of course.

Starches seem to help me urinate less so I try to do them.

The first dietary measure I was going to suggest was more starch with salt, but you are already doing that. Your diet seems pretty balanced. Do you get any dietary calcium? Thyroid increases your calcium needs. If increasing thyroid made your symptoms worse maybe you could try decreasing it slightly? If going from 3 to 4 grains made you worse, maybe you could try going from 3 to 2 and just see how you feel?

 

[firebreather]

The first dietary measure I was going to suggest was more starch with salt, but you are already doing that. Your diet seems pretty balanced. Do you get any dietary calcium? Thyroid increases your calcium needs. If increasing thyroid made your symptoms worse maybe you could try decreasing it slightly? If going from 3 to 4 grains made you worse, maybe you could try going from 3 to 2 and just see how you feel?

Since I don't do much dairy I've been taking 3 to 6 grams of calcium carbonate. Someone suggested that might help with the swelling in my nasal passages which I think could be inflamed turbinates.

I have considered going from 3 to 2 grains of thyroid but for the first 2 yrs I did 2 grains and didn't feel worse going from 3 to 2. I specifically tried going from 2 to 3 to see if it helped my LDL cholesterol and total cholesterol and it seemed to help both significantly although there were still a little high.

 

[Derek]

post 108010

The first dietary measure I was going to suggest was more starch with salt, but you are already doing that. Your diet seems pretty balanced. Do you get any dietary calcium? Thyroid increases your calcium needs. If increasing thyroid made your symptoms worse maybe you could try decreasing it slightly? If going from 3 to 4 grains made you worse, maybe you could try going from 3 to 2 and just see how you feel?

Since I don't do much dairy I've been taking 3 to 6 grams of calcium carbonate. Someone suggested that might help with the swelling in my nasal passages which I think could be inflamed turbinates.

I have considered going from 3 to 2 grains of thyroid but for the first 2 yrs I did 2 grains and didn't feel worse going from 3 to 2. I specifically tried going from 2 to 3 to see if it helped my LDL cholesterol and total cholesterol and it seemed to help both significantly although there were still a little high.

3-6 grams of calcium carbonate? Is that a typo? That is a ridiculously insane amount of calcium. I don't know who suggested that to you but that seems crazy to me. Unless you are taking 3-6grams of magnesium also, that large amount of calcium is going to cause imbalances. And, taking that much magnesium to balance the calcium will also cause issues. Do you feel this large amount of calcium is helping you?

Well you have experimented with changing thyroid dose so I guess that's not an issue for you!

 

[tara]

Hi Fire,
Have you run your diet through cronometer or similar lately?
Looks like you are getting plenty of calcium and sodium. How does it look for magnesium and potassium? Any other glaring deficits showing up?

post 107923 My normal pulse was around 55 and there were times that after a cup or two of coffee that my pulse would drop to upper 30's or low 40's.

Has your dr had anything to say about the very low heart-rate?

 

[answersfound]

Are you chewing the NDT? I would chew it and mix it with saliva for about a minute before swallowing.

 

[youngandold]

Yes try chewing the NDT tabs.
It looks like you're either not absorbing it or they are way underdosed.

Either way you must take more until BOTH T3 AND T4 are in the upper half of the normal range. Preferably in the upper third.

Add Levothyroxine as needed if T4 lags behind T3 in lab tests.
Don't mind the low TSH.