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Thyroid optimization has been one of my priorities  for the last few years - and still is. I was on sustained-release T3 monotherapy for almost 3 years and last year switched to a combination of straight T3 (30mcg) and NDT (natural desiccated thyroid; 3 grains) and have been getting much better results on all markers for the first time. Both my T3 and NDT are custom-compounded which I think is the ideal way to go since I have my choice of fillers (ascorbic acid) as opposed to the unwanted and sometimes detrimental fillers as used in the commercial products (i.e. Cytomel, Armour, or Naturethroid).


In my case, the conversion from T4 to T3 was not hampered as I (and my physician) had originally thought. This confirms the importance of including T4 in consideration of the conversion pathway from T4 to T3. NDT has other benefits as well; it contains T1 and T2 which were previously thought to have no metabolic value, but in fact do. NDT also contains calcitonin which is involved in calcium metabolism, bone maintenance and prevents osteoporosis. This is important because exogenous thyroid hormones tend to decrease bone density. NDT is vastly superior to T4-only medications such as Synthroid and Levothyroxine, despite the Medical Orthodoxy's push to sway practitioners away from it. But not everyone can tolerate it as well as synthetic T4 and/or T3. This is largely due to thyroid autoimmunity and/or deficient cortisol/iron/ferritin/selenium. Once those are resolved, NDT can be slowly integrated. Let's not forget that NDT also contains rT3 as is naturally-occuring in the pig's glands as it is in our own.

  

Since a major cause of hypothyroidism is Hashimoto's thyroiditis, I want to add to the above-mentioned testing the importance of monitoring thyroid antibodies.


The labs are:


TgAb (thyroglobulin antibodies)

TPO (thyroid peroxidase antibodies)

TrAb (thyroid receptor antibodies)


Here's one of the best resources out there: http://www.stopthethyroidmadness.com


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