Kickas.org Forums Treatments, Drugs and Alternatives AS Pharmacy Levothroxine and graves disease

Does anyone also have Graves disease?

Danny had his thryoid radiated many years ago.
He went from Hyperthroid to Hypothroid.

Danny is on generic brand Levothroxine {which is bound with micrcystalline cellulose}but has also been on Synthroid{contains cornstarch} for 10 years. I have just been reading that this drug only contain T4 and that T4 can not be converted to T3 in the body and therefore creating other symptoms in the body. Maybe even muscle pain, hair loss, which he has, etc.

There are other synthetic drugs that contain T3 such as Cytomel. There is one synthetic drug that contains both T3 and T4 called Thyrolar.

Then there are natural drugs that contain both T4 and T3. Nature-Throid TM is bound with microcystalline celluslose. West-throid is bound with cornstarch.

So my questions are;

1.synthetic or natural?
2.T4 and T3?
3. supplements?

Here is some information you might find interesting. This info comes from http://www.healthboards.com/boards/showthread.php?p=2152069&highlight=levothroid#post2152069

Some folks have reactions to certain binders/fillers used in meds, so I thought that I could help out by researching which inactive ingredients are in which thyroid meds. (the list of dyes for each manufacturer and each dose was enormous so I didn’t include it here. However, for those that have a problem with dyes, it’s good to know that the 50 mcg dose for synthetic T4 is dye-free. As far as I know, Armour uses only opadry white for all of its doses.)

This is the most current information I could find and is directly from manufacturers websites or from the FDA Drug Approval website. I hope you find this info useful.

INACTIVE INGREDIENTS IN DIFFERENT THYROID MEDS

ARMOUR THYROID (natural T4/T3) – calcium stearate, dextrose, microcrystalline cellulose, sodium starch glycolate, opadry white

CYTOMEL (synthetic T3) – calcium sulfate, gelatin, starch, stearic acid, sucrose, talc.

GENERIC LEVOTHYROXINE SODIUM MFG BY MYLAN (synthetic T4) – butylated hydroxyanisole, colloidal silicon dioxide, crospovidone, ethyl alcohol, magnesium stearate, mannitol, microcrystalline cellulose, povidone, sodium lauryl sulfate, sucrose

LEVOTHROID (synthetic T4) – microcrystalline cellulose, calcium phosphate dibasic, povidone, magnesium stearate

LEVOXYL (synthetic T4) – microcrystalline cellulose, croscarmellose sodium, magnesium stearate

SYNTHROID (synthetic T4) – acacia, confectioner’s sugar (contains cornstarch), lactose monohydrate, magnesium stearate, povidone, talc

THYROLAR (synthetic T4/T3) – calcium phosphate, colloidal silicon dioxide, corn startch lactose, magnesium stearate.

UNITHROID (synthetic T4) – colloidal silcon dioxide, lactose, magnesium stearate, microcrystalline cellulose, cornstarch, acacia, sodium starch glycolate

Hello, I am one of those who reads here but don’t post much. I can sort of relate to your thyroid issue so i write..
I also have AS and am thyroid ca.survivor...my whole thyroid is out and to replace the hormones i only have to take T4 as the body converts it to T3 itself. how much the body is able to convert is checked by regular “total T3” blood tests.. So only your endo will tell you how well you are doing as far as T3 concerns.I guess if the body fails to make enough T3 then your endo will prescribe it separately or give you a combined drug…

Muscle pain, hair loss etc. Can also be the symptoms of taking high dose of T4, again regular blood tests will determine if you need to raise or reduce the amount you are taking..
Due to my disease I must be suppressed so I am very hyperthyroid taking 150 mgr euthyrox/day, causing a bit hair loss, i can’t differentiate the muscle pains from AS though, so its all mixed disease wise and cope with the pain otherways..

My endo who is a top doc in his field knew i also had this rheumatic disease but he didn’t opt or said he would consider other supplement or natural hormones etc. I don’t have intentions taking more than one thyroid drug either, i already have enough for AS.(fed up)

Synthetic T4 is the Standard treatment worldwide infact there was numerous debates on Thyca yahoo support group regarding “synthetic vs natural” however almost all patients are prescribed synthetic T4 and do well on it as lifetime drug.

One thing my endo pay attention to is that his patients stick to one brand name rather then the generic name in order to sustain consistency both for quality and effectiveness..

I would suggest that you also join some sort of support groups on yahoo/google regarding graves disease and drug issues.. Regards,

Thank you for your answer. with all the information on cyber space it sometimes is difficult to weed through the facts.
Your answer was very thorough and I appreciate you responding.
You have so much to deal with too. I hope you are feeling well.
I will make sure that his T3 levels are tested. My son is not complaining with the medicine he is on, so I guess that is good.
Laurie

OMG! Look at those ingredients in the synthetic meds!!! Why on earth would they have to add sodium lauryl sulfate to a medicine? That is a foaming agent used in soaps!!!

I'm on Natural thyroid because my body needs help with the T3 ... my doc has recently put me on the supplement N-acetyltyrosine to help my t3 uptake as well since I am still so fatigued. She has only told me to watch my symptoms of brainfog & fatigue (hypo) or heart palpitations (if I get too much thyroid meds) to determine if we need to do blood tests earlier or change my dose.


Does our body convert t4 to t3 or does our thyroid? I always understood it to be our thyroid converts, but I could be wrong as I never fully investigated that question.

Were you ever on synthetic thyroid? Do you feel a difference with the natural thyroid?

You are probably right, it's the thyroid that must convert T4 to T3

If we have full functioning thyroid gland then it produces both the hormones, however if the gland is out like mine due to ca. or its dysfunction due to RAI treatment to stop graves disease that causing hyperthyrodism/goiter or perhaps its malfunctioning due to Hashimoto's thyroiditis then the uptaken synthetic T4 circulating in the body is converted to T3 in peripheral tissues, liver and kidney….

If we also have sluggish liver/kidney or whatever.., taking some additional T3 or maybe natural hormone could be of help. The endo will decide after some tests done as well as hypo/hyper symptoms we describe despite taking sufficient amount of synthetic hormones.

Sometimes thyroid hormone tests appear to be within normal range but we still get hypo symptoms, this condition called Wilson's Syndrome (reverse t3 dominance) will be cured by taking slow release T3 as well as T4 or sometimes body converts to t3 properly but due to some reasons (probably auto immune effect) doesn’t recognize/find this T3 hormone itself, in such case probably like in Trudi’s case the endo will give some stimulating supplemental drug to trigger t3 uptake.. For years I was complaining not sweating properly even doing sports like playing squash. This was in my early twenties, years later in my thirties my body started to retain fluid as well, only after my thyroid taken out and I was put on T4 that I learned what it means to sweat…. fluid retention stopped as well.


These hormone issues are far too complicated to judge for us, every individual is special due to genetic differences and other accompanying diseases/syndromes… so a good endo specialized in the field particular to your disease will be much preferred, there are some endo’s specialize in diabetics- weight gain/loss drug issues, some others in thyroid cancers/ suppressions and others in autoimmune diseases of thyroid and drug/hormone balancing…

One thing always recommended by the Thyca patients and endos is that always get the tests done through the same lab everytime a test is asked and make sure the lab is equipped with the latest technology and testing methods..

Also we may handle a bit of hair loss due to hypothyrodism or a little muscle spasm which in our case often confused with AS symptoms but persistent constipation, memory loss/discoordination, continues fatique, rampant heart beat, bone loss, overwhelm, depression etc. should not be underestimated and reported to both endo as well as rheumy doc.

In short, our bodies hormonal function is just as important with dealing various diseases/complains, whether it be through thyroid dysfunction, adrenal fatigue, anemia, inflamation or minerals/vitamin deficiency, it is all worth to suspect and have time to look into them…and its also needless to say that proper hormone functioning of body can also enhance the effectiveness of drugs taken to control other diseases as well … Regards

If have time these are good reads but each case is individual and an erudite endo will always have the final conclusion and say…

http://index.healthboards.com/wwwb/thyroid/time-to-convert-t4-to-t3/1/
http://www.project-aware.org/Resource/articlearchives/thyroid.shtml
http://www.endocrineweb.com/thyfunction.html
http://www.endocrineweb.com/tests.html
http://www.altsupportthyroid.org/hypotreatment.php
http://thyroid.about.com/cs/thyroiddrugs/a/overview.htm
http://www.womens-health-hrt.com/reverse-T3-dominance.html