What Is The Best Available Treatment For Hypothyroidism

Before we discuss the best treatment for hypothyroidism, let's go back for a second in time to when the first option became available to people - back to 1891 when the first successful treatment of such a patient happened using sheep thyroid extract in form of subcutaneous injections. That very patient managed to live another 30 years on these injections, finally passing away from a totally unrelated reason.

It took less than a year for doctors to start administering oral thyroid extract and to notice that this was equally successful as the injections.

Since then for quite a few years natural thyroid (called NDT - natural dessicated thryroid) extracted from the thyroid of pigs has been the standard practice of helping people with hypothyroidism and with great success.

In 1914 chemistry was advanced enough that the particular thyroid hormone was identified and isolated, so that a synthetic thyroid could be created in labs - which eventually became streamline and it's the standard practice of treating hypothyroidism even today. The main thyroid pills are called synthetic T4, under the various brand names, such as L-thyroxin, Euthyrox, Synthoid, etc.

While there are lots of people out there who really do well on synthetic T4, for many this is can cause various side effects that is good to be aware of.

Some people develop allergic reactions to it such as skin rashes, acne, difficulty breathing, heart palpitations, red face, mild hair loss (although hair loss is usually associated with hypothyroidism, so it might not be from taking Levo at all), and a few others. If you experience any of these side effects, definitely mention them to your doctor so he can adjust the dose or maybe combine it with T3 or change it to NDT.

When the treatment with T4 fails and the endocrinologist is a good doctor who knows to go to the next level, he will look into administering a mix of synthetic T4 and T3. This way the absorption of T3 will be faster in the cells, or if there is no absorption at all, the T3 will compensate for it, and the person almost immediately starts to feel better.

Actually lots of people are quite happy with the mix of T3 and T3 combined and when this works, it will become the standard treatment for their own hypothyroidism for the rest of their lives.

The best known brand name for T3 is Cytomel, however it can be found under other names in various countries as well.

Because the action of T3 is rather short lived (the effects die out in a few hours) usually the way to take these pills is by taking T4 early in the morning before breakfast, and T3 twice daily (or as often as recommended by the doctor) in smaller doses.

This allows for optimizing the T4 and T3 levels n the body.

Once the treatment is started, about 6-8 weeks after another blood test for the TSH, FT3 and FT4 has to be done so that the free levels are monitored. The FT3 and FT4 levels should be close to the upper range. Regular blood tests need to be done to closely monitor the free levels at all times.

This is where I am right now. Initially the doctor started me on 50 mcg of synthetic T4 (Euthyrox), however after almost 4 months of feeling not even a bit better, I researched about the best treatments for hypothyroidism, and one other option that I saw many people were happy with was using only synthetic T3, the active hormone that the body actually needs. This is because for many people the conversion from T4 to T3 doesn't happen or it's very slow, so taking T3 directly bypasses the entire conversion issue.

Some of the brands synthetic T3 is known over the world are: Cytomel. Cynomel, Linomel, Tiromel, and also the generic T3 (it's the one I'm also taking, shown in the picture here).

Personally for me taking T3 helped a lot. I don't say I'm 100% well, I still have times of slight brain fog (watching a movie and not remembering the name of a well known actor is no fun!), I still have now and then various symptoms, however I do want to stay at the lowest safe level of T3 that I can while feeling as best as I can.

Taking T3 only has its dangers as well. It's very easy to over-medicate (yep, been through it and it was not fun). Some people even take it to lose weight or for body building - which I find wrong. They take a huge amount of pills, while for real patients who have hypothyroidism problems the dosage is usually very small.

The other problem with taking T3 only is that the blood results from now on will not be accurate anymore - if at all, so you won't be able to rely on them going forward. You will really have to rely on your own signs and symptoms of hypothyroidism to know how you're doing on this pill.

In fact, at this point using the TSH blood tests as measurements can be quite dangerous for the person because the blood tests can not show any activity that happens at the cellular level, where the T3 is in fact needed.

Another problem is the fact that taking T3 is not all that easy. Because of its short action, it needs to be taken several times (at least twice) a day. Taking synthetic T4 is very easy: you only take a pill when you wake up. Taking T3 can be complicated by the fact that people might forget to take a pill now and then. Not good.

So before starting on T3 only, make sure that you've really tried for at few months at least to take a combination of T4 and T3, because that is much, much easier to manage overall.

Image source: taken from my own box of T3 thyroid medication

Personally I haven't tried natural dessicated thyroid, but I know of lots of people for whom this is the best treatment for hypothyroidism ever and I totally understand the reason. What keeps me from actually going for it (although I do have a bottle of NDT at home, which I would have started to take if I hadn't found T3 here locally at the pharmacy) is that it's not without its own risks as well.

The good thing about natural dessicated thyroid is that for many it works where nothing else did. Usually NDT is made of an extract of porcine thyroid and it contains not only T4 and T3, but also T2, T1 and calcitonin as well, all of which the body actually needs for proper function.

A healthy thyroid gives all of the above. When the thyroid slows down in its function and you need to take pills, you will get the most important ones T4 (and/or T3). But many doctors forget that T2, T1 and cacitonin are also crucial for the body and at the current level of medicine, the only one that can give these is natural dessicated thyroid.

Now having said that, here are some of the problems with taking this type of thyroid:

First of all, it's extremely difficult to obtain in most countries (don't ask me how I know). Doctors by default don't prescribe it - and you'll have to really look long and hard for one endocrinologist who actually listens to you and lets you go the natural NDT route. If you found him, keep him because he is golden!

Another problem is that doctors fear that NDT is not accurate because thyroid from pigs will not give you the right amount of thyroid that a human body needs. I won't comment on this, because I haven't personally taken NDT, but I know lots of people who do for years and they're like reborn all over again. Their symptoms are all gone.

Finally, if you manage to get it (and I won't name sources, I don't want them to disappear) it's not cheap. For real. And probably you will have to incur the costs, as most doctors will not prescribe it.

So there you have it. The good, bad and the ugly of deciding on taking NDT as the best treatment for hypothyroidism.

I feel I can't end this page without another warning against 'free natural hypothyroidism treatments' that are sold in ebooks from shady places. You have to understand that if indeed your problem is hypothyroidism, there is no cure for it, period. There is treatment, however, that will last for a lifetime and that treatment allows us to live a very normal life as long as we follow the right medical protocol.

Of course you should follow a right diet, make sure you have all the blood work that is needed for eliminating any vitamin or nutrient deficiencies (my blood tests showed that I have severe B12 and light D3 deficiency) so I'm supplementing with these pills until at least my levels go back up to normal.

Also make sure you address adrenal fatigue because there is a strong connection between hypothyroidism and adrenal deficiency and in fact before starting a serious treatment for hypothyroidism you need to get the adrenal levels in check.

Please note I am no doctor, and this page is only for information purposes, based on my own experience with the various hypothyroid treatments and what worked - or what didn't work for me. You might have other better treatment options and always first check with your GP or endocrinologist before taking any thyroid pills at all!