Is NDT the miracle cure for thyroid patients?
Natural Desiccated Thyroid or NDT as it is more commonly known amongst Thyroid patients, is some what known as the best alternative option for Synthroid or synthetic thyroid such as Levothyroxine.
In England NDT is not widely prescribed on the NHS, which forces many thyroid patients to do their own research and go down the possibly risky path of buying their own drugs from abroad.
NDT used to be prescribed on the NHS for Thyroid patients, however, when the pharmaceutical companies developed Synthetic thyroid, it appeared that this was a cheaper, but not more effective way of managing underactive thyroid. All the time thyroid patients, like myself are told that Levothyroxine is the 'Miracle, One a day Pill' that will get rid of all our symptoms and change our lives! Sadly though, for many of us, this is not the case.
I decided in January of this year to take the plunge and buy my NDT. Unfortunately I am in one of the primary care trust areas that does not prescribe NDT on the NHS. I wrote a letter to my endocrinologist and pretty much begged her to give me a prescription on a 'named patient basis', and although I wasn't shot down in flames completely, I was rejected. She told me that she was still prepared to support me and monitor me, but she was unable to prescribe it. So that forced my hand and I took the plunge and did my research.
There are so many different types of NDT, which should I pick? Naturethroid, Armour, WP Thyroid...the list goes on!
Many of these NDT options, despite being available online, still require a private prescription. I couldn't get one of these, and frankly the stubborn person in me thinks that as someone who gets free NHS prescriptions because of my medical history, why should thyroid patients have to pay for their own private prescriptions, just because the standard NHS medication doesn't allow us to choose our own! Its infuriating. Anyway, I bit the bullet and found a brand in Thailand that provided a brand of NDT that I could buy WITHOUT a prescription. I went through so many questions in my head.
1. What if the brand didn't work as well as the others?
2. What if it wasn't safe?
3. How did I know what fillers were in it?
Eventually after asking myself all these questions, I figured, sod it, and I bought them.
I opted for their brand of T.R Man Thyroid. The reason I chose this brand over others, was because it was a sugar coated tablet, and not powder, which apparently is better for people who have absorbency issues (probably one of the reasons my powder coated Levothyroxine never worked!). It is also 100% Gluten Free, which is even better because I just tested positive for Ceoliac disease. Bonus! I have included the link to buy this NDT and others here.
I started taking 1 grain of my NDT in January of this year. To be honest, even though I heard fantastic reviews of NDT from Thyroid friends on Facebook,
I was still a little wary, because nothing in my thyroid journey has gone smoothly. Anyway, I had 2 blood tests done before I had a review with my Endocrinologist. I was amazed! After 2 long years post thyroidectomy, my TSH, T4 and T3 levels had been up and down like a f***in Yo-Yo! Then suddenly, within 2 months of starting NDT, my levels had gone down from 17.75 to within range! Seriously! Two months of this tablet compared to two years on Levo and my levels are within range! I was amazed.
I have also seen others have these fantastic results from NDT and I would love to hear your stories about your journey with NDT. I will be continuing my NDT journey and hopefully , my thyroid levels will continue to stay within range, and I can finally begin to start feeling like myself again. Is this the miracle drug that thyroid patients are needing?