I had about 3/4 of my gland knocked out with RAI in the mid-1970s for Grave's. Did well on old version of Synthroid made until 1982. Had lots of trouble ever since with replacement thyroid drugs. Doctor currently has me on WP Thyroid (natural). This seems to be trying to help me in some ways, but now as we get closer to the final dose, it's making my neck hurt in the thyroid area, giving me
headaches, sometimes a stomach ache and ear aches, too. This happens about 20 minutes after taking some WP thyroid.

I'm going in for labs, tomorrow. But I'm trying to get information before I speak to the doctor. Can having been treated for Grave's
in the past make it harder to do well consistently on a natural medicine like WP Thyroid? Does it stir up Grave's antibodies, or
something? Because the last week or so, the way it's making me feel reminds me too much of how I felt when I got diagnosed
with Grave's.....I had a monster headache and neck ache where the thyroid is back then, and although this isn't as severe, it reminds me of it.

Doctor had me mixing the WP with some "new" Synthroid for awhile, but I could tell the Synthroid was giving me all the bad symptoms it usually does since the formula change in the 1980s. I don't have luck with any of the other synthetic T4 drugs, either, but I guess we may have to add one of them back into the mix and hope for the best, as I know the ratio of T4 to T3 is not right for humans on the natural drugs, so you're supposed to add some extra T4 in......just wish there was a new one for me to try.

Anyway, I'd appreciate it if you know if patients like me can be successful with natural thyroid treatment as the main medicine for hormone replacement......my doctor is pretty good on doing research and such, but I like to do my own, too! Any ideas or info would be appreciated. Thank you! StarShine29

Hi Star,
Yes, many patients do well on natural thyroid glandular extracts alone. Some of us end up with a slightly high FT3 and if it's bothersome, some levothyroxine can be added. For years I used Armour alone and did well on it. There's some variation in batches and I'm heading back toward taking Armour alone.

Remember that when you start a new dose or type of replacment hormone you can have some transient hyper symptoms that occur within an hour of taking the dose. This typically occurs for about a week unless the dose is too high. As your body gets used to the change these symptoms subside. Your TSH should still be low and you'd want your FT4 to be near the high end of the range and FT3 midway between the middle and high ends of the reference range.

If you don't like the WP you could ask about trying NP or Nature-throid. best, elaine