So, like most Americans today who find themselves lacking natural thyroid hormones, I was given a levothyroxin prescription. Levothyroxin is simply a synthetic version of T4 (thyroxine), which your body is then supposed to partially convert (via the liver) to the most 'active' of the thyroid hormones: T3. Synthroid is the most common brand-name levothyroxin available, but other brand names include Levoid, Levothroid, Levoxine and Levoxyl.

Many people report better symptom relief with a brand-name medication than with generic levothyroxin. According to the authors of Thyroid Power, the difference is so consistent, they don't write prescriptions for generic medication any more (also, they say Levoxyl is almost as inexpensive as generic, but gives the benefits of brand-name quality control. Good tip!).

In my case I have been taking generic medication thus far, and my doctor was reluctant to give me a prescription for a natural thyroid medication before she was sure I'd 'stabilized' on the levothyroxin. So I am planning to request brand-name medication on my next prescription refill, to see if I notice a difference. (Naturally, I will report back here either way!)[note: I never did get on name brand levothyroxin]

For many patients, T4-only treatment works out fine. The liver does its job of converting the synthetic T4 to T3 just like it's supposed to, and all that needs to be done is a periodic check of the patient's TSH levels to adjust the dosage level if need be. If that turns out to be the case with me, I'll be a happy camper. Keep things nice and simple. However, anecdotally, some patients find their symptoms significantly reduced by adding T3 to their daily medication (even if their blood levels looked OK).

I remain curious as to whether straight synthetic T4 is the best medication for me, and I plan (unless I'm just beside myself with satisfaction after I try brand-name levothyroxin) to keep pushing for the opportunity to give "natural" Armour Thyroid an 8 week trial. Given that most hypothyroid patients will be on medication for the rest of their lives, I think it's more than worthwhile to try out 2 or 3 different options, to determine which one is really going to give the best results in your individual case.

technorati tags: hypothyroidism, hypothyroid, thyroid, synthroid, levothyroxin, health, medical, mivox

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