Thyroid Replacement Therapy

We have a special interest in Thyroid health

Thyroid hormones impacts many body systems, so deficiencies can produce a wide array of symptoms.

Unfortunately, common screening techniques fail to detect many cases of more subtle deficiency.

Our clinic focuses on advanced Thyroid testing and treatment for our Edmonton patients.

The Naturopathic Doctors at TruMed frequently use nutritional and herbal treatments for Thyroid health.

Our Nurse Practitioner offers more advanced treatments such as Natural Desiccated Thyroid.

Thyroid Testing 

As with other hormones, the key to successful treatment is comprehensive testing.

Typically, family doctors in the Edmonton area are only testing the TSH when screening for Thyroid issues. We have found that TSH testing is helpful in detecting gross abnormalities in Thyroid function.

However there is a subset of patients, that experience Hypothyroid symptoms despite a normal TSH.

Our practitioners always run TSH, as well as Free T3 & T4 in our Edmonton patients.

Oftentimes abnormalities in T3 levels correlate more clearly with patients' symptoms.

We always test Free T3 and Free T4 in our patients on T4 and many times we see patients that we deem as "poor convertors" that is, they do not appropriately convert T4 into T3 (the most active Thyroid hormone).

Our Naturopathic doctors usually like to see the Free T3 around 5.0-6.0 pmol/L for most patients to feel their best.

We are also able to test Thyroid antibodies, iodine and bromine Levels, as well as numerous adrenal parameters for a robust Thyroid workup for our Edmonton patients. 

Thyroid Hormone Replacement 

At our Edmonton clinic, our practitioners often detect milder cases of Hypothyroidism, where serum levels of free T4 and free T3 are often in the normal range (though typically in the low-normal range).

Even in these milder cases, they often have pronounced symptoms including fatigue, weight gain, low mood and menstrual irregularity.

Although we usually start by balancing the Thyroid naturally, some patients need stronger options.

Although herbs and nutrients can stimulate and improve Thyroid values - clinically, they often fall flat in terms symptom management.

Our Naturopaths may suggest Thyroid replacement treatments (Natural Desiccated Thyroid, cytomel) through referral to our Nurse Practitioner Olga Muradov.

As an example, Natural Dessicated Thyroid can aggressively increase your Free T3 Thyroid hormone levels and may be necessary when other natural Thyroid interventions like Iodine, Tyrosine and Thyroid herbs prove to be insufficient.  

Thyroid Preparations

T4 - which is a relatively inactive Thyroid hormone that needs to be converted to T3 which is the principle active hormone.

A significant minority of Hypothyroid patients have insufficient symptomatic improvement after treatment with T4 - likely due to conversion obstacles.

Desiccated Thyroid - Is animal derived and contains approximately 80% T4 and 20% T3, as well as T1 and T2 which are all also secreted by the human Thyroid gland so it is a much closer approximation of what we produce. 

We have seen many of our Edmonton patients respond dramatically better to Desiccated Thyroid compared to T4 alone - which is likely related to the higher T3 level so it's our top Thyroid HRT option.

T3 - which is the most biologically active Thyroid hormone can be added to T4 preparations or given on its own in both immediate release and slow release format.

T3 is one option to augment T4 or can provide a "boost" for those with slightly suboptimal T3 levels for symptoms such as fatigue or weight gain.

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Our Experience

Desiccated Thyroid is our experience is more often effective than synthetic T4 for a wide range of symptoms.

Most patients who have tried both preparations typically find Desiccated Thyroid to be more effective.

We estimate that only 1 or 2 patients out of 10 patients transitioned to Dessicated feel that the effect is similar (or in other words approximately 8 or 9 patients our of 10 feel the effect is better!).

Many patients switching to an equivalent dose of Desiccated Thyroid often remark that they feel "much more like themselves" on Desiccated also referred to as NDT. 

Standard medication consists solely of T4, whereas Natural Desiccated Thyroid contains approximately 80% T4 and 20% T3, as well  T2 (diiodotyrosine) and T1 (monoiodotyrosine).

In fact the T1 & T2 are thought to be why Desiccated Thyroid feels so good for so many patients.

We've seen numerous patients with T3 added to their synthetic T4 that don't feel as good as they do when they are on Desiccated (T1, T2, T3, T4) which suggests that T1 & T2 are likely important ingredients for our Edmonton Thyroid patients to feel their best.

Thyroid Replacement Data

In one study, in 1,994 Hypothyroid patients were examined it was found that about 10% of patients on moderate doses of T4vwho were considered "normal" according to their TSH level but had a subnormal free-T3 level.

Our Naturopaths see many patients like this at our Edmonton clinic.

To be frank, if your free T3 is suboptimal (let alone subnormal!) you can feel horrible with regards to any of the common Thyroid symptoms - Fatigue, Weight gain, Edema, Brain Fog, Depression etc. . . 

Desiccated Thyroid vs. T4 - A 2013 double-blind trial - Seventy Hypothyroid patients who were on a stable dose of T4 for at least 6 months were randomly given (in a double-blind fashion) - T4 or Desiccated Thyroid for 16 weeks, and then the alternate treatment for an additional 16 weeks.

TSH levels were measured and the dosage of either medication was adjusted to maintain a TSH level between 0.5 and 3.0. 

 48.6% preferred Desiccated Thyroid, 18.6% preferred synthetic T4, and 32.9% had no preference.

Interestingly, but not surprisingly, mean body weight was 2.86 pounds lower with Desiccated by the end of the study.

There was actually some suggestion that the way the medication was converted actually resulted in slight underdosing of the Desiccated which suggests that the preference would have actually been higher if the authors got it right the first time.

We'll help you understand if Desiccated Thyroid is needed in your case.

Questions?

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(780) 757 8378