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Note: in late 2009 and early 2010, a shor­tage of presc­rip­tion U.S. desic­ca­ted thy­roid occu­rred due to demand being grea­ter than supply. Addi­tio­nally, the FDA in all their wis­dom shut down pro­duc­tion from the two remai­ning gene­ric sup­pliers as they pre­pare to require cli­ni­cal trials by RLC and Forest.  But there are options you can look at with your doc­tor until this shor­tage is resol­ved in your area.

NATURETHROID and WESTHROID are by RLC Labs (for­merly Wes­tern Research Labs) and iden­ti­cal. (Westh­roid used to con­tain corns­tarch). Both have been con­sis­tently good pro­ducts. Ingre­dients are:

  • Por­cine Thy­roid Pow­der, U.S. Phar­ma­co­peia (USP)
  • Mic­rocrys­ta­lline Cellu­lose  (synthe­tic fiber base to pro­vide volume & bulk)
  • Dical­cium Phosphate  (from mined ore, holds tablet together)
  • Sodium Starch Gly­co­late (synthe­ti­cally deri­ved from starch mole­cule; aids in disin­te­gra­tion in stomach)
  • Mag­ne­sium Stea­rate  (Deri­ved from a vege­ta­ble source like palm oil; lubri­ca­ting agent for tablet com­press).
  • Stea­ric Acid  (from vege­ta­ble source – typi­cally palm oil; holds ingre­dients together).
  • Car­nauba Wax  (from pores of lea­ves of Bra­zi­lian wax palm tree; pro­vi­des com­plete seal of tablet)
  • Pol­yethy­lene Gly­col (PEG)  (synthe­tic; used with Hydroxy­propyl Methyl­ce­llu­lose for clear coating)
  • Colloi­dal Sili­con Dio­xide  (from mined ore: natu­ral desic­cant to pro­tect from mois­ture and humidity)
  • Lac­tose Monohy­drate (tra­cea­ble amount as part of desic­ca­ted thy­roid pow­der USP)

Note:   Naturethroid/Westhroid chan­ged in early 2010. Where there used to be methyl­ce­llu­lose, RLC chan­ged it to mic­ro­ce­llu­lose.  The typi­cal smell of desic­ca­ted thy­roid is less intense.  The tablets are now stam­ped with RLC on one side, and N over 1 on the other, whe­reas before you’d see just NT1 or a refe­rence to the fact that Time Caps Labs (TCL) used to make Natu­reth­roid for RLC Labs. Cal­cium filler has moved up from 16 mg to 17 mg. RLC sta­tes the old con­tai­ned Mag­ne­sium, Potas­sium, and Sodium (each at less than 1 mg), whe­reas in the new, potas­sium is now remo­ved. You may need to chew the tablets up to break down the cellu­lose, which patients state has now become a pro­blem with the newly for­mu­la­ted Natu­reth­roid.

ARMOUR (Armour was refor­mu­la­ted in 2009, sup­po­sedly dec­rea­sing the amount of dex­trose and inc­rea­sing cellu­lose. As a result, nume­rous patients report pro­blems with it and a return of hypo symp­toms. Many are switching to Natu­reth­roid or Canada’s Erfa and are not recom­men­ding others use Armour. Others are fin­ding that CHEWING the tablet, or pul­ve­ri­zing it and adding honey, helps). It’s made by Forest Phar­ma­ceu­ti­cals. It is made in the follo­wing strengths: 1/4, 1/2, 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 grain tablets.  The 3 and 5 grain tabs are sco­red., One grain is 60 mg and con­tains 38 mcg. of T4 and 9 mcg. of T3, plus unmea­su­red amounts of T2, T1 and cal­ci­to­nin. The lat­ter three are not remo­ved, as rumor occa­sio­nally sta­tes.  Each tablet contains:

  • Por­cine Thy­roid Pow­der, U.S. Pharmacopeia
  • Dex­trose, Anhy­drous (anhy­drous means any water has been remo­ved and makes the tablet more stable)
  • Mic­rocrys­ta­lline Cellu­lose, NF
  • Sodium Starch Gly­co­late, NF
  • Cal­cium Stea­rate NF (sta­bi­li­zer and lubricant)
  • Opadry White (Tita­nium dio­xide used as whi­te­ning agent, but also con­tains trace amounts of PEG (pol­yethy­lene gly­col), Poly­sor­bate 80, and Hydroxy­propyl Methy­ce­llu­lose. See below.) Armour Thy­roid does not con­tain glu­ten or lac­tose. But neither do Natu­reth­roid or Westhroid.

THYROID-S is from Sri­pra­sit Pharma Co., Ltd. in Thai­land (sis­ter com­pany of Sri­pra­sit Dis­pen­sary R.O.P.) Adver­ti­sing sta­tes that Sri­pra­sit Pharma is “a lea­ding impor­ter of phar­ma­ceu­ti­cal pro­ducts, and has been a GMP and ISO 9002-certified manu­fac­tu­rer of phar­ma­ceu­ti­cal pro­ducts.” Patients report they are quite plea­sed with this pro­duct. Sri­pra­sit sta­tes Thyroid-s is gluten-free, but a patient has repor­ted clas­sic glu­ten diges­tive symp­toms with it.   To see a photo of the tablet, go here. Tablets are light brown, round, coa­ted. The ingre­dients, accor­ding to Pong­sak Song­pai­san of Sri­pra­sit are:

  • Thy­roid extract USP
  • Lac­tose (a milk sugar and is a filler)
  • PVP K90 (Poly­vinylpy­ro­li­done; water solu­ble coating/binder; no known hazard)
  • Avi­cel (mic­rocrys­ta­lline cellu­lose; holds pro­duct together)
  • Aero­sil (sili­cic acid pow­der; help dis­perse the ingredients)
  • Sodium starch gly­co­late (helps dissolute/disintegrate the pill)
  • Mag­ne­sium stea­rate (filling agent)
  • Eudra­git (a com­mon sus­tain relea­sed coating)
  • Metho­cel (a water solu­ble cellu­lose ether-helps bind pill)
  • Tal­cum (a filler)
  • Pon­ceau 4r lake (red additive-aluminum)
  • Tar­tra­zine lake (yellow additive-aluminum)
  • Bri­lliant blue FCF lake (blue additive-aluminum)
  • Sun­set yellow FCF (yellow additive)
  • Tita­nium dio­xide (white)
  • PEG 6000 (water solu­ble poly­mer; binder)
  • Dimethi­cone solu­tion  (Thanks to Ruth-Ann for obtai­ning the ingre­dients list above; desc­rip­tions added)

On 8 – 09, recei­ved an email from a US Doc­tor who recei­ved the follo­wing list after emai­ling Sri­pra­sit:  

Fillers used: Corn starch, actose, Avi­cel  (mic­rocrys­ta­lline cellu­lose; MCC)
Bin­ders used: PVP K-90 (Poly­vinylpy­rro­li­done)
Pre­ser­va­ti­ves used: Methyl para­ben, Propyl para­ben
Con­tent in one tablet (60 mg  thy­roid  extract): appro­xi­ma­tely 38 mcg Levothy­ro­xine (T4)  and 9 mcg Liothy­ro­nine (T3)
Source of extract: Porcine

Patient sta­tes: The Thyroid-S tablets are brown with a hard coa­ting, they do not dis­solve well as is, but can be che­wed. They have a papaya like taste simi­lar to “Thi­royd” below.

THIROYD (yes, that’s how they spell it) by Grea­ter Pharma Ltd., a lea­ding Thai Phar­ma­ceu­ti­cal Manu­fac­tu­rer. An email to a patient by Grea­ter Pharma sta­tes that “thi­royd” at one grain con­tains T3 at 8.31 mic­ro­gram; T4 at 35 mic­ro­gram, which is 0.013% and 0.058% res­pec­ti­vely. Thy­roid patient Samantha sta­tes: The Thi­royd tablets are white and have a sweet taste almost like papaya or a simi­lar fruit. They dis­solve very well sublin­gually and seem to have a very good potency.  Entire paper insert with info is writ­ten in English:  Grea­ter Pharma Manu­fac­tu­ring Co. Ltd
55/2 Phuttha­monthon, Nakhon, Pathom. Like Thyroid-S, this is orde­red over the net.

****If you can find out what the addi­tio­nal fillers are, please let me know via the Con­tact Me form.

AUSTRALIA’s com­poun­ded thy­roid: Desic­ca­ted thy­roid in Aus­tra­lia is mostly done through com­poun­ding phar­ma­cies and is usually called “thy­roid extract”.  A patient asked Aus­tra­lian Cus­tom Phar­ma­ceu­ti­cals, Australia’s lar­gest compounding-only phar­macy, about their ingre­dients.  It was sta­ted that the only ingre­dients put in the cap­su­les are the active ingre­dient (thy­roid extract) and mic­rocrys­ta­lline cellu­lose as the filler. At ACP 60mg (equi­va­lent to 1 grain) con­tains 33.4mcg T4 and 8.37mcg of T3. Howe­ver , together T4 and T3 may poten­tiate each other giving a the­ra­peu­tic effect equi­va­lent of 25mcg of T3 and 100mcg of T4 per 60mg. The thy­roid extract in por­cine deri­ved, and it is bought from an over­seas sup­plier. Aus­tra­lian Cus­tom Phar­ma­ceu­ti­cals Ph. 1300 853 620 Fax. 02 8536 4155 (Thanks to Jua­nita for pro­vi­ding this infor­ma­tion)

CANADA’S “THYROID”, for­merly by Phi­zer and is now by Erfa. They come in 30, 60 and 125 mg tablets. They contain:

  • Dried Thy­roid
  • Mag­ne­sium Stearate
  • Corns­tarch
  • Talc
  • Sugar

Erfa’s Cana­dian Thy­roid has slightly dif­fe­rent ratios than the USP ratios of US brands:

In each Erfa 30 mg tablet embos­sed “ECI 30”, there is 18 mcg. of T4 and 4 mcg. of T3 (as com­pa­red to 19/4.5 in US brands)  This is equi­va­lent to the US one-half grain.

In each Erfa 60 mg tablet embos­sed “ECI 60”, there is 35 mcg. of T4 and 8 mcg. of T3 (as com­pa­red to 38/9 in US brands) This is equi­va­lent to the US one grain.

In each Erfa 125 mg tablet embos­sed “ECI 125”, there is 73 mcg. of T4 and 17 mcg. of T3 (as com­pa­red to 76/18 in US brands) This is equi­va­lent to the US two grains.

DENMARK’S THYREOïDUM from Bio­fac in Kas­trup, Den­mark. Impor­ted into the Nether­lands from BUFA/Fargo, impor­ters of phar­ma­ceu­ti­cal products.

½ grain = 29 mg (12.7 mcg T4 and 4.5 mcg T3)

1 grain = 57 mg (25.3 mcg T4 and 9 mcg T3)

2 grain = 114 mg (50.6 mcg T4 and 18 mcg T3)

Pig thy­roid. Some web­si­tes state the T4/T3 ratio can vary from 2.3: 1 to 3.8: 1 depen­ding on the lot.  Meets stan­dards of US Phar­ma­co­poeia.  Con­tains Mic­rocrys­ta­lline cellu­lose as a filler. Also may con­tain lac­tose, sodium, chlo­ride, starch, suc­rose or glucose.

(Thanks to Julia Hendryx of the Nether­lands for aler­ting me of this desic­ca­ted thyroid!)

GERMANY’S THYREOGLAND from Munchen (Munich), Kloes­terl Apo­teke, Walthers­trasse, 80337 Muenchen. Phone: 089 54343211

1 grain Armour=100 mcg levothyroxine=40 mcg Thy­reo­gland. Clear gela­tin cap­su­les with loose pow­der inside. May have mag­ne­sium sea­rate as a filler. The 25 mcg tablet spe­ci­fies “25 mcg T4 and circa 6 mcg T3” on the label. Thanks to thy­roid patient Amy for the above information.

Anna sent me this: the Kloes­terl Apotheke (phar­macy) Munich Tel: 0049 (0)89 / 54 34 32 11 offers 4 dif­fe­rent strengths:  25 mcgr T4+5.9 mcgr T3; 50 mcgr T4+11.8 mcgr T3; 75 mcgr T4+17.8 mcgr T3 ; 100 mcgr T4+23.7 mcgr T3. The 75 mcgr one is nearly exactly the equi­va­lent of 2 grains of armour.  Also they add the amino acid tyro­sine in  the cap­su­les as a filler. She advi­ses all Ger­mans to phone them and get the lea­flet.  It’s more or less the only infor­ma­tion about natu­ral thy­roid treat­ment avai­la­ble in Ger­many that one can take to a doctor.

Also avai­la­ble in Ger­many: com­poun­ded pork thy­roid, aka Schilddruesen-Extrakt, in dif­fe­rent grains. Obtai­ned from phar­macy Recep­tura, Altenhoe­fe­ra­llee 3, 60438 Frank­furt am Main, Ger­many.  Phone: +49 – 69/92 880 300 E-Mail: order@receptura.com (not for ship­ment to USA or Canada)  Fax: +49 (0)69 – 92880 333  PC-Fax: +49 (0)69 – 92880 25 460 e-mail: viola.stratmann@receptura.de (thanks to Debby for extra info)

ITALY’s “CINETIC” dried thy­roid, pro­du­ced by Teo­farma srl — Pavia, Italy, contains:

  • Dried Thy­roid
  • Dex­trate
  • dical­cium phosphate
  • mic­rocrys­ta­lline cellulose
  • mag­ne­sium stearate
  • talc
  • san­da­rac resin
  • gum ara­bic
  • gela­tin
  • saccha­rin
  • tita­nium dioxide
  • indi­go­tine (E132)
  • PVP
  • white bees­wax

Active ingre­dients: 75 mg dried thy­roid (equal to 25.5 mcg T4 and 7.5 mcg T3); orga­nic iodine 0.150 mg in thy­roid combination)

Tablets are coa­ted. 75 mg with 50 tablets in blis­ter pack. Pac­kage insert recom­mends 1 – 2 tablets, 3 times a day (though that may end up being dif­fe­rent accor­ding to your needs). They also recom­mend to swa­llow pills with water, without che­wing and without dis­sol­ving. To be sto­red not above 77F/25C

(Thanks to Bea­trice for trans­la­ting and sen­ding the above information!)

NEW ZEALAND’S Whole Thy­roid, which is com­poun­ded desic­ca­ted thy­roid by Phar­ma­ceu­ti­cal Com­poun­ding New Zea­land (PCNZ).   Phone: 09 – 442-1727  Fax: 09 – 442-5851  Email: info@pharmaceutical.co.nz   Web­site: http://www.pharmaceutical.co.nz/

GENERIC NATURAL THYROID (which inc­lu­des one called Qua­li­test) by TIME-CAPS LABS (as of 2009, this one appears to have been dis­con­ti­nued). It con­tai­ned thy­roid pow­der, mic­rocrys­ta­lline cellu­lose, Dical­cium phosphate,  Colloi­dal sili­con dio­xide, Sodium starch gly­co­late, Ste­ric acid, Mag­ne­sium stea­rate, Hydroxy­propyl methyl­ce­llu­lose, and “other ingre­dients” (which we did not know). It was unpo­pu­lar due to being wea­ker. Another gene­ric maker is called URL, or Uni­ted Research Labs, which is a sis­ter com­pany to Mutual Phar­ma­ceu­ti­cal. As of 8 – 07, it’s repor­ted by a patient that Qua­li­test now has the same smell as Armour, which is dif­fe­rent than the lack of smell it had before. As of 2009, it may have also been dis­con­ti­nued.  In 2009, an active gene­ric still around by Major Phar­ma­ceu­ti­cals, simply called Thy­roid, or gene­ric Thy­roid, 31778 Enter­prise Drive; Livo­nia, MI. 48150

NUTRI-MEDS PORCINE or BOVINE, a non-prescription brand of natu­ral desic­ca­ted thy­roid. The por­cine CONTAINS:

  • Whole Des­si­ca­ted Thy­roid Glan­du­lar Concentrate — Porcine
  • Raw Por­cine Thy­roid Tis­sue 130 mg.
  • Dical­cium Phosphate
  • Mag­ne­sium Ste­rate (Natu­ral Table­ting Agent)

Patients report that over-the-counter thy­roid pro­ducts, inc­lu­ding Nutri-meds, are far wea­ker than all the above, so they have to take quite a lot.  Yes, they may be good in a pinch for help. Not sure about long term support.

*****If you find out what the ingre­dients are for BOVINE, please let me know via the CONTACT ME form on STTM. More infor­ma­tion on the use of BOVINE for reli­gious rea­sons here.

THYROLAR: Thy­ro­lar (lio­trix), com­bi­na­tion of synthe­tic T4 (levothy­ro­xine sodium) and synthe­tic T3 (L-triiodothyronine), has not been avai­la­ble since 2009 with no expla­na­tion from Forest Labs. It had a ratio of four parts T4 to one part T3.  No T2, T1 or cal­ci­to­nin. The tablets nee­ded to be kept refri­ge­ra­ted. Patients who’ve tried both Thy­ro­lar and desic­ca­ted thy­roid report the lat­ter gives them far bet­ter results.

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CYTOMEL,  synthe­tic T3-only,  is nee­ded as a treat­ment by those who have a high RT3 and can’t tole­rate the T4 in desic­ca­ted thy­roid until they correct their adre­nals or other issues cau­sing the high RT3.  Made by King Phar­ma­ceu­ti­cals. (There are other gene­ric ver­sions out there of this.)  Cyto­mel ingre­dients include:

Liothy­ro­nine (synthe­tic ver­sion of triio­dothy­ro­nine aka T3)
cal­cium sul­fate
gela­tin
starch
stea­ric acid
suc­rose
talc

CYNOMEL, a Mexi­can ver­sion of T3 only and often pre­fe­rred by patients because it seems to work bet­ter for many, has:

Corn Starch
Cal­cium Sul­fate Dehy­drate
Sugar glass
Talc
Ste­rate acid pow­der
Gela­tin
Ethyl alcohol
Puri­fied water

Want to order your own lab­work to later show your doc­tor??  We have recom­men­ded lab­work with seve­ral lab faci­li­ties, plus two on the top with STTM crea­ted labwork!

Need help inter­pre­ting your lab­work? Go to www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/lab-values/

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INGREDIENT EXPLANATIONS:

Mic­rocrys­ta­lline Cellulose
synthe­ti­cally deri­ved fiber base (simi­lar to plant-derived). It is typi­cally uti­li­zed as a filler in a tablet (to pro­vide volume and bulk).
Dical­cium Phosphate
deri­ved from a mined ore. It is typi­cally uti­li­zed as a bin­der in a tablet (to hold all the ingre­dients during compression).
Colloi­dal Sili­con Dioxide
deri­ved from a mined ore. Typi­cally uti­li­zed as a natu­ral desic­cant in a tablet (to pro­vide barrier from mois­ture and humidity).
Sodium Starch Glycolate
Synthe­ti­cally deri­ved starch mole­cule (simi­lar to potato starch). It is typi­cally uti­li­zed as a disin­te­gra­ting agent in a tablet (to aid in pro­per disin­te­gra­tion of the tablet in the stomach).
Mag­ne­sium Stearate
Deri­ved from a vege­ta­ble source (typi­cally palm oil). It is typi­cally uti­li­zed as a lubri­ca­ting agent in a tablet (to aid in pro­per com­pres­sion of the tablet).
Hydroxy­propyl Methylcellulose
Deri­ved from a plant cellu­lose base (typi­cally cot­ton blend or wood pulp). It is typi­cally uti­li­zed as a gra­nu­la­ting agent in a tablet (to pro­vide bulk and den­sity to the tablet for pro­per com­pres­sion) as well as part of a clear coa­ting solu­tion (with PEG).
Poly­sor­bate 80
An inac­tive water solua­ble emul­sif­ying agent which blends the ingre­dients of mix­tu­res and pre­vents separating.
Stea­ric Acid
Deri­ved from a vege­ta­ble source (typi­cally palm oil). It is typi­cally uti­li­zed as a bin­der in a tablet ( to hold all the ingre­dients during compression).
Car­nauba Wax
Deri­ved from the pores of the lea­ves of the Bra­zi­lian wax palm tree. It is uti­li­zed in the final stage in tablet coa­ting (to pro­vide a com­plete seal).
Pol­yethy­lene Gly­col (PEG)
Synthe­ti­cally deri­ved, water-soluble, waxy solid. It is uti­li­zed with Hydroxy­propyl Methyl­ce­llu­lose as part of the clear coa­ting solution.
Lac­tose Monohydrate
Pre­sent in tra­cea­ble amount as part of Thy­roid USP (diluent)
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