What You Need To Know About Your Thyroid Medication

Many frustrated patients with hypothyroidism ask me if they can stop taking their thyroid medication, a.k.a. thyroid hormone, or if they can change their medication form. This is something to discuss with the prescribing doctor but I can offer some general information about the medication.

There are four types, or categories, of thyroid meds a doctor may prescribe. How you react to a given medication can offer insight into the nature of your hypothyroidism and how to maximize treatment efficacy.

The categories include:

Synthetic T4 (Synthroid, Levothyroid, Levoxyl, Unithroid, Levothyroxin, L-Thyroxine): If a synthetic T4 works and you're doing great, you probably are one of the minority (10 percent) of hypothyroid sufferers who does not have Hashimoto's Thyroid. If the effect is less than desirable it suggests there is more to your problem than mere thyroid hormone deficiency.

Synthetic T3 (Cytomel): If Cytomel works best, this suggests that there is a dysfunction in how your body converts T4 to T3. T4 needs to be converted into T3 to be metabolically active. Cytomel bypasses the step. If, however, Cytomel makes you feel worse, it may mean that an excess of T3 has caused certain cells to develop a resistance to it.

Synthetic T3 & T4 (Thyrolar, Liotrix)

Bioidentical T3 & T4 (Armour, Westhroid, Nature-Throid, Dessicated Thyroid): If a bioidentical thyroid hormone combo causes your condition to worsen, it may be because you have Hashimoto's—the bioidentical hormones can provoke an autoimmune attack.

Even across a category your results may differ because brands made by different manufacturers use different drug colorings, binders and fillers. Your body may tolerate some better than others.

In general, you can be best served by working with a doctor who takes a flexible approach to find the thyroid medication that fits your individual needs. Remember, however, in up to 90 percent of hypothyroid cases there are often many other factors influencing hypothyroidism. Thyroid hormone alone is most likely not going to tackle all the symptoms.