For patients on desiccated bovine thyroid hormone therapy, how do you approach transitioning to synthetic thyroid hormone derivatives?
Answer from: at Community Practice
The US Pharmacopoeia specifies that a1 grain (65 mg) dose of desiccated thyroid have approximately 38 mcg of T4 and 9 mcg of T3 (Blumberg et al., PMID 3598896). If T3 is approximately 3-4 times as metabolically potent as T4, then 65 mg of desiccated thyroid has about 38 + (4 x 9) = approximately 75 ...
There are no FDA approved bovine desiccated thyroid. The only form that is available at a pharmacy is porcine desiccated thyroid. The bovine desiccated thyroid supplements purchased over the internet/health food stores do not have any significant L-thyroxine (T4) or Levothyronine (T3). Just stop the...