General Health

Various thyroid medications have been reviewed and approved by the FDA since 1939. Desiccated thyroid is a naturally occurring thyroid hormone derived from pig thyroid glands. Thyroid hormone is used to treat hypothyroidism that results from primary atrophy of the gland, functional thyroid deficiency, or decreased thyroid function secondary to surgery, radiation, or antithyroid agents. The preparation is also used to treat pituitary hypothyroidism, hypothalamic hypothyroidism, and cretinism. Because of considerable variations in levothyroxine (T4) and liothyronine (T3) content, porcine thyroid hormone has been largely replaced in clinical medicine by synthetic levothyroxine, which has a more reliable hormonal content.

Clinical studies show many people do well on the standard treatment of levothyroxine. Yet there is a group of people who despite taking levothyroxine still have hypothyroid symptoms or low levels of T3 even though their TSH levels are within normal limits. Scientists don’t understand exactly why this is. Some speculate it could be due to problems with the way the pituitary gland, thyroid, and hypothalamus—all of which work together to stimulate thyroid hormone production—communicate with each other

Any of the following can increase or decrease the effectiveness of therapy: angina, diabetes, dieting or on a weight loss program, fertility problems, heart disease, high levels of thyroid hormone, pituitary gland problem, previous heart attack, any unusual or allergic reaction to thyroid hormones.

• allergy to pork
• untreated thyrotoxicosis
• uncontrolled adrenal insufficiency can cause adrenal crisis
• extreme caution in patients with an acute myocardial infarction (MI)
• caution in geriatric patients
• symptoms of diabetes mellitus can be unmasked or exacerbated by the administration of thyroid agents.
• long-term use of thyroid hormones has been associated with decreased bone mineral density, particularly in postmenopausal females on greater than replacement doses or in women of any age receiving suppressive doses.

Desiccated thyroid extract (DTE), also known as natural desiccated thyroid (NDT) and porcine thyroid, is a prescription medication made from the desiccated (dried) thyroid glands of animals. DTE drugs, which include the brand names Armour Thyroid, Nature-Throid, NP Thyroid, and WP Thyroid, have been around for more than 20 years and remain popular with holistic, alternative, and integrative physicians as a thyroid hormone replacement treatment for underactive thyroid (hypothyroidism). DTE contains both thyroxine (T4) and triiodothyronine (T3), as well as a hormone called calcitonin and other compounds. A normal human thyroid gland produces T4, T3, and calcitonin as well.

Both Nature Thyroid and Armour Thyroid are DTE from a porcine source they differ in the amount of T4 and T4, and otherwise a significantly similar

DHEA termed Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) is a steroid made by the body and secreted by the adrenal cortex. ACTH is released and stimulates an increase in DHEA. It is then converted into both androgens and estrogens, and thus is often called ‘the mother hormone’.