Q: I just got some Novothyral 100 and 1 tab is supposed to be equivalent to 100mcg. But I’m confused as to the conversion between T3 and T4. How does this 100mcg in this tab equate to 100mg of T3? I’m confused.
A: So I take it Novothyral – a brand from your country – is T4? If so, T4 is about four times weaker than T3. So that means that 100 mcg of T4 would be equal to 25 mcg of T3. But keep in mind that there is no measurement for thyroid drugs in the MG range. They are all MCG (or micrograms). 100 milligrams of any thyroid drug would kill you. After all, you wouldn’t take 1500 ephedrine tablets at a time, would you? So 1 mg = 1000 mcg. Personally, if you’re talking T4, you’ll want to take 100mcg as a start and work up to 400mcg. If it’s T3, however, then you’ll take 25mcg and maybe work up to 50 or 75mcg. I do know people who have taken 100mcgs/ day, but that usually comes with chest pains and rapid heart rate, along with muscle loss.
You have to be careful. Also, where do you see yourself in 5 years? If you don’t see yourself on the pro stage in 5 years, don’t even mess with it – diet longer and harder, or keep the doses moderate and get out of there after 30 days of 25mcg to 50mcg – otherwise you’ll be on it for life. I do know from personal experience that even after years of being on cytomel, you can get off and normalize, but it takes about 2 years of being slightly to more than slightly fat. It also takes a lot of diligence in terms of diet.
Had you just started with a stricter diet, and been more disciplined, you wouldn’t potentially be facing that. So if you’re confused about what is T4 and what is T3 in another country where trade names vary, look for the following: T4 = Levothyroxine and T3 = L-triiodthyronine.
