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"Why would I have tremors on 3 capsules of Nutri-Thyroid, and would I do better with Thyro-Gold?" (The role of underlying factors.) January 11, 2010

Q: Here in the UK, we can buy a product named “Nutri-Thyroid.” I started taking 3 capsules, and 3 days later I felt so tremulous that I stopped it. When I bought it, my understanding was that it has no thyroid hormones in it. Are you familiar with Nutri-Thyroid and have you any notion why it caused me to have tremors? Do you think I would also have tremors if I take Thyro-Gold?


Dr. Lowe: I only learned about the product Nutri-Thyroid several days ago. I learned about it from someone I did a long-distance educational consultation with. She lives in the UK. I looked the product up on the Internet and found that advertisements describe it as “thyroxine-free.”

It appears to me that the product is equivalent to Nutri-Meds over-the-counter (dietary desiccated thyroid) sold in the US. Both products are described as “glandulars.” Each capsule of each product contains 130 mg of desiccated thyroid powder from animals in New Zealand. The Nutri-Thyroid ads say that the powder is from cows, but Nutri-Meds sells both cow- and pig-derived desiccated thyroid products.

Judging from Nutri-Thyroid ads stating that the product is “thyroxine-free,” we’re left with the assumption that the product still contains T3, T2, T1, and calcitonin. This is a reasonable assumption in that these hormones are natural to thyroid gland tissue.

As I said, Nutri-Thyroid and Nutri-Meds products contain 130 mg of thyroid powder per capsule. By contrast, Thyro-Gold contains 300 mg of desiccated thyroid powder in each capsule.

In your two-part question, you asked: (1) Why did you feel tremulous on 3 capsules of Nutri-Thyroid, and (2) would you do better taking Thyro-Gold?

First, let me say that your tremors are consistent with thyroid hormone overstimulation. I don’t think, however, that thyroid hormone overstimulation was the sole cause of your tremors. I say this because 3 capsules that contain 130 mg of thyroid powder each are not likely to cause most people to have thyroid hormone overstimulation. I’ve talked with many people who've gotten well on products that contain 130 mg of thyroid powder. Most of them got well by taking between 6 and 10 capsules. This would be 780 mg to 1300 mg of thyroid powder.

Most people who experience symptoms of overstimulation from only 3 of the capsules (390 mg of powder) have one or more underlying conditions that interacts with small doses of thyroid hormone to produce adverse effects. Tremors is one such effect. In my experience, the most common of these underlying conditions are: (1) a cortisol deficiency; (2) nutritional deficiencies, most often involving B complex vitamins; (3) abnormal blood sugar regulation; and (4) the intake of xanthine [pronounced zan’ thēn] chemicals, such as caffeine, theobromine, theophyllin, and pseudoephedrine. (Examples of consumables that contain xanthines are coffee, tea, chocolate, cough medicines, and decongestants.)

The interaction of one of these underlying conditions with your low dose of Nutri-Thyroid most likely produced your tremors. And you could, of course, easily mistake the cause of your tremors as being the 3 caps of Nutri-Thyroid you were taking.

 

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