Thyroid Desiccated Dosage
This dosage information may not include all the information needed to use Thyroid Desiccated safely and effectively. See additional information for Thyroid Desiccated.
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Usual Adult Dose for:
Usual Pediatric Dose for:
Additional dosage information:
Usual Adult Dose for Hypothyroidism
Initial: 30 mg orally once a day on an empty stomach. Increase by 15 mg per day every 2 to 3 weeks to achieve normal serum T3 and T4 levels.
Maintenance: 60 to 120 mg per day.
Usual Adult Dose for Thyroid Cancer
In follicular and papillary carcinoma of the thyroid:
Doses larger than the ones suggested for replacement therapy (30 mg to 120 mg per day) are required . TSH should be suppressed to low or undetectable levels.
Usual Adult Dose for TSH Suppression
Doses higher than those produced physiologically by the gland results in suppression of the production of endogenous hormone.
Iodine (131) uptake is determined before and after the administration of exogenous hormone. A 50% or greater suppression of uptake indicates a normal thyroid-pituitary axis and thus rules out thyroid gland autonomy.
Usual Pediatric Dose for Hypothyroidism
Administered orally on an empty stomach:
0 to 6 months: 4.8 to 6 mg/kg/day
6 to 12 months: 3.6 to 4.8 mg/kg/day
1 to 5 years: 3 to 3.6 mg/kg/day
6 to 12 years: 2.4 to 3 mg/kg/day
>=12 years: 1.2 to 1.8 mg/kg/day
Renal Dose Adjustments
Data not available
Liver Dose Adjustments
Data not available
Dose Adjustments
Start at 15 mg orally once a day in patients with longstanding myxedema.
In the treatment of hypothyroidism dosage adjustments should be made within the first four weeks of therapy, after proper clinical and laboratory evaluations, including serum levels of T4, bound and free, and TSH.
Precautions
Thyroid hormone preparations are generally contraindicated in patients with diagnosed but as yet uncorrected adrenal cortical insufficiency, and untreated thyrotoxicosis.
The use of thyroid hormone in the therapy of obesity, alone or combined with other drugs, is unjustified and has been shown to be ineffective. Neither is their use justified for the treatment of male or female infertility unless this condition is accompanied by hypothyroidism.
In infants, excessive doses of thyroid hormone may produce craniosynostosis.
Extreme caution is recommended when using thyroid hormones in patients with cardiovascular problems.
Thyroid hormones should be used with caution in patients in whom there is strong suspicion of thyroid gland autonomy, because the exogenous effects will be additive to the endogenous source.
Dialysis
Data not available
Other Comments
Myxedema coma is considered a medical emergency and it should be treated accordingly. Oral thyroid therapy should be resumed as soon as the clinical situation has been stabilized and the patient can take oral medications.
A grain (65 mg) of Armour(R) thyroid provides 38 mcg levothyroxine (T4) and 9 mcg liothyronine (T3).
Normal TSH and T4 levels are usually observed following 2 to 3 weeks of adequate therapy.
During radioisotope scanning procedures, liothyronine (T3) may be used in preference to levothyroxine (T4) since induction of hypothyroidism in those cases is more abrupt and can be of shorter duration.
