Armour thyroid med anyone?

[linda_loo]

Does anyone take Armour thyroid replacement medication?

Just curious about how much you take and how you found a good dose for yourself. Does your doctor recommend making adjustments yourself?

[SoftyStokes]

Hi, I know this is only my second post, but I understand why you haven't received any responses. Most people are on a synthetic form of the thyroid replacement drugs. I was for 6 years. Then I decided I wanted a scan to check the nodules (just to make sure I don't have cancer like my brother did.) So they put me on 60 mcg of Armour. I was on 125 mcg of Synthroid. I feel a million times better. The natural form works much better for me. I'd say start out real low on the natural form. I started on 25 mcg of the synthetic and over several increases reached 125 mcg. I still felt awful and experienced all of the symptoms. After a month on Armour they are noticably going away. Now if only I could lose this weight...

As for finding a good dose, it's hit or miss. So little is known and since you can't die from it, no one is interested in learning about it. This is how they've done it for years and years, and I guess they think it is good enough.

Not sure what you mean by making adjustments yourself. Maybe we're on something different, but my medicine is prescription only. Neither you nor your doctor should ever adjust your medicine without blood tests 6 weeks after your start your new dose.

Hope this helps.

[linda_loo]

So they put me on 60 mcg of Armour. I was on 125 mcg of Synthroid.

Not sure what you mean by making adjustments yourself.

I took Synthroid for years, prescribed by my endo (my latest dosage was 150 mcg). I still experienced a lot of hypO symptoms and wasn't happy with her treatment and am now seeing a holistic MD, who has prescribed Armour. The script is for 120 mg - 4 30 mg tabs/day... and I forget how he worded this, but I can take up to 6/day as needed. I've been on it for about a month, and don't worry, he and I talked a lot about what that means in terms of observing my symptoms and responding to them. I recently upped myself to 5/day (150mg), because I have been super sluggish, and I am thinking this is a good dose for me. I will have tests again some time in December (will have been on Armour for 3 months), and he jokingly told me "and we'll ignore them." He's joking, because he and I have talked a lot about how he uses the blood tests as a guide, and will listen to my symptoms primarily.

I was just curious about how other doctors went about this dosage determination with their patients.

While we are at it, are you taking any iodine supplements?

[SoftyStokes]

No way! I heard iodine supplements are actually bad for people with hypothyroidism because it actually slows us down even more. And actually, when I eat less salt, I do feel much less tired.

Hmm, a holistic MD. How did you find him?

[linda_loo]

When I was first dx with Hashimoto's, I did a lot of reading at the http://thyroid.about.com/ website, including the section where readers can recommend doctors. It's a long story... this particular doctor was highly recommended, a huge list of patients raved about him. But, he doesn't take insurance, so I opted for the endo. This past winter, I was out with a bunch of women, and a couple others also had thryoid disease and they are Dr. G's patients. They raved about him as well, so we sucked it up and I scheduled an appointment to see him. He is a regular doctor, but has chosen to move in a path that is holistic, I didn't even realize he was holistic until I made the appointment and checked out his website. Turns out, he is my neighbor. That's right, he lives about 5 houses up the hill from me... I just didn't put 2 and 2 together until a few weeks ago. Duh.

He strongly recommends iodine, and feels that Americans in general do not get enough. I take a pretty large dose of Iodoral every day, here's an article (I just googled hypo and iodoral): http://www.vrp.com/art/1766.asp

HTH!

[linda_loo]

Here's an article about iodine and it being important for thryoid health.

http://www.vegansociety.com/html/food/nutrition/iodine.php

ETA: I'm so glad that I read that. I have been avoiding certain foods, because I thought they were bad for the thyroid, but it turns out that their bad effects have much more to do with iodine uptake. Since I'm taking a lot of iodine, I bet I can enjoy those foods again.

Low zinc intakes exacerbate the effect of low iodine intake. Some otherwise healthful foods contain goitrogens - substances which can interfere with iodine uptake or hormone release from the thyroid gland. These foods are generally only a concern if iodine intake is low. Consumption of brassicas, such as cabbage, Brussels sprouts, broccoli and cauliflower, increase the requirements for iodine, especially if consumed raw. Soy beans, raw flaxseed, cassava (used in tapioca), sweet potatoes, lima beans, maize and millet also increase the requirements for iodine.

[SoftyStokes]

Oh ok. I read the book written by the woman who writes the columns on thyroid.about.com. She is the one who said iodine should be limited because it has the opposite effect (makes things worse rather than better) for people with hypothyroidism than those with normal thyroids. She recommends taking a ton of supplements and very restrictive diet, but not iodine. I just could not do her diet though. I have a hard enough time choking down my tiny Armour pill, there's no way I can do those horse pills everyday.

I now take a viactive chew every morning. The B vitamins in it make me feel so energetic now. Just one month ago I froze all of the time, gained weight rapidly and for no reason, and was constantly exhausted. Just by changing to Armour and taking this vitamin, all symptoms are gone. I actually stay awake until 11:30 most week nights. Previously, I was thrilled to make it to prime time at 8:00. Still not losing weight, but I'm hoping that will change soon enough too.

So what all supplements do you take? What sort of diet are you on (not necessarily Atkins, or WW, but more like what types of foods do you and don't you eat?)

I'm doing my best on a low calorie, low fat, low sodium diet, but it's hard. If I follow it, I don't get enough calories (deadly for a hypo person, :rolleyes:) but if I don't, then I eat 600 too many. Aye aye aye!

[Sazoo]

My doctor just put me on a very low dosage of Armour thyroid replacement medication - I think only 30 mg/day, or something like that. It's one tiny pill. I just started it a week ago so I can't really say if I'm noticing any changes yet. This is the first thyroid medication I've taken, too, so I don't have experience with a synthetic replacement med to compare to. My doctor did not say anything about me increasing my dosage on my own, so I'll keep taking what she prescribed until my next appointment when she re-checks my blood work, which is in 3 months.