Can anyone tell me if Synthyroid, Levoxyl etc are not better than Armour? If you ahve a personal experience using Armour v/s Synthyroid, please do share. I would like to try Armour before I lose all the hair I have!!!!
Armour for Hypothyroid?
- Posted:
- 3+ months ago by papoo
- Topics:
- levoxyl, hashimoto's disease, hypothyroidism - after thyroid removal, hypothyroidism
Details:
Responses (3)
Papoo, All I can tell you is that we're all different. I started out on brand name Synthroid after TTE for six months with steady increases and my levels were flat. My body was not absorbing the synthetic drug. I switched over to Armour and within 12 days I could feel a difference. I will warn you that as a more natural formula the Armour is much more sensitive to other changes in your body - stress, diet, etc. so you may have your dosage adjusted more frequently - I take 120 and 150 every other day. It has been 17 months since my surgery and I feel pretty stable as far as my thyroid replacement therapy. I did have quite a bit of trouble the first 6-8 months with hypoparathyroidism because of the disturbance to my parathyroid glands. So now I have to be extremely careful with allergy and cold medications with ephedrine and pseudoephedrine because they bring on extreme hypoparathyroid symptoms that can make me feel like I'm losing my mind after a few days.
How are your T3, T4 and Total TSH levels on the Synthroid? How long have you been taking? Dosage? What does your endo think about changing you to Armour?
~Amie
I have been on Synthroid and had negative effects from the start. Dosage was lowered and became tolerable for a little while but eventually was having debilitating headaches and dizzyness. I was switched to Armour and have found it much better for my body to handle. Everyone is different but I am definately NOT suffering with side effects as I was with the Synthroid.
I had my thyroid out 11 years ago and was prescribed Levoxyl. I had complained to my various doctors that I did not feel like myself - tired and depressed, but because my levels were in the normal range my doctors ignored my symptoms siting I had 3 kids and was a busy mom.
Last year I walked into an endocronologist's office and insisted on trying ArmourThyroid. He was open to the idea and I was feeling better within a week of taking it. Unfortunately it seems that production of Armour Thyroid has either slowed down or has completely halted. I am now trying a combination of Synthroid and Liothronine. Liothronine has T3 in it which Synthroid and Levoxyl do not have. Many doctors feel we don't need T3 since our cells can manufacture it from T4 (which is what is in Synthroid and Levoxyl). However, a normal functioning thyroid produces T3 as well as T4.
If you are having symptoms of hypothyroidism on your current medication insist your doctor try other alternatives, even if your levels are in the "normal" range. Don't waste 10 years like I did!
Lrt,
I was in your shoes, scrambling to find a pharmacy with enough Armour to get me through the next 6 weeks. I found out that another pharmacy I use for some other meds can compound basically the identical formula as Armour and that they are not lacking any ingredients. I did need to get a new prescription from my endo with a citation that compounding was acceptable. So it's worth researching whether you have an apothecary or compounding pharmacy in your area.
~Amie