Started Armour, stopped Thyroxine (100mcg) + Liothyronine (10mcg)

[looseley]

I started Armour (30mg x 2 per day) on Saturday and stopped others. Does anyone know if there are any effects from transferring or using Armour? Im feeling very jangly and anxioys, on edge of panic. Also have pounding headache.

[helvella Administrator Thyroid UK]

You do realise that is almost certainly a reduction in dose?

There is no perfect translation between desiccated thyroid and anything else but I would guess that 60 milligrams of Armour is not too far away from 75 micrograms of levothyroxine in real world effect. On that basis you are "down" by 25 mcg of levothyroxine AND 10 mcg of liothyronine.

Rod

[looseley]

I am in a bit of a state now. Sweating, cheeks bright red and constant emptying of bowels! I havw to go into work soon and dont know what to do for the best. I am concerned its an adverse reaction to armour. I also take Venofaxine, Sotolo and Zopliclone.

[Hidden]

Hi Looseley.

What I am doing is gradually introducing the Armour 1/2 grain at a time. It was a while before I could get the levo down by 25mcg. Now I'm trying to get it down by a further 25mcg I'm getting terrible double vision sweating etc etc. It's taken me from February to get up to 3 grains. I think you've given your body a huge shock, and you need to back peddle a bit.

You're also taking other meds which doesn't make things easy, you can of course get nasty side effects from such a cocktail.

From my own experience I've found Armour to be very gentle, and I didn't really feel anything until I got to 2 grains. When I up the dose of Armour I can feel a bit jumpy, and my body pain gets worse for about 5 days.

[looseley]

I telephoned the pharmacist at boots and he said it sounds like im over rather than under! He said I should speak to my gp or endo and get blood test. My gp knows nothing about T3 and Armour and cant get blood tests done for T3 and my endo is just horrible, as I posted on here recently. I havnt taken my armour this morning and dont know what to do for the best. Cant keep taking time off work but im shaking from the inside out and feel terrible. What meds do I take?

[Clarebear]

I wouldn't take any meds today and see how you feel. How were you on the 100mcg of T4 and 10mcg of T3? Xx

[looseley]

Just spoken to a gp at our surgery (mines not in). She knows nothinf about Armour. Ive got to go up for blood test this afternoon, did say they wont do T3 for gp's though! Got app with p tmoz morn. Prescription for diazepam at docs. Gp said not to take any thyroid meds today or any sort, as you suggested clarebear. I was ok on thyroxine and lyothronine, no major efects like this. Still suffered fatigue general anxiety, etc etc symptoms of probably not getting the correct balance of t4 and t3.

[Hidden in reply to looseley]

I'm wondering what effect on your thyroid these other meds have. Have you researched them?

I get diarrhea anyway, I'm convinced it's my low cortisol. Have you had an adrenal stress test? The low cortisol makes me feel overmedicated. Have a read up when you can. When you change your meds or add in more T3 I believe you can react quite badly if your adrenal function is low.

Sometimes it's not at all obvious if you are over or under. I sweat for instance when I'm under, but that can be a sign of being over. Propranolol (Beta Blockers) I believe is good for knocking out too much thyroid meds. You can't take them for long though as they lower your thyroid function.

Good luck with the doctor.

[Clarebear in reply to Hidden]

I agree and think it may be your adrenals. I have experienced similar effects on raising my Armor dose, even when I know I was very hypo. I think the hormones in Armour are possibly absorbed in a slightly different way by the body to the synthetic ones, so may just be giving you a bit of a shock to start with. I also agree about the symptoms over-lapping between hyper and hypo - I get a fast heart rate when over medicated and undermedicated.

I don't think the blood tests will be very useful if they are not testing fT3 though.

xxx

[Hidden in reply to Clarebear]

I'm finding Clarebear, it takes a good five days to settle back down after each rise. I can have a tremour etc, but that goes again. Dr S said I wasn't overmedicated, my pulse was slower if anything.

Do you find if you get extra stressed you get a lot more hypo and terrible brain fog? Thats me today. Even my body odour smells stronger! Yuk! XXX

[Clarebear in reply to Hidden]

The last raise to 3 grains gave me a headache for about 10 days and then I felt better - this was a 1/4 of a grain increase only I was feeling great for a couple of days and then noticed a fine tremor developping, so I have gone back down to 2.75 grains. I am feeling OK but tired, not sure if I need the 3 grains or not.

I have been quite lucky on the stress front recently so not sure about that, but I do seem better able to handle stress than before. xxx

[Hidden in reply to Clarebear]

Hi Clarebear, it's all about fine tuning i guess.

I'm still freezing cold and so sleepy. I can see a change in my face but the old brain is a mess. This afternoon i had to write 3 cheques and an envelope. Had digficulty forming the letters, wrote 6 cheques and 3 envelopes before i got it tight. I ended up feeling sick and shaking. No idea what's going on. Really pleased you're hsving good days! X

[Clarebear in reply to Hidden]

Thanks I'm sorry but I can't remember what dose you are on and how long you have been on it for? xx

[Hidden in reply to Clarebear]

175mcg levo and now 3 grains Armour. Diagnosed aug 2011 dr skinner said i'd been hypo 20 plus years. Saw him last wednesday, confirmed low temp and pulse. Adrenal total 15.3 so very low. No advice on that one! Told me to go up 3 grains. I'm trying to drop more levo but get double vision within hours, weak nausea. I don't believe i'm storing and thyroid meds. X

[gwambygine]

Looseley

I am about to start taking amour, and the advise I have received is to stop all synthetic thyroxine, and start the amour on 25msg per day for a week, then take it up a notch, leave it for 2 weeks and then reassess. Your symptoms sound like you have taken too much too soon. Hoping you find a way to feel better.

[Heloise]

I was trying to find the equivalent of thyroxine to natural desiccated thyroid but ran across this little video you might find interesting.

youtube.com/watch?v=RXnE7tT...(Not working as expected?)