Anyone on NDT found that they didn't get on with Armour ?

[jasperc163]

but are ok with one of the other brands? Just considering if it is worth asking endo for an alternative as some improvement but worsening headaches (my main problem!)

thanks

[LouiseRoberts]

There are a lot of these people - equally those who prefer Armour over other brands.

You may be interested in Clarebear's Armour diaries..

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu......

L

xx

[Clarebear in reply to LouiseRoberts]

I was going to say that I suffered really badly with headaches in the early days with Armour. It did take quite a long time for md to get used to it. How long have you been on Armour and what dose ard you on? X

[jasperc163 in reply to Clarebear]

Hello Clarebear, I have read many of your original posts. Glad you got there in the end! I am really struggling as I have headaches all the time (pre starting any thyroid treatment) and had borderline results (tsh around 5, ft3 at bottom or just under range, fairly low ft4) and still dont know if the headaches are a thyroid symptom for me or not. I had to give up on the erfa after a week as the leg pain was excruciating! Back on armour but can't seem to recover from the change (unless it was a coincidence and i was going to go backwards again anyway).Now been on NDT for just over 2 months and currently taking 1gr though endo says i can increase. No blood test recently so hard to be sure what is going on but equally not obvious hyper symptoms - pulse and blood pressure stable. Cant work out if i am increasing too slowly or not fast enough! How long did it take you to increase your dose? Did you get any muscle pain symptoms in addition to the headache? I assume you didnt have headaches before the ndt? many thanks for any advice

[Clarebear in reply to jasperc163]

Hi - I did have headaches before starting NDT, they weren't as bad and were right on the top of my head. My undertreated/untreated headache is really hard to describe, but I can now recognise it I think.

The headaches on increasing NDT were really bad to start with. I asked a question about headaches:

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

I can remember it being really bad and having to go home from work to lie down, but think I reduced slightly and waited another week before trying the increase again. Think that worked and headache gradually went.

It took me about a year to raise my dose to 2.25 grains, which is roughly what I am on now, although I did try going higher. Gradually each small increase became easier to tolerate, although I did adopt CT3M to help with my adrenals. Think this made a big difference. For me it was a very, very slow process but worth it in the end, as I feel pretty much back to normal now

Good luck and let me know how you get on. xx

[jasperc163 in reply to Clarebear]

Thank you Clarebear. I am having another blood test tomorrow to try find out whether i am under or over! I feel jittery at the moment but exhausted and my pulse and bp are still normal. It's so hard to know which way to go - I tried to go up a bit last week and have gone back to 1gr but dont feel any better! In 2.5 months i have had 2 weeks where i felt some improvement (still had headache but less achey/shakey and more energy. This was at about 6 weeks on 3/4gr. since then it's been downhill. Anyway thanks for the link to your old post - as you say it took you a long time to get your dose up.

[jasperc163 in reply to Clarebear]

Clarebear - sorry can i just ask you. did you have any problems with joint pains (ankles, feet, hands etc) as you raised the dose? Trying to get up to to one gr but immediately notice it getting worse. Had some blood results from 3/4gr and whilst my TSH is down I understand that the FT3 is the issue once on Armour and it is still not much higher than pre treatment and nowhere near top half of range. So I imagine i need to keep going - just hard when getting such odd pains (i tried Erfa a while back and the leg pains on that were unbearable so i had to give up after a week!)

TSH 0.49 (0.3-6)

FT4 11.9 (7.5-21)

FT3 4.3 (3.8-6)

many thanks

[shaws Administrator]

Maybe Nature-throid would suit you as its hypoallergenic.

[Hidden]

Dr Skinner told me the headaches were due to the T3 element in Armour and to hang in there. The headaches went by the 3rd week.

[jasperc163]

Thank you everyone. yes I was wondering about Nature-throid Shaws.

Helcaster - that's very interesting. I was on a bit of synthetic T3 before this but i dont know if that makes a difference? were yours noticeable and did they increase again if you increased dose? I've been on it about 3 weeks but not made it past 3/4gr. It doesnt take much to make my headache worse but of course i am hoping that they will improve on the NDT!

[susymac]

I also had severe headaches when I switched to armour from Erfa, didnt know if I was coming or going and it messed up my dosage as well, as I couldnt work out if I was on too much or too little. It did pass in time and Im fine now.

[jasperc163]

Thanks Susymac - did you stay on Armour then? Easier to try Erfa?

[jasperc163]

Hi again, since my original post I made done progress on amour with energy levels etc but still worried it was making my constant headache worse. I started on Efra 2 days ago but so far feel back to being achey and tired. I hear differing opinions re whether there is usually a transition period if moving from one ndt to another?

Thanks

[jasperc163]

thanks everyone - somehow forgot to respond a month back! Now back on armour but doing much worse and running out of ideas! Finding it v hard to tell if i am under or over medicated. Currently on 1gr but feeling awful (the good 2 weeks i had were when on 3/4gr but that was over a month ago). The 1 week trial of erfa (couldnt continue due to leg pain) seems to have screwed any progress up. I have a worse headache (but had headache pre thyroid treatment so this could be a red herring). pains in legs and hands (but nowhere hear as as bad as when on erfa), pains in back of neck. Pulse and blood pressure stable - would i def have these if going hyper? thank you

ps meant to say. I tried T3 before (alongside thyroxine and alone) and didnt feel great on it but no indication at the time that it made my headaches any worse

[jasperc163]

sorry just bumping this as for some reason it didn't show up yesterday..