Sorry if asking questions that have already been asked here...
In Dr. Hertoghe's practice in Brussels, they are now prescribing Erfa as that is considered "the closest to old Armour" (message that I got in one email from the clinic). Is there general consensus that Armour is no longer working, and that Erfa is preferable? Armour certainly is still expensive enough to make you think it's still working...
theCat346, I don't think there is any consensus that Armour is no longer working or that Erfa is preferable. Different brands suit different people.
I hope Hertoghe are prescribing Erfa as well as Armour. If not, it suggests they have made a purchasing decision favourable to the clinic rather than patients.
When I contacted them, a year ago, they said at his clinic that "Erfa is just like old Armour", and only prescribed Erfa (as far as I know). I chose not to go there (for a number of reasons), so I would not know if that is still the case...
thecat, one difference is the amount of active hormone each contains.
1 gr. Erfa has 35mcg T4 and 8mcg T3.
1 gr. Armour has 38mcg T4 & 9mcg T3.
Clutter, I'm guessing you got those T4 and T3 figures from the TUK website, and I believe they were indeed the figures Erfa used to quote. However, I have some 30mg (presumably half grain) Erfa and am most surprised to discover that there is absolutely no information on the bottle label about T4 / T3 content.
This led me to go to Erfa's online info, where I felt sure it would be easily found. I may have missed it, but I've looked quite carefully and nowhere can I see any figures quoted for T4 / T3 content of any of their tablet doses. Can you?
RedApple, no I can't see anything on the webpage. How peculiar!
I got the info from stopthethyroidmadness.com/a...
I agree about Thiroyd, it costs almost nothing compared to prescription NDT (at least in Belgium...).
I started with Erfa some weeks ago whilst I was in Canada. I have now got private prescription but cannot get any - either the company doesn't respond to my e mails or they only supply medical establishments. I like being on Erfa but I am finding it hard to get any. If you find a place let me know.
On the subject of Belgium, does anyone know if you can purchase Erfa on line there but it must be reputable. Get in touch privately
Sandcastle... did you get a reply for an Erfa source? If you have a prescription, there is a Canadian pharmacy that carries Erfa. It is all quite legit and they do require a valid rx. You just choose your order (they limit you to 300 at a time)... go thru all the steps then scan and email a copy of your rx to them. I am in the US and did have to pay cash (not go thru my insurance company).
** I had my doc write my rx as follows... 30 mg of desiccated thyroid 3 times per day. This was so I could fill it with whatever brand I was able to get.
I don't know whether my reply was sent nut here goes:
I got in touch with Canadian pharmacy and I could only get 100, I think it is because I live in UK. Because I wanted it urgently it would have been expensive to wire money. Thanks for getting in touch. Perhaps you could privately mail me the name of pharmacy as it won't be as urgent next time I order. Thank you
Old ERFA was like old Armour. The new ERFA is nowhere as good as the old ERFA.
But, what do doctors care if any of it makes us well or not - so long as it gets the figures right.
I started with Armour about 14 years ago. It was then the 'old' Armour. I was good on it. A few years back I tried Erfa and I was good on that. Then I could no longer get Erfa so went back to the 'new' Armour and was equally good on that.
Armour seems to be working just fine for most folks. After it was reformulated back in 2008/2009, users had problems but it seems to have been reformulated again (especially the lower dosages, under 1 grain) and people who had trouble with the reformulated Armour are doing well on the current Armour.
As for Erfa?? Erfa changed their mfg facilities from Belgium to Spain and ever since, there have been complaints. The STTM website even shows how different the 'new' Erfa is to the 'old' Erfa. The 'new' is a shiny tab with spots and a deeper indentation of the letters/numbers on it.
I used to use the old Armour and changed to Erfa when Armour was reformulated and there were shortages. Erfa was... WAS.... just like the old Armour but the 'new' Erfa left me dizzy/light-headed and lethargic within just a few days. I have since changed to WP and life is good again.
Bottom line... if I had to choose between the two.. Armour or Erfa... if they were my only choices, I would choose Armour. But I would make sure to get the Armour in the smaller dose size, regardless of my daily dosage requirements. In other words, if my dosage is 2 grains of NDT, I would request that my prescription be written for 4 - 30 mg tabs per day or 2 - 1 grain tablets per day. We should be splitting up our dosage into smaller increments spread thru out the day anyway.
Interesting! So you would not recommend anything above 60 mg or 1 grain, that's it? Leaving 15 and 30 mg pills?
Just my personal opinion. I don't know if it has to do with the fillers/binders in the higher dosage tabs or what but... the chatter is that most are happier with the lower dose tabs regardless of what their daily dosage/requirements are.
Depending on your daily dosage, I think the 15, 30 and 60 mg NDT tabs seem to be absorbed better and I would order or have the doc write my script accordingly in one of these increments.
Just to clarify, I am not saying that anyone shouldn't be taking more than 1 grain per day. In fact, a lot of folks find that a dosage of 3 - 5 grains per day is optimal for them.
Thanks for everyone's input!
Endocrinologist changed my NDT Brand -Help ! 
need advice on NDT
switched from Armour to Erfa, not sure what to think
