Is it necessary to increase your armour dosage?

[hypossee]

can anyone stay only on 1 grain of armour and feel perfectly fine? I hear everyone saying that you have to change your dosage every 2 weeks but is it really necessary?

[jamesal0]

I sit on about 1 1/2 grains most days. I add only when my temp falls below 36.6C . How are you feeling, anxiety, dry skin/hair, temp, healing up after minor cuts, propensity to bleed when you get a paper cut, kidney function, brain fog, shortness of breath, cold feet/hands etc. If they are all normal it sounds like you are dosed correctly.

J

[hypossee in reply to jamesal0]

thanks for your response jamesl. I get brain fog on 60 mg as well ( probably because it had only been 2 weeks) but my brain fogged has definitely increased since i started taking 90. also I can't sleep so easily now but have to take naps every evening and yes I think there's some hair loss. I never have gotten cold on any medicine on any dosage. Prior to taking 60mg of armour I was taking synthroid 88mg (if it helps to figure out) . thanks again!

[Marymary7 in reply to hypossee]

If you check on the forum I think you will find that Armour is said to be not any good now since they were taken over and reformulated.

[LAHs in reply to Marymary7]

Baloney!

[shaws Administrator in reply to Marymary7]

There had been a problem in the past but that's been rectified.

[calgal in reply to Marymary7]

I have been taking Armour for years and feel normal on it. After a week of first taking it, my brain fog lifted. Amazing.

[LAHs]

Basicallly yes, it will depend upon how you feel. Just recently I lost some weight and that rendered me a little overmedicated on 1.5 grains (Armour). Just out of curiosity I reduced my dose to 1 grain and I feel normal again. Now, I am only 4 weeks in, I don't know if I will feel normal beyond 6 or 8 weeks but if I do I will get a blood test just to make sure my change didn't throw anything out of kilter, and just continue on the 1 grain or up the dose accordingly.

Oh and no we don't change every 2 weeks, that's if you are just starting out and trying to find your optimal dose. It all boils down to how you feel. If you feel lousy, add a quarter grain and assess your symptoms, if you still feel lousy but slightly better keep going with the increase until you feel normal - it really does work, it just takes a bit of manic obsessive attention for a while!

[jamesal0]

Make sure you take plenty of magnesium and B12 - it helps with nerve stuff and brain fog. Also after I started testosterone sups my brain fog and poor sleep went away. I take my base load (1grain) of NDT at 10pm and sleep off the T3 stimulant effect. I also found slow release NDT (contains Methocel) helped me at first but these days I seem to tolerate normal NDT. Naps are a sign you are low thyroid - take an extra 1/4 -1/2 grain (at the time) if you feel like napping. You need more when you are physically active or when it is winter. You say you arnt getting cold - this is good, you are converting the T4. I'm ok now, but I had 12 months were I basically seemed to live on the T3 part of NDT alone and seemed to pool the T4 part until felt really sick.

[helvella Administrator Thyroid UK]

Unfortunately there are several places which seem to state as some sort of fact that everyone needs at least three grains, and you should get from starting dose to three grains by increasing every two weeks.

My view is:

No-one knows how much you will need before you get there;

Not everyone needs three grains - quite likely most people don't need three grains;

There is no reason whatsoever to increase a dose if it is not indicated by how you feel, symptoms, etc.;

There is no reason whatsoever to increase doses according to some arbitrary timetable;

In someone with remaining thyroid function (e.g. not after total thyroidectomy), the amount needed will depend on that remaining function which is an unknown. We can never really be sure.

Sorry to say that the message about desiccated thyroid dosing sometimes appears as hidebound and rigid as the medical establishment's view of levothyroxine monotherapy and dosing by TSH alone.

Take home message (in my best patronising words ): Everyone is an individual and we are all different.

[flobaby in reply to helvella]

Hear hear! I screwed myself up royally by taking it to 3 grains (after reading on a flagship thyroid site that 3 grains is the common normal amount for adults). Now that I've done this properly (slowly, with the help of an Endo), I wish there was more talk of dosing per body weight so you know what a full replacement amount should be for your weight first, as a framework in which to raise, rather than expecting some arbitrary dose goal.

[sulamaye]

No it's not at all necessary nor advised unless your symptoms worsen, people increase because 1 grain doesn't make them symptom free,met is so easy to go over and feel bad because of being over medicated,miso if you feel good on one grain STAY ON IT.

[Glynisrose]

If you feel fine there is nothing wrong in staying on your present dose.

[Scazzoh]

Hypossee, I had a tremor until last week. I think I was feeling the effect of being on 1 3/4 grains five weeks ago. I dropped down to 1 1/2 grains at that point and the tremor has finally disappeared. I can feel my symptoms slowly subsiding on that dose, even though my T3 is half way through the range at this point.

[Hidden]

I found this post very useful. I was also wondering how people get to such large doses. I started on Erfa 1st October last year (2016) and had a very rocky journey initially as it transpired I did have adrenal issues, but have had great help from a few people. It was only in late December I finally got to 1 grain, though I'm still not symptom free but just taking it slowly for now. I think I've felt so under-the-weather for so long, its hard to decide whether you're actually feeling better. I would say I'm definitely getting a tiny bit more energy during the day, though not sure if thats also down to the barage of supplements I'm also taking.

[TSH110]

I take thyroidS. I am unlikely to have any thyroid activity as it shrivelled up to a mere crisp of a thing that endo said was not likely to be functional. I was fine on 1.25 grains for ages then suddenly I needed to up it to 2.25 grains but have stayed at that for ages. I just go on how I feel and I feel pretty normal. I used this for advice on dosing and how to get it just right for you. It is very informative.

tpauk.com/main/article/trea...

[judburke]

I think the dosage needed is personal to each of us and it can depend on a few things: How bad your thyroid is, are vitamins and minerals at optimal levels and whether there is a gut absorption problem caused by Coeliac or taking certain stomach drugs such as PPI's.

I have been slowly increasing my dose from 1 grain in the morning and 1/2 in the evening to 1.5 and 1 - I did this by increasing a 1/4 in the morning for two weeks and then 1/4 in the evening. Whilst doing this I have been taking my temperature and resting pulse several times a day to note the improvements. My resting pulse has improved from 58 to 63 and my temp now makes it to nearly 37 most days and I feel warm! I am holding at this level 2.5 for a few weeks and will get a blood test to see what the levels are.