Levo with some Armour

I was wondering if anyone on here takes Levo with some Armour. My endo suggested I try it instead of Levo with Cytomel. I have not been able to get to a good place with levo and cytomel and it's been around two years or so. Also I seem to get heart palps with cytomel.

[Hidden]

Where are you blood test results with the ranges people need to read these to respond effectively. How are when are you taking your medication?

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

Just got labs done 2 days ago waiting for them.

[Deb59]

Hi bitedust, my daughter takes a combination of NT and thyroxine. She has been on just Thyroxine; T3 and Thyroxine and now NT and Thyroxine. This seems to suit her as she use to get heart palpitations with the T3 and would swing from hyper to hypo and feel very unwell at times.

She has tried so many dosages over the years and the combination of NT and thyroxine is kinder to her body and she is more stabilised and is feeling much better. It seems that she needs a small dose of the t3. It's been a case of trial and error and blood tests. She takes 1.5 grains NT and 100 mcg thyroxine. Good Luck 😊

[Hidden in reply to Deb59]

Hi Deb59,

I heard Armour can be gentler with the t3 so maybe I might give it a shot if I can’t dial in the cytomel. I’m only taking 15mcg of cytomel with my 175 levo so I’m guesssing I would need 1 1/4 grains of NDT to get 13mcg of t3.? Your daughter sounds like she is doing great on that combo. I wonder if there are any benefits of having the calcitonin and the t2 and t1 that NDT provides.

Thanks

[MaisieGray]

If I were swapping from T4/3 combo to an NDT, I would start with the NDT alone otherwise how will you know if that does or doesn't suit you. Then if you need to tweak the T4/3 ratio of the porcine thyroid, you can do so from a straightforward baseline. If you start with NDT plus T4 and it's not right for you, you won't know why - too much T4 in the NDT, ideal T4 in the NDT but too much extra Levo, not enough T3, or what.

[Hidden in reply to MaisieGray]

Hi MaiseGray,

I known NDT can be tricky and it contains more t3 than what our thyroids would naturally profduce,. I have heard of others taking some t4 with it to balance it out. I’ve experienced higher free t4 with cytomel and it backfired so I’m aware having higher free t4 on any t3 is not good.

I was reading the thyroid solution by Dr. Arem, he uses a little Armour added to their levo if patients are not doing well on cytomel.

Thanks

[MaisieGray in reply to Hidden]

Every form and combination of exogenous thyroid hormones have proven less than perfect for some people; and every form and combination of exogenous thyroid hormones have proven perfect for some other people. That some people need to tweak any one of them doesn't necessarily mean others do. That you had one experience with synthetic combo T4/T3 doesn't necessarily mean you will have the same experience with desiccated porcine or bovine thyroid, nor vice versa. I used to take Naturethroid and then swapped to ThyroidS purely for cost reasons; and didn't have any trickiness, for instance; whilst some people just can't get along with it at all. I'm not familiar with Dr Arem, but there is no absolute logic that I can follow, to " a little Armour added to their levo if patients are not doing well on cytomel." If he is the Dr Arem operating in Texas, he actual writes that "In many instances, you will need an individualized T4 and T3 combination treatment that will reverse your symptoms and maintain your T4 and T3 levels in perfect balance" which would seem to contradict a formulaic response of (always) adding Armour to Levo if not doing well on cytomel. However, as with all things medical, we each must do what seems best to us at the time.

[Hidden in reply to MaisieGray]

I was also reading Amy Myers website and she takes NDT but has to add some levo to balance the ratios because the T3 ratio in pigs is higher than humans so I’m assuming that would be the case with me. Im wondering if NDT is better than synthetics and not just because some swear by it but being it’s natural and contains t3 t1 and calcitonin? Thanks