Armour and T3

[MightyMay]

Hello to you all. My doctor has prescribed me 120mg of Armour and 25 mg of liothyronine. I was previously taking 150 mcg of synthroid. I have not been tested recently but will be getting bloodwork at the end of this month as will be about 8 weeks on this. Could anyone tell me how much totally am I taking and is this equivalent to the synthroid that I was taking. Thank you very much.

[MaisieGray]

120 mcg Armour (2 grains) contains 76 mcg T4 + 18 mcg T3.

Add that to your 25 mcg Liothyronine and that gives you 76 mcg T4 + 43 mcg T3.

If you estimate that T3 is the equivalent of 4 x T4, that gives you 76 mcg + 172 mcg = c248 mcg T4

That's a lot more than your 150 mcg Synthroid, if you use the 4 x multiplier; but different people have different opinions about equivalency. Some use 3 x, which would give you a total of c205 mcg T4

However, it's all so much guesswork, and better to go by how you feel and blood test results now, than reflecting back on what you used to take.

[MightyMay in reply to MaisieGray]

Thank you MaisieGray for responding. I am feeling better, but still feel I need an increase. I still am not sleeping like I should(but it's better) and I have feeling like my body is rocking(like on a boat) although outwardly I'm perfectly still.

[Eyes-wide-shut in reply to MightyMay]

Hi mightymay. First, thank you for your post and I’m glad to hear some of your symptoms are reducing with the new medication regime. I hope it’s ok to ask as I’m struck by you saying that you feel like you’re ‘rocking in a boat. ’ That is exactly how I’ve been feeling since August 2018 and so far not getting any where to get to the bottom of it. I have thyroid eye disease too but the ‘boat’ feeling comes on pretty suddenly, then lasts for several months. The last time (April 2017-Oct 2017). Can I ask what it’s a symptom of and if you could private message me your doctor’s details as my endocrinologist just tells me ‘your bloods are perfect’.

I hope you’re sleep gets better and of course the ‘boat’ feeling. 🙏

[maymay28 in reply to Eyes-wide-shut]

Eyes-wide-shut, I'm still trying to resolve this issue. My doctor says that when I reach my optimal level, this symptom should go away. Right now, we are tweaking my Armour and my t3. I also take adrenavive, enerphos and baicalin for my adrenals.

[MightyMay]

Reallyfedup, thanks for responding. My Free T3 was very low and I was extremely symptomatic, so doctor added T3 to bring up my Free T3. It was really bad.

[Hidden]

I know that what you have been taking is much, much less that what you have been prescribed recently. Perhaps NDT on it's own would work well and then adding just a very little T3. It depends on your reaction to it.

I have no thyroid and feel well on 2.5 grains of NDT every day.

[maymay28 in reply to Hidden]

bunnyjean. I am taking 2 grains of armour and 25 mg of liothyronine(t3). Are you saying that I am undermedicated?

[Hidden in reply to maymay28]

No actually the opposite. T3 is very strong so starting on 25 mcg is a lot for your body to cope with. Did you start adding the T3 slowly and when do you take it. When you have your blood test you will find out also how you feel it takes time. Good Luck

[maymay28 in reply to Hidden]

hello Bunnyjean. I take 12.5 mg in the morning and 12.5 mg at bedtime. I started with 5 mg and built my way up to the 25 mg. I will see what my bloodwork looks like and then tweak my dose accordingly. thank you for your feedback. it is much appreciated.

[Hidden in reply to maymay28]

Hello, perhaps if you took your night dose of T3 in the afternoon T3 sometimes causes difficulty sleeping. Just a thought.

[maymay28]

thanks, reallyfedup. I will try that.

[RockyPath]

Everyone has a different set point for how much hormone they need to feel well, so don't judge what your doctor has prescribed for you against what other people are taking. There are many different variations in the genetics of how our cells use T3, and how they convert T4 to T3 (and for some of us our cells don't convert T4 very well). The fact that your physician has prescribed NDT plus a nice dose of LT3 suggests a suspicion that you were not converting the Sythnroid (T4) adequately.

If you're still feeling poorly with the current protocol, your doctor may take you off of the NDT entirely and just have you take more liothyronine. You'll have to be patient. But if you do settle on working with liothyronine only, then you can make adjustments every few weeks, instead of having to wait two months.

[maymay28 in reply to RockyPath]

thank you for your response RockyPath. I actually don't feel too bad..just not sleeping as well as I should, but had it worse on Synthroid.

[maymay28]

hello reallyfedup. prior to my armour, my doctor gave me naturethroid which was extremely ineffectual and raised my tsh and significantly lowered my free t3 and free t4. this is why he changed me over to the armour with the t3. after my bloodwork, we will probably have to tweak my dosage as I would like to take just the armour. thank you for responding,

[Hidden]

According to this article, adding T3 to NDT makes sense in some cases:

restartmed.com/adding-t3-ndt/