I have been taking Armour Thyroid for over 18 yrs having it first prescribed by Dr Skinner and ever since by my GP.
I have continued to feel very well on Armour.
I have just been informed that I can no longer have it prescribed by my GP unless I see an endocrinologist and he prescribes it.
My GP is disappointed that he is no longer allowed to prescribe it and I know he would continue to help me get it if he could.
He has said that the wait for an NHS endocrinology referral is very long. Therefore, I need to find a Private endocrinologist who would be willing to prescribe Armour for me.
Obviously, I need to know beforehand of an endocrinologist who would do this because otherwise, I would be spending money needlessly.
I live in the North of England near Manchester but would be willing to travel.
Does anyone know of or has anyone seen an endocrinologist willing to prescribe Armour?
Thank you for any help you can give me?
Written by
chrysanth
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The thing is that some endocrinologists who are happy to prescribe Armour will still only do so privately, so if you go to one privately in the first place it may be even more difficult to persuade him to prescribe on the NHS.
I've seen two endocrinologists since Dr Skinner died. The first was NHS, he didn't believe I had a thyroid problem and I lowered my dose so much to prove him wrong that I became quite ill, but he did say he'd prescribe Armour privately if necessary. The latest one I see privately, he understands that I have a thyroid problem and has increased my dose but still gives me private prescriptions, but NHS blood test request forms which helps. Actually he's happy for me to buy online at the moment because I no longer get on with Armour, ERFA, or Nature-Throid so am taking Thyroid-S.
Both of these endocrinologists are in the South East. If you're stuck I can PM you the good one's details, but you'd have a bit of a trek to see him, similar to mine to see Dr Skinner! Were you at his FTPs in Manchester?
Could you message me details of the consultant who gives you NHS blood test request forms please. I'm resigned to having to pay for my NDT, but could do with saving some money on blood tests if possible. Thanks
Pop them in the freezer. Yours come in a tub? So some have had slightly more on their prescription and freeze them.
What dose do you take?
It makes me so cross that thy don’t want to pay for the ndt you need but are happy to push their toxic poisons when they are incentivised - so push people to have flu jabs and are paid £10.10 for each one! Statins, anti-depressants they have points and more points when patient has repeat prescriptions.
To suggest this dr giving you a private prescription would just put money in his pocket!
How wrong for a dr to monitor you on ndt that you buy yourself!
Thanks so much Chippysue. It's so wrong isn't it, money before health. What the idiots don't realise is it's not cost effective, if I had the right meds the NHS would have been saved one gall bladder op and two colonoscopies not to mention GP visits. Only winner is the drug companies.
I've recently filled a prescription for more than a year's worth of NDT. It's got a long enough expiry date to not require freezing, but if it's safe to freeze then I might try for a larger prescription next time. Any idea how long it will keep safely if frozen in a domestic freezer?
Cannot recall the name ,but a four years ago there was an Asian doctor at the Spire hospital in Elland who was willing to prescribe Armour .He also worked in the NHS in Calderdale .You could try contacting via the Spire.
I saw him ,but he checked everything out including a brain scan ,because my balance was poor, before he prescribed.As it turned out I could not tolerate NDT and I am OK on levo.
No ,I asked for it having read about it on this forum. Not sure that he was a convert to NDT but he did say he was the only one in the District prepared to prescribe it.
I am excited by the prospect of finding him, thank you because its less than an hour's drive from me.
And....I am really hoping that the fact that I have been on Armour for over 18 yrs and been well on it should certainly go a long way in him not objecting to prescribing it. and a well worded letter from my GP?
It sounds promising.
Had you already bern on thyroid treatment before you saw him?
I had only just started on levo but got carried away by all the folk on this forum who found it wanting. Levo caused ,when walking up very steep hills,angina pains which led to having beta blockers and then a while to get a balance between them.
Yes, but a year later was diagnosed type 2 diabetic ,started metformin last week as chemo for lymphoma of the stomach earlier this year has sent the measure haywire and affected heart and liver.
Sometimes difficult to know what affects me as well as ageing into mid 70s!
As a back up option keep in mind many of us but our own from abroad. Privately a prescription for Armour will be quite expensive I think. Even buying from abroad, I take Nature-throid the cheapest US brand, and Armour is double the price or more.
If anyone is interested in taking the removal of their T3 prescription public I have below a FB post by Hypothyroid blogger theinvisiblehypothyroidism.com
which may be of help.
“A BBC journalist is looking for 2 UK hypothyroid patients, to tell their thyroid story about the #andmet3 campaign.
1 person in Brighton that has had T3 withdrawn, affecting their quality of life.
1 person anywhere in the UK who has had their T3 withdrawn.”
I have just had the same conversation with my Gp she is really nice but medicines management have advised I need to see an endocrinologist. I have come off the phone in tears. My experience of endocrinologists is not good. I feel that if armour is now declined. I will become disabled. I could hardly walk or breath when I was taking levothyroxine. I live in the merseyside area. if anybody can message me on a
The problem of NDT not being allowed to be prescribed to patients who have hypothyroidism, lies at the feet of the BTA, I'm afraid. Just as they've done to T3 - withdrawing it from being prescribed and leaving many patients whose lives were upside/down by them withdrawing T3 and NDT, without notice or consultation with those patients who had recovered their health.
The following is from one of TUK's Advisers (now deceased) and despite him requesting a response to his communication, every year for three years, they never did respond.
Thyroiduk have been in correspondence with the Lords to try to rectify this but if we have doctors, who do not have hypothyroidism and who do not or never will be hypothyroid, there's no way forward for us, the patients.
You will have to pay for NDT - some members have to source their own may contact you as no information is permitted on the forum.
The doctor who wrote a rebuttal to the BTA - himself developed an NDT and his wife now runs this part - died through an accident and his wife deals with ordering/supplying theirs. Dr Lowe was also an Adviser to TUK.
So, instead of us being able to get prescribe what our body finds is the best, we have no options - well seen that the majority at the top of the BTA are male, as it is females who are more likely to get hypo and have struggles to recover their health. A majority do fine on levothyroxine but those on this forum do not. The BTA have also withdrawn T3 as well, so the only prescription we'll get is levo.
we d all do really well in some kind of protest group. lie down in the road...and go to sleep
The position re NDT now seems to be that you have to get the authority of a consultant endocrinologist in a NHS establishment but all doctors, including endodos, are effectively prohibited from doing this. In addition, the endo seems to have prove that you will get benefit from NDT that others with a similar thyroid condition will not get. BUT there any many thousands of others in each category of thyroid illness who would benefit in identical ways.
Quite how to get around this enigma is beyond my powers of comprehension.
On a point mentioned above:
DO NOT FREEZE NDT - IT WILL RENDER IT INEFFECTIVE!!!!!!!
Been there, done that.......it was heartbreaking pouring hundreds of tablets down the toilet.
I bet your blood was boiling and I wouldn't be surprised to know that you told both a thing or two about why many are so dissatisfied with the non-knowledge doctors have just as they, themselves, proved to someone who has jumped through all the hoops to prevent us recovering our health by prescribing 'other medications' to try to control symptoms.
I'm glad you were at this meeting as it goes to show what the majority of medical professionals are told, and they believe. It's time their thyroid glands were removed and given no medication until they reversed their opinions.
If everything was perfect in the Thyroid World, we wouldn't need to learn ourselves about how to feel better and restore our health. It should be down to the supposed to be 'experts' who need their thyroid glands removed and see how they get on.
They should also be told to read 'Tears Behind Doors' and maybe all of the trainee endocrinologists and all endocrinologist (especially the BTA et al) might find a crumb of sympathy towards their ailing and desperate patients, denied what could probably restore them back to good health. Instead of relying on payments in kind from Big Pharma.
They are supposed to be 'healers' not dictators and it is time they listened to a portion of society that cannot resolve their symptoms or offered alternatives. Are they not aware some may end their lives' due to continued ill-health and given umpteen other prescriptions to try to control symptoms which actually need T3 in the millions of T3 receptor cells in our body.
Why are these people so stupid and ignorant especially if they've never had a problem with their thyroid glands. Supercilious fools
Just an idea: valid prescriptions issued in one EU country can be used in other EU countries. NDT is sold in several pharmacies in Belgium. Maybe you could order it from there with a valid UK prescription (at least until Brexit). Most doctors prescribing NDT in Belgium are GPs so they don't require it to be an endo.
I know some people in France have been prescribed NDT by a French doctor and had their prescriptions filled in Belgium so you should be able to do it, too, if you could get your GP to renew your prescription. At least that could give you time to find an endo in the UK.
In Actual Fact it is the British Thyroid Association that decided that no longer would NDT be prescribed and just to persuade them that their decision was wrong, very wrong, they decided to ignore all protestations from patients - who had to run around, desperately trying to resolve why such a decision was made in the first place and giving immense pressure to these people who couldn't think of taking anything else as they were 'well again'.
NDT has been used since 1892 without blood tests, only symptoms acknowledged and people were given a trial of NDT (before that they died an awful death). They now didn't die through hypothyroidism which happened before NDT was brought in.
Unfortunately their withdrawal decision caused uproar for those whose health was well due to the NDT and people forced to source their own. A cruel - very cruel decision.
Why does the Association think they know more than us who do not feel better on levothyroxine alone and who even ignore that NDT has been proven safe since its introduction without any blood tests at all and only symptoms considered.
Pharma Companies could see that profits could be made if the switch was made from NDT to levo. After all if levo doesn't resolve symptoms other prescriptions are given to try to control them. I'd like to know if pharmaceutical companies gave monies to the Professional Associations or doctors who only prescribed levo.
Patients aren't made identical and we all differ, so we have to have options given in order to improve our health and relieve all symptoms. Not to prescribe 'other meds' to try to control them but to give optimum doses of whatever thyroid hormones suit the patients.
One of Thyroiduk's Advisers a scientist/doctor/researcher sent the following to the British Thyroid Association and sent them a reminder for three years before his untimely death, but they did not have the courtesy to respond. A bit pig-headed of the Association I think if they didn't want to improve their knowledge.
Would this not fall under a human rights issue? Perhaps a judicial review could be made - especially as the OP is a perfect candidate, having been prescribed NDTs for such a long time only to have the arbitrarily snatched away by 'the system', with no regard to her health.
Or perhaps an equality case could be made, given that 80% of thyroid patients are women?
I've also been wondering if it would be possible to organise buyers clubs in order to buy in bulk and avoid massive shipping fees and import taxes. Has anyone ever tried this?
I cannot answer your question but agree with you that if we've been prescribed and then its withdrawn or if not improving on levo, we should be entitled to trial options. We are limited now to levo only instead of T4/T3 or T3 alone or NDT unless an Endocrinologist prescribes. Many have made appointments in the hope of getting alternatives prescribed, but been refused.
The fact that the BTA has made False Statements re NDT which is scandalous to say the least, considering it was prescribed since 1892 and saved many lives, should still be prescribed and the professionals not threatened with their licence being removed..
If they have to give 'misinformation' in order to withdraw something used/prescribe since 1892 where there's certainly 'proof of the pudding' and has allowed many recover their health.
Did no one question this stance? Or was it a 'Delphi'd meeting', where the outcome was prearranged and only supporters of one viewpoint where allowed to speak or be in charge?
Sadly, none of this is by accident. It is entirely by design. Big Pharma wants us all on meds for profit and control. Looking at what is happening in the world to our civil liberties in general, it's easy to see what is really going on.
What is really worrying is the move towards the NWO seems to be picking up the pace of late.
I was referred to Countess of Chester hospital and after only three months have seen a consultant and been put on a trial for armour as I have been on Levi for years after armour became unstable.
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