Switching from armour to levo

[Ajva]

My functional thyroid Dr has decided to put me on 50mg of levothyroxine due to the issues I am having on armour 1 grain with my heart racing.

Has anyone got any advice doing this transition? I would prefer to me on a combination t3 and t4 but maybe I should trial the t4 first then do bloods to check conversion?

I have never really been on levothyroxine due to taking it a few times and it making me faint. At the time it was unknown I had pots (a condition that affects the heart rate). So now I am on heart medication I hope I can tolerate levo better.

[SlowDragon Administrator]

Previous post shows you were under medicated

Perhaps reduce to 1/2 grain initially and add 25mcg levothyroxine

Which brand of levothyroxine have you got

Which other brand of levothyroxine have you tried

Do you have autoimmune thyroid disease also called Hashimoto’s diagnosed by high thyroid antibodies

Pots and Hashimoto’s can be linked

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/260...

Have you had coeliac blood test done

Are you on strictly gluten free diet

[Ajva in reply to SlowDragon]

Yes I have hashimotos. I am strictly gluten free. I only ever took 1 25mg teva and 1 75mg teva.

I now have two months worth of 50mg teva. I also have 4 months worth of mercury 25mg from the beginning of the year. So all in date.

To be honest I am so confused what to do. The armour is helping the fatigue but I am getting a huge amount of hair loss and the heart rate issues. I don’t know whether I need to sit at 1 grain for a few more months to see if my body adjusts or not. If it doesn’t then either up 1/4 grain or switch to levo.

I’m really stuck what to do. Any advice would be very great full

[jamesal0]

Take more armour - I bet you are just under dosed. You get heart racing - low thyroid after starchy food (pasta etc) and crashing palpitations when you are high thyroid . People mistake them. Also split the dosage up, half with breakfast and half with dinner. Having thyroid with food is good thing, it makes it slow release. You should be able to feel a slight headiness, tiredness after each dose for maybe 60 min.

[Ajva in reply to jamesal0]

Thanks for the info. I take half before dinner and half at 10pm so I have an empty stomach and food absorption over night. I’m on 1 grain, I am feeling the same really I don’t know whether to just up my dose another 1/4 grain or switch to levo. I have had a dose increase since my last bloods so I know my levels have probably improved anyways.

I also didn’t know that was a normal thing the tiredness after medication. I deffinatly get that. I know you can get heart palpitations under medicated and over medicated but my HR is seriously bad at the moment esp when I increase meds. I can’t function till my heart meds kick in.

[jamesal0 in reply to Ajva]

I'm weary of commenting too much as you are on some sort of heart meds and I'm not and have no experience with them. Maybe go down to 1/2 grain and see what happens - you just fiddle around with NDT until you find what works for you.

[Ajva in reply to jamesal0]

That’s ok I understand. I think personally it is the t3 that is causing my higher HR. They do say people with heart conditions do not always suit NDT or t3. I am better on a lower dose of NDT but then I need a higher dose to take the edge off the fatigue. Complicated isn’t it…

[jamesal0 in reply to Ajva]

you can mix NDT and Levo if you want more T4. Or just spread the NDT out more over the day - hence less big burst of T3 for your heart to deal with.