Hi I have now been a month on Armour until last week I had to negative effects but I'm getting worried now that I'm on a bit too much. Before I started I was on 50mcg levo. I got as far as 1 grain armour and felt fine but my private doc wants me to keep increasing till I manage 2 grains and then test. I have been on one and a quarter for the past week and that's when my troubles started. My heart rate has gone up with sleeping heart rate over 90. Which means I'm not sleeping well. My body temp is a constant 37.3c my feet and legs are still swollen and I have bad dry skin on my feet and legs, indigestion and aches and pains. I'm concerned that 2 grains would be far too much as on 50mcg levo it was only my T3 that needed a boost and 2 grains would be equivalent to 150mcg levo?
What should I do, go back to one grain because it made me feel well? I'm feeling awful today and haven't taken my armour today yet. I usually take 3/4 in the morning and a 1/2 in the afternoon. Should I give the T3 a chance to leave my system? I really do hate all this messing about 3 years on levo was a disaster because I just couldn't tolerate the fillers so decided to try NDT. Until I stepped over 1 grain I felt great. Now I feel horrible again. I have a blood test ready for next month but how long should I wait?
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magsyh
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Normally, when one gets to 1 grain, one holds for six weeks and retests. Sound like it would be a good idea for you to go back to 1 grain and see how you feel in six weeks time. Your endo might want you on two grains, but he's not the one that has to take it, is he! And I doubt he has any idea how it feels.
Are your nutrients all optimal: vit d, vit B12, folate and ferritin? They need to be if NDT is going to work well for you.
Are you sure you needed to be on Armour to begin with? 50 mcg of levo is just a starter dose. You should have increased it by 25 mcg every 6-8 weeks until your TSH was around 1. If your FT3 is 50% through range or higher on a dose that makes you feel fine, you are probably converting well enough in order not to need extra T3. Not everyone does. It´s strange that your doctor told you to switch to Armour to raise your T3 when you were on such a low dose of levo. Normally, people are told to add T3 when they have reached a full replacement dose of levo (100-150 mcg) and corrected vitamin and mineral deficiencies, and FT3 levels stay suboptimal. So it´s possible a higher dose of levo would have done the trick, without the extra T3.
No I don't have hashimotos. My vitamin d, folate and ferritin as well as b12 have all been at good levels for a long time now. I had planned checking it all again with this next blood test. I have been splitting it into two doses.
Have you actually had your thyroid antibodies tested? Also ,I'm on armour, and started on 1/4 grain for 2 or 3 months in about Feb 2020, ,then half for longer,then ,as now, on one grain.I increased to 1.5 grains and felt hyper/anxiety/insomnia . Was advised by this forum to go back down to one grain ,which I did, .I'm still on one grain and plan to test soon and maybe go up to 1.5 at some stage depending on result. Listen to the folk on this forum as they know what they are talking about more than your average endo, because they actually take the stuff.Also I find that Throid issues are affected by the seasons needing more in winter and maybe less in summer.Maybe Forum people can comment on this last observation .
Yes I test my antibodies every year and they are always very low. They don't move from single figures.I am going to go back to one grain as I only felt bad when I upped it. I'm very light headed since I did that and my ears are ringing. I feel horrible and I felt great on just one grain. I hope this feeling horrible soon goes. I was told to increase by 1/2 a grain every 2 weeks but I won't be bothering now not only that it's so expensive to keep upping the dose.
With NDT you dose to the relief of symptoms which you found when you reached 1 grain :
I suggest you go back to 1 grain and stay on this dose for 6-8 weeks and see how you go :
I find NDT very subtle and continued improving for months after I settled on 1 + 1/2 grains.
I'm self medicating, and yes I thought I'd get to 2 grains and then test - but I didn't and it doesn't matter though I increased and then decreased back down in 1/4 grains weekly.
The blood tests and ranges were introduced to be used with Big Pharmas T3- Liothyronine and T4 - Levothyroxine.
NDT was used successfully for over a 100 hundred years and years before the " science of blood tests " and you simply took what you needed to alleviate symptoms.
When you do run a blood test and compare to your bench marks numbers your TSH will likely be low/suppressed : your T4 likely lower than when on T4 monotherapy BUT your T3 should be proportionately higher than when on T4 - monotherapy.
My T3 and T4 from having been on monotherapy with T4 have actually % through the ranges as now T3 is 100/110% through and my T4 at a lowly 25/35% : and I am much improved.
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