Is NDT Armour actually helping 🤷‍♀️ Or am I wasting my money - blood 🩸 results

[Kisca]

Hello 👋 lovely thyroid members ❤️‍🩹

Please see below my new thyroid blood 🩸 results from Medichecks .

Please see previous posts just to get an idea of what’s been happening .

I’m currently on 1/2 grain of Armour and have been on that dose for over two months .

Well looking at my results I can’t see any improvement 😬 I think my T3 has increased a little?

I normally have a period every 28 days and this month I’ve started early and it’s a 24 day cycle and quite heavy .

My hair is fine and brittle .

I see my vitamins are not optimal so is this not helping the Armour to work ?

I think my Ferritin could be better ?

Sometimes I feel like I can’t take a full breath (not covid related) had it around four years now , could it be low iron ?

I’m strictly gluten free but just wondering now whether going diary free is the next step? But I thought diary like fresh butter etc is good for you , sorry it’s all confusing isn’t it!

If this were you what sort of Armour dose should I realistically be on or if I decide to go back on Levo what dose would that be ?

I’m just concerned about these stories of Armour not having the dose it says it does on the bottle !

I’m 42 btw and undoubtedly in the peri menopause would HRT help boost everything and would it help my thyroid?

I’m currently on no birth control etc .

Thank you 🙏 for taking the time to read my post I am very grateful 😊

[SeasideSusie Remembering]

Kisca

I’m currently on 1/2 grain of Armour and have been on that dose for over two months

Did you know that the usual protocol for starting/titrating NDT is generally:

Starting dose: 1/4 grain (15mgs) in the morning and quarter of a grain in the afternoon and stay on this for 7 days. If no adverse effects:

Week 2: increase your dose by another 1/2 grain (30mgs) a day. Take half a grain in the morning and half a grain in the afternoon (total 1 grain daily) and stay on this dose for at least 3 weeks. If no adverse effects:

Week 5-6: increase by another 1/2 grain and take 1 grain (60mgs) in the morning and 1/2 grain (30mg) in the afternoon (total 1 and 1/2 grains daily). Stay on this dose for 3 weeks and again, if no adverse effects:

Week 8-9: increase by another half grain and take one grain in the morning and one grain in the afternoon and stay on this for another 3 weeks (total 2 grains daily).

This may or may not be enough. If you are still symptomatic, increase by 1/4 grain (15mg) every 3 weeks. If you feel overmedicated then drop back to the previous dose.

You need an increase.

Ferritin isn't too bad but might be better around 90-110ug/L which some experts say is the optimal level for thyroid function. You can help raise your level by eating liver regularly, maximum 200g per week due to it's high Vit A content, also liver pate, black pudding, and including lots of iron rich foods in your diet

bda.uk.com/resource/iron-ri...

everydayhealth.com/pictures...

Don't consider taking an iron supplement unless you do an iron panel, if you already have a decent level of serum iron and a good saturation percentage then taking iron tablets can push your iron level even higher, too much iron is as bad as too little.

Folate and B12 are too low, you'd benefit from taking a good quality, bioavailable B Complex such as Thorne Basic B. Remember that B Complex should be left off for 3-7 days before any blood test due to it containing biotin which gives false results.

Vit D is recommended to be 100-150nmol/L by the Vit D Council, Vit D Society and Grassroots Health.

Do you take any supplements at all?

[pennyannie]

Hello Kisca :

i don't understand why you are waiting so long to increase your dose ?

NDT needs to be increased in small 1/4 grain increments - I went up weekly, some suggest fortnightly, until your symptoms are relieved :

If you reach 2 grains it's then suggested you stay on this dose for 6-8 weeks to let the Armour settle in your body and then take a blood test to compare with your bench readings from before you started the experiment.

Yes, vitamins and minerals need a little bit of attention.

I know I feel better when maintaining my ferritin at around 100 - Folate 20 - active B12 75 ++ and vitamin D at 100:

Are you currently taking any supplements ?

Have you had a full iron panel run to rule out low iron store ?

On NDT you will likely have a low suppressed TSH -

You can have a lower T4 than when on T4- Levothyroxine -

BUT you track on your T3 and this should be proportionately higher than when on T4 monotherapy.

I monitored myself on twice daily blood pressure, pulse and temperature - nothing much changed with the first two but I saw my temperature start to move from 35.4 to 36.6 where it still hovers most days now, over 4 years later.

I think you just need to increase your dose of Armour and see how you go :

If you feel one week you have taken too much just drop back that last 1/4 grain increment and stay on the lower dose until things settle and this may well be your dose at this point in time.

Having Hashimoto's obviously throws a spanner in the works as your own thyroid is likely to be producing erratic levels of thyroid hormone and ' swings ' in symptoms but the thyroid gland will be progressively becoming further damaged and you, in turn, will need more thyroid hormone support rather than less.

I don't have this additional s I'm with Graves post RAI thyroid ablation but read Dr Izabella Wentz seems well recommended if wanting to read around Hashimoto's Auto Immune Disease thyroidpharmacist.com