Giving up on Armour , 2nd month and very bad results. They changed porcine supplier again , i believe doing some shortcuts on cost , which is ridiculous since its already so expensive.
Can you share your experience on Erfa and I would be grateful if anyone could pass on (via PM), the ERFA supplier that ships without a prescription. so it would be much appreciated
thanks
Just wondering how you know that their desiccated thyroid supplier has changed?
Armour thyroid facebook page - one person did a deep research on the matter . All of them are having issues with Armour now + there is some reviews on drug.com as well. Since i had my last refill , filling awful , stopped two days ago and already much better .
Afraid I don't visit facebook.
I looked at drugs.com but couldn't find anything relevant in the recent past (this year).
drugs.com/answers/support-g...
drugs.com/comments/thyroid-...
Thanks so much Tavus for the link - I've been on NDT for almost 30 years, firstly Armour, then Erfa and then Nature Thyroid until it went down the pan and felt well and active. Recently not at all well on Armour and wondered if this was the cause but hard to say when other issues have come to the fore so trying to eliminate things one by one but do thank you for posting and hope you will be well soonest.
This is your first post, so first of all, welcome. How much NDT do you take? Where in the world are you? How long have you been hypothyroid?
What are your most recent blood test results looking like?
Very often, it’s not the tablet or the source of porcine desiccated thyroid, it’s the overall health of the person taking the tablet. Before jumping ship, you need to know what your FT3 and FT4 levels are doing , what’s going on with your Vit B12 levels, folate, Vit D, ferritin.
I’ve seen so so many posts over the years saying such and such a brand of NDT is no longer any good. Usually, you’ll also see a pile of posts saying that they’ve noticed no difference.
Here in the UK it’s far from easy to get any brand of NDT, a nightmare in fact. I’m celebrating a small win today in that my latest order of Armour has made it to my front door without getting stuck at Customs and I didn’t have to pay the fees (thanks postal strike).
I'm really hoping the OP isn't right, or is affected specifically rather than it being a generalised problem because I have just switched to Armour and I could do with a darn break. 9 years of struggling is long enough.
@FancyPants54 - Well I'm also hoping you are right Jazzw as I've been on Armour, Erfa and Nature Thyroid (before it went down the pan) and kept well and active for years but latterly not so good on Armour again although there have been other issues that have come to the fore. Latest thyroid results courtesy of medichecks TSH 0.04 (0.27-4.2); FT3 5.7 (3.1-6.8)
FT4 14.5 (12-22) no biotin for 5 days before but stupidly didn't split the NDT for 8-12 hours before as I always take it in one go so obviously a falsely low result😓
I’ll be honest, I’ve never been quite as good on Armour as I was on Nature Throid (undermining my original point slightly, I admit!) but my blood test results are actually slightly better on Armour. Definitely a 🤷🏽♀️ moment.
That said, I’ve been under loads of stress ever since I started Armour so it’s not really a fair comparison.
Thanks so much for replying - this is the first time ever that I've never felt good on NDT but have other issues going on admittedly so it's not easy to know what is causing what. Could I possibly ask you to look at my last thyroid results as using the calculator I'm thinking that my T3 is 70.27% through the range and my T4 is only 25% and maybe I might be needing more T4? I really don't know enough that's for sure but thanks to the lovely people on this forum I'm getting to grips with things. So sorry you've been stressed and hope things get easier for you sooner rather than later!
Hi Delgor. That FT4 level is pretty much what mine does on NDT (and it’s better on Armour than it ever was on Nature Throid, when I couldn’t get it to go higher than 12, and often no more than 11!).
I’ll admit I don’t fully understand how it works but it’s common to see fairly low in range FT4 when taking NDT—and it doesn’t necessarily mean you need to take more. My working theory is that as the body senses it’s getting sufficient T3, it doesn’t hold on to as much T4.
I tried adding a tiny amount of levothyroxine to my dosage but it just gave me headaches and I felt better without it.
You could experiment with taking a tiny bit more NDT if you wanted to, say another quarter grain perhaps, as you’ve got some wiggle room there? Or you may even find that adding a bit of levothyroxine works for you (we’re all different). Obviously don’t try both things at the same time. 
What are the other things like—ferritin, folate, B12, Vit D etc?
Cheers Jazzw - it's good to get someone else's opinion on things. I don't think I have got any wiggle room unfortunately as I forgot to split the medication the day before the test so I know it was a falsely low result. I can't remember exactly now but I seem to remember someone saying in a past post that you need to add roughly 20%. I will be doing another test at the end of this month as my yearly check-up at the surgery is due so will make sure I do everything right for that one. Last vitamin test showed Vit D, B12, and ferritin ok but folate still low so working on that. I suppose like most people I'm trying to eliminate things in an attempt to get myself well again. Thanks so much again - I really appreciate your input. ~Take Care ~ Christmas Hugs😁
Hello Tavus, I've been taking ERFA for the last six months, but it is my only experience with NDT so I've nothing to compare it with. Some things have got better, but not everything (I suppose that is normal). I've not been able to find a way of shipping it without a prescription. This is unfortunate as my (private) doctor had me on an absurdly low dose. I've completely lost faith in him, as when I went to see him he wasn't interested in my symptoms at all, and has never asked me a single question about how I feel (!!!). He was only interested in my test results, and clearly misinterpreted them; my FT4 was below normal even on NDT, but he thought this was satisfactory. Honestly, you pay a lot of money to these people and they are so slapdash it is unreal. I unilaterally upped my dose from the 2 grains he had prescribed to 3, and felt a lot better as a result. I recently tried to get my prescription increased, but faced quite a lot of resistance, so I'm looking to experiment with other NDTs that I can source myself. I found an interesting blog with a lengthy review of the different options, which might help you: thyroidblog.com/en/thyroid-...
I have ordered some of the Vitalithy NDT that she discusses in the article - it is very reasonably priced, and the ingredients look encouraging. They also ship for free worldwide.
Hi I just tried to order Vitality and it's priced at 154.99 US Dollars a bottle. How many are in the bottle I don't know. I depends on the number to find out if it's a good idea or not. Thyroid s was always reliable and cheap but it doesn't work for me now.
I've was on levothyroxine for two years and just changed to erfa. In two weeks my skin is not dry, my cracked heels have gone, my hair is not dry and the stiff legs have improved. This is just 2 weeks I get a blood test in October so I'll get more information but I ferl better
switched from Armour to Erfa, not sure what to think
Armour to Erfa anyone?
ERFA Vs. Thyroid - S
