Starting on Armour

[Turquoisenona]

Hi

I have just been prescribed Armour by a private doctor which I have started today. I nearly didn't bother with the appointment as I have actually started to feel pretty good lately, but after having to wait a few months for the appointment I thought maybe I should at least try it and see. I suppose I am a bit scared of changing my medication after finally starting to feel a bit better on the Levothyroxine.

Is there anything I should be watching out for? What are people's experiences with Armour? Am I silly to be changing my medication when feeling okay? Although I have been 'feeling' okay I have very cracked heels and a lot of aches and pains, especially at night which I am assuming are hypo symptoms? And get very tired by 9/10 in the evening.

I guess I am just after a bit of reassurance. Also do I tell my NHS doctor to stop prescribing me Levothyroxine as I have changed medication. What can I expect from that conversation?

[TiggerMe Ambassador]

I've not taken Armour as it seemed an expensive habit to get into and isn't necessarily going to have the right balance of T3/4 to suit you, so may mean a few years of tweaking ahead...

Have you managed to optimise your vits and mins and dealt with any other hormonal issues before starting on this new route?

It was only last month you posted about terribly low ferritin so you are unlikely to be making the most of Levo

[Turquoisenona in reply to TiggerMe]

I haven't really changed anything so it has been odd that I have felt so much better really. I guess my hormones are constantly changing at the moment due to my age. The thyroid clinic doctor was keen to check my hormones at our next check up and potentially get me on hrt, although I'm not sure that is a route I want to take.

I was fully expecting her to prescribe me some T3 to take alongside my Levo but she seems to prefer Armour for people who have had a TT. I am going to give it a try but like you say it is expensive. I guess I can always go back to Levo if it doesn't suit.

She seemed to think something like 98% of her patients felt better on it.

[TiggerMe Ambassador in reply to Turquoisenona]

I’d imagine you might feel better on it but probably easier like you say to add a small amount of T3 to see how you get on first?

I’m an absolute advocate of HRT not only for balance and wellbeing but for heart and bone health… well worth looking into, if you google Dr Louise Newsom there is lots of info 🤗 hate to say it but your sex hormones are likely only moving in one direction 👇

[Turquoisenona in reply to TiggerMe]

I will definitely look into it. I think I worry because my mum died of breast cancer at 60 but as I understand it, it isn't necessarily dangerous for me to take hrt and I know there are lots of benefits. I guess I will see how things go.

[TiggerMe Ambassador in reply to Turquoisenona]

😧 Life is a tricky balancing act... thankfully so much more information out there now to help come to an informed decision 🤗

[Chell1 in reply to Turquoisenona]

I’ve found this lady very informative for help on balancing hormones, she’s also got personal knowledge of Graves and Hashimotos hormonesbalance.com/

Obviously everyone is unique but her suggestions particularly for me on estrogen dominance have been brilliant, using natural progesterone cream has helped me personally. My sister has gone down the hrt route and had a lot of problems but it wasn’t for me. I'm glad I’ve done things this way, hormonal symptoms have greatly improved. Just got to figure out how to get my Hashimotos under control, seeing the same Dr as you in January. 🤞🏻

[Turquoisenona in reply to Chell1]

Thank you for the info. Good luck with your appointment.

[connyankee]

You are very lucky to be on Armour which contains both T3--the active Thyroid hormone, and T4.You will start at a low dose and then your Doc will increase you slowly.

Other Hypo peeps report feeling great when on Armour.

I hope it works out for you.

Paul Robinson's book, The Thyroid Patients Manual is a great reference guide.

Best of luck and thank the stars that you have and open minded Doc.

You may want to share his/her name for others in the UK who desperately want T4+T3 treatment.

[Turquoisenona in reply to connyankee]

Thank you. I am certainly going to give it a good try. It has been prescribed to me through an online video consultation with The Thyroid Clinic in Bristol.

[grumpyold]

I took Armour for a year in 2008, gradually increasing my dose to 3 grains.

For that year, I felt the best I have felt since my thyroid " journey" began in 1999.

If I could have afforded to continue, I'd still be taking Armour now, instead of the levo/T3 combo I'm currently on.

[Turquoisenona in reply to grumpyold]

That's encouraging. It is expensive though isn't it. It's so sad that something that seems to make all the difference to a lot of patients isn't prescribed on the NHS.

[grumpyold in reply to Turquoisenona]

Gosh, yes, expensive! I had to self source and self finance my own and I could only find a supplier willing to sell to me without a prescription outside the UK.

It's great that you are having it prescribed through a clinic in Bristol.

I agree, it IS sad that it isn't prescribed on the NHS. NDT used to be the "go to" treatment originally, until BigPharma stuck their oar in and persuaded the NHS to ditch it.

I tried several other NDT options ( as suggested by Hectorsmum2 ) but none of the cheaper alternatives made me feel as "normal" ie pre hypothyroid as Armour.

[Turquoisenona in reply to grumpyold]

Big Pharma has a lot to answer for

[BB001]

Definitely try Armour. Lucky you to get it prescribed. Be prepared for some trial and error to get the dose right, altering every 2-3 months. Make sure you and your doctor look at free T3 and free T4 levels and don't rely on TSH being in range because it will probably be suppressed due to the T3 in Armour.. Armour is best split into two doses in the day, to give you a more even dose of the T3, as T3 has a short half life. Yes aches and pains, cracked heels, running out of steam by 9pm at night, are all hypo symptoms. Keep a diary of date, medication dose, times taken, symptoms. Dr John C Lowe's checklist is useful to track symptoms, it'sin one of these chapters. I found his free 3 pdf chapters from his book very helpful.

naturalthyroidsolutions.com...

[WaystarRoyco in reply to BB001]

Thanks for sharing the link to Dr Lowe. Very interesting!

[Turquoisenona in reply to BB001]

Thank you. Yes, it was a private doctor. She said she doesn't even look at TSH as it is completely irrelevant in my situation.

[Hectorsmum2]

It is expensive. There are other cheaper NDTs that would do the same thing.

[Turquoisenona in reply to Hectorsmum2]

Really, I didn't realise that

[Hectorsmum2 in reply to Turquoisenona]

There is Efra, Nature thyroid and NP thyroid. Maybe ask you doctor to prescribe one of these instead, Efra is about a quarter of the price.

[ainslie in reply to Hectorsmum2]

I don’t think it’s a quarter of the price , maybe a quarter to third cheaper, I notice some of the UK compounding pharmacies are mixing their own equivalent of NDT which is a bit cheaper than ERFA and some claim slow release

[Auders in reply to Hectorsmum2]

hello, I’m just catching up on the web site. Currently on levo and 15mcg Thybon Henning (via Roseway) could you let me know just how much Armour and Efra are? Is it mega expensive? Many thanks 🙏

[Hectorsmum2 in reply to Auders]

Hi. I am not doing very well with investigations on this. To self source I have found a pharmacy selling Armour for £155.94 1 grain ( 60mg) per 100 and another pharmacy selling it for £238.74 1 grain 100 tabs. Efra is being sold at the more expensive pharmacy for £206.67 per 100 tabs. I tried springfeld pharmacy in uK that used to be compounding pharmacys that used to do a lot of NDT prescriptions but they didnt even seem to know what NDT or armour was these days so didnt get very far. The price you would pay for a private prescription would be different anyway. sorry I couldn't provide better info.

[Auders in reply to Hectorsmum2]

Thank you for that x

[Turquoisenona in reply to Auders]

Hi. I paid £130 for 100 x 60mg Armour tablets (I think the private prescription cost of around £30 is in that price as well). So say around £100 for 100 x 60mg tablets. For me at my current dose of 2 tablets a day that would last me 50 days. So around £60/month plus private prescription cost.

[Auders in reply to Turquoisenona]

Thank you for that x

[Hectorsmum2]

I'll get back to you later with a list

[EchoWS]

I take Armour with levothyroxine in the middle of the night when I wake up anyway. I had cracked heels a long time ago before being diagnosed so would hope between the thyroid treatment, hrt and improving other vitamin and mineral levels that would improve. I couldn't tolerate 125 of levothyroxine (a switch when transitioning brands) but seem to be hitting a good dose at 62.5 levothyroxine and 75 of Armour (which is T3 + T4). I don't know if taking all Armour would be better for me but seem ok now. May take some patience and adjustments switching over.

[Turquoisenona in reply to EchoWS]

I have been started on 60mg a day of armour to increase up to 120mg by the end of the week. I too couldn't quite tolerate 125mcg of Levothyroxine. My sweet spot seemed to be around 110mcg but my T3 levels remained fairly low.

[Turquoisenona in reply to EchoWS]

It is also an interesting idea mixing the two as that would obviously bring the price down.

[EchoWS]

I'd give that dose a fair try, except of course if feels too much, but hopefully won't and could check with dr if need be. When I was on 125 of T4 it was clearly too much - gittery afternoons. Going down to 112.5 better. Feel better with T3/Armour.

[Chett]

I’ve been taking Armour and previously NatureThroid for years. I feel great and would never go back to Synthroid.

[Turquoisenona in reply to Chett]

Thank you. I do seem to be hearing mostly positive stories which is encouraging.