Increasing armour thyroid

[Fizzwhizz]

I was diagnosed with Hashimotos and put on armour. I’ve been taking 11/2 grains daily since May and don’t feel great. My most troubling symptoms were mental like low mood, brain fog etc. I ditched HRT in Feb as it was making me feel worse and worse. Would I be ok to try an increase to 2 grains (tablets) daily? I’m under a private GP so have a review booked in August but it’s a long wait till then feeling so rubbish. I jusr feel sluggish, slow, flat, down, though I don’t feel quite as cold all the time now. I was taking B vits which helped but they seem to give me liver pain so I’ve had to stop those. I was wondering if I do still need HRT but would like to try optimise my thyroid function before I add anything else in. Any advice please on upping to 2 tablets a day? Thanks

[SlowDragon Administrator]

Bloods should be retested 6-8 weeks after each dose change in Armour

For full Thyroid evaluation you need TSH, FT4 and FT3 tested

Very important to test vitamin D, folate, ferritin and B12 at least once year minimum

Low vitamin levels are extremely common when hypothyroid, especially with autoimmune thyroid disease

Recommended that all thyroid blood tests early morning, ideally just before 9am, only drink water between waking and test

This gives highest TSH, lowest FT4 and most consistent results. (Patient to patient tip)

On Armour ….day before test split T3 as 2 or 3 smaller doses spread through the day, with last dose approximately 8-12 hours before test

Private tests are available as NHS currently rarely tests Ft3 or all relevant vitamins

Post all about what time of day to test

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

Testing options and includes money off codes for private testing

thyroiduk.org/testing/

Medichecks Thyroid plus BOTH TPO and TG antibodies and vitamins

medichecks.com/products/adv...

Blue Horizon Thyroid Premium Gold includes BOTH TPO and TG antibodies, cortisol and vitamins

bluehorizonbloodtests.co.uk...

Only do private testing early Monday or Tuesday morning.

Link about thyroid blood tests

thyroiduk.org/testing/thyro...

Link about Hashimoto’s

thyroiduk.org/hypothyroid-b...

Symptoms of hypothyroidism

thyroiduk.org/signs-and-sym...

Tips on how to do DIY finger prick test

support.medichecks.com/hc/e...

Medichecks and BH also offer private blood draw at clinic near you, or private nurse to your own home…..for an extra fee

[Fizzwhizz in reply to SlowDragon]

Thanks, I find it really confusing though as shouldn’t I be dosed to achieve symptom relief not according to my blood test levels? Ironically before I started taking the armour I was experiencing a swing with hyper like symptoms. I actually preferred feeling like that than I do currently but obviously don’t want to overdo the armour.

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to Fizzwhizz]

We have to increase dose SLOWLY

Rest of endocrine system has to catch up

Extremely common to feel more hypo on starting dose as levothyroxine, or especially on NDT like Armour, as these don’t “top up” your own thyroid output, but instead replace it

Starting on Armour, as this contains T3, TSH will have dropped significantly in effect shutting your own thyroid out put down or off completely

Some Hashimoto’s patients do find antibodies can increase on NDT.

Standard treatment to start on is levothyroxine

ESSENTIAL to regularly retest and maintain optimal vitamin levels

What were most recent vitamin D, folate, ferritin and B12 results

What vitamin supplements are you taking

[Fizzwhizz]

Ah, ok, thanks, that makes sense. I’m only taking vit d plus k2 now. I was talking ineggus b vit complex and b12 but was getting pain under my right rib. Now I’ve dropped those no more pains but I do feel flat and low. It could be menopause too but I felt so bad on HRT then I ended up spotting so I binned that. I’ll just have to try and be a bit more patient with everything but it’s not nice feeling so flat all the time.

[FancyPants54 in reply to Fizzwhizz]

I know this is a bit late to respond. But just in case you see it, we often need to try different types of HRT to find the combination that suits us best. I tried the whole lot, patches, gel of 2 types, spray and finally settled on a combo of a combination capsule of oestrogen and micronised progesterone and a spray oestrogen to give me enough. Feeling flat a menopause or perimenopause time is likely to be due to falling levels of oestrogen.

Not only did I have to try all the different types, I tried 2 types of patch, 2 of gel. It took a long time but it's worth it. Each one has to be given 3 months to settle at least.

The best online resource for all this is the balance-menopause.com the site associated with Dr Louise Newson. It's packed with advice, guidance and general information in the form of fact sheets, podcasts and videos. There's also a free balance app to put on your phone which you can use to track your symptoms and medications so that you can have a more accurate picture of what's going on.

I had to do my HRT at the same time as thyroid because I felt so bad and there is a school of thought that says you need to balance both together or neither will work well.

[Fizzwhizz in reply to FancyPants54]

Thanks for your reply. I had my private thyroid appointment yesterday (she’s also a menopause GP). Previously I went to a private GP who unfortunately didn’t know anything about thyroid. Anyway, my thyroid’s now pretty good on 1 1/2 grains of armour and she’s now put me back on low dose HRT with room to add in more if needed. I’m already feeling a bit brighter so hopefully this will help. The flat feeling is just awful. I’m still waiting for my oestrogen levels to build up. It’s been a learning curve and if the patches don’t work I’ll keep on trying things.

[FancyPants54 in reply to Fizzwhizz]

I'm glad you are getting sorted. It's a horrible time. For me patches and gel were too fast acting and ran out too soon. I would get a jolt of hormone when I applied them. Most other people don't feel that. I love the Bijuve capsule and the Lenzetto spray. Neither do the fast hit thing. I need my levels quite high to feel normal. But that doesn't matter. It's the feeling normal that does. If only I could get NDT to do the same!