Is this over medicated on Armour?

[Insomania]

This is a new one for me. I'm now at 1.5 grains Armour. I weigh 52kg. I waited months for this increase and 5 weeks on, I'm feeling peculiar. Fluttery palpitations, resting heart rate is faster, slight pressure in my chest, head and ears. No energy, lethargic. Haven't really got out of my PJs for a few days.

I'm 16 months into Armour treatment from zero. Very slowly titrating, T3 slowly increasing. In July 2024, at 1 1/4 grain, my results looked really good T3 was 70% but I did not feel 'optimum', no increase in meds then.

In Sept 2024 I did my iron panel for nhs haemotology and ferritin and iron was low again. I wonder if that was why I hadn't felt good in July with the T3 at 70%.

Oct 2024 retested thyroid blood tests and T4 and T3 back to 40%, assumed due to my iron dropping. I felt so rough. Thyroid Dr did an Armour increase and I felt the usual little uplift.

Thankfully the NHS haematology Dr listened and booked me an iron infusion which I had 31/10/24. The next day I started feeling poorly with a virus so next ten days was recovering from that. I'm now full of iron and 5 weeks on 1.5 grains.

Have I gone into slightly over medicated?

Do I give it another week to see if it settles?

Or should I contact thyroid Dr to adjust dose? He will likely want me to retest.

I never actually felt 'optimum' maybe cos the iron issues got in the way? 🤔

Any insights or advice appreciated.

For info on the iron: I have iron deficiency anaemia, I'm treated and was maintaining well until two Covid infections Christmas/NY. My inflammation went up and ferritin has tracked downwards since then.

[Regenallotment Ambassador]

Hello, sorry you haven’t had a speedy reply from anyone. My message should bump it up the board.

Personally I would to test FT4 and FT3 on this new dose, it’ll be six weeks next week. Ideal timing.

So many variables, the best thing is to know for sure.

[debjs]

I would contact your doctor. I have taken Armour for 13 years & get fluttery palpitations & pressure in my head, chest & ears when overmedicated. As you say it may settle but a week is a long time to wait. Perhaps you need to wait until iron levels improve until you can tolerate a dose increase. I often found I had to reduce my dose, wait a few weeks & then try again.

[Insomania in reply to debjs]

That’s good to know, thank you.

My iron would improve immediately from an infusion, wouldn’t it? I saw a pint go in!

I’m going to contact Dr today. Betcha he says to test! (And last test was such a blip, it’ll be interesting to see what’s happening.)

[debjs in reply to Insomania]

I don't know about the iron. I notice further down you mention splitting the dose. I have always split my dose as I find I can't take more than 1 grain in one dose. Also was advised to take a small dose about 5pm to help with sleep - seems to help but I know it took a while to find tge timings that suited me.

[Insomania in reply to debjs]

Thanks, I’ll go back to the 1 1/4 grain morning dose and do 1/4 later on.

[lovebones]

Hi. I can't really speak to your problems with iron but I have some experience with Armour. I tried taking Armour at a very low dose and felt awful. Head, chest, ear pressure and tinnitus. Tired and dizzy. Switched to NP Thyroid (also NDT) and have none of those same side effects at the exact same dosage. There are a lot of fillers in Armour and that's what was causing it for me. Not sure if this helps much, but I thought I'd throw it out there.

[Insomania in reply to lovebones]

I’ve got on well with Armour so far, increasing very slowly. I’ve been feeling quite a bit better through today. I’m going to go back to splitting the dose from tomorrow and see if that helps.

[lovebones in reply to Insomania]

Sounds good. I hope it works out for you!☺️