Should I reduce Armour Ndt

[Milburn13]

Hi, I'm on 2 and a quarter grains Armour since Oct 24. I was feeling good with a big improvement in the new year, but started to get less sleep. Now I've got a few mild thyroid symptoms along with generally feeling nauseous, reduced appetite, suddenly gagging a lot, lost a little weight, bad brain fog, a strain to talk and feel a bit wired. Sleep has been better in the past few days thankfully.

So, should I decrease my armour by an 1/8th of a grain?

My thyroid vits are good and I take half a Cyclogest (projestorone suppository).

My thyroid bloods in Mid January were-

T3 6.5 (3.1-6.8)

TSH- 0.008 (0.27-4.2

T4- 17.8 (12-22)

It was done by fingerprick, fasting and first thing. I've ordered another blood test and going to get a blood draw just to check.

Thanks

Jane

[Blue_Lagoon]

Hi Milburn, I think from what you describe you may be over medicated. Your TSH is very low and it sounds like you have past your sweet spot in terms of symptoms as you felt better earlier in the year. Perhaps if you lower your dose by a quarter or a half it might help and then stick on this dose for 8 weeks to allow your body to get used to it and get the most improvement out of it which may not have come through yet. Then retest and see how you feel. Hope this helps!x

[pennyannie]

Hello Milburn :

Do you split this dose and how long after your last dose did you take the fasting blood test ?

If we go by symptoms alone it reads as though you may have gone past your best dose at this point in time -

Do you monitor yourself on blood pressure, pulse and body temperature AM & PM and logged any changes in these physical readings ?

If we look at these blood tests the TSH is low suppressed as one would expect -

your T3 is around 92% with your T4 at around 58% through the ranges - and in itself ok :

We generally recommend taking a blood test at around 10-12 hours from last dose - as this should then show the highest potential level of T3 circulating in your blood.

Did you switch from tables to capsules as discussed on a previous question you posted ?

[Milburn13 in reply to pennyannie]

Hi, thanks for getting back to me. I take the whole dose on waking on an empty stomach and I chew the tablets. As I became unwell when I tried splitting the dose.Yes, so the blood test was 24 hours after the last dose. I had been taking my temperature and blood pressure a few times a day, however I haven't been doing it as much this year as I was feeling a lot better and they were both good.

I've done a few times in the past few weeks with not being well and they've been ok. My pulse is generally higher now, with my resting pulse now 60. Before I became hypothyroid my resting pulse was 50 when I was athletic.

Thanks

[pennyannie in reply to Milburn13]

Ok - so having such a high T3 some 24 hours after your last dose looks like you are now over medicated and taking too much NDT -

so suggest you drop back down the last increase you made and see how you go on a slightly lower dose.

Do you also get your ferritin, folate, B12 and vitamin D run as no thyroid hormone replacement works well if these are not maintained up at optimal levels -

I now aim for ferritin at around 100 - folate around 20 - active B12 125 ( serum B12 500++ ) and vitamin D at around 125.

[Milburn13 in reply to pennyannie]

Thanks, I was unwell when I was on 2 grains and my T3 was below 6, so I'll initially reduce to 2 and a 1/8. My b12 and iron are close to the top of the range and my vit D is 150 (top of range is 250). I only started feeling better when my T3 went over 6 and my vit D increased to 150.I currently only supplement with zinc, selenium and omega.

Thanks for your advice, it's really appreciated.😊

[Astridnova in reply to Milburn13]

Maybe have your heart checked too. And I agree ... probably drop that quarter grain.

[Kuto100]

Hello Milburn13,

I would recommend decrease to 2 grains, 6 days a week (nothing on Sunday) and stop that progesterone thing, it's not helping you.

[Milburn13]

Thanks, I'll keep in mind reducing the projestorone but will stick with it just now and change the NDT first, as when I've stopped projesterone before I get really ill with thyroid symptoms, it strangely seems to help my thyroid. Although I wonder if there'll come a time when I need to stop it, so what makes you think the projesterone isn't helping? I was unwell when on 2 grains, so I'll try reducing to 2 and 1/8 grains first.

Thanks