Whats the difference between Armour and dessicated thyroid?

[TinainKent]

Hi All,

I have been looking at STTM site and the links to Nutri Meds site have Dessicated Thyroid listed, as do other

sites in the U.S. Can anybody tell me the difference between this and Armour Thyroid etc. please?

Thanks in anticipation.

[Hidden]

No difference, dessicated thyroid is known as Armour....... although Armour is the trade name of the dessicated thyroid made by Forest Pharmaceuticals.

(Originally it was called Armour because the thyroid glands were supplied by the Armour meat company!!)

Nel

[TinainKent in reply to Hidden]

Thankyou Nellie,

I take it that Armour is a standardised product. Which brings me onto the next question, with the other dessicated products how can the milligrams in the products be compared to the grains of Armour or mcgs of Levothyroxine please?

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

Hi,

1 grain is 60 mcg. One 60 mcg grain of armour typically contains 38 mcg of T4 and 9 of T3. May be very slightly different with different brands, but not enough to make any difference..

Other products are not dessicated thyroid, but synthetic versions. You can't exactly substitute the armour for levothyroxine, if you're about to start Armour you should start low and build up every few days until you get a dose which suits.

A full rplacement dose of Armour is reckoned to be around 3 grains daily.... though some take more and some less....

Nel x

[Muffy]

I'm not sure Nutri Meds sell Armour. You need natural desiccated thyroid in controlled prescription strength. Armour is 39mcg thyroxine and 9 of T3.

[RedApple Administrator]

Armour is just one brand of prescription thyroid medication generally referred to as desiccated thyroid (or natural desiccated thyroid / NDT)

There are other brands of prescription desiccated thyroid - e.g. NatureThroid and Thyroid by Erfa.

If you are considering changing from synthetic levothyroxine to a prescription desiccated thyroid medication, then as a rough guide, 100 mcg thyroxine might be substituted with 60mg / 65mg of desiccated thyroid. The individual manufacturers web sites usually give suggested dose equivalents which can be used as a starting point.

NatureThroid website nature-throid.com

Armour website armourthyroid.com

Thyroid (Erfa) website erfa-sa.com/Thyroid/english...

Note that these are all prescription only medications. You will need to get your GP (or endo) to agree to prescribe this type of thyroid medication for you instead of, (or together with) synthetic levothyroxine.

Any thyroid remedy that is not being sold through a bona-fide pharmacy (e.g. a health supplements vendor such as nutri-meds), is not a prescription medication and therefore may not be suitable for long term treatment of diagnosed hypothyroidism.

[recovered7 in reply to RedApple]

Hi, I have been taking a supplement from Nutri- Meds called Bovine. This states on the container that it is a NDT taken from a Cow as opposed to a Pig which is the same thing but from different animal's. All rather confusing. No script is needed and I have been taking it now for five months, and I feel good.

[helvella Administrator]

Tina,

There is another distinction. So far as I know, all the prescription desiccated thyroid products are porcine. But most (possibly all?) the non-prescription products are bovine.

This might be of no importance to you.

Rod