Armour Thyroid Dosage ?

[Pam055]

I started on Armour about 3 months ago. My doctor said he only tests about every months but I have been increasing the dose every 2 weeks. Is it good have the tests every month when increasing the dose or is it okay to wait 3 months before testing? He said to increase until I felt better. I'm at 120 mg/ day. Is it better to take the full dose in the AM or take 1/2 and 1/2 in the PM? I've been taking 1/2 in the evening. I'm a little concerned about not having blood tests done very often. Does a person have to stay on the medication for life? My doctor said I should be able to wean off it but he did not say how long I would have to take it. Pam

[Eliza150]

I take Armour and it is wonderful. I am on 3 grains, take 1/2 in the morning half afternoon about one oclock. Don't want to take it too late in the day cause the T3 might keep you awake. Think I need a bit more though.

Bloodtests need to be done IMO every  6 weeks until you are on the right dose. Your symptoms like bloodpressure,pulse are really important for you to monitor on your own(as I do).

The reason I like it twice a day is it is much easier on the adrenals.

[gimel]

Monthly testing should be adequate.  This is just my opinion but I think that increasing the dose every two weeks may be too quickly to get the full effect from the last increase.  Being Armour , which has T3, it will affect your body faster than a T4 med, but I'm still not convinced that symptoms will be affected and noticed by you in that short a time.  I think I would  take it slower and have the blood test before the next increase.  JMHO

As far as when to take the Armour, most people seem to have better results with your approach of twice a day.  
It's interesting that your doctor is basically allowing you to increase your dosage based on symptoms.  Most want to regulate based on labs only, it seems.  So that's good for you.  You just want to be careful and not flip over into the hyper state.

As far as taking meds for life or weaning off the meds, that would depend on the underlying cause for your being hyp t and whether it will self correct in the future.  I'm not personally aware of many such occurrences.

When you go back for future testing, I suggest that if not already done,  you get the doctor to include free T3 and free T4.  Free T3 is the most active and most important thyroid hormone.  If you have lab results, please post them, along with reference ranges, so we can see how you are doing currently.