"BYE BYE ARMOUR" your new formula is JUNK!

[stella5349]

This new formula has been absolutely horrible for me my friends.:(  

I had the last script of the original Armour last week end. I picked up a new script on Monday. Within two days, over 60% of my hypo symptoms returned like a tornado blowing in.

I forgot the brain fog feeling....................

..... oh, I didn't miss that at all!

and the aches of hypothyroid is back with my head feeling like it ways 300 pounds!!!!

It's awful to try and take it sublingually. It sat in my mouth for about 4 hrs after my last 11:30 dose. Like I was trying to dissolve a piece of chewing gum! -- YUCK.

I called Forest Pharmacuticals regarding the problems and "they" didn't seem (to me) they are willing to do anything for a patients questions on the new formula, ............especially............ if you are a Co Leader of a thyroid forum asking the questions.

I think they cringe when they hear my name- since the February shortage of Armour started surfacing.

"Que sara sara"...................

So - if you are on the brand name desiccated Armour and are having trouble recently. Look into the new ways they are processing the medication. As far as I am concerned, I BOOTED Armour and RAN to my doctor's office yesterday to switch to Naturethroid.

I am disgusted with the pharm's way of conducting my phone call too.

If you are not sure if you are on the NEW Armour yet - look at the pill- the embedded "A" is different.

I'd like to take a POLL on the Armour thyroid patients here at Med Help to see if others are having trouble too.

[ChitChatNine]

I am so sorry this is happening Stella .. it just isn't fair at all after all you and others have been through!!!!!     Is this the byproduct they came out with after the shortage awhile back?  A new formulation?  What did they change ...  ?

Geez, that is awful.

Let us know how you do on the new med.

How does the "N" one differ from Armour?

C~

[stella5349]

The "N" one C,  - IS approved by the FDA.

Naturethroid is a brand name for the drug thyroid. This medicine is also used to help decrease the size of enlarged thyroid glands and to treat thyroid cancer. It is used to control hypothyroidism, a condition where the thyroid gland does not produce enough thyroid hormone.

It is made as a "more pure" product from desiccated pig thyroid with LESS fillers.

I will be working on more information on this CC9 this weekend.

Right now.. I have to "struggle " to get ready for a full day of work

URGH!!!!!!!

[stella5349]

Naturethroid®

[redheadaussie]

Stop the Thyroid Madness founder has a huge issue with this problem! She has not been able to get the pharmaceutical company to return her calls..yet again, they know the truth and won't admit it to a public forum.
  I was thinking of getting some Armour for my problems...hard enough to get it here in Australia but seems I may not want it now after all the carry on since they changed it.
Good luck guys!

[MKlacza]

Hi.. When you say look at the new pill and the "A".. What does it look like that makes it look different?

[stella5349]

I posted a pic of the new Armour on my photos.

[stella5349]

You will also notice a gross feeling if you do it sublingually.

It won't dissolve and when I swollowed the med

1- it burned my gut all day yesterday - AND - it felt like I never took it !!

[tracey123]

I compared your picture of the new armour to mine and that is what I am taking. The only difference was the letters mine was TD instead of TJ like yours. I feel pretty much like I did on the other Armour but I don't take mine sublingually. I did notice when I went to have mine filled yesterday they said they don't have any 60mg that they have been trying to get them for a couple months and can't get them so I have to take two 30mg twice a day instead of the one 60 mg. I hope you get straighted out since it is not working great for you.

[kitonthemoon]

I  had nasty side effects from the old Armour too....but not as extreme as Stella's.
I'm taking Nature Throi 32.5 mg, and suffers mild side effects only.

Hope you resolve your problems, and try not get to steamed up...negative emotions are bad for us.  wink.

Have a great Memorial Day Weekend.
Hugs,
Kit

[laura1967]

Heh Stella.....I am looking forward to a positive result with Naturethroid for you within a couple of days!!  :)

[gimel]

Can anyone save me a lot of looking around by confirming that Naturethroid and Westhroid  have the same ratio of T4 to T3 as Armour, and are otherwise interchangeable.?  Also, what is your opinion about using Thyrolar instead of Armour?  

[stella5349]

Naturethroid provides 38mcg Levothyroxine (T4) and 9mcg liothyronine (T3) for each 65mg (1 grain) of the labeled content of thyroid.

I have been told Westroid will be hard to find shortly and RLC labs is commenting to comsumers that are calling to look into Naturethroid as the choice.

I thought about Thyrolar in the beginning, but my doctor wants to use this medication. I am not good with milk and Nature-throid has lactose in it. I am hoping to get a healthpage up this weekend.

[stella5349]

Until I get this health page up and going - if you are looking for the Nature-throid information - see this link

http://www.nature-throid.com/default.asp

[Applesan]

Just ready your thread and finally understand why I was having a problem taking Armour sublingually.  I started to split the pill and it does dissolve faster that way.  SInce I'm new to Armour can you tell me if it has side effects such as problems with your eyes and chest tightness?  These started once I began Armour so just wondered if they were side effects or just a coincidence.

[stella5349]

Armour shouldn't cause those issues with you - but over medication could, especially if you just started it.

You may have to split the dosages smaller and take them more often through the day to stabilize on it.

[ChitChatNine]

Stella,

How is it going?  I am hoping you are doing ok on the "N" med ?  Cannot recall the name.

C~

[tracey123]

I was looking on the westhroid website and noticed that it said you can't get his in 1/4 grain or 3 grain. I am on 75mg twice a day which is a grain and a quarter twice a day. I guess I would have to split a 1/2 grain in order to get my dosage. I am noticing some of my symptoms coming back also since being on the new armour. I might talk with my doctor and make a switch. Could you let me know how your doing since you swiched and what dose are you one. Thanks

[zonaC]

so, thats why my armour has tasted so awful and gritty when i was taking it sublingual--it crumbles when i try to split the pill to divide the dose--i asked the pharmacist, if they had changed the brand on me, as i had only taken it for 1 month and it had not tasted so awful and so gritty and had split in half easily,that first month--he asked me why i thought i needed to take it sublinqually and if i would just swollow it-there wouldn't be a problem..also said i didn't need to split the dose--tried that once,,,and never again,,cause i had such heart palpations for a couple of hours that it wasn't funny...he told me that there was nothing different about the maker of it, but since it was not synthetic, that it is really hard to make it the same everytime.  i guess it goes to show, that you have to learn everything you can about your condition and then pick and chose from that information as to what works for you..

[Ecologic]

I too take Armour, 1 grain. I have not noticed if it has changed or not, it has TE written on the pills. Unfortunately I can't see your pictures to compare, can't find them on your profile(?).

[stella5349]

You were handed a line of bull. I believe not by lying - but ignorance. They may not know the reformulization happened, but I find that hard to believe.

Let's set the record straight once and for all. There is nothing more stable taking synthetic thyroid hormone - vs - natural desiccated thyroid hormone. They are both very stable forms of replacement. It's a choice of meds and what works best for you. The only significate difference is Armour/Naturthroid/Westroid are combo forms of T3/T4 thyroid hormone and Synthroid/Levo are T4 ONLY meds. Many hypothyroid sufferers face a situation that their conversion levels can not subside their symptoms/health with an ONLY T4 med, so they feel better on a T3/T4 combo. There is only one form of T3/T4 combo thyroid med and that is Armour and the other desiccated thyroid hormone medication.

If the makers of Synthroid made a synthetic "combo" of T3/T4 thyroid hormone medication for these particular conversion issues than that med would be just as close as the desiccated ones. There is no "combo" med made in synthetic form. Cytomel can be added to Synthroid to give the same results of desiccated T3/T4 combo meds do together. But it is a two pill formula with synthetics.

That's it.. - it's up to the patient and their symptoms of hypothyroid on what works best for who.

Westroid is being weened out. There production will end sometime in the future very soon. That came directly from the conversation I had with them. Naturethroid will be available instead with Armour.

I feel fine on the new med - but since I take my thyroid med sublingual - ( it bothers my stomach if I swollow it) the heavy grittyness with Naturethroid is not pleasant for me. I am just dealing with that b/c it is the best way for me to take it in. I have moved up to 3.5 grains and should increase to 4 soon. Keep in mind, I do not have a gland due to RAI.

I zapped the pic of the new Armour off my photos. I noticed some conflicting information and I am in the process of reviewing that with Forest Pharm. I can't promise when I will have a new one up - but if you look at your tablet with the "A" on it, a small TM is there too. That is the new formula label. I can't say for sure that is the only "T" conficting with this new formula at this time - that is why I removed the pic.

Try to eliminate splitting the new pills if you stay on Armour. They do not split well and will mess with your ability to get in the proper levels consistantly each day. Armour or T3/T4 should be taken in intervals throughout the day, so a new script may need to be written to give you that ability back with correct dosages to take twice a day. It's more expensive that way for some patients though. I found that out way before the change happened with the med.

Tell the pharmacist that taking in T3 desiccated med works better taking it sublingually. It depletes in the GI track quicker and doesn't release as well. The hormone gets used up in the GI track and doesn't release well to the rest of the system. If he shakes his head, inform him to read up on "natural" hormone replacement therapy in any form. Hormone Creams and taking natural meds sublingually - in any hormone therpy is the mainstay of optimal preformance.

T4 Synthroid is made to use in the GI track to help with conversion into T3 - desiccated doesn't do that as well for some. It's so logically simple to figure out - I can't see how they miss that or act like it's rocket science.

This is where Forest Pharm is making there new formula. "Out of the mouths of Babes"
(when I talked directly to them) they told me "the new formula is being processed with more lactose to adhere better with the GI track." Dumb founded, I said what about the patients doing it sublingual? - They said it was never intended to be taken that way. In our natural bodies our GI is not there to control all of our conversions, neither is the liver. We need the other components as what's in T3/T4 thyroid hormone meds to use it up too.

As I said when I told Forest Phan I was MH Community Leader/Thyroid - I got shunned. Funny...... when you want to inform people of information and are known to be one of those type of individuals the ones creating the havoc, don't want anything to do with you. :{

Natural desiccated thyroid hormone works better without depending SOLEY on the GI track due to the desiccated thryoid hormones T1 - T2 and T3. Maybe this was discovered by accident, but it hits the norm of patients using it for hypothyroidism.  

For the thyroid patients that had great success swollowing the original med, the new formula shouldn't react poorly on them, but for the ones as I - who had a weak GI track and liver abnormalities -  and bad results from swollowing, the new form is terrible for me.

This line I quote above. " but since it was not synthetic, that it is really hard to make it the same everytime." is such bull cr@p, and I am so tired of fighting this ignorance. It's not true... don't let someone tell you it is. There is so much more regarding thyroid hormone medication ( if you want to be anal about it) that these statements are reduculious. I have been digging for solid proof for a year on these type of stuff and there is nothing proven on whether natural is better than synthetic.

It's a choice  - and a blend of well being inside our bodies  - AND if you need T3 to achieve that.

It doesn't matter what form we choose - it's what we need to be well and be able to get it!

[Applesan]

How has the Naturethroid been working for you?  Does it dissolve correctly when you take it sublingually.  I'm also thinking of asking my doctor for Naturethroid but wondered if you had any immediate side affects when you switched from Armour.  I think that the T3 is causing my chest tightness but it goes away after the first dose in the morning.  I only take 60mgs a day so I have 30 at 6AM, and then 15 at 1PM and 15 at 4PM.  

[stella5349]

It tastes like sawdust and it is not pleasant by no means.

I also find I need more throughout the day. I was on 3 grains Armour and in order to feel "right" with naturethroid I need 4 and 1/2 grains for the day

Truly it is a pain in the @$$ and feels like I am starting over to some degree. I will admit I still have my old bottle of Armour and will sneak one in sometimes. It give me more stability than NT does.

[Applesan]

I was hoping it was better than what you say.  I guess I'll stick with Armour and try to find the best way for me to take it so that it lasts.  The problem is I feel fluish most of the time, kind of weak, tired, achy, and definitely out of sorts. I also feel an anxiousness that drives me crazy.  When I had RAI they said that afterwards you just take a pill and your back to normal; that was in March 2008 and I'm still sick.  I guess it's easier for some and worse for others.  Thanks Stella.

[stella5349]

Yep - that seems to be the TELL ALL with the RAI treatments..

Unfortunately - for 99.9% of us - that "easy" pill idea is far from true!!