Can I up my Armour myself?

[nicolelm]

Through the help up this community I have made an appointment with a new Endocrinologist. The thing is, I can not get in to see him until Mid September. That being said, I am keeping my mean old Endo until then. He has not called me back and because of how weak I am, I would like to know if it is safe to up my Armour myself?

I am currently on 30 mg (1/2 a grain) of Armour, been on it for 6 weeks. First few weeks I felt so much better...now I am like death. Huge fatigue and weakness. Changing out of my pajamas is work.

I just got bloodwork done on friday to see how the Armour is doing, and these are my results:

T4,Free(Direct)   0.99 ng/dL       Range 0.82-1.77

    TSH   ( ultra sensitive)            0.788 uIU/mL     Range 0.450-4.500

From what I have read, any medicine with T3 in it will drive the the TSH down. And it's normal. But if the FT4 is lowered, you are sitll hypo and need more medicine. Is this correct? Can I do this? I know it's best for a doctor to tell me, but I currently do not have one that will.

[nicolelm]

Thank you dgmootry- I will wait 30 minutes to eat, see if there is a difference. I actually started taking the armour with food on accident, and I noticed I had a spring in my step that day, so I decided to continue that....but maybe the 30 minute wait time is best, we shall see lol.

Thanks for the input on the time spacing, I appreciate it.

[nicolelm]

Thank you for that info Stufftie- I just bought the STTM book, so hopefully that will be a good resource, thanks!

I space my birth control pills at least 6 hours from my Armour, that's what my doc told me to do anyway. So I hope that's been helpful.

Thank you for your input and advice, I appreciate it.

[dgmootry]

Hey, you should take your Armour on an empty stomach, and then you can eat 1/2 hour to an 1 hour. I usually try and get up and take my first pill around 7am and then my second around 3pm and I try and take my supplements about 4 hours after my 7am pill. I still havn't gotten it together that well. I'm not used to having to take a pill everyday, but i've been making sure I do, cause when I don't I really can feel the difference.  There are foods you want to avoid, soy is one, and you really want to space your calcium at least 4 hrs from when you take your Armour, well i sure hope Armour will work for you like its worked for me. Good luck

[Stufftie]

After many doctors telling me nothing is wrong on 25 mcg levothyroxine I switched to Armour.

Initially I was on 30 mg and I continued to up it myself with blood work from 6 weeks to 3 month intervals.  I currently am on 120 mg of Armour.

The nurse flipped out and told me that I couldn't increase it myself but my internal doctor said, "Just let me know what you are doing" She knows I am not going to go fast or do anything crazy. Recently my blood work came back as Free T4 lower range and Free T3 mid range and I know I need them up some more.  (TSH .008)

I am chiming in because I see that you are on birth control and that binds the T4 so eventually you will have to keep going up.  If you got to the Armour website it is on the full prescribing sheet.

From the STTM website it recommends that we increase our NDT every two weeks until we are symptom free.  Stopping at 2 - 3 grains and either go lower or higher from there after 6 weeks.  That is the protocol I followed since February and I can't tell you how much better I feel.  
I knew I needed to go up because the morning of the blood draw I skip my Armour because of the T3 and crashed the rest of the day. I did take it after the draw but apparently it was to late :( If I was optimal that wouldn't have happened.  Took me a few days to get that straightened out.

While I was increasing I worked to keep my B12 going higher (was 312) and get my iron back up.  

I also crush the Armour in my mouth before I swallow it.  I also take one dose in the morning and the other before lunch. (I usually wake up between 3 - 5 am and take the first one.)

[nicolelm]

well i did it, I upped my medicine myself. I feel like death, so I doubt I can feel all that worse. I only went up 1/2 of a 15 mg pill. So I figure that is smart and cautious. I hope lol

[nicolelm]

oh! I am also awaiting a thyroid nodule biopsy, so I am not sure if that factors in at all. Thank you!

[nicolelm]

Thanks so much, I appreciate the response. You sound so similar to me...If i up it, I will definitely go slowly.

I think I am going to try spacing it. It's just hard to figure out the timing when I take iron and other supplements...and birth control pills.

What's the time difference that you space it? Like 4 hours? And do you do on empty stomach or with food? Because oddly enough I am noticing i feel better when I take my Armour with food.

[dgmootry]

hey again,  in March I started on 30mg Armour then 6weeks later 4/19 I had my labs, my doc increased to 15mg which made 45, then 5/31 labs still low except for tsh she then increased additonal 71/2 mg which is a 1/2 of a 15mg, just thought you might want to see someones increase.  you might want to have your doc give you a ft3 test, that should tell you more about why your feeling the way you are, and give you a better indication if you should increase or not.

[dgmootry]

, I'm on Armour also, when my doc increased mine she went slow, I was feeling like you very hypo, she increased it to 15mg, and after 8weeks, I still felt I had still a few more symptoms of hypo, so she increased it 1/2 of a 15mg pill. So if you do it yourself make sure you increase very slowly, so it gives your body time to balance out. Also are you dividing your pills up, when I started doing this, I really felt so much better, I was getting too much t3 all at once, so I now take 1/2 in the morning and1/2 in the afternoon, around 3 and its helped so much. Otherwise I would be so exhausted by 5 and quite hyper in the early hours. my last labs my tsh went way down, but myf t4 was low and my ft3 was also low enough that my doc said she'd agree to increase it only by 1/2 of a 15mg, she made it clear to me, she looks primarily at the tsh, she was telling me in a round about way that if my tsh decreases anymore she will take away my 1/2 pill she just aloted me. So the next time i get my blood drawn i will not take my morning pill till after I get my blood drawn. I hope you get a doc that will look at the overall picture and not jjust the tsh. Good luck deb