Nature throid question

[annie234]

Just got my blood work back. Started on Armour the end of June then was changed to Nature throid about 2 1/2 weeks ago.Do you guys think I need an increase? I am on 1 grain. Here are my labs TSH 1.28 Free T4 0.8 range is 0.8 - 1.8 and Free T3 379 range is 230 - 420. Im starting to feel a little hypo. Thanks

[Smilerdeb]

They havent banned Armour or any other natural desiccated thyroid hormone....they just have a shortage and a backlog as there are a lot more people turning to it now and also because they got a bad batch at the beginning of the year from China (inconsistancy).
They have since ceased exporting it from China and that is why there is delay in production of more.
To my knowledge (and yes I have researched extensively) they have no intention of banning it after reading reports worldwide.

As for taking T4 and T3..it is not the same as the natural desiccated thyroid also contains T1 & T2 (both hormones present in the human thyroid).
Synthetic meds do not contain this and also some people are allergic to the 'fillers' in Synthetic Hormones of T3(Cytomel)  and T4 (synthroid).

There are 2 types of desiccated thyroid hormone...Porcine and bovine.
Cow and Pig.

Armour thyroid is not just from Pig as many believe.

Porcine and bovine thyroid supplements often contain ground and desiccated parts of the glands of the animal, which are said to imitate human glandular functions.

[stella5349]

Where are you getting that information with Armour and the swine flu? That is absolutely false. That is NOT the reason why Armour is on backorder at all.

Let's stick to the facts here.

Armour is on backorder - only on speculation - that they made a change with their fillers which was against the 1962 amendment. This haulted production and other desiccated labs are alos getting looked at.

THERE is NO scare with this swine flu. Swine flu has been around for decades and it is being promoted in the media feeding the health scare tactics they want us to believe.

I have been working round the clock checking out all the situations. Have you called the FDA or Forest Pharmacuticals or RLC? I have and there is absolutely no mention of the swine flu.

If you chose Synthroid and Cytomel as your thyroid med and do well on that - great - but people that are on decsiccated thyroid medication need to have credible information - not runors.

[chel 81]

Thank you for letting me know that!!! I have been scared out of my mind since this whole thing came about and have been worrying about what I will do if the FDA gets rid of my meds. This makes me feel better knowing that I should still be able to get it even if they get rid of Armour. Thank you!

[Smilerdeb]

They did that in Australia...banned natural thyroid hormone but the compounding chemists here still make it up.So I dont think you have a problem there.

[chel 81]

Just wanted to mention that it was not due to swine flu that Armour has been discontinued. Right now not much is being said to the public but they have been working on reformulated the drug and that's the reason for the shortage. The swine flu did not effect any natural form of thyroid.

[chel 81]

I just wanted to mention that everyone is different so some people may do just as well on a mix of Synthroid and Cytomel as oppose to natural thyroid like Armour, Naturethroid, etc  but others don't do well on the synthetic version. I've taken both forms and after a short while on the synthetic we realized I get an allergic reaction to the synthetic thyroid and cannot take it at all. I've tried multiple brands of synthetic and both forms (T3 & T4) and tried to give them a good try (almost 8 months) and felt like I was having an asthma attack for 24 hours a day the entire time I was on them. It was one of the worst times in my life and I could have died from it. I have switched back to natural thyroid and can finally breath. We checked to see if it was the fillers but from what we can tell it is actually the synthetic thyroid portion itself and not the fillers because I get the same reaction regardless of which brand or type I take. I would rather have slightly off numbers and keep either slightly hypo or slightly hyper than not be able to breath. I know I am a rare case but there are some of us out there who absolutely cannot take synthetic thyroid and it's upsetting when people say that the natural is bad and cannot be regulated correctly. If the FDA gets rid of my natural thyroid I will be forced to buy illegally because I will die without it.

[annie234]

Thanks Stella, Maybe I'll call him tomorrow and ask for an increase.

[annie234]

Thanks Laura, I will be seeing my endo on Sept.15th. I do feel better on dessicated but wondered how I could get the T4 up without going over on the T3. Maybe a half a grain more would do it? Thanks again.

[stella5349]

I found that Naturethroid did not compare in dosage to Armour - when it was good.

My thought is to bump the Naturethroid up at least twice by 1/4 grain each time.  That what I needed to do when I switched over from Armour

I went up actually in grains.. but my condition is different than yours.

[laura1967]

Looks like you need more T4....you might need to add synthetic T4 to your Naturethroid. The ratio in dessicated is different than a humans. Some people do great, and others sometimes need to add more T4 to get the right ratio. Your T3 level is good.