What can an excess of Armour do ?

[Ecologic]

Slowly going from 1.0 to 2.0 grains of Armour Thyroid for hypothryroid, currently at 1.25 and wondering what can be the side effects of too much Armour? I guess hyperthyroid? Never saw the good effects of 1.0 grain of Armour so curious to see what 2.0 grains will eventually do for me, good or bad!

[Ecologic]

Thanks for the answers!

Yes I am following the recommendations of people on this forum and increasing my Armour levels very slowly (my doctor of course had told me nothing about that), currently I am at 1.25. Note sure I see any change yet, but it's probably too soon to see anything.

Stella, I did not know at all that "You should keep in mind with your doctor that your sweet spot ( optimal) levels of free T3 should be near or above the lab reference ranges. 99.9 percent of patients on Armour - or another combo T3/T4 med say that they feel best when the free T3 is high."
It's a great piece of information and I'll keep it in mind (and why no doctor told me that before??). My last T3 was at 3.6 on a range of 2.3-4.2 but I had taken Armour in the morning so I think the value does mean much (again no doctor told me I should not take Armour when being tested). I plan on asking a new T3 test in a week when I see my doctor.

[stella5349]

Opps - I don't want my last line read wrong, I made an error.

I meant to say "now" that I achieved getting over the small increases and the adrenal fatigue.

Easier said than done though. It was the toughest thing I ever did in my whole life.

Also to point out, I was on Synthroid for about 3 years. I had little success with it. But many people - as Smilerdeb - do fantastic on it and most of them do not have as high of a free T3 level as patients who are on Armour or T3/T4 cobo thyroid meds.

I believe it is the direct T3 in them that changes those labs and should be looked at much diferently.

[Smilerdeb]

I am at 4.7 with the FT3 with the ranges being 3.5 - 6.5.
I couldnt sit on the highest range ! lol
No woonder I had Thyroid Storm.
Sorry guys but good luck with the Armour.
Even though I will never take Armour in my lifetime due to heart issues and super dooper drug sensitivity, I honestly believe that if you have given Thyroxin a good run and nothing has improved in the way you feel, then by all means try Cytomel or Armour but 'baby steps' as with all thyroid meds.
Good Luck :)

[stella5349]

One thing you should keep in mind while increasing Armour, is if you start seeing some hyper symptoms - or if you seem to feel "off" still on those increases - you SHOULD then get your adrenals checked to make sure you are not in adrenal fatigue.

Armour increases are touchy, and if your adrenals are weak the meds will react oddly. Most people automatically think when increasing, that the meds are bad if something seems wrong- but in reality the adrenals are the ones that are causing the reaction.

I love how Gimel put her post. It's dead on!

You should keep in mind with your doctor that your sweet spot ( optimal) levels of free T3 should be near or above the lab reference ranges. 99.9 percent of patients on Armour - or another combo T3/T4 med say that they feel best when the free T3 is high.

I know I am way over the range on Free T3 and feel excellent - not that I achieved getting over the increases and adrenal fatigue. I am at 4 grains now. - I have no thyroid - it was RAI'd years ago.

[LazyMoose]

What gimel said!

[LazyMoose]

I am doing this now (on upper end), again. Going up in 1/4 grain in 2 to 3 weeks (no more) at a time is what the Armour site says. This works best, to avoid a hyper state. Also recommended to retest in four weeks (1/2 grain).

Seems like docs don't always know about the Armour 'steps'. Mine did not, and I went hyper. I had to start all over and increase dose in steps (learned that here). When hyper I had a headache, shaky, sweaty, hands, rapid heart beat, could not sleep.

You said, now at 1.25 grains, so you are going up in 1/4 grains. GOOD! You probably wont go through what I did!

What were your last labs?

[gimel]

I wouldn't call them side effects, but direct effects.  Since Armour is a combo T4 and T3, in about a 4 to 1 ratio,  you get a lot more T3 than you normally would.  As you move up in free T3, your hypo symptoms should gradually disappear and you should get into the "sweet spot" where there is neither hypo nor hyper symptoms.  If you move up too rapidly, or even with slow increases, if you go too far, then you might see the beginning of some of the normal hyper symptoms like feeling jittery, faster pulse rate, heart palpitations, nervousness, insomnia,  heat intolerance, and breathlessness.
Your goal shouldn't necessarily be to see what 2 grains will do for you, but to see what dosage is required to get your free T3 and free T4 into the upper part of their reference range and alleviate your hypo symptoms.  Believe me, even if you find out that you really need 2 grains, if you increase too quickly along the way, sometimes your body does not accomodate.  It is far better to increase very gradually and not have an adverse reaction and have to back off for a while, because this really slows you down.