armour and synthroid taken together

[lashes123]

I have been taking synthroid for many years. Last week I was prescribed Armour thyroid to be taken 3 times per day, with the first dose to be taken in the morning together with a low dose of synthroid. Has anyone heard of this? I spoke to two pharmacists and they both report they have never seen it prescribed that way.

Please help!!!

[stella5349]

it is very uncommon - I am not sure if I personally am in favor of this at all.

In my opinion - I feel taking Synthroid w/ T3 Cytomel is a better treatment

and taking Armour alone is the other way I feel it is better.

What was your original RX on JUST Synthroid when you were taking it alone?

What is your Synthroid dose now and what dosage are you taking in Armour?

[julianne07]

I am on the canadian version of amour called "Thyroid". I take 60mg of Thyroid and .25 of synthroid. My doctor put me on the synthyroid, because after 5 weeksof being on 75mg of the thyroid my t4 was low. She said since synthroid is T4 only it should help bring it up.

Hope that made sense.

[stella5349]

If your taking Thyroid your T4 should be low. and the Free T3 should be high - TSH should be low too.

That is how Armour is suppose to work.

[laura1967]

Actually I have read about this in a book called "What your doctor may not tell you about hypothyroidism"  written by Dr Ken Blachard. He is an endo who likes to treat using Armour but is not opposed to treating in a way best for patient. He said he actually has some patients that do better with a 98% T4 to  2% T3 ratio treatment.
He uses Armour and synthroid to get this ratio....this of course for people who don't have a serious conversion issue. It is a fantastic book filled with information.
If your doctor is running all the tests....tsh, free t4 and free t3, then he should be accurate in what is going on. The important thing will be how you feel. T4 meds take 6 weeks to really regulate your system whereas armour takes about 4 weeks.

[anca77]

I take Synthroid 75 mcg and Armour 60 mg, daily. I take the Synthroid in the morning then at 11 AM I take 30 mg of Armour and around 4 PM I take another 30 mg of Armour. I feel the best on this combination. I used to take only Levothyroxine then only Armour but combining the two works best for me. I am on this combination for over 6 weeks, I just had my blood test yesterday so I will see the results of this treatment soon

[stella5349]

WOW

I really thought this was an odd treatment.

Who knew........???

With the lab ranges being so different taking them seperately I wonder how the Free T3 and Free T4 tests come out?

Do they test them too? I would think they would have to. Curious on the TSH test too??

Synthroid usually is about 1.0 for well being - but Armour is lower - in the .5 ( sometimes lower)

I wonder what protacol is????

[laura1967]

Let us know how your labs turn out....get a copy so you can post them here. So glad you are feeling better....hope this was your answer.

Stella- Neat protocol huh? I discussed this protocol with my doctor who said huh?! She hadn't heard of it. It's a great book....you should get it and read it. The same book series also has a"what your doctors may not tell you about menopause" is good too! Yes all the free's are tested with the tsh for bloodwork. Dr Ken treats by symptoms and the free's, not by the tsh. He even works with patients long distance.
C- I completely believe you, because my pms diminished when I was optimum for that short period of time before hashi's dumped my thyroid again. Yes everyone's optimum level is different. If only most drs understood this.

[anca77]

I finally got my blood results. After 7 weeks of taking 75 mcg of Synthroid and 60mg of Armour my TSH is 0.47, free T4 is 1.2 and free T3 is 1.32.

My vitamin D is 26; I do not know what this mean. The doctor advised me to start taking  1000 units of vit D.