does this mean armour is for me or not??

[tokki79]

I have been on armour thyroid i grain for little over two weeks.  First week was ok...no change.  But this past week ive noticed that 4-5 hrs after taking it, i feel all my symptoms but worse!!!  So, the next day i cut my dose in half and took it in the morning and the other half late afternoon...the day after i noticed few hours after i took my ;last dose late afternoon, again i started feeling it all around 8pm...so last night i took another half pill and about an hour later i felt much better.  I would get very anxious and panicky and my heart would pound...but when i take the armour it goes away within a hour.....am i not on enough? or is it not right for me? i did a saliva test on my own becuz my doc is not helpful at all...but dont revcieve the results for a week or so....someone told me i could have low adrenals or im not on enough....but i just dont know why i would feel so very anxious hours after and when i take my next dose it goes away....is there anyone who has any clue??? i called my doc but he wants me to wait upping but i took another half pill...its been alomst 3 weeks on my starting dose...and wants me to wait another 2....
please help...

j

[GravesLady]

T-3 whether in Armour or Cytomel, has a very short biological life compared to T4, and is also the form of thyroid hormone immediately used by cells. The T4 is continuously converted into T3 in the body as the body needs it. When you swallow a pill with T3 in it (whether it is Armour or cytomel) you are providing a spike of hormone that will be immediately used in cell metabolic functions. It could be that your body does not need the T3 at that point in time, but it gets it anyway. It is difficult to provide enough of a constant of the hormone, in the background, to avoid ups and downs. Taking T3 in pill form is like swallowing uppers because there's a  immediate rush, and then a quick down-turn  and it can have serious, adverse health consequences. I heard it referred to cocaine of thyroid drugs.  In someone with a wonky heart, these ups and downs and create problems.

Also, Armour can cause hyper symptoms if the med dose is taken all at one time. Some people taking one dose notice some transient hyper symptoms within an hour. Dividing the dose and taking it 2-3 times daily can help with this.

Armour is harder to regulate in some patients and contains a much higher T3/T4 ratio than most humans need, after all, its a pig.