sudden crash on Armour

[AnnaS69]

I have been on Armour for a couple of months and doing just fine until a few days ago. All of a sudden, my hypo symptoms returned and are even worse than when I was on thyroxine alone (tiredness, stiff joints, aching muscles, feeling cold, difficulties getting up in the morning, general lack of energy...). How I can do fine on a drug for two months and then just suddenly crash? Most people who don't do well on Armour felt it from the very beginning, didn't they? Has anyone else experienced this?

Before I crashed I was on 270 mg of Armour daily and doing just fine. The only thing that changed is that I went from taking 2x120+30 mg  to taking 3x90 mg pills daily.

[Brucergoldberg]

not overnight,  but in my particular case i went from normal to horrible in about 4 weeks.  Then just when i thought it was bad, it got even worse in 3 months.

[Kate968]

I guess it's possible (I have Hashimoto's), but do you crash so abruptly (literally overnight)?

Anna

[Brucergoldberg]

Could it be that your thyroid was at a steady pace and then the destruction became greater?   Now maybe you need an increase to keep up with the decreased output of the gland?

[kl42]

do you have a cold or flu. it seem like i crash a little when i get sick but you bounce back.

[Barb135]

Being hyper can cause fatigue and tiredness, just like being hypo can.

You really need to get current labs, so you can see where you're at before switching to yet another  medication.  

There are some who do better on ERFA than Armour; there are also those who do better on synthetic T4, with a small dose of T3 added.

Most people find that they feel best with FT4 about mid range and FT3 in the upper 1/3 of the range, so when you were on the 250 mcg thyroxine, your FT4 was about right; you maybe only needed to supplement with some T3 to bring those levels up.

Once you get current labs and post them, with reference ranges, members can better assess your situation and make suggestions as to a course, of treatment to discuss with your doctor.

You might also ask to get Vitamin B12 tested, as deficiency can cause extreme tiredness. I have to inject weekly to keep my levels at the top of the range in order to feel good.  

Studies have also shown that selenium can help with the conversion of FT4 to FT3, so you might want to try supplementing with that as well.

[AnnaS69]

Hi Barb,

No, I don't have recent labs. My latest lab results are from November ´11, before I was put on Armour (as well as adrenal support).

I was thinking that maybe Armour is not right for me and that I need Erfa instead, but then I shouldn't have felt good on Armour in the first place, should I?

Before switching to Armour, I was on 250 mcg of thyroxine. Even on that dose, my free T3 levels were very low (close to the lower normal range). What surprised my doctor was that my free T4 levels were only mid-range even on such a large dose of thyroxine.

So you mean that being overmedicated can cause symptoms like tiredness and muscle ache, just like hypothyroidism? I've always thought that too much Armour would cause me to be speeded, not tired...

Thanks for the advice, I'll make sure I'm tested.

Anna

[Barb135]

Do you have current labs you could post, so members can get a better idea of where you're at. Please be sure to include reference ranges, as these vary lab to lab and must come from your own report.

Some symptoms can cross over between hypo and hyper, so you could be either, at this point.

Things can change very quickly, when on a T3 med, because it works much faster than a T4 only med.