Combining Armour with Levothyroxine

[JoStafford]

Hello, Has anyone tried to combine Armour with Levothyroxine?   I have been taking Levothyroxine for 2 years and still have many symptoms e.g. extreme tiredness, sore mucsles, brittle nails, dry lips, mouth ulcers etc.  My TSH has never been normal ranging from 7.5 to -0.1 but never the dose my doctor wants me to get to which is 0.6.   I want to experiment with Armour but my doctor will not prescribe it for me so I have bought it over the internet.   I have started taking 1/2 grain of Armour and 25mg of Levothyroxine.   I wondered if anyone else combines their medication?   I came to the conclusion I have nothing to lose by doing this as I feel so terrible on just Levothyroxine.   I also have low cortisol for which I am taking Cytozyme AD but my tiredness is still a HUGE problem.   Many thanks.   Jo

[laura1967]

You need to be very careful in treating yourself. You should do a search on internet and find a dr who will prescribe armour. If you want I can help you search. Send me your city state and zip through a private message adn I will help you look.
Dr Ken Blanchard (an endocrinologist) wrote a book called "What your doctor may not tell you about hypothyroidism"  He uses a 98% T4 2% T3 approach to treatment and uses synthetic with armour. So yes it is being done with great success.
Straight Armour works well with conversion problems....and  a lot of other patients as well.
If you have weak adrenals you are going to have problems with any medication though. What is Cytozyme AD?? I have never heard of it.
When was the last labs you had done and did it include Free T3, Free T4 and TSH??  You need to have all three run. Also have you had antibody tests done?

[JoStafford]

Hello, thanks so much for your reply.  I live in the UK and for some reason doctors will not prescribe Armour.  Armour was removed from prescription in the 1980's as it was deemed too expensive.  Doctors are told just to prescribe Levothyroxine (T4) so there are many people in the UK unncessarily suffering when they don't have to.  I ordered Armour from a website which delivered to the UK.  I have been on Armour 1/2 grain and 25mg Levothyroxine for nearly a week now and I feel so much better - incredibly so.  I still have problems sleeping but the extreme tiredness has lifted.  Cytozyme AD is bovine adrenal gland which has helped me build back up my cortisol levels.   I can now handle stress without getting as ill as I did before.  It is still early days but I am going to continue on this course of medication for 3 more weeks then get a blood test to see what is going on.   I get tested for TSH, serum free T4 and serum free T3.  It is interesting that you say I will not be able to handle any medication if I have low cortisol as this is exactly true.  Doctors have tried me on all sorts of medication and I always had a bad reaction to it - I didn't know why.   Why on earth don't doctors investigate adrenal gland problems?? - it is so frustrating.  Once again, thanks so much for your reply.   Best wishes   Jo