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Another Armour question
If T4 is taken with food and it binds to protein or food, and is lost, why is it better to take Armour with food or shortly after, when Armour is a combination of T4 and T3? The directions on my prescription of 60mg states "To Be Taken on an Empty Stomach" Would you not lose some of or all of the T4 Content by taking it with or just after food?
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The Erfa brand can also be taken sublingually with ease as it melts in your cheek in about 15 minutes (just like the older version of Armour). With this method, the hormone is absorbed directly into your blood stream in the tiny blood vessels in your mouth, and since the stomach is bypassed, the presence of food or not makes no difference at all. I have tested this method (being the analyzing geek that I am) by level of continuous symptom relief, and by comparing lab results from the same dose taken orally on an empty stomach. Sublingually was just so slightly more effective but not enough to require a lighter dose change. If anything, you feel it quicker in the morning. In my case, no need for coffee anymore.
The 'new' Nature Throid and Armour formulations when taken sublingually did not 'melt', they required chewing and still did not absorb very quickly in the mouth. In my case, the effects were obvious return of hypo symptoms, so I did not try these long enough taken sublingually to warrant a blood test, then went back to ingesting. In some people the new formulas do not absorb well even taken orally, T3 will be over range with FT4 at the very bottom. There are reports that some people chew the new formulas with honey (on a previously empty stomach) and swallow it that way with better results. Note: The old formulas did have greater amounts of sugars mixed with the natural hormone powder..
All natural dessicated thyroid meds have a higher T3 to T4 ratio than what the human body naturally has. Pigs have a higher T3 to T4 ratio than we do. So your FT3 should always be higher than FT4 in the people that take it. Possibly why dessicated makes some feel better. To get the FT4 even up to the bottom of the range, FT3 will be higher, lab tests reveal this.