Armour or levoxyl???

[Renee1967]

I have been on Levoxyl for several years since they quit making Armour thyroid. After several doasage changes I seem to level out. My throid blood tests always are on the low side. When I found out they were making Armour again I asked to be switched to it. This Dr. Prefers to go natural route as well.
She switched me from 100mg  levoxyl to 60 mg of Armour. Ifelt terrible after a few weeks so they raised it 1/4 grain.
So I was due for 2 month blood work. My results

After 75 mg my results were
FreeT3- 2.9.    Normal range is 2.3-4.2
Free T4- .46.  Normal range is .59-1.61
TSH-  .52.        Normal range is .34-4.82
I still feel tires! I am on 90 mg Armour and still feel depressed, cold and tired!  I will be on this dose for two months until I can get another blood test done. I am barely funtioning.

My question is, is it wrong to expect higher blood levels than the minimum? obviously something is not right with the meds. I hate to go bck to a synthetic, but I felt so much better.

Any dr.'s advice would be greatly appreciated.

Renee

[telus2]

Wow. Your doc may like natural, but really has to learn more about it.

It would appear that your doc is being ultra cautious in ramping up your Armour and waiting too long between increases. It is no wonder you feel so bad with labs this low.

60 mg Armour = 38 mcg T4 + 9 mcg T3
75                     47.5             11.25
90                      57                14

if you go to Armour's data sheet, they say that 120 mg is a common dose. How much Armour did you take before? Why not ramp up more quickly to that??
    

[gimel]

No doctors that regularly post on the Forum.  But there are numerous members with experience and knowledge that can provide opinions on your status.  There are two different conversion factors used for determining equivalent doses.  One says that a grain of NDT (60 mg) is equal to 100 mcg of T4.  The second says that it is only equal to 75 mcg of T4.  My experience has been the latter.  Many doctors seem to be very cautious and go with the 1 grain = 100 mcg of T4.  So that is why you came up a bit short on the switch.  

You indicated that after switching to 60 mg, you felt terrible and the dosage was increased by 1/4 grain, which would be 75 mg.  After two months, your labs showed that your Free T3 is still too low in the range for many hypo patients.  And your Free T4 was even below range.  So when did you go to 90 mg?  Also, for perspective, what were your blood test results when you were on Levoxyl, and were you symptom free at that time?

Last, have you been tested for Vitamin D, B12 and ferritin (iron related)?