Erfa or Armour?

[christine502]

I had been on thyroxine for ten years when I was prescribed desiccated thyroid hormone in October 2011. At the pharmacy, I asked for both Erfa and Armour to be able to compare the two. I had read so much about the reformulated Armour and all the patients having problems with it, so I was almost afraid to try it...but my doctor wants me to take it, she is on Armour herself and claims it's the best thyroid drug on the market. But after all the stories I've read, I expected Erfa to work wonders for me and Armour to be useless.

But it was the other way around.

In fact, Erfa seems to be acting much faster/absorbed much faster than Armour. Could that be the case? I can take Armour once daily (even such a high dose as the 5 grains I am currently taking) and feel fine, but with Erfa, I need to multi-dose and I find that very inconvenient. If I take 5 grains of Erfa in the morning, I start feeling hyper some time around noon and I stay hyper until the evening. Following my doctor's instructions, I swallow the Armour pills and wait about half an hour before eating.

Has anyone else experienced this, or does anyone know the reasons for this? I have to admit that I am surprised that Armour is working so well for me, after all the negative things I have read about it. And I am equally surprised that Erfa is not so great for me as it seems to be for many others.

[70longhorn]

Yes, Armour is probably more  widely available here in USA but its cost has soared!    At GoodRX.com, 30 Tablets costs $30, and I need three .25 tabs per day.  I find the cost unconscionable, as Armour is the oldest thryroid (porcine) med around.  I feel TERRIBLE on Synthetic thyroid meds (flu like symptoms, muscle aches) and I resent that the Armour has soared, soared, soared in price!

[LazyMoose]

Id like to see ERFA pricing now that its 2018 to compare. Ive used NP thyrtoid for about 4 years now, it was cheap then started to go up too, not nearly as much as the new owners price Armour though. To much greed in America!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[christine502]

www.************.com/.../739276-armour-refor

It was on ************ where someone claimed his/her doctor said that Armour had been reformulated a second time in 2010/11 and was working much better since.

Does anyone know WHY Forest chose to reformulate a product that has been working so well for so many for years?

[LazyMoose]

"I've read that it was reformulated a second time in 2010 and the amount of cellulose slightly decreased "

- hmm. That would be a good thing. Can you recall where you read this? Would be good to see, since its apparent the the micro crystalline cellulose is to blame for the newer Armour working different for some people. I really dont understand how a company cannot understand communication - I tried that with them, got nowhere.

[christine502]

Another question: do you swallow or chew Armour?

This is a really nice site with a lot of useful info! I have read a lot on the STTM website and found it very informative but, unfortunately, I feel like I'm the enemy when I try to say that maybe Armour isn't all bad and Erfa isn't the saving grace for everyone...it's like you HAVE to hate Armour and love Erfa on that site. Very helpful info in many ways, but slightly one-sided...here, I feel it's much easier to ask questions and discuss various treatment options.

[christine502]

One more question: did you have to raise the dose on the new Armour compared to the old one? It seems the new one is slightly weaker and that many need to raise the dose to feel the same.

[christine502]

It's nice to read about someone doing fine on the new Armour! I've read that it was reformulated a second time in 2010 and the amount of cellulose slightly decreased and that many have been doing OK on it since.

The problem is likely that Forest refuses to communicate with patients and therefore nobody really knows what is going on with Armour. I'm just afraid that it will be reformulated again and cellulose increased. It seems that after the first reformulation (in 2009) it was really bad and not working for anyone. So something must have changed if some are now doing OK on Armour!

[gimel]

Your thyroid test results are pretty typical of patients taking large doses of T4 meds, except that your FT4 was still only around the middle of the range.  Your Free T3 was very low in the range (frequently associated with hypothyroidism) due to inadequate conversion of the T4 med to T3.

I went through that same scenario for well over 25 years, 200 mcg of T4, high Free T4, TSH around .05, and lingering hypo symptoms, until learning about the importance of Free T3 here on this Forum.  Got mine tested and confirmed low in the range.  Doctor switched me to Armour Thyroid.  Now I am on the new Armour Thyroid and after some tweaking of the dose (now 3 grains), my Free T3 is 3.9 (range of 2.3 - 4.2) and Free T4 is .84 (range of .60 - 1.50), and I feel best ever.  The only change being considered is adding some T4 to increase my free T4 level to the middle of the range.