How to tell is this is correct armour dose.

[Alittleblues]

I'm new here, so here's a little history: I'm 48 years old. I was hypo years ago, but decided to go off Synthroid. Without treatment, I had no symptoms for ten years, and a 'normal' TSH (4.5.) which we tested every six months. However, a year ago I felt withdrawn and mildly hypo, so we tested TSH: 4.98. We did not do an antibody or T3 test.

I've been taking Synthroid ever since, but in the past 5 months, I've became very symptomatic. TSH was 46. We doubled Synthroid (100mcg) for two months, and now TSH is 2.5, but I feel exhausted, withdrawn, depressed, scattered, dull, voice is gravelly, strong cravings for carbs/sweets and hot/spicy, gained 20 lbs, fingers and face are puffy. I don't recall if I have any short term memory. :-) And now my hair is thinning.

So it's Hashimotos. My TPO antibodies are 6771.

Because Synthroid is clearly not relieving the symptoms, my Dr is supporting me to try Armour, but he knows little about it. Because my antibodies are so high I decided to start on one grain. I felt more energy after I took it, but not noticeably better, so after a week I decided to up to 1 and a 1/2 grains. No shakes or other issues and I'm sleeping better, so I think it's helping. After another week, I went up to 2 grains, which I split between 3 doses. I plan to stay on 2 grains for two or three weeks. My morning temp was averaging 97.3, but now hitting 97.8 almost every day.

How --or when-- can I tell if this is the correct dose? How will I know if it's too much or too little?
I would really appreciate advice.

[FTB4]

Stick to your guns and demand The Free T3 and Free T4, since he does not seem to treat thyroid very much you can win him over being armed with more facts on Thyroid! And don't forget to post rthe results. Good Luck FTB4

[Alittleblues]

Thanks for the encouragement! I will post the results and already told him we will need to do those tests next time.

After only a couple days on a lower dose, my voice is becoming gravelly again, where I was seeing improvement on 2 grains, and I'm super scattered. Should that improve if I give it enough time to build up in my body? I'm feeling less focused and energetic on the current dose of 1 and 1/2 grains. Hearing my gravelly voice is depressing, plus I work in a job environment where I deal with people all day.

I didn't mention this before, but what the heck: I'm super puffy and practically stopped urinating the last two months I was on Synthroid. When I hit the 2 grain dose, I started to pee again. That might be too much information, but I hoped I was starting to lose some of the water retention.

My initial question was how will I know if I'm the correct dose? I'm feeling so scattered.

[Alittleblues]

Can you help me understand the conversion table for dosing between Armour and Synthroid? I saw a few conversion charts online but what I want to know is, how does the T3 in Armour effect how potent it is or how efficiently is works?

I was feeling symptomatic on 100mcg synthroid. I was feeling better on 2 grains of Armour, but is that way stronger because of the T3? Do Armour patients usually need higher or lower doses than they had on Synthroid?

If you or anyone else can help me understand this, or if you can point me to a reliable website, I'd appreciate it. Thanks

[FTB4]

Here you go:


          Armour       Synthroid
         1/4 grain      18-25mcg
          1/2               74-100
          1.5               111-150
          2 grain        148-200
    Ypu are taking too much @ 2 grains, you need 1/2 grain to equal 100mcg         FTB4
                                                                                
      

[Alittleblues]

Thanks. I wonder why I feel worse on 1 and 1/2 grains. I was very symptomatic after two months on 100mcg Synthroid, so that may not have been enough.

Does the T3 in Armour make less T4 mcg necessary?

My basal temp has dropped since I cut back, but I want to track it for the next weeks to see if it rises as the Armour builds.

[Alittleblues]

I mis-typed the TSH before at 2.5. Years ago, when my TSH lowered, I felt better, except for the depression. I haven't had hypo symptoms or depression for ten years, but now I think my withdrawal the last few years has been a symptom. That and a very slow weight gain, until two months ago where my cravings and sudden weight gain were alarming! I had some extreme stress to deal for some time, so withdrawing made sense, at least before everything else went askew a couple months ago.

Here are my last results as they appear on paper:

test:                                                  
Thyroid AB           77             reference:    < 40 IU/ML
Microsomal AB     6771              "                <= 60  u/ml
T4                         8.5                "           5.53 - 11.0 ug/dl
TSH                      2.05               "           .465 - 4.68  uIU/ml

I'm open to anything helpful you can surmise from this. Thanks