Levothyroxin to Armor Thyroid

[Wonderyears1964]

After pratically begging my Doctor to switch from Levothyroxin to Armour, he finally wrote a script for it. I'm saying up front that I was taking 125mcg of Levothyroxin an i'm miserable. My dad takes Armour and he said he would never go back to synthethic. My dad has absoutely no Thyroid and is currently on 2 grains of Armour. My Doctor wrote me a perscription for 2 grains, I didn't pay much attention when he handed it to me, but when I brought it to the Pharmacy I asked what it was written for. Is it me or is that conversion wrong? I was thinking I probably take 1.25 gains?

Can anyone help clarify for me. My pharmacy has phoned the Dr. and his office to date has not returned the call.

[stella5349]

I agree. I think the appropriate script for you right now is 1 grain = 60mg - but due to needing increases usually every two weeks I wouldn't change the script . I would keep the extra Armour and then introduce the increase every two weeks before a 4 week test until you are at the 2 grains (if you will need to be that high)

You will see after the next blood draw and based on your symptoms how many increases you should do to reach an optimal level.

[anca77]

Make sure you start with a low dosage otherwise you could had palpitations, headache. I initially started with 60 mgs and I had to drop to 45 mgs and then increase to 60 mgs after a week.

[laura1967]

Hi there! Okay the approx conversion is as follows: 1 grain armour (60mgs) = 100mcg levo, 1 1/2 grain armour (90mgs) = 150mcg levo, 2 grains armour (120mgs) = 200 mcg levo. These are approx, but you will probably end up on more armour than the conversion shows. Now.......you shouldn't start out too high of dosage either. That T3 will hit your system hard if you take too much to start. Usual start dosage is 60mgs.
At top right hand area of this page you will find where it says health pages, go there, then find the armour information. At the bottom of that you will find the armour prescribing sheet that you can print out and take to your dr. It explains proper way to increase and when to do testing. It is diff than synthetics. It will explain increases every 2-3 weeks. and blood tests every 4.
You can always buy a pill splitter and start out slower that way. Most drs don't understand how to dosage and increase armour. The sheet and us will help a lot. :) Please join the thread of those of us on armour. Hope this helps!

[kitty9309]

The Armour website has the conversions, under FAQ's.

Here it is:

http://www.armourthyroid.com/con_faqs.aspx#q4

And yes, it looks like oyu should have 1.25 grains to be equivalent.

The pharmacy will still have to get the go ahead from your doctor.