Armour Thyroid

[benz2003]

TT 9/13.  Tried various does of Synthroid.   Have been on Armour  Thyroid for two weeks.    I take 60 mg in the morning and 30 mg around mid day. Question is  1.  do I need to take both of these daily pills at the exact same time each day or can I vary by 15 to 20 mins with no ill effects?   2.  I can do the am dose and wait an hour to eat, no problem.  But the 2nd dose is tricky........do I take on an empty stomach and wait or is it ok to take with lunch?

Thanks for any help.

[gimel]

Well, I wrote the second post because the first one seemed to be lost.  Now there are two.  LOL

[gimel]

I agree with flyingfool.  There is no need to adjust your whole life around taking thyroid meds.  T3 is fast acting and builds to full effect in 4 hours and then diminishes in another 4 hours.  So that is why it is best to split the dose and take half in the morning and half in the early afternoon.  

I am somewhat surprised that after a TT you would only need 1 1/2 grains of Armour.  How are you feeling?  Any symptoms?  What are your Free T3 and Free T4 levels, along with reference ranges?

[gimel]

The timing of doses of thyroid med does not have to be so precise.  T4 is very slow acting and dosage timing can be varied a lot.  T3 acts much faster and it is more important to stay fairly consistent with your dose, I'd say within a couple of hours anyway. Since Armour contains both T4 and T3, then you have to follow the guidelines for a T3 med.  

T3 reaches its full effect in about 4 hours and then dissipates over the next 4 hours.  So the purpose of splitting the dose is to keep the effect fairly uniform throughout the day.  That is why patients are advised to split and take half in the morning and half in the early afternoon.  

T3 is not affected by food like a T4 med is; however, since you are taking Armour, you need to try to follow the rule about taking it on an empty stomach.  The reason is that T4 absorption is affected by food.    The more important consideration is to stay somewhat consistent with your meds.  But you don't have to interrupt your whole life, or worry so much about it.  

Since you had a TT, I am somewhat surprised that 1 1/2 grains of Armour would be adequate.  What dose of T4 were you taking before the switch two weeks ago?  How are you feeling now?

[flyingfool]

I do not believe that varying the time by 15-20 minutes or even an hour or more will cause any physical problems.  I've never read anything on this. the bigger issue is consistency helps a person not forget to take the meds.

Armour is a bit less sensitive to eating as it has a larger portion of T3.  T4 seems to be much more impacted by absorption.  But still it is always best to separate as best you can by an hour or more.

That is just my opinion.  Maybe some others will weigh in!