Finding n Endo that is a good thyroid doctor is extremely difficult. That is because most all Endos only pay attention to TSH for diagnosis and treatment. That does not work for most hypo patients. I am sending you a PM with some info on doctors in your general area, who have been recommended by thyroid patients. To access, just click on your name and then from your personal page click on messages.
Okay, I suggest that for now, you give a copy of the overview to your doctor and mention the full paper as the necessary scientific evidence for clinical diagnosis and treatment, rather than based on TSH. I would also mention that one of the authors of the papers is a retired Endocrinologist who is widely known and respected and co-author of over 100 papers on thyroid issues. If the doctor is open minded at all, those papers and knowledge about the source and all the supporting scientific evidence should cause him to stop and reconsider how you are being treated. If you want I can even give you a link to the source for the quote I gave you about how to treat hypothyroidism.
If you can get the doctor to agree with even extended tests, you should always request Free T4, Free T3, Reverse T3 at least once to determine if a contributing problem, Vitamin D, B12 and ferritin. Also, even though in range, the range is too broad, so your cortisol is lower than optimal; however, that test is for total cortisol. A better evaluation would be a diurnal saliva cortisol panel of 4 tests for free cortisol. Most doctors won't order that test, but if not you could always order a kit online and do it yourself. Cost is about $145, including shipping.
For treatment I would point out the info about the average amount of T4 nd T3 produced by a thyroid gland daily and point out that is equivalent to 130 mcg of T4, which is equivalent to 2 grains of Armour. And that does not even account for the loss when taking orally. So that is why most people need around 3 grains or so. The whole objective of treatment is to relieve hypo symptoms, not just get TSH within range. That does not work, as confirmed by several scientific studies.
If you think that cannot work, or probably will not work, then I am sending you a PM with info on a doctor in your general area. It might take a while to get an appointment so I would go ahead and pursue that while you find out the possibilities with your PCP.
Just for comparison, one of our members (Red_Star) mentioned recently that, "A normal thyroid gland produces 100 mcg T4 and 10 mcg T3 daily. 10:1 ratio." Converting this to equivalent T4 your would multiply the 10 mcg of T3 by 3 and then add it to the 100 and that would equal 130 mcg of equivalent T4 produced daily by a normal thyroid gland. This is approximately the same as two grains of Armour Thyroid. Of course to achieve that actual amount by taking thyroid med, you have to account for absorption of the med. So the med dosage would have to be even higher than two grains of Armour. That is the reason I have read that full daily replacement amounts of a desiccated med like Armour is typically 3 grains or more. That is a long way from your 100 mcg of T4 med, or your 1 1/4 grains of Armour, all because of the "Immaculate TSH Belief".
You are absolutely correct about the percentage of doctors that don't understand, or don't want to know that there is more to treating a patient than just giving T4 med to get TSH within range. And that approach seems just as rampant among Endocrinologists as regular doctors. Instead a good thyroid doctor will evaluate and treat a hypothyroid patient clinically and medicate as needed to relieve hypo symptoms, without being influenced by resultant TSH levels. Symptom relief should be all important, not test results. As for what that requires, note the following conclusion from a recent, excellent scientific study: "Hypothyroid symptom relief was associated with both a T4 dose givingTSH-suppression below the lower reference limit and FT3 elevated further into the upper half of its reference range."
In addition, the correct definition of hypothyroidism is "insufficient T3 effect in tissue throughout the body due to inadequate supply of, or response to, thyroid hormone". This definition incorporates both supply of thyroid hormone and the response to it, which is affected by a number of variables. Chief among those are cortisol and Vitamin D. I would also include as very important, B12 and ferritin. So you should get those tested and supplemented as needed to optimize. D should be at least 50 ng/mL, B12 in the upper end of its range, and ferritin should be at least 100. Cortisol that is too high or too low also adversely affects thyroid. If never tested for Reverse T3 that should be done also, in conjunction with a Free T3 test so that the ratio of FT3 to RT3 can be calculated.
So the most important thing for you is to either give your doctor enough information to convince him to review and reconsider how you are being treated, or if that is not likely then find a good thyroid doctor. If you will give us your location, perhaps we can suggest a doctor in your are that has been recommended by other thyroid patients.
If you want to confirm all I have said, please click on my name and then scroll down to my Journal and at least read the one page overview of a full paper on Diagnosis and Treatment of Hypothyroidism: a Patient's Perspective. If you do try to convince your doctor on clinical treatment, you can make good use of a copy of the overview.
There is much to discuss, but first, what was your Synthroid dose before the switch to Armour Thyroid? Are you aware that thyroid med dosage should never be determined by TSH levels, but instead based on symptom relief?