Those of us on Armour and working on dosages and increases

[laura1967]

I thought it would be nice to have a thread of all of us on Armour that have recently started or have been on for a while. We can talk about our increases and symptoms.....how we are doing. Easy way to keep in contact with each other and support each other as we sssslllllooooowwwwwlllly and patiently find our optimum dosage! I think from what I have read and what Stella has said, that patience is the key with Armour. It is not an overnight fix at finding proper dosages. Many of these conversion charts are incorrect and our doctors are not educated at how to prescribe and treat with it. So, we have to educated ourselves and gently educated our doctors on how to medicate us. LOL Sometimes easier said than done when they are use to the synthroid dosages and treatment.
And once again......SSSTTTTEEEELLLLAAAA.......we need you and thank you for you advice and help!!!!   :)

[gymcoach61]

oops, okay - 3 different labs in 3 months.

04/13 Quest: TSH 12.23 (.40-4.5)
05/13 LabCorp: TSH 5.610 (.45-4.5), T3 2.6 (2.0-4.4), T4 1.01 (.82-1.77), RT3 13.8 (9.2-24.1)
TGB 25 (0-40)
TPO 355 (0-34)
07/13 CLS: TSH 4.2 (.36-3.74), T3 3.0 (2.18-3.98), T4 .9 (.76-1.46)
TPO 421.5 (0-9.0)

The one from LabCorp came with a doctor's phone review and he said that since my TSH fluctuated it meant my thyroid was still salvageable. I was encouraged to do the elimination diet - check symptoms and do another lab in 5-6 mo. In the meantime I was "assigned" a reg. doctor who wanted to see if the diet had any impact in the 6 wks. I've been on it.

[gimel]

Just because your test results are within the so-called "normal" ranges does not mean they are adequate for you.  The ranges are far too broad.  

Please post your T3, T4, and RT3 results and reference ranges shown on the lab report.

[gymcoach61]

Hi everyone, I'm new here

Recently diagnosed with Hashimoto's and convinced I have adrenal fatigue, hypoglycemia and hormone imbalance. Overwhelmed with internet research and looking for support.

TSH went from 12.23 (4/13) to 5.61 (5/13) to 4.2 (7/13) on autoimmune protocol

T3, T4, RT3 in normal ranges
TPO Ab went from 355 (5/13) to 421.5 (7/13)

I have headaches and fatigue but my gut feels better on the protocol. Take lots of supplements and have been on 30mg Armour for 5 days. I want to get a saliva test for adrenals and hormones but having financial restraints at this time.

[gimel]

I can think of several possibilities, including that increasing med reduced your TSH and resulted in less natural thyroid hormone being produced by your thyroid gland.  Remember that the serum thyroid hormone levels are the sum of both endogenous and exogenous sources.  Also, although the dose was doubled, the increase was only 30 mg of Armour Thyroid, which is not a large amount.  The 30 mg increase is only 18 mcg of T4,and 4.5 mcg of T3.  

Many hypo patients find that their total serum levels of Free T3 and Free T4 don't start rising until medication is increased enough that TSH is suppressed.  So, if you are still having hypo symptoms, which I would expect that you are from those test results, then you really need to keep increasing slowly until symptoms are relieved.  

Also, since hypo patients are frequently too low in the ranges for Vitamin D, B12, and ferritin, you should have those tested as well.

[Aquiggle]

Was curious to get your thoughts about some recent test results I got...

Beginning of the year, my numbers were:
TSH - .878 (range .4-4.5)
T4 - 1.08 (range .8-1.8)
T3 - 2.3 (range: 2.3-4.2)

Because of T3 being so low, my doc felt there was a conversion problem from 4-->3, and put me on 30mg grain Armour which has both T3/4.  I did feel a bit more energy after, but she'd also put me on a boat load of B6 at the same time.  After a few months we retested and the results were really wacky.

TSH - .833
T4 - .81
T3 - 2.9

Given that I was actually taking T4, it was really unexpected to see that number drop.  So, she doubled my dose to 60mg.  And after a couple months, I just got my results:

TSH - .74
T4 - .8
T3 - 2.8

So now ALL of them have dropped!  What the heck!

She thought about potentially switching me over to synthetics because people sometimes do react differently, but decided against it.  For now I'm staying on the same dosage, because she seems to think that something else might be the issue.

Do you have any insight?  

[chandw]

Taking armour in moring 60mg feel good but by noon wearing out  neck is swelling  Dr. said that does not happen. TSH 1.43 do i need to increase armour