conversion from synthyroid to armour thyroid

[miamijapan]

I've been on Synthyroid for 2 years.  Recently, my natural doctor suggested me to try Armour Thyroid.  I went back to my MD and she perscribed me Armour.  I am taking 75mcg Levothyroid now, and she perscribed me 90mg Armour Thyroid.  From my reserach in Armout Thyroid official site, conversion should be 100mcg T4 to 60mg Armour, which means 75mcg T4 to 45mg Armour.  Does anyone has advice for me ?  

[Bell6302]

I was struggling with hypothyroid and recently endo sent me for MRI and found a pituatory tumor. I was curious if you have symptoms?  I have bad headaches but my lab work to confirm a hormone producing pit tumor (that's the bad kind ) is positive once andnegative twice. Can't go up on my armour without my headaches getting worse but labs are sub therapeutic thyroid wise.

[kitty9309]

Can your natural doctor prescribe the Armour since he suggested it?

[laura1967]

Hi I made the switch from synthroid to armour. I was on 75 mcg of synthroid and switched to 60mgs armour. I never had any palps, raciness or anything. I am now on 75mgs armour and 90mgs on weekends. The conversion charts are a little off, but a great place to start. You shouldn't start out on any higher dosage than 60mgs...then increase every 2 weeks. On the top rt corner of these pages you will find the health pages. Click on that and find the armour information page. Read through that and it will help you. Also at the bottom of that page is the actual site to take you to the armour prescribing info page which will tell you and your dr how to increase and when to do blood work. It is diff than the synthetics. We also have a thread going here of those of us on armour.

[SeaLady321]

hi, my new Endro - who's ofc said she DOES prescribe Armour t - spent the entire visit telling me why she WILL NOT write Armour and put me on synthroid.

I was taking 3.75 of Armour - she put me on 75 mcg of Synthroid - ahh from what I can see that conversion would be as if is was on 90 mg of Armour - basically 3.75 grains is 375 mg's - I think - my scrip was written for 4 mg's a day, but I had cut it back a bit. - the pharmacist would give me 120 1.0 pills for a month.

This sounds like I will be arriving in HYPO-Land any day here now!!!


HELP!!!!  I see her again on the 10th - I have plenty of Armour and I have some old 50 mcg's of Synthroid left from before so I could augment till I see her.

I am willing to try her way - if nothing else to show her that Armour is not the cause of my problems.

I also have a pituitary tumor - which did make my TSH go from the low side of normal to > 0.005 which is basically nothing - the old Endro knew to look for a tumor because after lowering my armour to only 2.0 and the number had gotten worse and I had gone back to Hypo-Land - so why is the new one not believing the test results??

I am pretty sure despite the test results, MRI etc that she just looked at the TSH and said - oppy over medicated......I am so NOT hyper!!!

I am having to switch Endro's because the ins. dropped the group my old one was in, but I was thinking of changing anyway since he does not specialize in the pituitary and after a year - I just keep leaving his office never understanding how a tumor can fake out my blood work.

Also if it can fake out the TSH test - can it fake out other tests???  Apparently a Pituitary tumor, when someone who exhibits HYPO symtoms, suddenly has a low to totally suppressed TSH is a common way to find the tumor.

[miamijapan]

I have not started Armout yet because I could not reach my doc yet.  I am now trying to find ENDO because I never seen them.  Obviously, my primary doc does not have good idea regarding Armout nor T3 free.  Thank you for your comment.

[lumbeepride]

dosages on armour are in individual thing...those conversion charts may not be the ticket....i found i had better results tapering off the t4 med and increasing the armour...if you start off to high a dose you can get a rush of t3 and this can make you feel hyper..(and think it is not working)....starting off on maybe 1 grain divided into two doses and then increasing after 2-3 weeks might be better on your system...(just an idea, not in the medical profession)...just someone that has been there..take care cindy

[miamijapan]

Thanks for your comment.  Have you thought about taking T3(Cytomel) in addition to T4, instead of converting to Armour ?  My natural Doc suggested either way, and my MD was even not interested in T3.  I guess I should reserch more.  Regarding dosage, my idea was right with you, thank you.

[thyroid man]

If I end up not liking the Armour then i will just go back to regular t4.
I heard of people taking cytomel and they switched to Armour and they thought it was better.So did u try the Armour yet? I wouldnt take very much the first day if u haven't tried it yet.Some people can switch easily and some can't.

[thyroid man]

90 mgs of Armour is about the same as 114 mcgs of synthroid. 3/4 grain is close to the same as 75 mcgs of synthroid.3/4 grain is 45 mgs. Most docs start out on just 1/4 grain for a few days and work up to a dose that would be just under the equal amount of what u have been taking. Then they don't work past that dose untill the blood test shows u needing more.I was taking 75 mcgs of synthroid and now in the process of converting to Armour.I started out on 1/4 grain for a week untill i felt like working up to 1/2 grain. It was kind of hard to get used to the Armour. now it's easy to take and I do feel better even though I'm probably not taking enough yet.It doesn't seem like I will need much more than 1/2 grain or 3/4 grain.I think your doc might have gave u too much.Atleast too much to start out on.