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Desiccated Thyroid and Patients' Experiences: From No Thyroid Medication to Desiccated Thyroid

Notes

  • The most common brand name for the desiccated thyroid used in the US, the UK, and some other countries is Armour. In Canada, it's just called Thyroid, from the pharmaceutical company Erfa (formerly by Pfizer, and before that, by Parke-Davis).
  • All posts were posted to the newsgroup alt.support.thyroid or the thyroid.about.com forum, which can be accessed via the following links:
  • Not everyone with hypothyroidism does better on desiccated thyroid. However, based on the experiences posted in the newsgroup alt.support.thyroid and in the thyroid.about.com forum, it appears that the majority of people who switch to desiccated thyroid find improvement on it. The purpose of this compilation is to show that there are a lot of people with hypothyroidism who benefit from desiccated thyroid.
  • Some people have more than one entry because they focused on a different aspect of how desiccated thyroid affected them each time.
  • For space reasons, only the most relevant segments of each post are included here.
  • Because of the size of this compilation, it is divided into several parts, as follows:

"LC" October 13, 2002 (alt.support.thyroid)

It is now 10 days since I started taking Armour and I have noticed the following: Yes, my dark circles under my eyes are gone. My digestion is better. My skin, especially those nasty dry elbows, is so soft! I was told by a dermatologist I had psoriasis on my face and scalp, the dry patches on my face are gone, and the lesions on my scalp are almost nil, this has never happened before, even using medication!

[October 17 addition] I was on nothing before the Armour, except vitamins, and I am still taking them. I guess you saw that it took me 17 years to be treated, and I finally feel like I am not a nut!

[January 13] I am just back from my first check up after starting my Armour and the Dr. was amazed and pleased w/ my results. Besides all the relief I have had from my symptoms, I lost 7 lbs. in 3 months w/ no added exercise or change in my diet (I already exercise 5x a week, and watch what I eat, but could not lose weight).

...I will not switch to Synthroid, no way!

[April 28] I am not an expert, but I had thyroid symptoms for 15 years, all lab tests were normal, until about 6 months ago when I had an uptake and had some small nodules. Blood work was still fine, and my Dr. had enough insight to give my a grain of Armour and see how I felt, and I feel much better!

"Blbrmth4" August 20, 2002 (thyroid.about.com)

[My great-aunt] was treated for thyroid disease pre-tsh and pre-Synthroid. She was given Armour and medicated until her symptoms were gone. There were no tests at that point to decide anything. She was treated purely clinically. Before she was treated, she weighed about 300lbs. Once she was optimized she quickly went down to a size 10 where she stayed her entire life until the early 80's when her doctor started using the TSH and switched her to Synthroid. She started having problems again. Luckily for her, she had been with the same doctor so long who clinically treated her previously that when he saw her getting worse he was in favor of ignoring the tests and putting her back on her armour.

"Jen" August 3, 2002 (alt.support.thyroid)

Someone very close to me developed hypo from a depression that occurred due to a job loss. It is 'curable' as much as any of us are 'curable' — he's working his way up the Armour ladder, on 2 grains and doing better than he was with the apathy etc.

"Shena" July 9, 2002 (alt.support.thyroid)

Burning in the shins is indicative of a buildup of lactic acid. This is definitely due to the hypothyroidism. I had this quite commonly from plain walking (not overexertion, just walking) before I went on armour. I thought it was normal at the time and I was just being a baby (thought everyone was tougher than me).

"SB" May 21, 2002 (alt.support.thyroid)

...my wife gained as much as 40 pounds in a month and would have to go to the ER in the middle of the night with a throat that woke her up because it was swelling from "allergies." (And, the allergist was correct, he did very thorough labs that the U of M teaching hospital's endo praised and said there were no other thyroid tests he could run, he had no idea what her problem was.) Yes, that allergic swelling as well as asthma went away on high doses of Armour, and the labs were NORMAL.

"Liz" May 14, 2002 (alt.support.thyroid)

I used to have terrible joint problems before I went on to Armour. That's the only thyroid med I've been on, so I can't compare with Thyroxine alone.

"Lois" February 22, 2001 (alt.support.thyroid)

c) If you have taken or are taking T3, did/does it make a difference for you?

...if I delay taking my meds, I feel hypo later in the day. I need T3.

"BG" September 1, 2000 (alt.support.thyroid)

t3/t4 absolutely may be necessary, even if your blood tests are normal. Mine were normal and I watched my afternoon fatigue and sinus problems magically vanish when I started on Armour Thyroid. Next doctor, please....