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Desiccated Thyroid and Patients' Experiences: From Synthetic T4 to Desiccated Thyroid and Synthetic T4 Together

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 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 thryoid.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:

"J&J" July 2, 2003 (alt.support.thyroid)

Adding Armour to my husband's Levoxyl has made all the difference in the world.

"MomKelly" August 14, 2002 (thyroid.about.com)

I started having symptoms in my early 20s, but would not be diagnosed until I was 32 and had my first child. I was put on armour 1 gr then up'd to 2gr. Was on that for ~7 years.

At first there were major improvements: puffiness went away, my red hair looked more like my old color (it had darkened in my early 20s), the curl returned and I felt good.

Then I started to feel a bit tired, but in the meantime I had another child and they were both ADHD. But I didn't know that yet, so I was a busy mom that worked full time. I should be tired...but I began to realize there should be more to my treatment. Something wasn't right. Over time it got worse until it was as if it stopped working.

I asked my dr about it and he put me on synthroid, at first not enough but once we got my dose close, I thought it was heaven sent. But before I could celebrate too much, I began to slide, and was on that downward slide for the next 7-8 years.

Then I found this site and all the information here, tried some of the supplements I learned about and managed to do much to improve my health, and in the meantime, continued to research and learn.

Then I decided that what happened when I thought synthroid was heaven sent. was my T3 was likely too high on armour only, and when I was first on synthroid my T4 came up and my T3 came down. At one point, I was pretty good for levels and not feeling too bad. However, that couldn't last because I was on synthroid and was not getting any T3 and apparently not converting well.

So, about Oct 2001 I went to my dr and told him all that I had learned and tried and that I wanted to try an armour/synthroid combo. He agreed, and that is where I am today. And for my money, you would have to pry them out of my cold dead hand to get me off of them. I am still tweaking and adjusting, but I am getting very close too feeling my best.

"TxThyroid" August 14, 2002 (thyroid.about.com)

After 14 years of getting sicker and sicker, fatter and fatter on larger and larger doses of $ynthroid, I twisted the arm of my internist and persuaded him to let me try Armour. I had come armed with all kinds of information from About Thyroid and medical journal abstracts and prescribing info from Forest.

I did not even get a chance to pull it out. When he said, "No! It's a crude product," I countered with, "The reason that I would like to try Armour is that I had tried an OTC glandular and it helped me somewhat. Wouldn't it be better for me to take a product made by a major drug manufacturer?"

He replied, "OK, I'll give you one grain. Get out of here. You're healed!" and tossed the Rx at me. I had to come back for something else two weeks later. After he wrote the Rx for some antibiotics, he asked, "Is there anything else I can do for you?" I jumped on it and said, "I love the Armour and I would like a larger dose." He asked how much and wrote the rx....

Ten days into the Armour, the gout in my hand disappeared. Over about 6 months on Armour, my fibromyalgia and leg cramps went away. After a year, I am getting enough energy to exercise and am losing weight.

I made the transition to Armour gradually and had no ill effects (except for the one time that I did something stupid and took five grains all at once). I have always taken a little $ynthetic T4 with my Armour, first $ynthroid, then Levothroid. I am now on 240mg of Armour and .075mg of Unithroid.

"Jayjas" August 13, 2002 (thyroid.about.com)

My husband had RAI for Graves Disease in June of 1999. By that fall, he was very hypo and was put on Synthroid. Over the next 2 years he got sicker and sicker and was up to 250 mcg of Synthroid. This still was not helping him. He could barely function, was very puffy and had gained a lot of weight. I read about Armour here on the forum and he asked his endo through email (the way he regularly contacted him) if he could try it and never received a response. We found a doctor who would prescribe it and he started to feel better almost immediately after reducing the Synthroid and adding in Armour in June of 2000. Obviously he needed the T3.

Due to an insurance change, he had to find another doctor. This doctor wanted him to try switching to only Amour but as he lowered the Levoxyl (switched due to Synthroid not being FDA approved) he just didn't feel as good as he did on a higher amount of Levoxyl. Currently he is on 4 grains of Armour and 150 mcg Levoxyl and feels great! He has lost weight with no effort and isn't dragging around constantly. Armour has been a lifesaver for him. I don't know what would have happened if he had continued the way he was going.