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Desiccated Thyroid and Patients' Experiences: From Synthetic T4 and T3 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:

"CC" March 11, 2003 (alt.support.thyroid)

I was taking Synthroid and also Cytomel. I could not lose weight even with running 3 miles every other day. I switched to Armour and have since lost 30 pounds. I truly believe that the weight was medicine related.

"Black Sheep" August 22, 2002 (alt.support.thyroid)

I am one of the more fortunate hypo people. My TSH was elevated fairly early in the course of developing hypothyroidism, my doctor ordered a TSH as soon as I went to him complaining about my swollen ankles. The extreme fatigue, short temper, weight gain and muddled head I had convinced myself were due to quitting smoking and getting older, so I never even mentioned these symptoms. Again I was lucky that my friends at alt.support.stop-smoking sent me here for information, and here, by reading the same information over and over, some knowledge gradually made it into my barely functioning brain. I refused to be satisfied with conventional Synthroid treatment, I wanted my life back.

Over the next year I slowly increased my dosage of the thyroid medications Synthroid and Cytomel, then tried compounded slow release T3 instead of Cytomel, and finally settled on desiccated natural thyroid. As soon as I started on T3 (Cytomel) my brain almost instantly returned from the twilight zone it had been lost in for about 10 months. The response I had to changing to natural thyroid was much slower and much less dramatic, but nevertheless after being on it for about three months I could finally honestly answer "Fine, thank you." when someone asked me how I was. (And the last of the swelling in my ankles finally went away too. ;-))

"Cowgirl" August 19, 2002 (thyroid.about.com)

I was on $ynthroid only for about 5 years — went steadily downhill.

I added Cytomel to my $ynthroid — got better but not great.

Switched from $ynthroid to Levoxyl and kept the Cytomel and kept tweaking, but still couldn't get my T4 levels up to midpoint without a bad reaction.

Tried to switch to a comparative dosage of Armour and Levoxyl and got all wacked out - So I then went to Armour only.

Did Ok on the Armour only for about four months but then my T4 levels were in the basement again and my T3 levels were Ok, so I slowly added back in Unithroid.

I chose Unithroid because this was at the time that Levoxyl was reformulating the tablets and they were foaming and I was hearing not so good things.

I now take 1 3/4 grains of Armour and 50 mcg. of Unithroid. This is the best I have ever felt overall. I still have some issues with tendon pain and hair loss but I am believing I am close to the right formula.

"John R" May 21, 2002 (alt.support.thyroid)

I had no weight loss or gain from Armour, but I can think again, much to the chagrin of those that had taken advantage of the situation. I am now able to think in more creative and abstract ways (thinking outside of the box) that was lost for a time [on Synthroid and Cytomel]. Now...Look out world! The brain is back online, and firing on all 8 pistons.