HOORAY! After 2 years of getting the run around from Kaiser I finally got smart and saw a different doctor. What a difference! Thanks Cindy G. for the reference. The doctor was the first to actually listen and care about my SYMPTOMS. She told me my HypoT has been undertreated and my many problems are a result of that. She has started me on Armour (1.5 grains) but thinks I will probably need to increase in 2 weeks (no more waiting 8 weeks for dose changes). I actually already had the Rx for Armour from my Endo but hadnt filled it yet. She seemed very surprised that a Kaiser doc would even prescribe Armour...I guess this is usually not the case. I think my Endo is willing to give me anything just to stop hearing from me at this point. I had tried Armour last year without success but my prescribed dose was 30mgs...hopefully I will have better luck with this higher dose. The doc said that 30 mgs is basically a "baby" dose...not sufficient for someone like me who had my thyroid ablated. Just because I am a small girl does NOT mean that my dose should be small! I am very excited and hopefully I'll be returning to work soon.

Yay!!! I'm so glad it worked out for you! That is great news. We are gonna have to make sure she is on the Top Docs list!

30 mgs (1/2 grain) is what she started me on. I'm upping it every 2 weeks by 1/4 grain for now. I felt a difference right away. You should too on 1 1/2 grains!

I'm so glad you got to see her so quickly! Keep us posted on how you are feeling

Were you taking thyroid meds before she put you on Armour? How soon did you start feeling better? Today was my first day on Armour...so far I cant tell a difference...my body never seems to responds quickly to Thyroid meds.

Hi Sunshne,

No, I wasn't taking anything when she prescribed it for me. I felt it pretty quickly. But I was on 1/2 the dose you are too.

Have you been on something else for a while? even a smaller dose of Armour? You may not feel it as quickly.

Hope it goes well for you.

Fantastic news! I'm so glad you got the help you need

Re the 1.5 grains... you're not going to start out on the full dose right off right? What were you on before this?

Cindy, I've been taking Levothroid for past 2 years....I tried that small dose of Armour for two months last year. My most recent dose of Levothroid was 112 + 12.5 Cytomel. I'm not sure if 1.5 grains of Armour is less or about the same.
Nat, the doc told me to go ahead and start taking the whole 1.5 grains once a day...I will most likely increase to 1 1/2 pills in 2 weeks. So far I feel exactly the same no difference yet.

BTW...what is the reason for starting the dose lower and building up? I can understand if you have never been on thyroid meds but what about switching from one brand to another? Since I've already been on Cytomel I should be ok starting on the full dose of Armour right?

No, Armour contains more than just T3 and T4, there's also T2 which is active and has an effect on metabolism. It's just a little different from taking the same thing in terms of synthetics. you never know for sure how you'll respond, so you start out low.

Can you imagine taking the full dose and finding out you're allergic to one of the fillers/ binders?

You may need to experiment with splitting the dose to see how you feel best. If you have slumps inthe mid-to late afternoon, if you still feel symptomatic, etc, you might want to try splitting the dose. Many people feel better taking it in 2-3 installments over the course of the day. I take divided roughly in thirds in the morning, at 2, and before bed.

Cheers,

Friday

Hi everyone, I've been on Armour for 1 week now. The first 2 days there was no change but since Friday I've been feeling GREAT! I have had tons of energy and even worked in the yard all weekend. I also feel very happy for the first time in a very long time. Maybe my depression is now a thing of the past Also I had been taking pain meds pretty much everyday for about 8 months now...but for the last 5 days I havent had to take anything!
If I had increased my Levothroid one week ago by now I would be in sooo much pain and misery. I think that my body just responded very negatively to synthetics. I still have fluid retention and I still havent gained any weight but I suspect these symptoms will take longer to resolve...anyways my face does seem less puffy. For some reason I havent been able to sleep at night though...I'm wondering if this is because of my body adjusting to the Armour or maybe because I stopped taking the pain meds. The doctor wanted to increase the Armour to 1 1/2 pills after 2 weeks....I'm not sure if that will be too much (right now I'm taking 1 pill once a day 90mcg). I guess if I go Hyper
I'll know.

Glad to hear it's helping! You may want to try (or talk to your doctor about) splitting your dose into 2 or three parts. If you find youself feeling a slump in the afternoon or like it 'waears off' during the day, splitting it can help. Your body uses the T3 fairly quickly and by the end of the day, you might be dragging. I split my dose into 3; morning, 2 pm, and before bed.

One other thing to try - if you stick the pill between your cheek and gum and just let it dissolve, you get better absorption than swalloing it. Things like calcium and fiber can inhibit absorption in the stomache.

IMHO, it's very unlikely that you'll go hyper at even 2 or 2.5 grains.

Cheers,

Friday

My sleeping also gets whacked out if I change my thyroid meds. Give it time, but in the meanwhile you can try some supplements:

Melatonin (a couple hours after sunset)
5-htp (precursor to tryptophan, take tyrosine in the AM to balance this out)
GABA
Valarian Root
And the old standby... antihistimine

I'm glad you're feeling so good! Amazing what having the right hormones can do . Its funny but I feel great on some days and other days I feel super hypoT again, I'm very uneven. My joints are actually worse right now than before, but I think it might be because of all the hard labor I'm doing on my house at the moment. I sure hope they get better eventually!

Thanks Friday, so far I'm not noticing any lag in energy later in the day but if I start feeling that way I'll definately try splitting the dose. I usually feel better as the day goes on...feeling best at night. Before Armour I could barely function before 3 or 4 p.m. I'm actually looking forward to increasing my dose now that I'm not on Levothroid.
Nancy I've been pretty uneven too..one day my skin and hair will be super dry and the very next day not so bad. I'm feeling very optimistic that the Armour will help me get evened out. My muscles and joints are very sore too because I was pulling weeds, painting and basically working nonstop Sat. & Sun. I was taking advantage of all this new energy and now I'm paying for it.
Also I got some kind of rash from the weeds...hoping its not poison oak. That would really suck.

Hey sunshine I saw one of your earlier posts on the puffy face, jaw pain etc.
Your not alone, I have the exact same things too, my skin feels like a ball of mucus, and puffy all the time. I have noticed that iodine makes it worse, so I am on a very restricted diet. I also have sharp stabbing pains in my thoat and in my face sometimes. I think its an accumulation of mucus in the skin and muscles in my face that is causeing this. I also have a lot of mucus in my throat all the time. I have to go to the doctor to get an ultrasound of my thyroid next month, i hope this can be fixed. I have had these symptoms for a coupple months and it keeps getting worse.
How has your face been, has it gotten better since you last posted?

Christina

Christina, Wow, you're the first person I've seen who's experiencing this too!
Thats exactly how my face feels..sometimes I have stabbing or stinging pains...other times a burning tingling sensation. I think it is mucus and it seems to affect my muscles in my face and neck. I've been dealing with this for over a year but I know it was alot worse about 8 months ago...I think changing my diet and increasing my thyroid meds has helped. My cheeks kind of feel like water balloons but its not that noticable to others. Do you have the jaw pain too? This has been my worst and most painful symptom of all because it causes daily headaches, eye pain, and my neck gets very stiff from the swelling. I have some days that I'm not that bothered by it and others that are extremely painful. I'm not sure what causes these fluctuations but I'm hoping that one of these days it will be gone for good.
Have you had your thyroid levels tested? Are you HypoT?