Armour thyroid dosage information
Common Questions and Answers about Armour thyroid dosage information
armour-thyroid
The doctor cutting your dosage in half makes no sense to me. Both NatureThroid and Armour Thyroid are made from desiccated porcine thyroid. Both contain the same amount of T4 and T3 per grain: 38 mcg of T4 and 9 mcg of T3. You can look at the following links and see their inactive ingredients.
http://www.pdr.net/full-prescribing-information/Nature-Throid-thyroid-496
https://www.drugs.com/pro/armour-thyroid.
I was just wondering what dosage of Armour Thyroid other Hypothyroid patients were on? I understand it can be somewhat difficult to establish the correct dosage. I have read some patients started at 15mg while others started at 60mg but not what dosage they ended up with or how long it took them to arrive at an adequate dose. I was also wondering about the 'empty' stomach recommendation.
After pratically begging my Doctor to switch from Levothyroxin to Armour, he finally wrote a script for it. I'm saying up front that I was taking 125mcg of Levothyroxin an i'm miserable. My dad takes Armour and he said he would never go back to synthethic. My dad has absoutely no Thyroid and is currently on 2 grains of Armour.
150mcg is about equal to the grain dosage of Armour you are on but it is lacking the T3 - Armour has. We have a ratio scale here in our Health Pages on the Armour ratios - vs- synthetics you can read.
Usually someone that takes a desiccated thyroid at 90 mg and is about to change to syntheic will look at a dosage of T4 Synthroid at .112mcg and then add Cytomel T3 with the Synthroid at about 10mcg. That is pretty close to the ratios you are use to with Armour.
I recently was switched to armour thyroid due to my T3 being to low..I took 60mg for 1 month repeated bloodwork my T3 came up a little to 97 but now my TSH is 4.0 was 1.34. Just got increased to 90mg.. My question is I am still very tired and wondering how long this will take to get right dosage. I read alot on internet about armour but still skeptical since most patients are treated with synthetics.. Any thoughts on this?
You can find more information on our health pages here under Armour information. At the bottom of the page is also a prescribing information link you can go to, to read or print as well.
Cut those Armour thyroid pills in half! Absolutely!
As my good doctor says, "The most common starting dose for patients with hypothyroidism is Armour thyroid, 90 mg which is cut in half with a razor blade and half is ideally taken twice a day, 10 to 20 minutes after breakfast and dinner. If you have trouble remember taking them, then take the entire dose before breakfast. It is also ideal to chew the tablet before swallowing.
Click on health pages and click on armour information page. It is filled with info and at the bottom will give you the link to get the actual prescribing information sheet. It explains dosaging and testing times which is diff than synthetics. Increases are every 2-3 weeks and testing is every 4 weeks. 90mgs will probably just be a starting dosage for you. Usually they start on 60mgs and work up from there. If you get jittery or hyper then ask to cut back to 60 and start from there.
The dosage you are taking was fairly low, and now the doctor has switched you to Armour, but the dosage is too low. Many doctors misunderstand and think that the equivalent dose of Armour is one grain (60 mg) for each 100 mcg of T4 med. Unfortunately that is incorrect. The real equivalent is one grain for each 70 mcg of T4, so your new dosage is a reduction, when you needed an increase and I expect that you also need to raise your Free T3 level.
Hello, My armour thyroid medication was increased to 240mg from 180mg and I have been on this dosage for approximately 6 weeks. My latest blood test results were as follows: T3 4.6 (2.3-4.2) T4 1.3 (0.8-1.8) and TSH 0.03 (0.50-5.20) Over the last few years I have increased my thyroid dosage starting very low and now at the high end. I feel better each time I increase but never feeling like I can be at my optimal best.
No adequate endocrinologist and worse, no primary that understands thyroid issues. I am currently on 150 mg Armour. Below are my last two labs. I see they are high. They want me to reduce back to 120. Would this be wise? To be honest, I did cut back, this past week, to 135, based upon how I felt, but that was after the recent lab test. I don't know if its coincidence, but I find I am more tired, and more depressed, but edgy and off, somehow.
i suggested to my doctor that i wanted to change from levothyroxine to armour thyroid and she tried to very convincingly persuade me to stick with the levo but increase the mcg to suit my body's needs...i pushed for the armour thyroid and she declined to switch it. i now am stuck with taking levothyroxine 100mcg, and i have to go see an endocrine specialist to even get approved to take the armour thyroid. ive read nothing but 100% good things about the armour thyroid...
First - thyroid supplementation is for an underactive thyroid, bot an overactive thyroid. Both Armour Thyroid and levothyroxine are thyroid supplements - levothyroxine is T4, which is the form of hormone produced by the thyroid gland, and which is converted to the active T3 form. Armour Thyroid contains both T4 and T3. Some patients don't seem to convert T4 to T3 quite the way they should and this may explain why some feel better on Armour Thyroid.
05MG one in the AM as a back up ( in case I cant get my Armour RX filled ) Is it OK to switch from Armour to the cytomel/levothyroxine and is the dosage equivalent ? I notice when I take my Armour, I feel very hot/warm and somewhat irritable afterwards for a few hours. Is that a normal side effect?
I have an enlarged pituitary and enlarged pituitary stalk , which is monitored by MRI yearly.
Were you taking a different thyroid med before the switch? If so, what was the name and daily dosage? What is your Armour dosage?
Armour is the brand name of the med made by one manufacturer. Don't know how it could be changed to another manufacturer. What is the site you mentioned. I'd like to read the info.
I would like to know who out there has been on my same dosage w/Synthroid and what dosage are you on w/ Armour? I know everone is different. The only symptom I have that is different, is I have a deep hunger in my stomach that wakes me up at night and is almost painful (painfully hungry). I am still tired.
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