Armour thyroid half life
Common Questions and Answers about Armour thyroid half life
armour-thyroid
TT 9/13. Tried various does of Synthroid. Have been on Armour Thyroid for two weeks. I take 60 mg in the morning and 30 mg around mid day. Question is 1. do I need to take both of these daily pills at the exact same time each day or can I vary by 15 to 20 mins with no ill effects? 2. I can do the am dose and wait an hour to eat, no problem. But the 2nd dose is tricky........do I take on an empty stomach and wait or is it ok to take with lunch?
Thanks for any help.
ve read the half life of T3 is about 4 to 6 hours. Dr Mercola talking about taking Armour twice a day on his article "How To Monitor Your Treatment With Natural Hormone Therapy"...
"Taking the Armour thyroid twice a day overcomes traditional medicine's major objection and resistance to using natural thyroid preparations - its variability in its blood-levels. Most doctors using Armour thyroid are not aware that Armour thyroid should be used twice daily and NOT once a day.
Next thing is that taking different doses of thyroid med on alternate days is something that is done with T4 meds because they have a half life of about one week, so it takes a while to build up. T3 meds have a half life of less than a day, so the effect is much faster. For that reason I don't understand the reason to use different doses of Armour, unless your doctor thinks that the small amount of T3 (2.
After learning about the importance of Free T3 here on the Forum, I got mine tested and confirmed as low in the range. Got my doctor to switch my meds from Synthroid to Armour Thyroid. After some tweaking, I am now taking 3 grains of Armour. My Free T3 is now 3.9 (range of 2.3 - 4.2) and Free T4 is .84 (range of .60 - 1.50), and I feel best ever. For info my TSH has been around .05 or lower for about 30 years now.
Hello. I take lithium for bipolar disorder and apparently it is making me slightly hypothyroid. My tests came back subclinical with a normal T4 and a TSH of 6.4.
the shakes come and go, mornings are bad especially after i take my meds. I take the synthroid in morning with half the NP thyroid and other half NP thyroid in evening. I always used to split my dose of armour too. These side effects are driving me insane where i almost want to give up and go back to my 90. Will this subside? Do you think the dose i am on is correct? Do you think what I am doing is the right thing since my T4 was so low? I am post RAI of 20 years for hyperthyroid.
Through his nonconventional tests he diagnosed me right away and put me on Armour Thyroid. All my symptoms disappeared and I began to feel great. After learning more about hypothyroidism I am convinced I have had it most of my adult life. Upon further investigation I found out that my mom had it and her sister (my aunt) AND my daughter's blood work just came back indicating she may have hypothryoidism as well. She is nine.
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.
Assuming this was while on armour, this is a typical pattern of low TSH and low-ish T4 -- all from a slightly high dose of armour (pig thyroids have less T4 and more T3 than human thyroids) . Most patients do not need thyroid meds after a lobectomy (half-thyroid removal) but some do -- would consider a trial of levothyroxine if armour is not a good fit for you.
Armour is a natural thyroid replacement derived from pig thyroid. Doctors (except naturopaths) do not like to prescribe it because they think it is inconsistent. It contains T1, T2, T3 and T4. Unless you have a problem converting T4 to T3, they would rather have you on the synthetic because it is consistent, although the generics, they say, have differences in the fillers they use and can be inconsistent, also.
The half life of T3 is less than a day, so your blood levels of T3 should see the full effect of the Armour in a week. While symptoms tend to lag behind changes in blood levels of FT3, I would think that for purposes of just knowing if your FT3 level is in vicinity of where you need it, it shouldn't take more than a week or so. With the half life of T4 being approx. a week, with the dose changes you have made, for the FT4, I would give it about 4 weeks. So, no need to wait much longer.
The second thing is that it is okay to alternate doses of T4 med because of the long half-life; however, it is quite a different matter with T3 med, which has a very short half -life. The med dose of any med with T3 should be consistent from day to day.
From what you have said I can't tell if your dosage was adequate to relieve symptoms, before the reduction. Clearly the reduction is adversely affecting you, with all thos hypo type symptoms.
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.
Has anyone been on Synthroid/Levo for a long time 25 years for me and switched to Armour with success? After being miserable half my life I know am on 90mg Armour. I took Armour as achild and did great then got told to take the synthetic stuff. Finally got smart, read alot of info I had neglected and chose to change with different Doc..I am deperate for it to work. So anyone who has switched after so long a time I could use some input.
is anybody have problem with armour thyroid?. I think nobody should try this medication. My thyroid was attenuated by radioactive iodine. dr.gave me lavothyroxin then change to armour thyroid. Since then I have severe pain on my hips and lower back. He tested my TSH T3 AND T4 --normal then he tried bactireal tests--normal. ultimately he swithed me to cytomel and levthyroxin. My pain reduced to half but it is not going away. Now Dr. himself is puzzed . I have still have half pain and cramps.
I take Armour and it is wonderful. I am on 3 grains, take 1/2 in the morning half afternoon about one oclock. Don't want to take it too late in the day cause the T3 might keep you awake. Think I need a bit more though.
Bloodtests need to be done IMO every 6 weeks until you are on the right dose. Your symptoms like bloodpressure,pulse are really important for you to monitor on your own(as I do).
The reason I like it twice a day is it is much easier on the adrenals.
Due to T3 short half life it's better to take Armour twice a day.
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