armour thyroid versus levothyroxine

I have recently been diagnosed with hypo thyroid. I have been put on 30mg of armour thyroid medicine. I am overweight and have been trying to lose weight. Since I've been on this medicine, I have hunger pains constantly, can't get enough to eat. I have called my dr. Of course he says it's not the med. I don't know what to do. I have already put on 4 lbs in 7 days. What other meds should I look into. HELP!!!!

It does take some time to get your dose adjusted correctly but I also did a lot of reading on levothyroxine versus Armour and I went on the Armour website and found a doctor in my area that works with Armour. The other doctors do not want to work with it because most of them are involved with the companies that produce Levothroxine and in my opinion probably get kickbacks for prescribing it. Also, Newer doctors have been trained on strictly the newer meds.

I started with Armour Thyroid 15, then increased dose to 30 and started to have slight swelling of my fingers. When dose was increased to 60, swelling become worst, started to have some weird muscle pain, joint pain, appetite increased. I asked my doctor to switch to Levothyroxine and ALL my symptoms disappeared after 3 doses. Armour Thyroid is not natural for humans, but it's natural for pigs. I am glad I switched to Levothyroxine. I should do it earlier.

My friend has hypothyroidism and has a family history of others in family not responding to synthroid, only to armour. she is currently at 0.275 mcg and is still showing low thyroid levels. She is having terrible hot flashes and sweats. Her doctor refuses to try her on armour even for a month to see if she responds to it. Is 0.275 a pretty high dose? How can she get her doctor to listen to her or how can we find a doctor who will give her the armour? We live in Portland, Or.

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.

I was prescribed Armour and then Levothyroxine. I felt a little better on the Armour, so I switched back on my own. My Antithyroglobulin Ab is 150. I am making antibodies against the pig thyroid. I also have MS and was told that synthetic medication would aggrevate the disease. I am getting a little confused because I am still having hypo- symptoms such as abdominal weight gain and dry skin and hair. Should I switch back to the levothyroxine even though I see no change in my symptoms?

If you live in the UK, how did you pursuade your GP to prescribe Armour for your thyroid problem? I have begged my doctor in the past to prescribe Armour for me but he said they do not use it in the UK. It's frustrating, because I feel that Levothyroxine does not suit me. I have been taking 100mcg for 15 years and it hasn't really eased my symptoms.

Synthroid is a brand name (one of several) drug that uses levothyroxine salts as the active ingredient. Levothyroxine is the generic form of the drug. It is a synthetic form of thyroxine, or T4 for short. Your body takes the T4 and converts it to T3 as it is needed. Armour is made by desicating and grinding up thyroids from swine, which is biologically similar to humans. It contains T4, and it also contains T3 (triiodo-something).

s Thyroiditis in 2004 after my first child. I am currently taking 112 mcg of Levothyroxine. My TSH has been between 0.6- 3.5 during this last year and a half. Depending on how well I take my medication. I just had another baby in July of 2006 and 3 months post partum my dose was upped from 100 to 112. After starting treatment my symptoms get a little better, but not good. My hair still falls out at an abnormally high rate, well whats left of it anyway!!

The small pilot study was prompted by observation that some patients had improved thyroid hormone profiles improved after they switched from taking their levothyroxine in the morning, to bedtime. The purpose was to look at the impact on thyroid hormone profiles by changing the time levothyroxine was taken from early morning to bedtime. They also evaluated the impact of this change on the circadian rhythm of TSH and thyroid hormones and thyroid hormone metabolism.

Its been my experience that nothing helped me either. I found a doctor that put me on ARMOUR thyroid and I became human again. The doc has to take things slow with you due to your age. I am 60 and they rushed me on synthroid and levothyroxine and almost killed me. Once I switched to Armour which is all natural, I became normal with in a few days.

This is DIRECTLY linked to consuming a small dosage of Armour thyroid. I was previously on Levothyroxine and Liothyronine and read the hype about Armour, so my Doctor kindly called some in for me. Wow. Never had this reaction on the synthetic stuff. Since I know it is a reaction to the Armour, my question is not what caused the temporary ear-ringing, but why the Armour did so and not the synthetic?

s, antibodies must mean something.......exactly what do they mean? Is my immune constantly fighting my thyroid and could the Armour play a part in that?

My Armour Thyroid bottle says it is 1 1/2 grain (90mg) . Each tablet contains: levothyroxine (T4) 57 mcg & liothyronine (T3) 13.

Armour is one alternative to the standared levothyroxine -- another would be to add T3 (cytomel) to the levothyroxine. There is not good data to support T4/T3 combo therapy, but some patients feel better w/ it and as long as the levels (TSH) stay w/in target range (about 0.3-2.5) and there are no heart palpitations, etc --then the combo may be appropriate.

Thank you. My doctor took me off Armour and put me on Synthroid and Cytomel. I don't know if that will work. My doctor has mentioned taking the rest of my thyroid out since I have another goiter.

Synthroid, levothyroxine, cytomel and Armour are not all the same meds and are not interchangeable!! Levothyroxine is the generic for synthroid, which is a T4 med only - those 2 can be interchangeable, but some people do better on one or the other. Cytomel is a T3 only med. Armour is a natural thyroid hormone which has both T4 and T3. T3 is a very short lived hormone - only lasts a few hours and often works best to split the dosage over the day.

So if 60 mg= 80-112 mcgs of Levothyroxine, than I should only increase by another 15mgs to get to my regular dose. Armour has 4x the amt of T3,compared to Levothyroxine, which has nothing more than T4. I suspect that it will only take another 15 mg of Armour to give me the additional 20-33 mcgs I would need. Thanks....

I have zero energy unlike when I was on Armour. My endo said he will keep me on levothyroxine no matter what, even if I don't feel well. I also asked if there was a special diet I should be on & he said NO. He apso said the reason my eyebrows & hair thinned was from Armour. What is this about?

I was intially put on levothyroxine 25 mcg and then my Endocrinologist increased it to 50 mcg because my symptoms were not getting better. I started to develop tachycardia with the 50 mcg dosage so she told me to decrease it to 37.5 mcg and eventually she told me to stop taking the levothyroxine completely to see how my body would react...lol. I did as she told me but eventually started taking the synthetic hormone on my own because I was feeling so tired and could barely get out of bed.

Armour thyroid versus levothyroxine

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