Re: My Armour Recall Fiasco

[Guest guest]

Thanks, , for fighting the battle!

I'm feeling pretty grateful that I'm only on 2mg at the moment.

I thought I'd mention something that is more in realm of 'hearsay' than established fact, but it's a "just in case"--------

Several natural practitioners over the past 2 decades, or so, have mentioned that 3 of Standard Process' Thytrophin are the equivalant of 1 grain (60 mg) of Armour.

I'm thinking it might be worthwhile to obtain and store this product in the unlikely (hopefully!) event that Armour would be unavailable for any length of time.

FWIW,

Sharon

My Armour Recall Fiasco

I am completely exhausted and drained from this day that began at 10:30 am today and ended around 5 pm today. I have been on the phone with Forest Pharma 2 times, CostCo 2 times, My Dr's office 2 times and I am totally frustrated.

Here's what happened. I called Forest PHarma and asked them if they could confirm a recall notice that I had seen. The woman got upset and was mad at me asking me where I got this information and who gave it to me. I told her a "friend" of mine got it from her pharmacist when she asked why she could not get her prescription filled at 4 pharamcies. She told me that I was not supposed to know about this recall as it was not for the patient to know about. I told her how I had contacted them earlier in the month questioning the larger bottle and different sized pills and was told it was nothing to be worried about. Then I flippantly mentioned this recall explained why I had been feeling tired and "off" lately.

Let the flood gates of h*ll open now. Word of warning that if you ever call a pharmaceutical company and tell they you had a reaction to their drug they are required by law to take your name and number (which they already had from my inquiry call) and then have someone from quality control contact you and ask you some questions to report to the FDA - they called it safety and I call it CYA. All of the sudden this belligerent person became nicey nicey. Early afternoon I got a call from the QC person who asked me a ton of probing questions about how long I had been on it, lab values of my last two tests and the list goes on.

Then the fight with CostCo as they insisted that I bring it into them and they never offered to reimburse me. I kept asking how that would work and they kept telling me they didn't know w/o the bottle. Common! I could tell them I had 94 tablets. Then I had a fight with the woman at my Doc's who told me I would have to wait 24 hours to get a new script as that is protocol. I had to explain that this was an unexpected event and that I didn't have any idea that I would have to deal with not taking my current Rx.

So to complicate matters, I find out that this recall is not supposed to effect potency. It was because the pills were falling apart - not staying together in the pill form at around 6 mos post mfg date. Mine are still all together. So now the pharmacist is telling me that there is nothing wrong with what I have and she will not take my rx back. So this starts me questioning is it the thyroid meds that made me tank this week or something else. My temps today were 96.8 and 97.1 .

So the long and the short of it - the drugs are not dangerous and Forest is behind in their production of 3, 4 & 5 grain tablets and they are on back order until mid - December. What the heck do they expect people who have to have this medicine to survive to do? It was a good lesson to me that I think I will have at least one 100 bottle in back up at all times.

My vulnerability to all this came to a head today. I realized how important that little pill bottle was to me each day. I hate depending on this to live. It stinks. So many I talked to today just brushed my concerns off.

But tomorrow is a new day.

B.Thyroid Cancer Journey: http://ds-ladybugsandbees.blogspot.com/

[Guest guest]

for a few years now, I have always kept at least a 6 month supply of

Armour for the " just in case " scenario....and i keep mine in the

refrigerator. i know that's expensive intitally to stock up...but

armour is a life-saving med for me so it is at the top of the

priority list of things to buy. since needing HC, I've done the same

thing -always keep at least a 6 month supply. I just don't think we

can depend on anyone to really care that we have or meds - or for the

trucks to run on time - or that our doctor will always be there to

prescribe what we need...or for our local pharmacy not to shut down

in the case of a national disaster of some sort....

so i just think that's a word to the wise....stock up...

cindi

>

> Thanks, , for fighting the battle!

> I'm feeling pretty grateful that I'm only on 2mg at the moment.

>

> I thought I'd mention something that is more in realm of 'hearsay'

than established fact, but it's a " just in case " --------

>

> Several natural practitioners over the past 2 decades, or so, have

mentioned that 3 of Standard Process' Thytrophin are the equivalant

of 1 grain (60 mg) of Armour.

>

> I'm thinking it might be worthwhile to obtain and store this

product in the unlikely (hopefully!) event that Armour would be

unavailable for any length of time.

[Guest guest]

It is a thought. I have access to getting that through a doc friend. Thanks for the tip.

Steph

My Armour Recall Fiasco

I am completely exhausted and drained from this day that began at 10:30 am today and ended around 5 pm today. I have been on the phone with Forest Pharma 2 times, CostCo 2 times, My Dr's office 2 times and I am totally frustrated.

Here's what happened. I called Forest PHarma and asked them if they could confirm a recall notice that I had seen. The woman got upset and was mad at me asking me where I got this information and who gave it to me. I told her a "friend" of mine got it from her pharmacist when she asked why she could not get her prescription filled at 4 pharamcies. She told me that I was not supposed to know about this recall as it was not for the patient to know about. I told her how I had contacted them earlier in the month questioning the larger bottle and different sized pills and was told it was nothing to be worried about. Then I flippantly mentioned this recall explained why I had been feeling tired and "off" lately.

Let the flood gates of h*ll open now. Word of warning that if you ever call a pharmaceutical company and tell they you had a reaction to their drug they are required by law to take your name and number (which they already had from my inquiry call) and then have someone from quality control contact you and ask you some questions to report to the FDA - they called it safety and I call it CYA. All of the sudden this belligerent person became nicey nicey. Early afternoon I got a call from the QC person who asked me a ton of probing questions about how long I had been on it, lab values of my last two tests and the list goes on.

Then the fight with CostCo as they insisted that I bring it into them and they never offered to reimburse me. I kept asking how that would work and they kept telling me they didn't know w/o the bottle. Common! I could tell them I had 94 tablets. Then I had a fight with the woman at my Doc's who told me I would have to wait 24 hours to get a new script as that is protocol. I had to explain that this was an unexpected event and that I didn't have any idea that I would have to deal with not taking my current Rx.

So to complicate matters, I find out that this recall is not supposed to effect potency. It was because the pills were falling apart - not staying together in the pill form at around 6 mos post mfg date. Mine are still all together. So now the pharmacist is telling me that there is nothing wrong with what I have and she will not take my rx back. So this starts me questioning is it the thyroid meds that made me tank this week or something else. My temps today were 96.8 and 97.1 .

So the long and the short of it - the drugs are not dangerous and Forest is behind in their production of 3, 4 & 5 grain tablets and they are on back order until mid - December. What the heck do they expect people who have to have this medicine to survive to do? It was a good lesson to me that I think I will have at least one 100 bottle in back up at all times.

My vulnerability to all this came to a head today. I realized how important that little pill bottle was to me each day. I hate depending on this to live. It stinks. So many I talked to today just brushed my concerns off.

But tomorrow is a new day.

B.Thyroid Cancer Journey: http://ds-ladybugsandbees.blogspot.com/

[Guest guest]

Thanks for the efforts, .

Sharon, Thanks for the info. I will look into that.

K

[Guest guest]

Really?? I have some of this I bought a while ago. I think they are bovine

source though,

not porcine. Not 100% sure on that though. I know their adrenal product is

bovine.

>

> Several natural practitioners over the past 2 decades, or so, have mentioned

that 3 of

Standard Process' Thytrophin are the equivalant of 1 grain (60 mg) of Armour.

>

> Sharon

> My Armour Recall Fiasco

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

I echo your concerns. It is something I think about almost daily, and is the

reason I keep a

year's supply in the freezer at all times and replenish regularly. Ugh.

It was a good lesson to me that I think I will have at least one 100 bottle in

back up at all

times.

>

> My vulnerability to all this came to a head today. I realized how important

that little pill

bottle was to me each day. I hate depending on this to live. It stinks. So

many I talked to

today just brushed my concerns off.

>

> But tomorrow is a new day.

>

>

> B.

> Thyroid Cancer Journey: http://ds-ladybugsandbees.blogspot.com/

>

[Guest guest]

Thanks for sharing and getting to the bottom of the real

reason for the recall. I know it is frustrating when it feels as

though someone else is in control of your life.

I just refilled my Rx Monday and had no problems. They are the same

sized pills as the ones from Oct. So I guess I got lucky there.

However, I looked at my Rx bottle as well as the detailed Rx info

sheet but no where could I find a lot # so I thought that was

interesting that so many who posted had that info and I didn't.

Another thought I had. I live in a small/medium town. I have a hard

time finding an endocrinologist who will even prescribe Armour and I

had to beg for it. I was going to switch to a new doc but after 2

mins into the first visit, the doc spouted off how she would " never "

prescribe Armour b/c the amount of thyroid hormone cannot easily be

regulated and will vary from pill to pill, batch to batch and

Synthroid is the " only way to go. " Needless to say I got up and left

and went back to my old doc. (Perhaps that's why there isn't a

shortage of Armour here. :-))

So, I worry all the time about not being able to get an Rx for

Armour. I also hope this incident does not cause a lot of attention

in the medical community and hurt the case against Armour b/c I know

I have done better on it after 13 years of Synthroid, well, and

Iodoral too!

Hope you have a " great " Wednesday! Keep up the good work!

Pam

Melbourne, FL

>

> I am completely exhausted and drained from this day that began at

10:30 am today and ended around 5 pm today. I have been on the phone

with Forest Pharma 2 times, CostCo 2 times, My Dr's office 2 times

and I am totally frustrated.

>

> Here's what happened. I called Forest PHarma and asked them if

they could confirm a recall notice that I had seen. The woman got

upset and was mad at me asking me where I got this information and

who gave it to me. I told her a " friend " of mine got it from her

pharmacist when she asked why she could not get her prescription

filled at 4 pharamcies. She told me that I was not supposed to know

about this recall as it was not for the patient to know about. I

told her how I had contacted them earlier in the month questioning

the larger bottle and different sized pills and was told it was

nothing to be worried about. Then I flippantly mentioned this recall

explained why I had been feeling tired and " off " lately.

>

> Let the flood gates of h*ll open now. Word of warning that if you

ever call a pharmaceutical company and tell they you had a reaction

to their drug they are required by law to take your name and number

(which they already had from my inquiry call) and then have someone

from quality control contact you and ask you some questions to report

to the FDA - they called it safety and I call it CYA. All of the

sudden this belligerent person became nicey nicey. Early afternoon

I got a call from the QC person who asked me a ton of probing

questions about how long I had been on it, lab values of my last two

tests and the list goes on.

>

> Then the fight with CostCo as they insisted that I bring it into

them and they never offered to reimburse me. I kept asking how that

would work and they kept telling me they didn't know w/o the bottle.

Common! I could tell them I had 94 tablets. Then I had a fight with

the woman at my Doc's who told me I would have to wait 24 hours to

get a new script as that is protocol. I had to explain that this was

an unexpected event and that I didn't have any idea that I would have

to deal with not taking my current Rx.

>

> So to complicate matters, I find out that this recall is not

supposed to effect potency. It was because the pills were falling

apart - not staying together in the pill form at around 6 mos post

mfg date. Mine are still all together. So now the pharmacist is

telling me that there is nothing wrong with what I have and she will

not take my rx back. So this starts me questioning is it the thyroid

meds that made me tank this week or something else. My temps today

were 96.8 and 97.1 .

>

> So the long and the short of it - the drugs are not dangerous and

Forest is behind in their production of 3, 4 & 5 grain tablets and

they are on back order until mid - December. What the heck do they

expect people who have to have this medicine to survive to do? It

was a good lesson to me that I think I will have at least one 100

bottle in back up at all times.

>

> My vulnerability to all this came to a head today. I realized how

important that little pill bottle was to me each day. I hate

depending on this to live. It stinks. So many I talked to today

just brushed my concerns off.

>

> But tomorrow is a new day.

>

>

> B.

> Thyroid Cancer Journey: http://ds-ladybugsandbees.blogspot.com/

>

[Guest guest]

FWIW

I also take Standard Process thytrophin and I don't see how it can be equal to 60mg Armour, b/c supposedly there is no T4/T3 in there. Also I called my pharmacy and they confirmed that I had been getting the bad batch (4 grains). They said they would give me a month's supply no charge. I also have not been feeling quite right

Gracia

It is a thought. I have access to getting that through a doc friend. Thanks for the tip.

Steph

My Armour Recall Fiasco

I am completely exhausted and drained from this day that began at 10:30 am today and ended around 5 pm today. I have been on the phone with Forest Pharma 2 times, CostCo 2 times, My Dr's office 2 times and I am totally frustrated.

Here's what happened. I called Forest PHarma and asked them if they could confirm a recall notice that I had seen. The woman got upset and was mad at me asking me where I got this information and who gave it to me. I told her a "friend" of mine got it from her pharmacist when she asked why she could not get her prescription filled at 4 pharamcies. She told me that I was not supposed to know about this recall as it was not for the patient to know about. I told her how I had contacted them earlier in the month questioning the larger bottle and different sized pills and was told it was nothing to be worried about. Then I flippantly mentioned this recall explained why I had been feeling tired and "off" lately.

Let the flood gates of h*ll open now. Word of warning that if you ever call a pharmaceutical company and tell they you had a reaction to their drug they are required by law to take your name and number (which they already had from my inquiry call) and then have someone from quality control contact you and ask you some questions to report to the FDA - they called it safety and I call it CYA. All of the sudden this belligerent person became nicey nicey. Early afternoon I got a call from the QC person who asked me a ton of probing questions about how long I had been on it, lab values of my last two tests and the list goes on.

Then the fight with CostCo as they insisted that I bring it into them and they never offered to reimburse me. I kept asking how that would work and they kept telling me they didn't know w/o the bottle. Common! I could tell them I had 94 tablets. Then I had a fight with the woman at my Doc's who told me I would have to wait 24 hours to get a new script as that is protocol. I had to explain that this was an unexpected event and that I didn't have any idea that I would have to deal with not taking my current Rx.

So to complicate matters, I find out that this recall is not supposed to effect potency. It was because the pills were falling apart - not staying together in the pill form at around 6 mos post mfg date. Mine are still all together. So now the pharmacist is telling me that there is nothing wrong with what I have and she will not take my rx back. So this starts me questioning is it the thyroid meds that made me tank this week or something else. My temps today were 96.8 and 97.1 .

So the long and the short of it - the drugs are not dangerous and Forest is behind in their production of 3, 4 & 5 grain tablets and they are on back order until mid - December. What the heck do they expect people who have to have this medicine to survive to do? It was a good lesson to me that I think I will have at least one 100 bottle in back up at all times.

My vulnerability to all this came to a head today. I realized how important that little pill bottle was to me each day. I hate depending on this to live. It stinks. So many I talked to today just brushed my concerns off.

But tomorrow is a new day.

B.Thyroid Cancer Journey: http://ds-ladybugsandbees.blogspot.com/

No virus found in this incoming message.Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.503 / Virus Database: 269.16.8/1154 - Release Date: 11/27/2007 11:40 AM

[Guest guest]

Wow . I'm so sorry you had such a rotten time with all of this recall stuff on Armour. I had no idea what was going on. All I knew was that I was completely out of it and no one else seemed to have any either and then that one place gave my husban that letter about a recall. Sure would have been nice if the first pharmacy (or at least one of them!) would have bothered to tell me that there was a recall and/or at least that all I needed to do was get a smaller dose. Yours and my experience has made me even more fearful of how vulnerable we so desperately are. NOT ONE of those pharmacy's gave me and my search/need for Armour a second thought. They could have cared less. And, when I went back yesterday to get it my doctors office had not even called the new script in yet like they said they were going to do the day before! I felt panicked standing there at the counter and being refused. I hadn't had any in a day and half. (I have no thyroid) The pharmacist finally came over and said since your doc was going to call in a new script for a smaller dose/double the amount I'll just give it to you and say that they did. I was pretty surprised she did that! I think she could see the panic on my face.

[Guest guest]

I hope people know that there are other dessicated thyroid products available other than Armour. ..........There are other generic dessicated thyroid brands out there, but I have no idea of their quality.

For some of us other brands are not easily interchangable. I tried Naturethroid recently and after 8 days I was so dizzy with vertigo that I could hardly function. I went back on Armour and in 4 days felt better. Yes there are other options but the fillers are a big issue to those of us with sensitivities. Many seem to have issues with the generic versions and many pharmacies do not carry it. Mine is one of them.

Regarding the 3, 4, or 5 grain doses. There appears to be some controversy over the half-length of the T3 in dessicated thyroid. Some say 24 hours, some say a half-day at most.

T3 has a 3 hour life in the blood after supplementation.

Someone mentioned storing their extra stash in the refrigerator or freezer. Is that the best thing to do for storing an extra supply? I thought maybe the moisture or freezing temperatures would be a problem.

As long as it is sealed and not opened until fully thawed where moisture cannot get in (like the 100 tab bottles from the pharma company) they should be OK.

Lynn

[Guest guest]

I hope people know that there are other dessicated thyroid products available other than Armour. I don't know his reasons, but my doctor doesn't like Armour at all. He instead prescribes me Time Cap Labs (TCL) dessicated thyroid and thinks it's a superior product. In my experience, many pharmacies have TCL available as the generic Armour equivalent, so it doesn't have to be prescribed by brand name, the script just needs to have the generic acceptable box checked. The pills have a TCL stamped on them. TCL is much cheaper than Armour.

There are other generic dessicated thyroid brands out there, but I have no idea of their quality. Someone on the NTH group mentioned another brand, I think it had Quality in the name, which they were dissatisfied with. So it does make a difference which brand of generic you're dealing with. But if you can't get Armour, even a less than than superior generic brand would be better than nothing or the synthetic alternative. I think all this panic over the uncertain of Armour availability is undue. Now if no dessicated thyroid was available from any of the manufacturers, I agree that would be justifiably panic-inducing.

Regarding the 3, 4, or 5 grain doses. There appears to be some controversy over the half-length of the T3 in dessicated thyroid. Some say 24 hours, some say a half-day at most. I don't have a thyroid because of a congenital disorder. I found I did much better taking half my thyroid dose when I first got up and the second half in the early afternoon. Otherwise, when I used to take it all when I rose, I dragged in the afternoon and evening, and I think it was because I ran out T3. Maybe that's not true of everyone, but I would think a person would do better taking a smaller dose twice a day. Of course the smaller doses are more expensive per grain, so expense can be a factor in the size pill you buy.

Someone mentioned storing their extra stash in the refrigerator or freezer. Is that the best thing to do for storing an extra supply? I thought maybe the moisture or freezing temperatures would be a problem.

Lynn

[Guest guest]

interesting question....

I've used refrigerator storage myself (never felt comfortable with

freezer storage) for a couple of years and haven't had a

problem...but I wonder what the company would say about that...

i guess the general guidelines are as mary shomon wrote:

should be stored away from light and moisture, and at a temperature

no higher than 86

cindi

>

>

>

> Someone mentioned storing their extra stash in the refrigerator or

freezer. Is that the best thing to do for storing an extra supply?

I thought maybe the moisture or freezing temperatures would be a

problem.

[Guest guest]

For years I have used the freezer and never had a problem. I put the

bottles in a freezer bag and they aren't in there all that long.

Maybe 6 months tops.

K

>

>

> >

> >

>

> >

> > Someone mentioned storing their extra stash in the refrigerator

or

> freezer. Is that the best thing to do for storing an extra

supply?

> I thought maybe the moisture or freezing temperatures would be a

> problem.

>