Re: How do you take your Armour/ Caroline

[Guest guest]

>>>My new dr. recently switched me from 125 mcg Synthroid that I've been

>>>taking for over 5 years to only 15 mg Armour. However I'm taking a grain

>>>(65 mg) generic Armour per day that I ordered previously .....

Caroline, I am far behind on emails, but I'm curious why you are only taking

1 grain? I was on .125 $ynthroid, and the next day stopped the $ynthroid

and started 1 1/4 grains Armour. That's the official conversion rate.

However, it is far too low and I could hardly wait the recommended two or

three weeks to increase to 1 1/2. I am now on 4 grains and waiting to

see if this is my optimal dose. I had labs after being on 1 1/4

for a few weeks and my doc declared me hyperT because my TSH was supressed

and ordered me to go down to 1 grain. I was feeling miserable. I fired

her and increased the Armour and have been self-dosing since. I start

with a new endo next week, so we'll see what happens ..... joan

[Guest guest]

I don't really want to repeat this all for the umpteenth time, Joan. But

briefly, my new doctor took me off the Synthroid last week & agreed to prescribe

Armour for me instead as I asked her to. However she prescribed only 30mg Armour

to be taken once a day I just discovered. That's way too paltry an amount we all

decided & not at all according to the conversion tables which would be l l/4

grains, not 30 mg (less than l/2 grain).

We think she might be being very cautious because she thought I might have heart

problems because of my age (67yo) & having off/on chest pains. Tho her EKG

showed nothing abnormal at all & haven't had any hyperT symptoms, only hypoT

ones.

So I'm on l grain daily generic Time-Caps thyroid now & will add another l/4

grain tomorrow. Then up that dosage in another week by another l/4 grain & so

forth.

So I might not keep this doctor if she's going to continue to ignore my symptoms

& prescribe for them. We'll see how it goes after I see her again in another

month. By then I'll be on 2 or more grains natural thyroid per day tho. Doubt

she'll like that idea so she may fire me as a patient, who knows?

No biggee tho. If she does, I'll find a good thyroid savvy doctor who knows

their thyroid from a hole in the ground and hasn't got their head stuck in that

hole.

Good luck with your new endo & keep us posted.

Caroline

Re: How do you take your Armour/ Caroline

Caroline, I am far behind on emails, but I'm curious why you are only taking

1 grain? I was on .125 $ynthroid, and the next day stopped the $ynthroid

and started 1 1/4 grains Armour. That's the official conversion rate.

However, it is far too low and I could hardly wait the recommended two or

three weeks to increase to 1 1/2. I am now on 4 grains and waiting to

see if this is my optimal dose. I had labs after being on 1 1/4

for a few weeks and my doc declared me hyperT because my TSH was supressed

and ordered me to go down to 1 grain. I was feeling miserable. I fired

her and increased the Armour and have been self-dosing since. I start

with a new endo next week, so we'll see what happens ..... joan

[Guest guest]

Caroline

I'm thinking that thyroid was/is your main problem, except for the spinal

injuries that you have from accidents, and here's why. You're not feeling

anything different right now, so I'm thinking that that means that your

tissues were absolutely T3 starved, including the brain. No wonder you've

not felt any good about life! Your tissues are probably soaking it up, or

maybe having a little trouble getting into the tissues, since you've been

" starved " for so long. My next to last round of tests, even at 90 mgs

Armour, showed over range Free T3 available, with Free T4 barely at

midrange. The T4 I wasn't surprised about, but I didn't understand why the

T3 appeared so high, until I listened to other folks, particularly Tish,

talking about the cellular resistance that had probably developed during the

long period of yrs that my cells were " starving " for it, so the receptors

probably weren't working right, i.e., unused T3 " floating " around, unable to

get into the tissues. Well, guess what, that was back in the last week of

May this yr, and the ones I just had run showed a Free T3 of barely midrange

and a Free T4 at the bottom of the barrel, at a .8, even though I was on 120

mgs for about 2 months before that!!! No confusion here, though, because I

KNOW I was in further thyroid failure all during this period of time before

the change to Armour, and all this last winter and spring, with extremely

high thyroid antibodies, plus a folic acid anemia, to boot, i.e., as I've

been bringing the Armour up slowly, the thyroid was and is still going

downhill, but I'm thinking it's just now at the point where it may cease and

desist. What's probably happening (low T4) is that my body is desperately

converting all the little bit of T4 I'm making AND taking into T3, in an

attempt to make up the difference, as there's even less T3 available right

now. I increased to 135 mgs several days ago, and if I'm having no hyper or

adrenal symptoms, I think that I may increase that within just 4 more wks or

so, just 15 mgs. If I can pull that off, it will be the first time since I

started this that I could increase that fast, would you believe! This is

why I'm thinking that my adrenals are very slowly being rebuilt by my

thyroid plan AND my changed pattern of thinking (slap me on the head, if I

start working myself to death, worrying myself to death about my family, and

worrying about the future, etc., etc.....you get the picture). The folic

acid anemia is now resolved, as I've been very vigilant about that and the

foods required, etc. I'm just giving myself as an example, though everyone

is not the same.

Re: How do you take your Armour/

Caroline

>

> Caroline, I am far behind on emails, but I'm curious why you are only

taking

> 1 grain? I was on .125 $ynthroid, and the next day stopped the

$ynthroid

> and started 1 1/4 grains Armour. That's the official conversion rate.

> However, it is far too low and I could hardly wait the recommended two

or

> three weeks to increase to 1 1/2. I am now on 4 grains and waiting

to

> see if this is my optimal dose. I had labs after being on 1

1/4

> for a few weeks and my doc declared me hyperT because my TSH was

supressed

> and ordered me to go down to 1 grain. I was feeling miserable. I

fired

> her and increased the Armour and have been self-dosing since. I

start

> with a new endo next week, so we'll see what happens .....

joan

[Guest guest]

,

No doubt thyroid dysfunction is my main problem. Could be causing a major

amount of my aches & pains too & the spinal injury problems may not be as much

in & of themselves. Not sure tho. Obviously I'm T3 starved, never having had it

for so many years when I needed it. And now, on the Armour I'm on a way lower

intake of T4 too so don't see how it could be doing much in " converting " as you

put it. Interesting description from you tho on how the tissues are trying to

soak up the small amounts of T3 I'm now getting. I guess I'll have to take your

word for that as I surely haven't a clue what's going on. Just that I'm not

feeling at all better. I'm upping my dosage today to 95 mg or about l l/2

grains.

As for your mention of all your other test scores & whatever they mean, free T3,

free T4, antibodies, folic acid anemia, etc., I haven't a clue what that means &

never have had those tests done anyway so can't compare that with my situation

as it's all Greek to me. I do understand what you mean by raising the Armour

dosage gradually in small amounts & not feeling much different for maybe months

tho. It could take way more time here for me to start feeling better, thinking

more optimistically, being more encouraged, having more motivation than I'd like

it to.

As for the working oneself to death, I've still got scads of work to do around

here every single day & doing all this mental work online about thyroid related

problems is more work than I'd like to have too. And that includes getting more

tests done, calling doctors, labs, ordering online, running hither, thither &

yon to different medical related or health practioner appointments, making lists

& schedules just to keep myself as organized as I can, etc. etc. Even keeping up

with all these emails is work.

Heck, just remembering to take my medications & supplements spaced apart by 30

minutes to an hour on an empty stomach for hours on end is the biggest

deprivation & nuisance factor of all. I'm also trying to make time for at least

talking to old, distant friends or family (kids, brother, sister) on the phone

to keep up some kind of connection to others I love in my life, even tho I

rarely, if ever, see them in person & some I never see in person at all. But I

can't live in a total vacuum either. Lots of days I'm too tired at night to even

take a bath or shower or even comb my hair or wash my face. I'm turning into a

real slob compared to the way I used to be.

I need an assistant, partner, or maybe a nurse or an ongoing cook/nutritionist

housekeeper/shopper & personal coach to help me out here. Of course that's out

of the question as I'm the only one here to do it all. So naturally on days when

I'm feeling lousy & don't want to budge out of bed or this house or do much of

anything or can't because I'm in too much pain, then of course I get

discouraged, pessimistic & in overwhelm so bad I just want to throw up my hands

& give up on everything including life itself.

So my work is never ending & no way to slow that down or stop it that I can see.

Naturally I worry that I'm overdoing which I likely am but oh well...who's going

to do it if I don't? I have to try to keep my head together & keep myself up,

walking & taking care of business here or if I don't, I could lose it all, yet

again.

Caroline

Re: How do you take your Armour/ Caroline

Caroline

I'm thinking that thyroid was/is your main problem, except for the spinal

injuries that you have from accidents, and here's why. You're not feeling

anything different right now, so I'm thinking that that means that your

tissues were absolutely T3 starved, including the brain. No wonder you've

not felt any good about life! Your tissues are probably soaking it up, or

maybe having a little trouble getting into the tissues, since you've been

" starved " for so long. My next to last round of tests, even at 90 mgs

Armour, showed over range Free T3 available, with Free T4 barely at

midrange. The T4 I wasn't surprised about, but I didn't understand why the

T3 appeared so high, until I listened to other folks, particularly Tish,

talking about the cellular resistance that had probably developed during the

long period of yrs that my cells were " starving " for it, so the receptors

probably weren't working right, i.e., unused T3 " floating " around, unable to

get into the tissues. Well, guess what, that was back in the last week of

May this yr, and the ones I just had run showed a Free T3 of barely midrange

and a Free T4 at the bottom of the barrel, at a .8, even though I was on 120

mgs for about 2 months before that!!! No confusion here, though, because I

KNOW I was in further thyroid failure all during this period of time before

the change to Armour, and all this last winter and spring, with extremely

high thyroid antibodies, plus a folic acid anemia, to boot, i.e., as I've

been bringing the Armour up slowly, the thyroid was and is still going

downhill, but I'm thinking it's just now at the point where it may cease and

desist. What's probably happening (low T4) is that my body is desperately

converting all the little bit of T4 I'm making AND taking into T3, in an

attempt to make up the difference, as there's even less T3 available right

now. I increased to 135 mgs several days ago, and if I'm having no hyper or

adrenal symptoms, I think that I may increase that within just 4 more wks or

so, just 15 mgs. If I can pull that off, it will be the first time since I

started this that I could increase that fast, would you believe! This is

why I'm thinking that my adrenals are very slowly being rebuilt by my

thyroid plan AND my changed pattern of thinking (slap me on the head, if I

start working myself to death, worrying myself to death about my family, and

worrying about the future, etc., etc.....you get the picture). The folic

acid anemia is now resolved, as I've been very vigilant about that and the

foods required, etc. I'm just giving myself as an example, though everyone

is not the same.