Guest guest Posted September 15, 2004 Report Share Posted September 15, 2004 I'm confused here. I am taking 120 mg armour thyroid and he wanted to raise it to 160, but than he puts me on 75 levoxyl. I am know thinking about just staying on the armour. Can some tell me the difference in these amounts? Fionna On Wed, 15 Sep 2004 17:05:21 -0000 " loboshe " writes: Armour works. Armour works SUPERBLY. And it's important when you switch from any T4-only med to natural thyroid like Armour to know that you will often need MUCH more than the equivalency charts show. For example, I was on .125 of a T4-only med, and according to Armour's equivalency chart, my dose should have been 1 1/4 grain!! Wrong. My optimal dose turned out to be 3 grains!! Even before I got up to 3 grains, I thought that 2 grains was certainly my optimal dose. But over a few months, I realized that I still had a few minor issues. So I went up, 1/4 grain at a time, to 3 grains. VOILA!! Also, I confess to being influenced. When I heard that the average minimum optimal dose of Armour was 3-5 grains BEFORE T4-only meds and labs came out, I wanted to try going up. It worked. I am now up to 3 1/2 grains, with no hyper effects. I do sublingually 2 grains in the mid-morning, 1 grain in the early afternoon, and 1/2 grain at bedtime. Janie Armour's (inaccurate) equivalency chart: 1/4 grain for 25 mcg (.025 mg) T4 1/2 grain for 50 mcg (.05 mg) T4 1 grain for 100 mcg ( .1 mg) T4 1 1/2 grains for 150 mcg (.15 mg) T4 2 grains for 200 mcg (.2 mg) T4 3 grains for 300 mcg (.3 mg) T4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 15, 2004 Report Share Posted September 15, 2004 Fionna, there is really no reason to add T4 to your Armour. Now I know I will step on some toes here (ducking to avoid shoes thrown at me), but most folks do great on Armour alone. Armour is 80% T4 anyway. Yes, the human thyroid produces closer to 93% T4, but there seems to be some positive aspect to getting the 20% direct T3 in Armour. When you raise your Armour, you are getting more of everything. When you stop your Armour at a certain point, and add T4, you are losing out on the extra direct T3, the T2, T1 and calcitonin. But....neither am I saying it is wrong or bad to add the T4!! If it works for you, go for it. I just don't think it's necessary! Janie ) > I'm confused here. I am taking 120 mg armour thyroid and he wanted to > raise it to 160, but than he puts me on 75 levoxyl. I am know thinking > about just staying on the armour. > > Can some tell me the difference in these amounts? > > Fionna > > On Wed, 15 Sep 2004 17:05:21 -0000 " loboshe " <usns@r...> writes: > Armour works. Armour works SUPERBLY. And it's important when you > switch from any T4-only med to natural thyroid like Armour to know > that you will often need MUCH more than the equivalency charts show. > > For example, I was on .125 of a T4-only med, and according to > Armour's equivalency chart, my dose should have been 1 1/4 grain!! > Wrong. My optimal dose turned out to be 3 grains!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 15, 2004 Report Share Posted September 15, 2004 Fionna, there is really no reason to add T4 to your Armour. Now I know I will step on some toes here (ducking to avoid shoes thrown at me), but most folks do great on Armour alone. Armour is 80% T4 anyway. Yes, the human thyroid produces closer to 93% T4, but there seems to be some positive aspect to getting the 20% direct T3 in Armour. When you raise your Armour, you are getting more of everything. When you stop your Armour at a certain point, and add T4, you are losing out on the extra direct T3, the T2, T1 and calcitonin. But....neither am I saying it is wrong or bad to add the T4!! If it works for you, go for it. I just don't think it's necessary! Janie ) > I'm confused here. I am taking 120 mg armour thyroid and he wanted to > raise it to 160, but than he puts me on 75 levoxyl. I am know thinking > about just staying on the armour. > > Can some tell me the difference in these amounts? > > Fionna > > On Wed, 15 Sep 2004 17:05:21 -0000 " loboshe " <usns@r...> writes: > Armour works. Armour works SUPERBLY. And it's important when you > switch from any T4-only med to natural thyroid like Armour to know > that you will often need MUCH more than the equivalency charts show. > > For example, I was on .125 of a T4-only med, and according to > Armour's equivalency chart, my dose should have been 1 1/4 grain!! > Wrong. My optimal dose turned out to be 3 grains!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 15, 2004 Report Share Posted September 15, 2004 That's right. Re: When SWITCHING from T4......to ARMOUR > Armour is confusing here. The tablet size for a 1 grain tablet is 60 > mg. But, this is not the actual content of thryoid hormone. 1 grain > of Armour has this much T3 and T4: > > Levothyroxine (T4) = 38 mcg > Liothyronine (T3) = 9mcg > > So, 60 mg is the amount of thryoid extract in a 1 grain tablet > containing many things, two of which are T3 and T4. > > (Note: in a previous post I erroneously gave the amount of hormone > in a 2 grain tablet instead of a 1 grain tablet. Please, please > accept my apologies.) > > T3 is about 4 times as strong as T4. So you multiply the T3 times 4 > and add this number to the T4 in the tablet. This will get you: > > 9 mcg T3 x 4 = 36 (T4 equivelent) > > 36 (T4 equivelent) + 38 (T4 in tablet) = 74 mcg Synthroid > > So, the very rough equvelent of 1 grain of Armour is 74 mcg of > Synthroid. This does not take into account how sensitive you might > be to T3 or whether you can take up Armour better or your individual > difference in how your body handles fillers. > > Tish Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 15, 2004 Report Share Posted September 15, 2004 That's right. Re: When SWITCHING from T4......to ARMOUR > Armour is confusing here. The tablet size for a 1 grain tablet is 60 > mg. But, this is not the actual content of thryoid hormone. 1 grain > of Armour has this much T3 and T4: > > Levothyroxine (T4) = 38 mcg > Liothyronine (T3) = 9mcg > > So, 60 mg is the amount of thryoid extract in a 1 grain tablet > containing many things, two of which are T3 and T4. > > (Note: in a previous post I erroneously gave the amount of hormone > in a 2 grain tablet instead of a 1 grain tablet. Please, please > accept my apologies.) > > T3 is about 4 times as strong as T4. So you multiply the T3 times 4 > and add this number to the T4 in the tablet. This will get you: > > 9 mcg T3 x 4 = 36 (T4 equivelent) > > 36 (T4 equivelent) + 38 (T4 in tablet) = 74 mcg Synthroid > > So, the very rough equvelent of 1 grain of Armour is 74 mcg of > Synthroid. This does not take into account how sensitive you might > be to T3 or whether you can take up Armour better or your individual > difference in how your body handles fillers. > > Tish Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 15, 2004 Report Share Posted September 15, 2004 That's right. Re: When SWITCHING from T4......to ARMOUR > Armour is confusing here. The tablet size for a 1 grain tablet is 60 > mg. But, this is not the actual content of thryoid hormone. 1 grain > of Armour has this much T3 and T4: > > Levothyroxine (T4) = 38 mcg > Liothyronine (T3) = 9mcg > > So, 60 mg is the amount of thryoid extract in a 1 grain tablet > containing many things, two of which are T3 and T4. > > (Note: in a previous post I erroneously gave the amount of hormone > in a 2 grain tablet instead of a 1 grain tablet. Please, please > accept my apologies.) > > T3 is about 4 times as strong as T4. So you multiply the T3 times 4 > and add this number to the T4 in the tablet. This will get you: > > 9 mcg T3 x 4 = 36 (T4 equivelent) > > 36 (T4 equivelent) + 38 (T4 in tablet) = 74 mcg Synthroid > > So, the very rough equvelent of 1 grain of Armour is 74 mcg of > Synthroid. This does not take into account how sensitive you might > be to T3 or whether you can take up Armour better or your individual > difference in how your body handles fillers. > > Tish Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 15, 2004 Report Share Posted September 15, 2004 I don't know where they get this equivalency thing, except by straight out mathematics, but we're not a bunch of objects in a box who all need exactly the same thing. When changing to Armour, chemical reactions start changing in our bodies (in a positive way), so there's no way that the conversion on the Armour site or others add up. I had just gone to 125 mcgs of Levoxyl for a few months, before I made the change. I'm now on 120 mgs of Armour, so the math just doesn't add up going from one person to another. Time and experimentation (in a careful way) are what makes the decision from one person to another. That doesn't mean that I'm at my optimal dose, but keep in mind that I can't run out and test whenever I want to and have more than one issue, although it is probably all related to thyroid, basically, and we have to keep the false readings of high antibodies in mind, plus the way they can make us feel. I think we certainly don't know everything about what these antibodies can do as of yet. When SWITCHING from T4......to ARMOUR > > Armour works. Armour works SUPERBLY. And it's important when you > switch from any T4-only med to natural thyroid like Armour to know > that you will often need MUCH more than the equivalency charts show. > > For example, I was on .125 of a T4-only med, and according to > Armour's equivalency chart, my dose should have been 1 1/4 grain!! > Wrong. My optimal dose turned out to be 3 grains!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 15, 2004 Report Share Posted September 15, 2004 I don't know where they get this equivalency thing, except by straight out mathematics, but we're not a bunch of objects in a box who all need exactly the same thing. When changing to Armour, chemical reactions start changing in our bodies (in a positive way), so there's no way that the conversion on the Armour site or others add up. I had just gone to 125 mcgs of Levoxyl for a few months, before I made the change. I'm now on 120 mgs of Armour, so the math just doesn't add up going from one person to another. Time and experimentation (in a careful way) are what makes the decision from one person to another. That doesn't mean that I'm at my optimal dose, but keep in mind that I can't run out and test whenever I want to and have more than one issue, although it is probably all related to thyroid, basically, and we have to keep the false readings of high antibodies in mind, plus the way they can make us feel. I think we certainly don't know everything about what these antibodies can do as of yet. When SWITCHING from T4......to ARMOUR > > Armour works. Armour works SUPERBLY. And it's important when you > switch from any T4-only med to natural thyroid like Armour to know > that you will often need MUCH more than the equivalency charts show. > > For example, I was on .125 of a T4-only med, and according to > Armour's equivalency chart, my dose should have been 1 1/4 grain!! > Wrong. My optimal dose turned out to be 3 grains!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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