So what's up with Armour recently???!! In June my usual pharmacy said they couldn't get 90 mcg of Armour, the manufacturer wasn't shipping it? They gave me 90 pills of 30 mcg so I could take 3 a day to equal a 90 dosage. Last month they still couldn't get the 90's and were out of the 30's, thus gave me a quantity of 45 of the 60 mcg and had me break 15 of them in half, then take a half along with a whole 60, again creating a correct dosgae of 90mcg. The past several weeks I have been rather tired again, hair falling out, and that dreaded lump in the throat feeling is just barely in the background again-- I really fear that symptom returning.
I tried to access Armour's web site and it would not come up. Strange huh? I then did some web searching and discovered that a few months back Forest Pharmcuticals changed the formula of Armour! and several other people are also having some hypo symptoms return. Thereformulation of Armour are 'minor' changes to the fillers in the pills. Adding cornstarch, dextrose (I think) and a few other changes to fillers.
What's your take on this? Have you heard anything about this? H
I'm hoping this is just a temporary set back for me and that either the old formula will return or my body will get used to the new one quickly.
Last edited by moderator2; 08-04-2009 at 05:54 PM.
Reason: please post openly to all members - do not title your post to any specific members by name
I hate to tell you this... But you're probably getting grief from that Armour "reformulation". About 6 months ago, I started having a return of long-gone symptoms. At first, I thought up excuses for the 5 lbs. gained, for the body aches, for the mental lapses. Never thought in my wildest dreams it could be the "new" Armour until reports began sprouting up here and on other boards.
I had labs done two weeks ago. My FT4 was 22% lower than last year; FT3 was 10% lower. Confirmation that "new" Armour doesn't work like the old stuff. The last time I had symptoms and labs like these, I was in the titration process and taking only half what my optimal dose ended up to be. Since it's so tough to locate now, I asked for a script for Nature-throid, a dessicated product from a different manufacturer that former Armour users are now trying. I just started taking it last week. It hit me hard the first few days... The 'fibromyalgia' was horrid... Just like going from untreated hypo to beginning dosage usually is. Yesterday and today are much improved, so I'm hoping that it will be a short adjustment period and that I will find my optimal dose of Nature-throid soon.
The FDA is cracking down hard on Forest for covering up data that their antidepressants increase the risk of teen suicide. The FDA also may be trying to shut down production of the T4/T3 combo, but this is unconfirmed. Another rumor suggests it could be Forest finds their synthetics more profitable than Armour and are trying to force their 'natural' customers to abandon it in favor of a pricier product. I think all this hoopla has them distracted from production, so the shortages and backorders continue without any kind of relief.
My suggestion is to get new labs and compare them with your old ones where you felt best. If they compare like mine did, you ought to try Westhroid or its hypoallergenic counterpart, Nature-throid. I am taking their 2-grain dose, which weighs 130 mgs as opposed to Armour's 2-grain (120 mgs). I don't think Armour's production trouble is going to clear up any time soon - if ever. So why knock yourself silly to keep chasing down product that doesn't work anymore? Give Forest what they appear to want.
Hope you get this mess straightened out in your own life. Will look forward to hearing about your progress with something new if you decide to try it. It's too soon to tell for me for sure, but so far... This seems to be working out.
I haven't been able to get the 90mgs of Armour for about 10 months where I live and I had to take the 60 and cut 1 in half until they finally moved me up to 120mg.
I did not realize that anything had changed with Forest or Amour. NOW I am wondering if this is what has set off these nodules to growing and all this mess with me.
To get the Nature Throid or Westhroid do I need to get a new script from my dr or can the pharmacist just substitute it if I ask them too??
Yup me too, I am feeling the fillers so to speak.
I am experiencing a return of hypo symptoms and I am disappointed that Forest did'nt even bother to respond to my email about it.
Midwest1 summed it up an a previous post..... feeling down by 50%
Thanks for the responses. I am due for a doc. visit in September anyway. I think I'll move it up a bit and get the new labs. Darn it, it took me so long to get optimized and I was feeling so good on my dosage. I have a bit of a 'stash' of the old Armour, but I'm going to save it, cherish it, and use it only for special occasions as long as it lasts. If I take it now it will only mess up new labs.
Each grain of Nature-throid contains 38 mcgs T4 plus 9 mcgs T3, the same as each grain of Armour. One grain of NT weighs 65 mgs compared to 60 mgs Armour, though. So if your MD writes his scripts in mgs, make sure he writes the new one for 65 mgs of NT, or else the pharm will have to contact the MD for clarification before he can fill the script.
I was taking 2 grains of Armour so I'm taking 2 grains of NT. I hope it will work at least as well as Armour used to. If it doesn't, tweaking will be in order.
