Discussions that mention synthroid

Hello everyone-well I've been off seeing new docs and trying to get someone to talk to me about Armour.I got a doctors name off the Armour website and made an appt. Two weeks later I saw her and of course she had to run all "her own" tests.(Same ones all the other doctors have run) I was very persistant trying to get her to discuse Armour with me but she kept dancing around it saying "Lets wait until we get your bloodwork back" Well now a week later she has her blood and she says I'm fine and it all came back "normal"-so I said "Ok, can I switch to Armour" She said"Well-why do you want to do that you're fine--" and I yelled"Because my hair is still falling out and it's my last hope(my TSH is 1.0 on synthroid)If you know me you'll know I've been to 5 doctors and no one can do anything to help me-I've juggled birth control pills ,anti-depressants and vitamins and no relief for this problem I have also used Nioxin and other special shampoos(worthless)-i REFUSE TO DEAL WITH MY HAIR FALLING OUT FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE! There has to be help out there.The reason I want Armour is I've read that alot of You Out there started taking it and your hair stopped coming out? I think the doctors see me regulated on synthroid and don't want me to switch.I just want to try it and if it doesn't work then I'll go back to synthroid. Now the doc says she needs "some time" and will get back to me(she needs to talk to another Endo.)I'm going crazy-She even suggested seeing another Derma. for a second opinion. Oh great that will take me another 2-3 weeks to be seen and tested to walk down another dead end. My hair looks like Hell!!!!I'm sure the stress isn't helping but when this started last May I was the happiest I'd been in months --so go figure.Sorry for all this ranting and raving but I spent the whole afternoon crying and I just needed an outlet--Thanx

I'm so sorry to hear about your horrible experience. I do know that you can get Armour thru drug companies on the internet. That was going to be my last resort. Perhaps if you print out the page on dosages that are comparable to synthroid and the one you are on so you can figure out for yourself which is the correct dose for you.

The only other suggestion I have is to go back and ask her why she will not give it to you, and demand an answer (in a very polite way of course), then give her the conversion chart you printed off of the Armour site. Maybe she is afraid of not knowing where to start you off on the Armour.

Good Luck to you.

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Please pardon any typo...obviously it is because I'm hypo!

I am on Armour for about 5 or 6 months now. My doctor went on Maternaty leave and the doc that was taking her place while she was gone put me on Armour, at my insistance! When my doctor came back, I was on it and she doesn't like it all. I am still trying to get to the proper dose. All that I can share with you is my experience. The difference is like night and day for me. My tsh was 28 and I felt 100% better, than with a tsh of 5 on Levoxyl. My suggestion is to turn the question around that she asked you. Why not go on Armour???? You will find that the doctors have no answer for that. You need to go to see her and tell her that you are going on Armour with or without her help. Tell her that the only reason that you can to her in the first place was because you found her on the Armour website. Tell her that you really don't want to change doctors again, but you will if that is what it takes. The only valid reason for a doctor not to put you on Armour is a heart condition. The readily abosorbed t3 does cause increased everything at first. I also want to tell you that synthroid stays in your system for at least two weeks and when you start the Armour you are almost overdosing for a couple of weeks. That will go away. I started on a very low dose, that is how I ended with a tsh of 28. Once the Levoxyl was out of my system, the dose was way too low. But those first 2 weeks I was like speeded. But it goes away, so if you do get the Armour, stay with it for at least a month. My nails are growing again, I have lost 14 pounds, my mind is clearer, my joint aches have dissappeared, I have more energy.....I just can't tell you how much different I feel and I expect that it will just get better as time goes on. I am still not on the correst dose. My last TSH was 9.33. I am now take 30mgs more than then and will get labs done again in a couple of weeks. I have a doctor that thinks 5 is a good TSH!!!! So, I still have that battle to fight with her. I will never take anything else. I may have to change doctors before this is over too. You have to understand that these doctors have been taught that we don't need t3. I still can't find out where that came from, but over the years, it has become the standard of proceedure. From the reading and research that I have done, I have come to the conclusion that it is all about tests. They believe that there is no difference between t3 and converted t3. Well, my experience tells me that there is!!! Our blood tests just show t3, they don't show any difference between the two. At a cellular level there is a big difference. Remember that the medical proffession decided that we didn't need our tonsils either. Then they found out what they were for and decided tht maybe we do need them. Just because they haven't discovered the purpose of t3 as opposed to converted t3, doesn't mean that we don't need it. Tell her that if your body produces it to begin with, you think that you need it. I am so outraged at what is being done in regard to this. I am out raged at what i personally have suffered at the hands of doctors with thyroid disease. Get mad and let your doctor know it! All I know is that every doctor that I have seen since the onset of my problem, has looked at me and seen and old, fat, depressed woman. Well six months before all this, I was thin, active and virbrant! Not one of these doctors saw my condition as a result of hypothyroidism. I am mad, I have been mad for 15 years! The more I learn the madder that I get. Thier ignorance has taken years of my life, don't let them do that to you. Don't cry, yell and do it in the doctors office, whee it can do some good. It is your body and you have a right!!!!
Respectfully Yours, Lois

I've never been on a t4 only med like synthroid.. because 0f the hair loss I've heard about and the additional weight gain sometimes associated with it.

So, while on armour... my hair grows like a weed. Armour for me has definitely improved my skin, hair and nails.

I think maybe you need to find another doctor on the list to switch you to armour. I feel for you... it's really terrible what we have to go through to get the correct treatment.

Robin, '
Dido to everything that everyone else has told you. This is the mindset of just about all doctors. They have been ill trained when it comes to this. The people who are responding to you have learned the hard way. I am one of them. I can not tell you how angry I am that I have wasted the last 15 years taking Levoxyl and Synthroid. After 5 months on Armour and not yet on the proper dose, because my doctor doesn't know anything about Armour. I will have my last confrontation with my doctor after my next blood work. She will either work with me on this or I will find another doctor. I feel so much better, there is just no comparison. Your thyroid gland in a healthy state produces both t3 and t4, the t4 is converted to t3 so that your body can use it. Somewhere along the line, doctors decided that we only needed t4 and out bodies could just convert it and that was all we needed. There are also other thyroid hormones that are produces by a healthy thyroid. They really don't know exactly what those do, so they think that we don't need them. Well, we do need them and I am here to tell you that my body in 5 months is functioning like it hasn't in 15 years. My nails, my hair, my skin, my mental outlook, and clearity of thought. Armour did a long time ago have some problems in thier manufacturing process. The FDA tests regularly and you can go to the FDA website and and see which drugs have problems. Doctors have been sold a bill of goods by the Manufacturers of Synthroid that have affected all of our lives and our health. Don't let this doctor sell you his ignorace. That is what it is. Plain pure ignorance. They are not listening to their patients and they are not staying up with current information on the drugs.
If my bosy produced it in the first place, then when I try to replace it, I want to replace all of what my body produced. I have said athis before and I am going to say it again. The medical proffession said we didn't need our tonsils because they sisn't know what they were for. Now they know what they are for and they think maybe we need them. I am sorry I don't mean to carry on like this. But, I ,for one, am mad. In the world of information that we have today, to remain purposely ignorant about your own proffession and let sales people educate you is criminal!

Thank you all for your thoughtful response to Robin's ignorant Dr. I was so mad at his response or lack of proper response, I had to go out side and walk around!
My Frist Dr did switch me to synthroid, said it was much better, so I took it for 3 months, before I went back and told him it was not better and I felt worse. He looked at me and listened and I went back to Armour. So I do know the difference adn it is night and day!! You must be your own Advocate in cases like this. Insist that you try Armour!