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Armour thyoird

digital dog

Senior Member
Messages
646
Anyone have any quarter grain armour? I bought one grains but need something MUCH smaller. Happy to buy them off you or swop for the larger size.
Just trying to save a little money and hassle.
 

digital dog

Senior Member
Messages
646
I was not prescribed this. I did not need a prescription. Anyone can buy it...easily.
I was prescribed thyroxine but couldnt tolerate it, hence wanting to try armour.
 

justy

Donate Advocate Demonstrate
Messages
5,524
Location
U.K
Hi, you could buy a pill splitter from the pharmacy and cut them up - that's what I did to try a smaller dose. You need to be aware though that if your adrenals are not working properly this will only make you feel worse. Also you cant add to your own production, small amounts will supress your own production so you need to take enough to be a full replacement dose. Having said that I worked mine up gradually and had two fantastic months before the mother of all crashes which I have never recovered from (that was three years ago).
 

digital dog

Senior Member
Messages
646
Thanks Justy. I should have just bought the quarter grain ones and then I could have easily cut it into half or quarter. I can take a crumb but I like being precise.
Do you think the crash was directly related to taking the armour? It seems strange (but then we are aren't we!) that you should feel so good and then crash so suddenly.
Do you not feel that if you'd kept at a very low dose you may not have crashed? I know that contradicts what you have just said.
I am scared to take it but I still have hashimotos despite trying all sorts of other things. There is DHEA, armour and LDN once more to try. I think the LDN will cause akathisia again which Im not willing to tolerate or push through and I do dreadfully on hormones so I have little hope for DHEA...but one must try.
When you crashed was it a different ME crash? Did it feel more hormonal? Did it effect your mental health (anxiety, depression etc)
X
 

digital dog

Senior Member
Messages
646
I think what Im trying to ask is, don't you think that there must be something in armour that you need? That righting the thyroid could be the biggest step for healing.
When I went on thyroxine it was a disaster with months of consequences BUT I had a normal day...first in 18 years almost which must be relevant.
 

Helen

Senior Member
Messages
2,243
I think what Im trying to ask is, don't you think that there must be something in armour that you need? That righting the thyroid could be the biggest step for healing.
I agree to what @justy says.
In my case it surely is, as I´m much better on Nature Throid than on T4 and even with added T3. There are people who went from Armour Thyroid to Nature Throid and felt better as NT is considered less allergenic. I learnt from an American doctor that among the family that runs the NT manufactory there are people diagnosed with hypothyroidism so they care very much about making a good product. The doctor himself diagnosed with hypothyroidism takes NT.

If not the biggest step for healing ME, I think it is an absolutely necessary step to optimize your treatment for hypothyroidism to make your immune systeme strong enough to fight infections, and also because normal levels of thyroid hormones in tissues are crucial for every cell to work properly. "Stop the thyroid madness", as site or book, have lots of information, if you haven´t found this yet. A doctor recommended this to me. I´m lucky to have good doctors around. I wish you too could find one to work with.
 
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Maria1

Silence speaks volumes
Messages
139
Location
UK
There is an assumption that T3 medications cannot be prescribed in the UK currently. Liothyrine is classified as 'Amber' under the UK prescribing guidelines.

http://www.bnssgformulary.nhs.uk/Format-of-the-Formulary-and-Traffic-Light-Clasifications/

My GP said she didn't think she could prescribe a T3 med, nor did she think I could be having a problem on it. She then checked and found that, according to the prescribing guidelines, a GP can take over the prescribing, once a consultant had got me established on it (sorry I'm struggling with words here). I'm lucky that my GP is quite open minded and she agreed to refer me to the consultant I found. If he agrees to trial it, my GP will prescribe.

I too have had flashes of normal since starting on levothyroxine. Every time my dose increased I got a day or two of normal, but it doesn't last, and when I try and explain that to doctors they look at me as if I'm very stupid. I wonder whether there is some hormonal imbalance at play in ME/CFS which involves more than just the thyroid.

Thyroid UK has a list of sympathetic NHS consultants with notes on whether they will trial T3. If you can get your GP to refer you to a local consultant, then you are in a much safer place than self medicating.
 

justy

Donate Advocate Demonstrate
Messages
5,524
Location
U.K
Thanks Justy. I should have just bought the quarter grain ones and then I could have easily cut it into half or quarter. I can take a crumb but I like being precise.
Do you think the crash was directly related to taking the armour? It seems strange (but then we are aren't we!) that you should feel so good and then crash so suddenly.
Do you not feel that if you'd kept at a very low dose you may not have crashed? I know that contradicts what you have just said.
I am scared to take it but I still have hashimotos despite trying all sorts of other things. There is DHEA, armour and LDN once more to try. I think the LDN will cause akathisia again which Im not willing to tolerate or push through and I do dreadfully on hormones so I have little hope for DHEA...but one must try.
When you crashed was it a different ME crash? Did it feel more hormonal? Did it effect your mental health (anxiety, depression etc)
X

The crash was directly realted to the Armour as my adrenals were not on top form I couldn't handle the thyroid meds. see STOP THYROID MADNESS website as Helen suggested. Dr Myhill told me I should not have taken it (it was prescribed by another Dr) she said it was like putting you foot on the accelerator of the car to go faster while at the same time jamming you foot hard on the brake - eventually the engine will explode! I also have very low DHEA but cant tolerate even 2 mg a day...

My current M.E Dr notes that if the underlying bacterial infections etc are treated the need for thyroid meds goes down. I am not technically hypo - but was deemed sub ckincal as my TSH has been slowly rising. I cant tolerate Lvothyroxine either - makes me feel no better then I feel hyper, but bloods show I am not hypoer at all.

7 years ago my TSH was around 1 and my T4 was around 17. since then it has slowly changed so that my TSH is now 3.5, and my T4 around 11 - my hair is falling out, I HAVE PERIODS FROM HELL, AM OVERWEIGHT, ANEAMIC (oops caps lock sorry) but NHS say no thyroid problem and I cant tolerate the meds anyway so I don't bother.
 

digital dog

Senior Member
Messages
646
It's such a minefield trying to work this all out.
My TSH was 11 (one week later it was 2) and T4 always hovers around 11 too. My antibodies were in the 300 range but dramatically dropped after quitting gluten.
I think my problem is regulating the thyroxine as I swing madly with symptoms. I think you are right Justy. I think it could be too much for my body. It seems such an obvious choice but I just don't react to things like other people.
The question is what to do?
My doctor is happy for me to try armour (he suggested it....nearly fell off my chair in surprise) but I think it may do what the thyroxine did which was made me hyper and then very very edgy for a long time.
Personally I believe that ME is autoimmune and the thyroid is just another part of the body being destroyed by our immune system. The rituximab trials seem to be pointing in that direction.
Is there anything other than rituximab for immunity? Is it just LDN?
I can't believe we can't try rituximab here in the UK. I do understand why but you'd think it could be available for other autoimmune conditions. Perhaps it is?
Sorry so confused about all this and feel like death warmed up (a little) today.
 

digital dog

Senior Member
Messages
646
Last question: Did you feel better seven years ago? Do the thyroid lab results correlate with how awful you feel?
 

Helen

Senior Member
Messages
2,243
My TSH was 11 (one week later it was 2) and T4 always hovers around 11 too. My antibodies were in the 300 range but dramatically dropped after quitting gluten.
Good that your antibodies decreased that much from elimination of gluten. I would try too, together with a doctor, to find out how to stabilize and minimize the autoimmune attack on the thyroid.

Dr. Jeffrey Dach has written some very good articles about the thyroid and also Hashimoto´s, supported by studies. He highlights, among other things, that selenium supplementation has been effective to decrease antibodies.

http://jeffreydachmd.com/2014/01/selenium-thyroid-good-news/
 
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digital dog

Senior Member
Messages
646
Thanks Helen. Unfortunately I couldnt tolerate selenium. I so wanted to be able to take it but I've tried three times now since July and each time I feel spacey and unhinged. Probably means that it is doing something!
I have just had my antibodies tested again and the results should be in in 2 weeks. I am desperate for my antibodies to have gone down. It is the swings of hashimotos that drive me to the brink of insanity. If they do, eliminating gluten would be the first thing I have done in 18 years that has helped in some way ( I think DHEA fourteen years ago helped a tad).
I don't feel any better for eliminating gluten though...and Ive put on half a stone which seems most unusual.