# Switching Armour to Nature Throid



## beebee (Aug 26, 2013)

I posted in an earlier thread that I was having reactions (possibly) related to starting on Armour. I'm newly diagnosed and started Armour 3 weeks ago, since then I've had ongoing issue with swollen glands, ear pressure. reflux, and lump in the throat feeling when I swallow. Some days just one of these symptoms, other days all.

My doctor has run in a RX for Nature Throid, based on me being an impatient patient I guess! ;-) I am one of those people who can't tolerate meds well due to allergies. I have read that medical allergies can cause the lump in the throat feeling.

Now I'm wondering what to expect as I transition to Nature Throid. Are there any cautions (doc said no), is it the right thing to do really? Or should I hold out on Armour in case these symptoms were a virus after all?

In the grand scheme of things I feel better than I did before starting meds, but would appreciate any thoughts/experiences you all may have had when considering a switch and going through with it.


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## beebee (Aug 26, 2013)

I started NT 2 days ago, doing ok so far and some of those other symptoms that I got since starting Armour have started to go away. Bit of a crazy ride on my first night though, kept waking up wired and today I'm knackered! Dosage is a little higher than Armour - 65mg split, so 1/2 dose at approx 32.5mg, whereas I was on 30mg of Armour. Do those extra mg's really pack that much of a punch?

Also feeling a little weakness creep back into leg muscles (Armour was able to keep that at bay).


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## bigfoot (May 13, 2011)

Good to hear you are doing a little better! Everybody responds differently to each medication. Might take some time to adjust and settle in. I can't say that I've tried Armour, but switching to Nature-Throid from Levoxyl eliminated a lot of weird signs & symptoms for me.

Look at the actual breakdown of ingredients on the bottles and compare them to each other. Nature-Throid has 38 mcg of T4 and 9 mcg of T3 per 1 grain. Not sure what Armour has.


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## beebee (Aug 26, 2013)

Thanks Bigfoot, I believe it's the same breakdown. Weird. I feel a lot better mentally not worrying so much about feeling like I had the flu without the flu, so to speak. I hope NT works for me. My doc advocates Synthroid, so I hope we can work together on this, the fact that she was will to RX NT is a good sign. But no blood recheck for 2 months!!


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## jenny v (May 6, 2012)

Don't worry so much about the recheck on your labs for two months, unless you start to feel really bad. 6-8 weeks is a typical time to wait between labs when you're on thyroid meds. You have to give it time to fully get into your system and start doing its thing.


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## beebee (Aug 26, 2013)

Thanks Jenny. We'll last night was another sleepless night and jittery all day. No palps, but occasionally a tiny flutter.. I'm so worn out and anxious about it all. This is dominating my life in a way I never thought it would. A friend told me "oh it's nothing, just pop a pill each day like I do and you'll be fine"! Say what? ;-)

If the T3/T4 dose is the same as the Armour dose I was on, what's going on ?


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## beebee (Aug 26, 2013)

Here we go again, three days into taking Nature Throid, the allergic symptoms are back. It was exactly the same with Armour, three days in. Post nasal drip, throat constriction, ear pain. Can I really be allergic to a hypo allergenic drug? I really don't want to go down the synthetics route but this is driving me nuts, either I heel hypo or I feel ill.

I feel so pathetic.

I tolerate other pills ok, like vitamins, etc. allergic to penicillin, birth control pill, but this seems weird to me.

I understand the fillers in armour and NT are different, I don't have a pork allergy!


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## Sazco (Jan 7, 2013)

I had a weird reaction to Levoxyl and Tirosint. I got very jittery etc. I also had troubles eating. Turns out I have bad reflux/gerd. But they took me off of all meds and here I am off of meds and hypo months later. Go to my new Dr tomorrow. Will see what he wants to do. Hoep you get it figured out!


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## beebee (Aug 26, 2013)

Let us know what the doc says Sazco.

I wanted to ask - in the first 4-8 weeks of treatment, what can you expect? Aside form my head stuff, sometimes I feel great in the morning then crash so bad in the afternoon with weakness, fuzzy head and disappointment. Sometimes head and ear pressure too. During my period I feel even worse, like I have the flu without the flu!

I'm driving my husband nuts, I have so little faith in doctors from past experiences but my husband is encouraging me to go back - even if its just to clear my head and get some answers. It was never explained to me what to expect, I've been back twice to two different docs and all they can say is that the thyroid is a funny thing and we all respond differently to treatment.

I don't have blood rechecked until late Oct, don't know what to do, put up with this and wait or see if I can at least talk to someone who can explain thyroid disease to me a little better. Trawling the web searching for answers seems contradictory to the healthcare that we pay so much for, yet get few answers from. I'm fortunate that I work from home, if I was in an office I don't know how I'd get through the day.


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## JenneyCat (Aug 11, 2013)

The first 4-8 weeks of treatment are like being on a rollercoaster...in fact it's probably like that until you get to your optimal drug and dose, but I'm only 9 weeks in so that's all I have to judge it on. I forced myself to realize that this is going to be a long haul.

Your body has been deprived of the hormone every cell needs to function for a long time, it has been crying out for it. Once you start giving it the hormone, it takes its own sweet time to absorb it, to react to the fact that it is now getting something it was lacking, almost like saying "hey, we're getting it now, but not sure if it's enough or going to last, so don't relax totally yet!"

I personally felt horrible until 4 weeks in on T4 only. I then started to see improvements in my mood, not *as* tired all the time (I more describe it as I started to have hours during the day where I didn't feel so tired I wanted to die), and my interest in life began to come back. I stopped worrying about everything so much because I saw an improvement which gave me hope that I was on the right track. However, I did have a 2 week stint on Armour, and I did not feel right on it because I was given too much too quickly without even knowing if I have a T3 conversion problem. I have read on these boards and others that you sometimes need to "sweat out" a dosage increase or medication change, as it takes your body sometimes weeks to stabilize from the new hormone.

I don't think 3 days is enough to say if it's working or not, or rather, if your body will accept the drug or not. Also, did your Dr feel that you were having T4 to T3 conversion issues and that's why you're on desiccated instead of T4 only? I switched back to T4 only because I needed to see what it would do for me first (and more importantly, get a Free T3 test done!)

Having said all this, I felt a bit of a backslide in the past few days as I believe I've seen everything 50mcg of T4 only is going to do for me now that it has been 9 weeks. I see the Endo next week thankfully so the timing is not bad, and finally will see the FT3 results


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## beebee (Aug 26, 2013)

Thanks JenneyCat - it's sage advice and I try to keep telling myself the same.

I'm actually about 4 weeks into treatment. I had a TSH of 5.75. Just moved to the area and saw a new doc. My levels had been up and down for a year but because I wasn't symptomatic my previous doc suggested letting it ride - been through several periods of stress (moving, bereavements,...) and as I came out of those my levels dipped again. But this summer they peaked once more and I started to feel weak, anxiety, foggy, memory issues.

I had my levels checked and they were up again. My previous doc had said he preferred Armour, and because I react badly to synthetic hormones (birth control pill) we decided to go that route if I ever needed meds. So I asked my new doc if I could have Armour. Since switched doc again (new town, doctor shopping) and she said she prefers the synthetic route as you have more control over T3 and conversions from T4, but she's willing to support me on desiccated. Now on Nature Throid after not tolerating Armour well and about 10 days into that. I presume my numbers in Oct will indicate how I'm doing with the T3/4 - is that right?

The initial jitters and insomina from Nature Throid have susbsided, which presumably means at some level I've adjusted to the T3.

Hope you get some answers next week. Good luck!


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## JenneyCat (Aug 11, 2013)

Thanks for the wish of good luck 

There's others on this board who are vastly more knowledgable than me on what NDT meds like Armour and Nature Throid will do to your levels. I would expect both Free T4 and Free T3 to go up because you are receiving both, however what I do know for sure is that you cannot judge anything by the TSH at all when on desiccated - it totally suppresses TSH and sometimes makes Drs freak out, but rest assured it's normal for this to happen.


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## beebee (Aug 26, 2013)

Well, caved in and saw the doc today. She suggested coming off Nature Throid and seeing how things go - doesn't think I'm adjusting to it or may not need the T3. Wrote me a RX for Levo if the hypo symptoms return. Fingers x'd.


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