# My Endo hates Armour... because of math?



## mama_cc (Sep 25, 2011)

I used to go to a wonderful endo, but he was too far away and took waaay too long to get through his office- messed w/shuttling kiddos.

So, I have been going to a young little guy close to me. He told me on my first visit (about a year ago) that Armour was hard to test and harder to dose, but that since I was already on 2 60 tabs m-th and 1 tab th-sun, he'd keep me there until next round of tests.

My last labs were... and I told him I did not feel good and was super bloaty w/weight gain and felt tired.

T3 Total 0.70 (0.60-1.81)

T4 Free 0.70 (0.76-1.46)

TSH 5.710 (0.360-3.740)

After being mailed the test results, I called his office and spoke w/his nurse. She was super crabby w/me when I asked her why the letter said I was slightly lower than last test, but was very different and I felt very low and maybe needed a bump in dosage. She said endo does not like Armour because there is so much math involved. Well, gee, isn't that his job? I feel like I need a bump-up and he only allowed me to add one more 60 tab on Fridays only. She repeated the problem with math and how complicated Armour is to dose and test.

I was told that the only other option is to go back to Levoxol (I used to be on 150 plus 10mcg cytomel daily). But the catch is that my new endo will not use any cytomel at all. I am afraid of going back to these because after many years on them, I started to feel bad have hypo symptoms again.

Any suggestions? I guess I may have to hit the road and visit another endo since this guy seems so rigid. What do you guys think? Do you think my guy just feels uncomfortable with Armour and wants me to get on the Synthroid train? Any similar experiences? I have been Hashi dx for about 11 yrs and on Armour for about 1.5 yrs after a long stint w/Levoxal and cytomel.

Thanks and hugs- mama cc


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## CA-Lynn (Apr 29, 2010)

Frankly, I've never heard of a physician who had a problem with math.

I wouldn't put much stock in what the "nurse" said. These employees are typically the lowest level medical office personnel. Maybe SHE finds math difficult.

That said, there are some doctors who don't like to use Cytomel for a number of reasons, particularly if someone has a weight issue [not sure if you do or not].


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## iroczinoz (Aug 15, 2011)

Looking at your results not sure why you are not on a consistent dose throughout the week (2 tabs daily) your values are low so an increase is well justified.

T3 is fast acting and daily dosing is required one of the reasons I split my daily dosing.

The math is not hard at all, sounds like some bs excuse to get you off armour.


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## Andros (Aug 26, 2009)

mama_cc said:


> I used to go to a wonderful endo, but he was too far away and took waaay too long to get through his office- messed w/shuttling kiddos.
> 
> So, I have been going to a young little guy close to me. He told me on my first visit (about a year ago) that Armour was hard to test and harder to dose, but that since I was already on 2 60 tabs m-th and 1 tab th-sun, he'd keep me there until next round of tests.
> 
> ...


Boy; this one takes the cake big time. There is nothing hard about Armour titration.

My humble opinion is that you should look around for a Naturopath in your area who Rx's Armour.

Here is the prescribing info for Armour. Once you read it, you will see there is absolutely nothing hard about this; at all! LOL!

Armour thyroid
http://www.armourthyroid.com/

And, you are undermedicated.

Dr. Mercola (FREES)
http://www.mercola.com/article/hypothyroid/diagnosis_comp.htm

Free T3 and Free T4 are the only accurate measurement of the actual active thyroid hormone levels in the body. This is the hormone that is actually free and exerting effect on the cells. These are the thyroid hormones that count.

FREE T3 explained by Woliner
http://thyroid.about.com/cs/testsforthyroid/a/freet3.htm


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## bigfoot (May 13, 2011)

Yeah, this is likely a CNA or medical assistant you spoke with. Nothing against them, there are _many_ good ones out there, but they still are not a nurse. And with a TSH of 5.71, and your Free T3 & T4 so low, no wonder you don't feel well. As you probably know, the revised upper threshold for TSH is 3.0 now.

In theory, this is all pretty simple. You take a starting dose of XYZ medication, follow-up with ongoing labs, and increase/decrease dosage as needed until your labs look good AND you feel well. Why more doctors can't seem to grasp this is beyond me.

I suspect that many of the younger doctors are being educated & indoctrinated into the Synthroid camp and don't know any different. I recently saw a doc for something totally unrelated to thyroid and he even made a passing comment about Naturethroid, and it "not being the usual treatment".

Bottom line is if Armour seems to really work for you, and this doc doesn't want any part of it, that's his/her loss. Take your money elsewhere and vote with your wallet.


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