Thyroid Medicine

futurerunner

Anyone on Armour Thyroid medication? if so has it helped with your weight loss?

I was tested by my allergy doctor and it turns out my numbers were high (don't ask me what numbers) so he put me on armour thyroid medicine. I've been on it for a couple of months. He said it won't make me lose weight but it will help if I'm eating right and exercising.
Just wanted to see if anyone has notice a difference in weight loss.

Grokette

I am on Armour Thyroid and I am able to lose a little bit faster than with out it. The difference comes in the form of having energy to be able to work out and keep up with normal life stuff.............

Andre_Demers

The only thing that my thyroide pills (Synthroid 0.15 mg) have braught me is more pounds. Sorry but today is my day to lash out. Just finished a week below my calory and above my exercise to gain 0.8 pounds. Thyroide and diabeties (insuline dependant) is not a good combination to lose weight. All the best to you with your weight lost.

candlegal

Hi I also have hypothyroid, I am on Levothyroxin(sp) it's synthetic. I have to commend your Dr. for putting you on armour, it seems lots of docs aren't big fans of armour. I'm curious where to you live? In the US? State? From what I have heard you should lose weight fine being on armour. I think as long as you are on something to get your thyroid gland working you should lose weight. It's the amount that usually makes the difference. Drs are afraid to put you on too much because they say it can be bad for your bones? Or you can end up going the other way and become hyperthyroid.

ncgirl1978

hey ladies i was reading your blogs what exactly is the armour thyroid? i have thyroid and i to am on levotheroxin and i can't ever seem to lose weight and keep it off i lose a few and gain right back.

Pendragn

Synthroid (levothyroxin) is awful for weight loss. I lost 80 pounds earlier this year and was making great progress, but as soon as my doctor put me on synthroid, my loss came to a crashing halt. I also got a persistent headache (we're talking 2 months) and dizzy spells that came with increasing frequency until it was a 24/7 annoyance and I wasn't safe behind the wheel of a car. The kicker is that I put on 20 pounds in 1.5 weeks (while dieting and working out 2x/day). I stopped taking the drugs (and switched doctors because my old one refused to believe any of these side effects could be related to the meds). It took two weeks before the headache went away, another couple weeks for the dizziness to completely disappear, but I'm feeling great again. I've now lost 10 of the 20 pounds I had gained, and things are starting to move again. My doctor is monitoring my thyroid levels to see if/when I need another drug, at which point he said he'll put me on Armour. For right now, though, my thyroid level is right in the middle of the normal range, which makes me wonder if my previous doctor just completely botched the entire diagnosis.

Grokette

The only thing that my thyroide pills (Synthroid 0.15 mg) have braught me is more pounds. Sorry but today is my day to lash out. Just finished a week below my calory and above my exercise to gain 0.8 pounds. Thyroide and diabeties (insuline dependant) is not a good combination to lose weight. All the best to you with your weight lost.

Synthroid is a horrible drug. It is only a T4 med, where as Armour is a T3 and T4 med..............

I am diabetic, have PCOS and hypothyroid.....................You can lose weight, you have to really cut your carbs. An eating plan with good, quality fats, moderate protein and heavy on the green, leafy veggies............minimal fruit. Snack on nuts, cheese, proteins.......

You can lose weight...........

SweetPandora

Thanks for asking this question. I had never heard of Armour Thyroid (I just googled it) and I am going to ask my Dr. about it. I have been on Synthroid for many years and like others have mentioned weight loss or maintaining weight is very slow and difficult.

I much prefer to try a natural product.

Karen

Grokette

hey ladies i was reading your blogs what exactly is the armour thyroid? i have thyroid and i to am on levotheroxin and i can't ever seem to lose weight and keep it off i lose a few and gain right back.

levotheroxin = Synthroid and it is a bad, bad drug..............

Armour thyroid is a natural dessicated thyroid medication that is made from a pigs thryoid.................It's all natural and doesn't only have the T4 meds like levotheroxin.

Armour is both T3 and T4...............

rose1617

I have been on Synthroid for going on 5 years now and yes, weight loss is slow, but it's going to be for anyone with a thyroid issue. I have lost 12 lbs. in 5 months. That's a little over 0.5lb./week, which is completely normal and natural and healthy, especially given that I'm 20 lbs. from my goal weight. At my heaviest I was 2 lbs. overweight, and that was after 3 years on Synthroid. I gained roughly 20 lbs. total on Synthroid and it took me those 3 years to gain that much. I'll tell you at least 15 lbs. of those 20 were not from the medication, they were from horrible eating and little to no exercise.

The best advice I can offer is to not use your medication or your disease as an excuse. Is your thyroid the reason that weight loss is slow? Yep. But weight loss is still possible with thyroid problems as long as you can find the right dose of medication (whatever medication your doc gives ya) to level out your TSH, and eat healthy and exercise at least 5 days/week, you will lose weight just fine.

peanut352

I started my lifestyle change on July 1st, and about a week later I had gotten test results back from my doctor who told me I had an under active Thyroid, and prescribed levothyroxin. I lost 5 pounds my first week, and have cconsisitently lost 2lbs per week since. I cant say that my thyroid or the medication has slowed down my process whatsoever.

Grokette

I have been on Synthroid for going on 5 years now and yes, weight loss is slow, but it's going to be for anyone with a thyroid issue. I have lost 12 lbs. in 5 months. That's a little over 0.5lb./week, which is completely normal and natural and healthy, especially given that I'm 20 lbs. from my goal weight. At my heaviest I was 2 lbs. overweight, and that was after 3 years on Synthroid. I gained roughly 20 lbs. total on Synthroid and it took me those 3 years to gain that much. I'll tell you at least 15 lbs. of those 20 were not from the medication, they were from horrible eating and little to no exercise.

The best advice I can offer is to not use your medication or your disease as an excuse. Is your thyroid the reason that weight loss is slow? Yep. But weight loss is still possible with thyroid problems as long as you can find the right dose of medication (whatever medication your doc gives ya) to level out your TSH, and eat healthy and exercise at least 5 days/week, you will lose weight just fine.

The problem is the TSH number is not what you should want to level out...............The Free T3 and Free T4 need to be at certain percentage levels for a person to feel good and be able to lose weight at a decent pace. That is the reason why people are able to have a "normal" TSH range yet still have the symptoms. These are the people that go undiagnosed because the medical community and most people focus on TSH values alone.

I am one of those people. I find it unnerving for someone to say that someone else is using their disease as an excuse for not losing weight.............Even if the TSH is "normal" and the Free T3 and T4 values are not in the proper range, a person is still going to have those symptoms and it will also be impossible to lose weight.

It is far from an excuse, it is a reality. I pray for the day that the medical community should educate themselves on treating the WHOLE person and not the TSH lab value. I am not a number, I am a person.

I am fortunate that I now have a doctor that addresses me the person and not my TSH lab value. I am also fortunate enough that she has put me on a plan that is working for me to lose the weight................

I have a feeling that you are one of the fortunate ones that Synthroid works for............which means your thyroid issues are very minor and minute. Good for you!!!!

rose1617

I have been on Synthroid for going on 5 years now and yes, weight loss is slow, but it's going to be for anyone with a thyroid issue. I have lost 12 lbs. in 5 months. That's a little over 0.5lb./week, which is completely normal and natural and healthy, especially given that I'm 20 lbs. from my goal weight. At my heaviest I was 2 lbs. overweight, and that was after 3 years on Synthroid. I gained roughly 20 lbs. total on Synthroid and it took me those 3 years to gain that much. I'll tell you at least 15 lbs. of those 20 were not from the medication, they were from horrible eating and little to no exercise.

The best advice I can offer is to not use your medication or your disease as an excuse. Is your thyroid the reason that weight loss is slow? Yep. But weight loss is still possible with thyroid problems as long as you can find the right dose of medication (whatever medication your doc gives ya) to level out your TSH, and eat healthy and exercise at least 5 days/week, you will lose weight just fine.

The problem is the TSH number is not what you should want to level out...............The Free T3 and Free T4 need to be at certain percentage levels for a person to feel good and be able to lose weight at a decent pace. That is the reason why people are able to have a "normal" TSH range yet still have the symptoms. These are the people that go undiagnosed because the medical community and most people focus on TSH values alone.

I am one of those people. I find it unnerving for someone to say that someone else is using their disease as an excuse for not losing weight.............Even if the TSH is "normal" and the Free T3 and T4 values are not in the proper range, a person is still going to have those symptoms and it will also be impossible to lose weight.

It is far from an excuse, it is a reality. I pray for the day that the medical community should educate themselves on treating the WHOLE person and not the TSH lab value. I am not a number, I am a person.

I am fortunate that I now have a doctor that addresses me the person and not my TSH lab value. I am also fortunate enough that she has put me on a plan that is working for me to lose the weight................

I have a feeling that you are one of the fortunate ones that Synthroid works for............which means your thyroid issues are very minor and minute. Good for you!!!!

I never went back to this post, but I'd like to address a few of the things you've said here now that I've read them.
1) my thyroid issues were horrible. My thyroid was so bad that it actually grew an extension of itself because it couldn't handle the disease.
2) I think the reality is that you are one of the few who needs T3 and T4 addressed and not just T4. This is a minority of the people in the world with thyroid disease, not the majority. There are hundreds of thousands of people on Synthroid or Levo and it works just fine for them. A fraction of those people have had to switch to Armour or the like. Understandable and fine, but it's not the majority of people with thyroid disease by any stretch.
3) I'm not saying your disease (our disease, really) is any less significant. I'm saying don't let it get in the way of your weight loss! I sat around for years saying there was nothing I could do, I was fat because of my disease, and I was always going to be that way. Then I got off my *kitten*, worked my butt off in the gym burning several hundred calories at least 5 days/week and was VERY strict on my diet and lost 10 pounds. Actually 11 now. And believe it or not the figures actually read that I've lost 25 lbs. of body fat in 5 months. I'd say that's losing weight and doing it even with this stupid disease. I stopped using it as my excuse and lost weight. What I'm saying is, you can't just sit around (and YOU is FIGURATIVE not personal here) and wait for the weight loss to happen. If you think it's your meds, DO something about it. If two or more doctors say it's not your meds, then it's either your diet or your exercise or something else is wrong with your health. Figure it out and get on the road to healthy! That's all I'm saying.

Grokette

I have been on Synthroid for going on 5 years now and yes, weight loss is slow, but it's going to be for anyone with a thyroid issue. I have lost 12 lbs. in 5 months. That's a little over 0.5lb./week, which is completely normal and natural and healthy, especially given that I'm 20 lbs. from my goal weight. At my heaviest I was 2 lbs. overweight, and that was after 3 years on Synthroid. I gained roughly 20 lbs. total on Synthroid and it took me those 3 years to gain that much. I'll tell you at least 15 lbs. of those 20 were not from the medication, they were from horrible eating and little to no exercise.

The best advice I can offer is to not use your medication or your disease as an excuse. Is your thyroid the reason that weight loss is slow? Yep. But weight loss is still possible with thyroid problems as long as you can find the right dose of medication (whatever medication your doc gives ya) to level out your TSH, and eat healthy and exercise at least 5 days/week, you will lose weight just fine.

The problem is the TSH number is not what you should want to level out...............The Free T3 and Free T4 need to be at certain percentage levels for a person to feel good and be able to lose weight at a decent pace. That is the reason why people are able to have a "normal" TSH range yet still have the symptoms. These are the people that go undiagnosed because the medical community and most people focus on TSH values alone.

I am one of those people. I find it unnerving for someone to say that someone else is using their disease as an excuse for not losing weight.............Even if the TSH is "normal" and the Free T3 and T4 values are not in the proper range, a person is still going to have those symptoms and it will also be impossible to lose weight.

It is far from an excuse, it is a reality. I pray for the day that the medical community should educate themselves on treating the WHOLE person and not the TSH lab value. I am not a number, I am a person.

I am fortunate that I now have a doctor that addresses me the person and not my TSH lab value. I am also fortunate enough that she has put me on a plan that is working for me to lose the weight................

I have a feeling that you are one of the fortunate ones that Synthroid works for............which means your thyroid issues are very minor and minute. Good for you!!!!

I never went back to this post, but I'd like to address a few of the things you've said here now that I've read them.
1) my thyroid issues were horrible. My thyroid was so bad that it actually grew an extension of itself because it couldn't handle the disease.
2) I think the reality is that you are one of the few who needs T3 and T4 addressed and not just T4. This is a minority of the people in the world with thyroid disease, not the majority. There are hundreds of thousands of people on Synthroid or Levo and it works just fine for them. A fraction of those people have had to switch to Armour or the like. Understandable and fine, but it's not the majority of people with thyroid disease by any stretch.
3) I'm not saying your disease (our disease, really) is any less significant. I'm saying don't let it get in the way of your weight loss! I sat around for years saying there was nothing I could do, I was fat because of my disease, and I was always going to be that way. Then I got off my *kitten*, worked my butt off in the gym burning several hundred calories at least 5 days/week and was VERY strict on my diet and lost 10 pounds. Actually 11 now. And believe it or not the figures actually read that I've lost 25 lbs. of body fat in 5 months. I'd say that's losing weight and doing it even with this stupid disease. I stopped using it as my excuse and lost weight. What I'm saying is, you can't just sit around (and YOU is FIGURATIVE not personal here) and wait for the weight loss to happen. If you think it's your meds, DO something about it. If two or more doctors say it's not your meds, then it's either your diet or your exercise or something else is wrong with your health. Figure it out and get on the road to healthy! That's all I'm saying.

Actually there are far more people in the world that would benefit from T3 therapy, not just the T4 therapy that is in Synthroid.........

The only people that benefit from Synthroid type drugs are those with very, very mild hypothyroidism..............

My doctor referred me over to this site................

The T4-Only Club
Think you are doing fine on a T4-only thyroid med?
Think again! Synthroid, Levoxyl, Levothyroxine, Eltroxin, Oroxine, Norton and a host of other brand names for synthetic T4-only are simply giving you a thyroid storage hormone, meant to convert to the life-giving and active thyroid hormone T3. But a large and growing body of patients in the T4-only club, as well as many wise doctors, have discovered that the body is not meant to live on conversion alone, no matter how “normal” your TSH lab result is or how fine you feel.

As a result of being in this club, your stress-busting adrenals may be kicking in big time with cortisol and adrenaline to keep you going on an inadequate treatment of T4-only. Over time, there’s a high risk of those adrenals becoming sluggish, presenting a much more complicated problem to treat. Low ferritin, aka storage iron, can also raise its ugly head.

As one ages on T4 like Synthroid, doctors are finding patients with continuing hypothyroid symptoms of a poor treatment, including rising blood pressure, a buildup of cholesterol and other lipids, increased depression, fatigue and/or a myriad of other inadequate side effects of a poor thyroid treatment.

According to the experience of patients worldwide, T4-only meds do not do the job, any more than an elevator which only rises to the fifth floor of a 50-story building “does the job.”
Sure, you may feel better with good results. But you will be left with your own brand and intensity of lingering symptoms of an inadequate thyroid treatment that will get worse as you age. Yup.

rose1617

I've read that site numerous times and applaud people for raising awareness about those who MAY need T3 as well as T4, but it is also extremely radical and provides the opinion that EVERYONE needs both, which is not true.
And I didn't see anywhere where it read that only those with mild hypothyroidism benefit from treatment of T4. And obviously, I'm an example that that is simply not true.

Logeo21

Hi - I am new to this site- I have been on Synthroid for 20 years- and I am very active. I workout hard, eat very healthy and to this day 20 years after the birth of my last son, when my thyroid went out- I have not lost weight.

I hold weight around my stomach and am just thick all over. The more I read - the more I believe it is the medication. There is no way I should way 200 pounds with the amount of activity I do and the way that I eat. I have tried countless ways of losing weight from the Thyroid Diet, Adkins, Weight Watchers, Metabolism, you name it I have tried it. I have tried exercising for 90 min a day- nothing has worked for me.

My doc says I am healthy- good BP, good cholesterol, good triglycerides, etc. I am just at my wit's end. Any suggestions??

Grokette

I've read that site numerous times and applaud people for raising awareness about those who MAY need T3 as well as T4, but it is also extremely radical and provides the opinion that EVERYONE needs both, which is not true.
And I didn't see anywhere where it read that only those with mild hypothyroidism benefit from treatment of T4. And obviously, I'm an example that that is simply not true.

Actually the person that told me that only those with mild hypothyroidism benefit from T4 only treatment is Dr. Daniels at Washington University in St Louis, MO. He has over 25 years of research under his belt as an Endocrinologist as well as over 36 years of being an MD.

Grokette

Hi - I am new to this site- I have been on Synthroid for 20 years- and I am very active. I workout hard, eat very healthy and to this day 20 years after the birth of my last son, when my thyroid went out- I have not lost weight.

I hold weight around my stomach and am just thick all over. The more I read - the more I believe it is the medication. There is no way I should way 200 pounds with the amount of activity I do and the way that I eat. I have tried countless ways of losing weight from the Thyroid Diet, Adkins, Weight Watchers, Metabolism, you name it I have tried it. I have tried exercising for 90 min a day- nothing has worked for me.

My doc says I am healthy- good BP, good cholesterol, good triglycerides, etc. I am just at my wit's end. Any suggestions??

Ask your doctor to prescribe you Armour Thyroid or another type of natural dessicated thyroid. I went through the same thing as you did and felt the same way on the Synthroid as I did when I was taking NO medication at all.

I believe that when the T3 levels are out of whack the thyroid gland and pituitary gland are not communicating properly and that is the reason why no matter what you try it is not working.

My doctor has me on a plan that is controversial on this website, but it is the one thing that is lining my hormones out so far and I am losing weight so that is an added plus.

Plus, synthroid has some nasty side effects to it that can and will lead you to being on more medications in the future, which is not how I want to live..............

As one ages on T4 like Synthroid, doctors are finding patients with continuing hypothyroid symptoms of a poor treatment, including rising blood pressure, a buildup of cholesterol and other lipids, increased depression, fatigue and/or a myriad of other inadequate side effects of a poor thyroid treatment

Logeo21

Thanks for your quick reply. I have a scheduled appointment next week and I am going to bring this up. Do you see a specialist or a GP?

Grokette

Thanks for your quick reply. I have a scheduled appointment next week and I am going to bring this up. Do you see a specialist or a GP?

I see a Naturopathic Doctor and an Endocrinologist.

futurerunner

Thanks for the great topic discussion...I didn't mean to ruffle any feathers but I love hearing two sides of every debate. I was put on armour thyroid when I went to get an allergy test done and the allergy dr thought I should also test my thyroid because of some of my syptoms that I thought was just "life" (tiredness, weight gain, etc.) So that's how I found out my numbers were out of wack. I do feel that I have more energy and I'm more "present" in life now.

thanks to everyone for the great information!