Hypothyroidism and Hyperthyroidism

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Switching from synthroid to armour. Questions!!

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myndikins
myndikins Posts: 39
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I've recently started taking armour instead of synthroid and I'm having some issues. I know that it takes a little while to be able to adjust the levels of armour and that will require more bloodwork, but I'm just miserable! So far, I've been on it for 13 days. My hair is falling out, I have absolutely zero energy, I'm cold, I'm depressed, my skin is getting dry, and I just feel like I can't think straight. I haven't felt this bad in a long time and this is the worse possible time for me to be having brain fog, with school just starting back and all.

I've been calling my doctor to see what we can do, and the receptionist will only tell me to come in and get my levels checked. I have a question though. Where I've only been on it for 13 days, will the bloodwork be accurate? The doctor told me to wait at least four weeks to check my levels so that it would be accurate, but I can't possibly wait that long. I just don't know if the armour has been in my system long enough to show "true" levels, or if it would still be influenced by the Synthroid. I am gonna go on monday and do bloodwork, but it'll be at least next weekend before I can get a new prescription.

How long did it take you guys to get everything regulated when you switched to armour? I feel absolutely horrible.

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  • TXBelle1174
    TXBelle1174 Posts: 615 Member
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    I am STILL working on getting my Armour levels where they need to be but I felt WAY worse on Levothyroxine. When I first started it, I didn't notice a change at all. It took the dose being increased twice to start feeling better. I started out on 60mg and didn't start feeling better until 105mg. I am now on 120mg. I go back to do labs next month.

    Your levels may be off due to the transition but hopefully if you tell them all of your symptoms, they will increase your dose even if your levels look ok. Yes, it may take 4 weeks to build up in your system but you wouldn't have crashed that hard if your dose was close to being correct. Tell them you CANNOT function. I had to beg my Dr. to increase my dose because I was just inside the "normal" range but he bumped me up and I felt much better. Now that I am leveled out, I think I need to go up just a touch more. With the Armour, when I got on a decent dose, I felt better within a week. I never felt good on Levo no matter how much or how little I took.
  • myndikins
    myndikins Posts: 39
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    Thanks Mindy! They increased my dosage by 33%, so hopefully that'll help some. It'll be this weekend before I can actually pick up the prescription, so I think I'm just gonna break a pill into thirds and add that.

    I still feel like death though. God, I have never felt this bad, even when I wasn't taking any synthroid at all. Its horrible! Stupid thyroid.
  • Teresa041749
    Teresa041749 Posts: 5 Member
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    Hi,

    Why did you switch? When my thyroid was removed due to cancer, the surgeon put me on Synthroid and told me not to change to generic. I would tell the doctor to give you a prescription for synthroid because you should not feel that bad.

    T.
  • myndikins
    myndikins Posts: 39
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    I didn't realize anyone else had replied to this, sorry!! Armour isn't a generic of Synthroid. Its a different medication entirely and supplements both T4 and T3, whereas Synthroid only does one. Women tend to do better on Armour than Synthroid, or at least from what I've read. I was taking a pretty high dose of Synthroid, and the only way that I could get it to work was to take it twice daily. I finally gave up and decided to switch. My upped dosage is making me feel a little bit better, but it still probably needs to go up some.

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