HELP!! I am really suffering here! I was diagnosed with Graves' disease in 1996. Had to swallow radioactive iodine, which I now deeply regret after learning more. I am now turning 46 years old. I spent 15 years on synthroid which resulted in many negative, intolerable side effects and my quality of life deteriorated. A naturalist doctor convinced me to try Armour. I couldn't stay with that doctor for regulation as she cost $400/visit out of pocket and due to my terrible health, I am now a retired educator on a fixed income. My regular primary care ( who was supposedly an Endocrinologist as well) went ahead and switched me to Armour and placed me on 60mg daily ( pills to swallow, not dissolve- what are those?). She was very uninvolved with my dosing and seemed to be unfamiliar or unfavorable toward Armour. She dropped the meds on me and did nothing else- not even when I had to make an emergency call to her because I literally couldn't move from severe muscle locking. I switched to a new primary care who is patient and returns calls, but who seems very unsure of how to dose me. In the last 2 years being on Armour more and more side effects are occurring and they're unbearable now. My new doctor tried 60 mg alternating with 90 when my numbers said I wasn't getting enough medication. But on 60/90 the blood tests indicated I was getting too much medicine! 60mg alone was giving me leg cramps and "locking" (I couldn't move). My doctor recently tried 75 mg by using a 60mg and a 15 mg together - taken orally as two pills in the morning well before food. My body is in agony! Massive leg cramps and Charlie horses, terribly rapid racing heartbeat, racing thoughts, inability to sleep or concentrate, can't focus, eyes feeling "coated", irritability, irrationality... Pretty much every negative side effect listed for armour thyroid! I should add that for over a year now my monthly cycle has gone wild and each month my breasts swell dramatically as if I'm pregnant and I have several other pregnancy symptoms, as well as bloating and weight gain, that all settle down once my period arrives ( which recently arrived after only two weeks and I am a 28 day cycle regular person). My doc tested for female hormonal changes and found nothing. Not sure what he tested exactly. Feeling pregnant and nauseous and smelling everything x10 and my breasts getting large and sore monthly is AWFUL!!! No I haven't been pregnant/ I've tested just in case.- This doesn't make any sense. None of it! On alternating 60/90mg of Armour my heart raced (indicating too much med). On 60mg my legs cramped (indicating too little med). Added in 15mg to create 75mg and now BOTH things are happening plus many other side effects. Am I allergic to Armour? Could I have a bad batch of meds and does that exist since each pig is different? Are formulations different company to company? Is adding the little 15 mg to the 60 mg a "No -No?" Could the 15mg be a bad batch? What are the dissolvable pills I hear people mention? Have I developed a resistance or reaction to Armour? Someone help please! I can't live like this. My life is virtually stopping because every move I make pulls muscles and my heart is constantly racing as if I'm being attacked and must run for my life. I seem to have conflicting symptoms- meaning I have the side effects of both too much and too little medicine!! Should I try nature-throid which I just heard about yesterday? Something else? Is there a T3 supplement because my former doctor never even offered that to me while I was on synthroid. As stated, she was a very poor doctor. My current doctor is kind but doesn't seem to know how/what to dose. HELP!!
Armour Thyroid - Help! Armour is now causing numerous unbearable side effects for me!?
Question posted by Ps2714 on 15 Jan 2015
Last updated on 17 March 2015 by Anonymous
4 Answers
Hi I had Graves myself and had my thyroid irratiated back in "06". Haven't felt right since and have been on Levothyroxine and Synthyroid I recently switched to Armour and take I-Thyroid 12.5mg a day iodine suppliment. which is an Iodine/Iodide suppliment. Some people think they don't need iodine if they don't have a thyroid but I don't believe that since other parts of the body need iodine. Lack of iodine might be part of the problems we've been experiencing. Iodine deficiency can cause a lot of problems in the body. Here's an interesting piece I read.
"""Iodine is used by every gland and mucosal lining in the body. Levels of iodine have been declining in the soils over the years leaving our food depleted of this nutrient. Because of this we are seeing more gland related cancers along with cystic diseases. For those of us in the goiter belt the situation is even more critical."""
""'My doctor told me that I don't need iodine if I don't have a thyroid.
Absolutely not true!! Yes, you no longer need iodine to create thyroid hormones but the rest of your body needs it. It is very necessary for breasts and prostate (second largest storage sites after the thyroid). It is also used by the adrenal glands, paritoid glands, mucosal lining of the intestines, uterus, ovaries and many more. It is a necessary nutrient in maintaining healthy cell life cycles. The P53 gene requires iodine to function. P53 has been called "The Guardian of the Genetic Code" (To read more about this see Minerals for the Genetic Code by Charles Walters) and is responsible for the apoptosis process of damaged cells."""
Most doctors will not give you t3 because your " body is suppose to change t4 into t3". I've been on Armour for over 10 yrs because synthroid didn't help much. I did however have a wonderful doc who told me about using a compound pharmacy for my Armour meds. They make the meds right there. I know this works better for me- I feel it!! It feels more consistent per bottle.
I would like to share this with you also- thyroidism, no matter what type, is an immune system disorder. Try to find out how to boost your immune system: I use multivitamins ( buy a different "brand" multivitamin each time after bottle is emptyed), I also mix 1:1 ratio coconut oil and castor oil and use as a lotion and hair oil treatment. Castor oil used topically increases your t-lymphocytes ( immune system function)- great for thyroid cysts/ goiter- helps reduce size and sometimes gets rid of them.
About leg prob- try soaking in Ebson salt or try magnesium supplement. It does sound like you are going from hypo to hyper but I had a similar thing happen when I was given too much meds: fast heart beat , hot/cold, really tired sleeping over 14hrs. I took myself off the meds for a week and began again with half my dose. It helped.
I forgot to mention my doc also told me that sometimes the meds don't work well if you don't drink enough water with them and also may need more time to absorb into your system before food. I set my alarm for 4am, take my meds and go back to sleep. So when I wake at 7am, I can have breakfast.
One of the reasons some drs won't use it is because they aren't all the same sometimes. Are you seeing an endocrinologist? You should. I think all your hormones should be evaluated.
I feel ya! I too had bad reaction to Armour years ago. At 49 I'm also battling the symptoms of weight gain, swelling, anxiety, crazy periods, etc, the list goes on. My Endocrinologist adds Cytomel with my Synthroid to try to help. Sadly still can't get my levels right and I'm miserable!!!
Related topics
armour thyroid, thyroid disease, iodine, side effect, thyroid, disease, diagnosis
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