Hi... I've been on 3 grains (180 mg) of armour thyroid for about 2 yrs now (taking it all in the morning). Thought I was doing great. Hair was super thick, & lots of energy... sleep wasn't great & pulse rate a little high. Kept me up at night if I took it twice a day & I wouldn't remember. The past 6 months I haven't been able to sleep at all w/o taking Xanax & my hair won't stop falling out. Pulse rate was 80 at midnight last night. I'm a very busy mom & athlete so I wouldn't know what my true heart rate is during the day. Lowered it by 1/2 grain (30 mg) the past 3 days. Still can't fall asleep til around 4 am & mornings are very difficult to get out of bed. I feel wide awake around 2 pm & can feel my heartbeat. I'm thinking about going down another 1/2 grain (30 mg) as my doctor would recommend as she goes by symptoms & blood work. Won't get my thyroid tested til January 15th. I'm thinking to definitely go down to just 2 grains split up morning & noon. Any thoughts?
Armour Thyroid - Re: armour dosage messing up my sleep?
Question posted by Isreal1948 on 30 Dec 2013
Last updated on 21 June 2021
Also have a lot of muscle spasms in low back & joint (mainly knee pain)
4 Answers
I tried armour thyroid and developed severe side effects. One of them being severe insomnia … unable to fall asleep and being wide awake. It definitely can cause insomnia and I am just hoping with discontinued use that things will
Sort it out but it doesn’t seem to be going away anyway time soon
I was on synthroid
and my T3 was low, went back on armour
.started taking at bedtime since caffeine interferes with this med..I have had major Insomnia since change. Don't know if related or not? Menopause is here, do pelleting, no change there. Does armour interfere with sleep? I am pretty sensitive to drugs, narcs wire me out! Hair falling g out, weight gain, 30 mg.of armour
Whoever the person was who said armour thyroid could not either cause insomnia or a fast pulse rate does not know what she is talking about. Symptoms of too much armour thyroid are the same as hyperthyroidism - insomnia, fast heart rate and other symptoms being high on the list. I became hyperthyroid on armour and ended up in the emergency room getting an ekg. Insomnia is the first sign for me that my armour dose is off.
Weight loss is another sign. And yes, you can tell from tsh levels if you are hyper or hypothyroid. The lower the the the more hyperthyroid you are. I had an almost nonexistent tsh level when I ended up in the er.
Tsh levels show how much or little thyroid hormone you have. It is forums like these where one can find good help or dangerous replies.
It took me nearly a year to get my thyroid level back on track after being on 2 grains (120mg) for some time. Too much armour can be a very dangerous situation.
I hope the person who posted this sought out help and did not wait two more weeks for a thyroid panel.
Hi, did your sleep return as well after the adjustment dosages?
My friend, Stop! You do not adjust thyroid medication. Only a doctor should do that. Your TSH will not reflect your true levels. The thyroid med does not cause sleeplessness. Something else is happening with you. Other medications? Other stresses in your life? Do you still have your thyroid? The medication will actually change your response in about six weeks. It is very slow and is not able to give you the results you are looking for. Yes, decreasing the medication should have the TSH go up making you tired, dry skin and hypothalamic. However, that is not how to treat your condition. Be sure to have a full blood panel. Be sure that the doctor knows about your changes, when and how much armour you are taking. Most of all, never hesitate to contact the endocrinologist when you are having problems. Better to be looked at and treated by the doctor rather than guess. Also make sure the doctor is aware of any other medications you are taking and any other conditions you may have.
This can be helped. Since I scolded you, let him know that he doesn't have to, ok? Lol. You are that much wiser now. Call the office and see if he wants a change before you go in. I goof up too. Nothing that can't be undone. Good luck and I do hope you are feeling better soon. See if you can find what is stressing you so much. Was it the holidays or something? Bringing your stress levels down will also help a lot. Be well, Karen
By the way. Your pulse is just fine. You are looking at a moment rather than a trend. If you experience a flutter in your chest or something like your heart is racing, it has nothing to do with the thyroid and much to do with the heart, cholesterol, or blood pressure. Don't hesitate with that. Genetics has a lot to do with it. See a doctor right away.
My thyroid doctor runs a whole battery of test from CBC, estrogen, progesterone, testosterone to liver, kidneys & thyroid. My blood pressure is very low. Always around 110/68. The reason I adjusted my thyroid 5 days ago aside from not being able to sleep & high pulse is my doctor told me to lower my armour thyroid last year due to a very suppressed tsh. She is very concerned about osteoporosis from the very low tsh. It took over a year for me to listen. Not the best patient in the past. I am determined to listen to her/Bloodwork. She is not the 1st physician to tell me I was on too much thyroid. My tsh was .01 last check. Btw... I took my pulse last night & it was 66. I spoke to her yesterday via phone & am scheduled to do new blood work in a couple weeks. I am under quite a bit of stress due to back pain but that hasn't changed for over 10 yrs. I've been to so many doctors for my back/MRI scans, etc w/ no definitive answers. Thank you so much for commenting. I really appreciate it.
I don't recall your age. However, your pulse and BP are in the correct range for an adult. High blood pressure will be over 135/85. It goes up from there. It is natural for many people to have BP that changes as well as pulse when on pain meds. Were you told you have these problems? Pulse ought to be low 70's or high 60''s for the average person. The only thing you have mentioned as a problem was the too much Armour. TSH should be between .3 to 3.0. You are functioning at a level that causes weight loss, dizziness, hyperactivity and sleeplessness. This makes much better sense. I am glad you are listening to the doctor. Have you any idea why you were not compliant? You really don't want that in your medical records. The reason is that if you do not carefully do what they tell you, many medications will no longer be given to you.
The best course for wellness is to learn all you can about your condition, ask questions here or wherever real information is given. Go to John Hopkins or Mayo clinic web sites to get the full information. You need to act wisely as well as carefully. It is the only life you have and others depend upon you to be at your best. Thyroid under control will give you the ability to tend to other issues. Keep working at this as it becomes less difficult. Taking thyroid meds is just like taking daily calcium for your bones. You won't have problems as long as you exercise, eat right and take your medication as indicated. So much more to do in life, isn't there? Karen
Thanks Karen. Very good to know re: being a compliant patient. The reason I kept taking a higher dose of thyroid than was recommended is because I came across a website called, "Stop the madness" that said to listen to your symptoms not your tsh & at the time my hair would not stop falling out until I increased it to the higher dosage. The website said that most endocrinologist just go by Bloodwork/tsh when they needed to also listen to their patients symptoms & that a suppressed tsh was not dangerous. My hair finally stopped falling out for (a time) but then started again about 6 months ago while on the same dose along w/ a rapid heart rate, anxiety & slept loss. I'm 38 years old. I guess I should have just stuck to the websites you posted. Too much conflicting information confused me. Guess I learned the hard way. What perplexes me is why I seemed to feel so good on the higher dosage for a long time. Nonetheless I will listen to my doctor from now on. Still waiting for my hair to stop shedding so much. It's terrible to brush it
The hair does settle down when you are in the right range for you. I am around 1.23 or slightly lower. Feel like the normal me there. You over thought the article. Yes, one does adjust to where they feel good, but too little is deadly. This will be a perfect time for you to sit with the doctor and discuss ideal range for you. My doctor is a great guy and he has no problem with me being on the lower end. I also found that I had been on the same dose for a few years and then suddenly my TSH went up. He says he sees this frequently and they don't know why. The body simply responds. So we increased the med. because Armour varies, you are more vulnerable to the ups and downs. My doctor says for that reason he rarely prescribes it. For synthetics, generic is different from label. When I was changed to generic we had to adjust again. The controls on generics are not as strict as label medication. The article was trying to say that one stays at a level that is good for the person.
But never adjust yourself. Get tested first and the doctor will calculate the change. Yep, they use math. Lol.
Muscle spasms are often due to poor posture, little exercise, and low calcium. Be sure that gets checked. When my thyroid was removed, I was told to take at least 1200mg of calcium per day with a food that has calcium. vitamin d is also important with this and should be tested. Especially since it is winter here we need more. This also helps maintain the thyroid system and nervous system. Essential. Take your thyroid medication. Exactly when they say. First thing in the morning without food and a full glass of water. No coffee or other liquid. Half an hour later you can eat.
So do you take all your armour medication in the morning? My doctor told me to take it twice a day because the T3 in armour has a short life span. I too was told to get 1200 mg of calcium per day from food (mainly green leafy vegetables) vs supplement form because most supplement calcium (new studies) are showing calcification of the arteries & heart problems/stroke. Most supplement forms of calcium are made from rock such as limestone & isn't healthy. My physician said in China osteoporosis is almost unheard of & they consume very little dairy or calcium supplements. They eat a lot of seaweed, algae I think... hardly any dairy... Lots of miso soup probably. She said the United States has one of (if not the highest) osteoporosis rates while we consume the most calcium supplements & dairy. I just bought a nutribullet so I'm eating a ton of raw fruits & veggies.
I had a full hysterectomy a couple years ago due to severe endometriosis pain/cysts so I take biological hormones which are (in range)... just had my blood work run so least that's one less thing to worry about. Regarding my increasing my armour thyroid issue: I got impatient waiting for the hair loss to stop & kind of panicked... hence the increase. The "Stop the Maddness" website also said most people on the original formula armour (manufactured by erfra... not forest pharmaceuticals) will be able to feel better a lot sooner than synthetic hormone like synthroid. Synthroid didn't work for me... tried it (by the book) for 4 yrs. The original armour formula is much more absorbable according to many patients who all of a sudden went hypothyroid again when forest changed the fillers in the formula (adding more cellulose,etc) w/o informing the doctors or patients. The old armour can only be found in Canada. I get mine from canada pharmacy.
I forgot to mention that some physicians say "chewing" the old formula of armor makes a huge difference. Dr. Joesph Mercola (often seen on Dr. Oz) says to chew your armour 20 min after eating... strange advice to me because I was always told to take it on a complete empty stomach. According to him armour thyroid has a much faster absorption time then synthetic. See why I'm confused... lol
Also taking armour thyroid twice a day (on a empty stomach) can be tricky since I eat several times a day.
Another good one for the doc. Empty mean about two or three hours since last food. So first in the morning is good. Before bed would be good. So many ideas and hard to find the good from the bad at times. What does Mayo say?
Taking my armour sometime in the morning hours, as i can always count on one bathroom call during the night, works best for me.
Thank you, for posting this . As a nurse I can tell you people get theirselve's into real trouble adjusting med's on their own. Go to your endocrinologist. Primary care is not your best choose for thyroid issues
Related topics
armour thyroid, thyroid disease, sleep disorders, sleep, dosage, thyroid, energy
Further information
- Armour Thyroid uses and safety info
- Armour Thyroid prescribing info & package insert (for Health Professionals)
- Side effects of Armour Thyroid (detailed)
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