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Re: Treating oneself with natural Armour Thyroid

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Ann, I am not an expert but I would offer 2 bits of advice;

1. By taking Armour you are replacing hormones your thyroid should be

making. Its not a drug as such, its giving your body what it needs.

Plus the hormones in Armour are natural as opposed to synthetic. My

feeling is that it should be OK.

2. Check the information leaflet that comes with your anti-depressants

and see whether it mentions hypothyroidism or interactions with

thyroid meds.

Marie

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Thanks for helpful advice I really appreciate it. Its good to know

there are some good people out there who care and know more about all

this than I do. I suppose I could google it, its probably somewhere

on the internet about interactions, also the British National

Formulary might have this info. don't know if its on-line though.

Ann

>

> Ann, I am not an expert but I would offer 2 bits of advice;

>

> 1. By taking Armour you are replacing hormones your thyroid should be

> making. Its not a drug as such, its giving your body what it needs.

> Plus the hormones in Armour are natural as opposed to synthetic. My

> feeling is that it should be OK.

>

> 2. Check the information leaflet that comes with your anti-depressants

> and see whether it mentions hypothyroidism or interactions with

> thyroid meds.

>

> Marie

>

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I am sure it it ok to take armour with SSRI's, I know Dawn does and I will be soon, there is a site you can visit which tell you about drug interactions, just google 'drug interactions' and it will bring it up, all you do then is list the drugs you are taking and it will check if there are any potential interactions between them

As we are not allowed to mention doctors names in full here (unless we are talking about a book they have written I have edited your message by just using their initials. Members please note you can, of course, contact Ann privately to discuss the relevant doctors and their names.Lilian (moderator)Hi everyoneCan anyone tell me whether it is o.k. to take natural armour thyroid(which I have ordered via the internet)with anti-depressants. I take262 mg of Venlafaxine an SSRI and 1 & a half mg of Risperdal to sleepat night. I am still waiting for an endocrinologist consultant toreturn from his holiday, now I have found out that it won't be untilnext Monday (I have already waited over a week) then its Christmas,then New Year and all the time I just want to feel o.k. The consultantis on the list that is on this web site, it is Dr. E at Harlowin Essex, has anyone been to him that can give me any advice

orinformation, I would be grateful if you could. I look forward to any replies.Ann

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Thanks , I did find this web site and there appear to be no

interactions between the drugs I am on with armour thyroid, although

it did mention not to take calcium at the same time and a few other

things relating to food mostly. I also looked at alot of other web

sites which were interesting regarding studies done by research

doctors or whatever - they were medical sites anyway, and they seem to

be saying that using a thyroid hormone increases the good effects of

anti-depressants - thats good isn't it! luv Ann

> I am sure it it ok to take armour with SSRI's, I know Dawn does and

I will be soon, there is a site you can visit which tell you about

drug interactions, just google 'drug interactions' and it will bring

it up, all you do then is list the drugs you are taking and it will

check if there are any potential interactions between them

>

[Edit Abbrev Mod]

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Hi Ann

Yes that certainly is good news, I take an SSRI too, mainly for anxiety and at the moment I am on thyroxine but will be starting armour when it arrives, lets hope it works for us both!As far as I am aware calcium and iron shouldnt be taken anywhere near thyroid hormones

Thanks , I did find this web site and there appear to be nointeractions between the drugs I am on with armour thyroid, althoughit did mention not to take calcium at the same time and a few otherthings relating to food mostly. I also looked at alot of other websites which were interesting regarding studies done by researchdoctors or whatever - they were medical sites anyway, and they seem tobe saying that using a thyroid hormone increases the good effects ofanti-depressants - thats good isn't it! luv Ann> I am sure it it ok to take armour with SSRI's, I know Dawn does andI will be soon, there is a site you can visit which tell you aboutdrug interactions, just google 'drug interactions' and it will bringit up, all

you do then is list the drugs you are taking and it willcheck if there are any potential interactions between them> [Edit Abbrev Mod]

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Hi , I am fairly new to this web site,and am finding out quite

alot. What has made you change from thyroxine to Armour, and was your

doctor prescribing thyroxine for you, and is he now going to prescribe

Armour? I'm just taking it all one day at a time, today I feel not to

bad, but last Thursday I did alot of physical work, I really pushed

myself to the limit to get alot of things done, but on Friday,

Saturday and Sunday I felt absolutely awful, with no energy and ached

all over and felt very down and miserable and grumpy because I felt so

ill. I am waiting for a delivery of Armour which I ordered on the

internet, but in the mean time I am going to see another doctor at the

practice to see what he thinks of my blood test which was over the

range, and I am still waiting for Dr.E a consultant endocrinologist on

the list to come back from holiday - honestly they're always on

holiday when you need them! But I will have to see how I go, if I get

really bad again and the Armour arrives I might start taking it,

although my mother and boyfriend are not sure I am doing the right

thing because they think I should be supervised by a doctor, so I'll

see how things pan out over the next few days and week ahead. It will

be good seeing how we get on.

Best wishes

Ann

> Hi Ann

> Yes that certainly is good news, I take an SSRI too, mainly for

anxiety and at the moment I am on thyroxine but will be starting

armour when it arrives, lets hope it works for us both!

> As far as I am aware calcium and iron shouldnt be taken anywhere

near thyroid hormones

>

[Edit Abbrev Mod]

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Hi Ann - please

read " How to Use Natural Thyroid extract " that is in the FILES

section of this forum. If you haven't been there yet, go to http://health.forums./group/thyroid treatment

and click on FILES.

Luv -

Sheila

But I will have to see how I go, if I get

really bad again and the Armour arrives I might start taking it,

although my mother and boyfriend are not sure I am doing the right

thing because they think I should be supervised by a doctor, so I'll

see how things pan out over the next few days and week ahead. It will

be good seeing how we get on.

Best wishes

Ann

_._,___

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Hi

I am waiting for my armour to arrive and will then be starting it at half a grain a day, I still intend to get blood tests done via my GP but until I know how I am going to do on the armour I will not be saying that I have changed from thyroxine to armour, I dont think they need to know just yet. When and if I have to come clean I will, if they then refuse to do blood tests which I doubt I will get them done privately. I think eventually you feel like me and some others on here that they has come a time when we have to help ourselves because quite frankly the NHS wont, no matter how hard you try with them they wont, its scarey but its your health and you have people like Sheila on here who has took armour for yrs and what she doenst know about it isnt worth knowing! Its a learing curve and I agree we shouldnt have to do this without our gp's support but I am afraid I have learnt we do.

You certainly dont have to tell them you are taking armour until you feel better and then you can. Thats my plan anyway and if armour isnt for you then you can just change back and carry on as before

Can anyone let me know what their experiences are of taking thenatural extract of dessicated thyroid extract so as I have a bit of anidea what I'm doing please, if there is anyone out there taking it -thanks. Also I thought that someone mentioned that if one takes thenatural extract then one has everything necessary i.e. T3, T4 etc., soas I am new to this web site why do people say they are trying tobalance their T3 and T4. If one is taking the Armour Thyroidunsupervised by a doc. how do you know what your T3 and T4 levels aredoing if your not getting regular blood checks. I'm still not 100%certain it is a good idea for me to take the Armour Thyroid withoutbeing supervised by a doc. and having regular blood tests - what doother people think? I am still waiting for an endocrinologistconsultant to come back from his holiday, but even so he is still along drive away from where I live, two other

doctors on the list Irang this morning are unavailable at the moment, one because he too ison holiday and the other doesn't take private patients only NHS and isin another borough, so I don't think a doctor at my surgery will referme to another NHS doc. in another NHS trust which is not in myborough. Has anyone else had this experience? Apart from that I amnot feeling too bad the last couple of days, I trying to take things alittle bit slower, as I went 'hell for leather' last Thursday and gottotally exhausted and couldn't do anything for three days and felttotally ill.I look forward to hearing from anyone out there who can help.Thanksluv Ann

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My

experience was fabulous - wonderful, miraculous. I know not everybody has the

same experience and some take quite a while to find the dose that works for

them, but for me, after four years of being on levothyroxine only 150mcgs which

was too much so dropped to 125mcgs, with symptoms getting so very much worse, I

started to feel a difference after only 9 days. I had been on half a grain for

7 days and just two days on 1 grain Armour. Things just got better from then

and the first thing to come back was my brain. Five years later, I am very

well. Unfortunately, when starting a new medication and you are having to do

this all on your own, it is a worry and can be a little frightening, but so

long as you read all about it (the good information that is, not the rubbish

written by the British Thyroid Association) and so long as you understand the

reasons why natural thyroid extract is more likely to work for you, then you

should feel happier and more confident about starting to use it.

T4

as I mentioned before, is a mainly inactive hormone which must convert to the

active hormone T3. For some people, they do well on T4 only because everything

works pretty good and it converts fine to T3. For others, they need to add a little

T3 to their T4, titrating both until they get the level of thyroid hormones

their body needs. For others, they need T3 only because taking synthetic

T4 goes nowhere if it is not converting. Taking T4 alone for these people

causes toxicity and the symptoms can make them feel bad. For most people,

natural thyroid extract is the way to go.

For

those taking Armour unsupervised, it is how you feel that will tell you whether

you are taking too little, too much or just the right amount. You really do not

need blood tests when you are on treatment. This is the beauty of Armour. If

you are taking too little, you will still have symptoms - we recommend you to

raise your Armour by half a grain every 4 weeks until you start to get the

symptoms of taking too much. These symptoms are palpitations, feeling spaced

out, probably dizzy and sweaty and generally unwell. This can be a little

frightening. However, this effect goes away after a couple of hours or so. It

was caused because suddenly your body recognises you are now taking too much of

the active hormone T3. You don't take any more Armour for the rest of the day,

and the following day you take the dose you were on previously - and that is

the dose your body requires.

However,

having said that, it is likely your doctor will want to monitor you if you have

been diagnosed hypothyroid. If you are ever called in for thyroid function

tests, you should remember that you must NOT take ANY thyroid hormone

replacement for at least 24 hours (longer if possible) because the T3 peaks in

your blood after a couple of hours, and the doctor would say you are taking too

much thyroid hormone replacement and tell you to cut down your dose, or he

might even tell you that you are going hyperthyroid. You have to learn things

like this, because NHS doctors do not understand how Armour works or what

effect it has on your body and that reading blood test results for those on

Armour and those on synthetic levothyroxine are two entirely different things.

If

you are not happy trying Armour thyroid without medical supervision, they you

should not take it. Nobody should start taking any medication they know nothing

about and you must read everything you can about it. There is enough

information in our Files and on our website.

Everybody

was prescribed ONLY thyroid extract before synthetic levothyroxine was

manufactured and it has been used safely and effectively for over 100 years. I

doubt you will find a doctor these days who knows how to treat with Armour properly,

unfortunately, but you might find one who is willing to be educated and who

will do his/her research.

You

are entitled to see a specialist of your choice within the NHS anywhere in the

UK - you do not have to stick with only the ones in your borough. This is

through the NHS Choose and Book system which came into being in April this

year. You can find details of this in our FILES. Tell your GP about this

specialist and that you would like a referral to him.

Luv

- Sheila

I am still waiting for an endocrinologist

consultant to come back from his holiday, but even so he is still a

long drive away from where I live, two other doctors on the list I

rang this morning are unavailable at the moment, one because he too is

on holiday and the other doesn't take private patients only NHS and is

in another borough, so I don't think a doctor at my surgery will refer

me to another NHS doc. in another NHS trust which is not in my

borough. I look forward to hearing from anyone out there who can help.

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Hi , can't you get him to read any of the many excellent books on

the subject? It would be better if he was giving you moral support!

Miriam

> My other half worries about me because I self treat, he says what

are you taking now!?

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Better

still, sit him down in front of our website www.tpa-uk.org.uk

tell him to click on Hypothyroidism and read through everything especially the

information about natural thyroid extract and how it has been used for over 100

years and how it was the ONLY medication for every single hypothyroid patient

before the manufacture of the synthetic thyroxine - and how it was considered

both safe and effective. People did not have the problems in those days using

natural extract like they do now.

Luv -

Sheila

Hi , can't you get him to read any of the many

excellent books on

the subject? It would be better if he was giving you moral support!

Miriam

--- In thyroid treatment ,

sarah s

,_._,___

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Hi

We

don't know for sure that Forest will stop making Armour Thyroid, but it does

look as if this is a possibility. The information I put out in my newsletter

was gleaned from all the sources involved. We will have to wait until the

beginning of next year to see if this 'rumour' is correct, but meanwhile, International

Pharmacy does sell Nature-Throid and Westhroid and these have the same thyroid

powder as Armour and the MHRA says doctors can prescribe these in the same way

as they prescribe Armour now. Many people have changed to one or the other of

these and find there is little difference from Armour.

Luv -

Sheila

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LOL yes i could, I have explained to him about armour and I think he understands, i guess its fear of the unknown, I had to laugh the other day cos I ordered myself some spatone, which is a gentle iron supplement and is actually very safe and suitable for anyone over the age of 2, he looked at me gone out and said now what else are you taking? I hope you know what you are doing?! And that was just over a supplement! No hope!

Better still, sit him down in front of our website www.tpa-uk.org. uk tell him to click on Hypothyroidism and read through everything especially the information about natural thyroid extract and how it has been used for over 100 years and how it was the ONLY medication for every single hypothyroid patient before the manufacture of the synthetic thyroxine - and how it was considered both safe and effective. People did not have the problems in those days using natural extract like they do now.

Luv - Sheila

Hi , can't you get him to read any of the many excellent books onthe subject? It would be better if he was giving you moral support!Miriam--- In thyroidpatientadvoc acygroups (DOT) com, sarah s

,_._,___

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Another

way is to get all the information you can that is CORRECT and gives the TRUE FACTS

about Armour because the BTA still have refused to remove their incorrect

information from their website and update it with the right information that

has been backed with references to the research, studies etc (the BTA have only

1 reference to back their Statement on Armour Thyroid) - they need to look at

the research and studies and stop writing whatever pops into their heads -

though it is my belief they are in the hands of Big Pharma. Copy the TPA

response to this Statement and also give your doctor a copy of the letter from

MHRA telling doctors they can prescribe Armour if their patients don't do well

on thyroxine alone. There is lots of evidence, and you need to ask your doctor

to spare some time to read the facts - because s/he is there to help you regain

your health, and if natural thyroid extract is the way to do this, s/he should

be aware of the true facts before he makes up his/her mind whether to prescribe

it or not.

Luv -

Sheila

Hi ANN

Yes I know about not taking the thyroid hormones

before a blood test, thanks anyway.

Sorry I havent replied

till now only just seen the message! I think the only way to get armour

prescribed is by actually proving to the doc that it works better than

thyroxine and that means taking it first and finding that out, still that

might not work either! We can but hope!

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