Re: ATDs - potency, exp dates

[Guest guest]

Granny wrote:

>

> Jody's reply about Armour potency problems, freshness (is that

> a word?) after bottle has been opened, and the smell, got

> me to thinking

Yes, although Armour is reknown for having an odour, my guess is

if your cat tries to steal it then it is fine to eat, if your

cat turns it's nose up it is off. But this culd lead to some

hyper cats if your not careful ;-)

> I should also give a warning about ATD potency.

Hmm, you've got me wondering now, I didn't sleep last night much

and now have other hyper symptoms as well, all on the same dose

of PTU.

I know the pharmacist JUST got a new batch of PTU in, as I just

refilled and they asked if I could come back in twenty minutes

as they were unpacking the latest delivery, but the bottle I'm

on could well be from the previous batch.

They subdivide large bottles into smaller, and PTU is only

prescribed on the NHS if Carbimazole is ruled out for some

reason (which having read the research sounds a reasonable

approach). They only date the bottle with date issued, and the

prescription has renewal date, I have no way of checking other

dates other than asking the pharmacy involved - hmm sealed

bottles suddenly seem more attractive.

I probably don't help matters by precutting the pills, but it is

far more convenient when your taking 25mg doses all the time

than lugging a pill cutter around.

Presumably the waxing and waning of Graves' makes potency issues

harder to spot than with the notorious levothyroxine....

[Guest guest]

Hi Chris-

I also smelled that awful smell with my order everytime I watched the

pharmacist open a fresh bottle. At the most, a bottle would be in there

opened for 1 month only since I was on so much Armour and was the only one

taking it up here (120 pills ea. time and the pharmacist would order in 100

pill increments).

I did have problems occasionally when my bottles were from different batch

numbers but that didn't have anything to do with the smell. I think some of

us can smell it and some can't. Over 2 1/2 years, every prescription of

Armour I had stank to high heaven.

Take care,

dx & RAI 1987 (at age 24)

> Armour is dried thyroid from animals. I would imagine

> that if there is a smell, it might mean it has gone

> bad. When a bottle of drugs is sealed, it *should*

> be good until the expiration date, but if that bottle

> is opened, the clock starts ticking.

>