Hello,
I was just recently (November) diagnosed with hypo. I was first put on levothyroxine and then switched to synthroid. I just had blood work done and all t4, t3, and tsh levels are fine, but i'm still gaining weight. is there a real difference between synthroid and armour and can it affect my weight loss?

Yes there is a huge difference between synthroid and armour!!!

you said your t4 and t3 levels are fine. are they running the FREE T4 and FREE T3 tests??? and are those levels fine? do you have a copy of your blood work so that you can look at the exact tests that were done and what your levels are?

you might want to check out the info at
www.stopthethyroidmadness.com

Cathy

Wow, I was told by my doctor that all of the thyroid medicines out there were the same with different names!! I am going to make an appointment with a NEW doctor and find out if a switch could help me...sometimes I feel like I will be bald in a day or so!!

Another big test in the thyroid department that is usually overlooked is the thyroid antibody test. If your body is producing those, it diminishes the effectiveness of thyroid hormones. It's called Hashimoto's disease and is quite common. Keep trusting yourself and if a doctor isn't interested in getting you to the results you want, keep looking until you find one you like!!!

Beth

that is exactly right Beth! those tests are very important too!

these are the exact thyroid tests that you should request your doctor to run

FREE T3
FREE T4
TSH
THROGLOBULIN ANTIBODIES AND
THYROID PEROXIDASE ANTIBODIES

please check out the info at stopthethyroidmadness.com

Cathy

Are you still taking metformin?

My thyroid symptoms still exist and my doctor straight out said it doesn't matter as long as your blood tests come back okay (dumb@ss). Anyway, i was just recently tested and had a fasting blood sugar of 106. I exercise all the dame time and can never loose weight. I was just wondering if you had any more exp you could share with me? I trust people experiences more than my doctors single mindedness.

Thanks! Hope ur great!

I'm curious if anyone has gotten that panel of tests mentioned by cathyxxx through a regular doctor and if insurance covers it.

I've been on synthetic thyroid for 32 years and in the past several years, my dose has been decreased. I was never told about the calcium issue until after I developed bone problems so I hope that you're taking calcium and taking it appropriately.

sheila - my sister just had the blood work done. her gyno ordered them without her even requesting it and her health insurance is paying for the bloodwork like they would any bloodwork ordered by the doc.

drea - this is just my 2 cents - but if my doc told me that i would find another doc. he should be paying more attention to your symptoms then he is to your lab results. grrrrrr please be sure to check out the info www.stopthethyroidmadness.com

Yes I still take metformin.

I switched to Armour from Levoxyl exactly a year ago. It did take me a while to get balanced again but it was worth it. I really think that if synthetic thyroid isn't working for you then switch. It's better to be foggy-headed for 3-4 months than not being sure if you are at 100%. I gained about 12lbs during that time, but honestly once I felt better it came off very easily (even with no thyroid!).

I just want to reiterate what others say about how important it is to take your thyroid medication. The risks are very, very real.

It's confusing, especially if you're having brain fog LOL, but well worth acquainting yourself with the info. Empower feels amazing : ) Good luck!

So after reading this thread and doing some research, I finally asked my doctor if it would make sense to switch me from Synthroid to Armour. I told her that I was tired all the time, that my endurance was gone, my cholesterol was going up and that I was still gaining weight despite the fact that I was working out for 2+ hours a day. She said that she wasn't sure what to tell me because all my hormone levels were normal, but that it wasn't a good idea to switch me because of the "severe side effects" of Armour. She then said she thought I was depressed and would rather put me on anti-depressants instead. Well, no kidding I'm depressed...I workout for 2 hours a day and I'm giving myself a borderline eating disorder in order to lose weight only to have the opposite effect!!?! Wouldn't any normal person be upset about that??!

Anyway, sorry to rant there for a second, but I was just wondering if anyone else had a doctor say the same thing to them? I was also wondering what "severe side effects" she might have been referring to. I checked out some other websites and I didn't see anything that bad.

Huh, "severe side effects." Before I switched I researched Armour and I did not find any info with such a warning. My endo said nothing about that either. Perhaps your doctor thinks the time it will take you to adjust to Armour is an issue? Even so, it isn't that drastic. Many of us have done it. You aren't going to feel any worse, that's for certain.

Is your doctor an endocrinologist?

I have to say I'm not surprised your doc suggested upping your antidepressants instead. Some just think that way because many docs are familiar with Synthroid and less so with Armour.

The fact is, based on my experience and experiences from other thyroid patients like on the About.com thyroid-info site, if you aren't responding to Synthroid even though your levels are within "normal," then it's time to look at another thyroid hormone replacement medication.

If you are in a position to see another doctor, I'd recommend that. There are endos who listen to their patients and know from experience that some of us just do better on Armour. The fact that your doc didn't even raise the question of Cytomel, which works on T3, like Armour (which works on both T4 and T3, Synth. only on T4) in response to your explanation of your current condition shows she is probably only familiar with Synthroid and you need a physician who understands that each patient is unique.

I know this can be very stressful and definitely frustrating, but you're going in the right direction. If you haven't looked into it already, get Shomon's 'Living Well With Hypothyroidism.' I got my first copy from the local library. It will help you feel less alone and frustrated. (I swear, I'm not getting paid by Shomon to promote her work, it's just great info! : ) )

Thanks JustFluffy! I didn't think there were that many side effects to Armour, but I started to think that maybe my md knew about some research that I didn't. I'll try and be more persistent to see if she'll switch me and if she won't, then I'll just switch mds!
Oh, and she suggested that I try anti-depressants instead of switching me to Armour. I'm not on them now nor do I think I need them...I just need to get this stupid weight off me!

Yeah, just tell her you feel comfortable trying another approach because you aren't feeling any better. Print out info about Armour from WebMD or from another very mainstream source and bring it with you.

Go through the list of typical hypothyroid symptoms and stress that you have them.

Also, go to Armour's website, they give dosage levels based on what one's Synthroid, Levoxyl, et al was.

I assumed you were already on them and that's why she mentioned it.


Fluffy

Onsecondthought - please please please check out the info posted at www.stopthethyroidmadness.com you will find all the info you are looking for on this subject

there are no "severe side effects" of Armour!!!!

I cannot tell you how many docs tried to put me on antidepressants when all I needed was Armour.

your doc said your levels were normal - do you happen to know what thyroid tests she is running? and do you have copies of the bloodwork to see your results? I seriously doubt they are running the more accurate thyroid tests (FREE T3 and FREE T4) and if by some miracle they are, just bec you are somewhere within the range does not mean that your levels are normal. If your results are low in the range then you need more. I feel sure that if a FREE T3 test was run on you that they would find your FREE T3 level to be low in the range or below the range - simply bec of a few things you have mentioned along with taking a synthetic thyroid product whic is only T4.

Also, the direct T3 that is in Armour (that is NOT in any synthetic thyroid med like synthroid or levoxyl) makes a big difference in weight loss.

Again, please check out the info at stopthethyroidmadness and let me know if I can help with any of the info there.

take care,
Cathy

i've been to the website quite a few times which is why i asked for armour when my symptoms weren't getting any better. at first, i thought it was just me or it was something i was doing wrong, but when i read through the website, i realized that it might actually be my meds. my doc at least knows enough to run the right tests...free t3, free t4 and tsh...but i don't think she knows what to do with the results. my last labs came back last week and it showed that my free t3 was at 2.2 which i think is just below the minimum of 2.3. she saw that it was low, but said that it was "fine." also my cholesterol is shooting up and i've never in my life had high cholesterol. it's always been around 150 and now it's over 200. both these things really made the lightbulb go off about the armour...now it's a matter of convincing my doc.

on a separate but somewhat related topic, i know that adrenal fatigue sometimes coincides with hypothyroidism...has anyone else experienced pain in their adrenal glands? i know that this sounds so odd, but for the last couple of months i have had this squeezing/cramping pain on the sides of my back. at first i thought it was my kidneys, but when i asked my doctor about she said that it was too high to be my kidneys. she of course dismissed it as a back spasm so i did some research and figured out that right above my kidneys are my adrenal glands. i keep mentioning it to her and even told her i thought it was my adrenals, but she's convinced i pulled a muscle or that it's just some sort of spasm. has anyone else had this type of pain? any idea what it could mean?