Hello! I've read in several sources that splitting your Armour medication in to two doses per day is good - apparently T3 is short-lived so splitting the dose keeps the level more even throughout the day and keeps any possible spikes (occasional heart palps, etc) to a minimum.

Questions:

Are any of you splitting your dose? If so, at what times do you take it in order to avoid taking it within 4 hours of the calcium or iron in your multi-vitamin?

I'm going to try splitting my dose - any and all feedback on your opinions, successes or failures are much appreciated!

River

I am on Armour 180/day. At one time, I was splitting dose (2 90's) - 1 2x day. However, I did not notice a big difference and often forgot the second dose! Also, since it calcium tablets interfere with the absorption of thyroid, it was a real hassle with timing. Anyway, the latest is that the doctor suggested taking 2 90's at the same time as there is more surface area and "better" absorption. Hope this helps.

Carol

I have enough of a problem remembering to take the first dose! I am taking 180 mg Armour - it seems it would make sense to split it, but I am not structured enough. If you try it, let us know if you notice a difference.

I've been splitting the 180's in half daily in the early a.m. and taking both halves at the same time (more surface area--dissolves and absorbs more quickly--I believe that is the theory behind it)--so far, I would say I've noticed a bit of a difference for the better.

Carol

Why can everyone else take these huge doses of Armour (and Synthroid for that matter) and I am struggling with taking two 15 mg. tablets? This is so frustrating! I am taking literally 30 mg./day and still feel side effects from the Armour! I know, I know, everyone says it's because I am not taking ENOUGH. But, I tried to increase my dosage and was really sick: migraine, dizziness, bloating, weight gain, swollen face, weird emotional feeling, screaming at my kids, feeling like I was going to freak out and die. I am telling you, I cannot increase my meds, but my last TSH was 15.5 (56 at the highest). I cannot remember my own name, needless to say.

Wishskinny,
I have similar problems when I increase my meds. I have the same symptoms you describe (except for weight gain) plus alot of crying spells. I've had the same results with Levoxyl, Levothroid & now Armour. How long did you stay on your dose when you were feeling this way? I find that I only am really bad for the first few weeks after increasing but then it sorta calms down. I havent reached a high enough dose to get rid of my Hypo symptoms so I keep having to go through it again & again. Right now I'm on 3 grains of Armour and I actually had to go to the emergency room last night I was feeling so bad. They ran lots of tests and I came back perfectly healthy. It has to be the meds causing me to feel this way.

Sunshne24,
The weight gain is the worst for me. I actually cut back recently to just two 15 mg. tabs/day (down from 3) and my face has swollen up, I have gained 3 lbs. and now my husband is moving out! My whole life is falling apart because I started to take the thyroid meds. I were perfectly happy before that! I was actually trying to wean myself OFF them, but in the last 3 days since cutting back, the swelling in my face, weight gain and stabbing pains in my neck (not to mention a strange feeling in my chest...like my heart is slowing down or something) is scaring me. I guess I will have to increase, but am not going to live through the summer if I can't lose some weight. I cannot even think about wearing a bathing suit in this condition. Thanks for your post, have your tried any cytomel?

I did try Cytomel in combination with Levothroid but it didn't seem to help too much. The numbers were way out of proportion. I think I still needed more T4 as well. It helped with depression but not physical symptoms.
I think if you have just started with meds you will have to be patient. Thyroid meds aren't the fastest acting drugs ever made. It takes time for our bodies to adjust and then you still may need to adjust doses for awhile until you find YOUR dose. You may also do better on a different brand. In the beginning for me I was scared to increase doses just as you are. I felt I'd be better off on a small dose or none at all because I was in so much pain. I think I have only prolonged my pain because now its been 2 years and I'm still not where I need to be. I know its a very frusterating and scary process but when we are on the dose that is right for our body I believe we will feel well again.

I did increase (I was at three and a half) 15 mg. tabs./day and then I increased to 4 tabs and my body swelled up, especialy my breasts! I was so bloated, but the worst was a horrible migraine and pressure in my head. I felt sort of confused and freaked out. My husband said my eyes were bulging out and I was acting strangely. I did feel strange, sort of like I was on drugs or something. Like cocaine...sort of wigged out. I had to decrease, then I felt better, pee'd a lot and lost 3 lbs. overnight when I decreased it by about 25 mgs. I am desperate at this time, because I am taking less, but feel really depressed and out of sorts. And my weight is really freaking me out. I have never been this heavy.

Have you talked to a doctor about your symptoms? When I first went Hypo and started meds I gained weight, 128 was the highest I got. I've never worried too much about my weight so I thought it was pretty cool to finally have some breasts. I think I'm about your size 5'2 and when I was healthy I weighed from 115-120. Anyways, the weight I gained only stayed for a few months and now I'm only 100 lbs. I'd be very happy to over 120 again. Alot of the weight gain is from water retention...which you will probably lose when you get balanced out. Maybe you need to try a different brand of meds if your body is reacting horribly. How long did you actually stay on the dose when you increased it?

BTW, the dose you are on is very small. I think I remember that your TSH was 15.5 or something like that. It may be that you are feeling bad because the doses are too small. I used to freak out and blame the meds...I thought I was allergic or something. Now I am thinking that the more my body senses coming in the more it stops putting out. I think I still have some living thyroid tissue left after RAI and when I increase meds the pituitary senses this and slows down TSH secretion even though I dont have enough coming in yet. Also it takes about 6 weeks for T4 to build up...so you may not be giving it enough time. I was doing ok on smaller doses like 25 and 50 but once I reached 75 I swelled up just like you. I think this is because of what I described. The dose is still a small dose, its enough to lower TSH but definately not enough to make me feel better. Even though it brought my TSH to "normal" and doctors said I was "fixed" I was feeling worse than ever and wanted to go back down to the smaller doses but this wasn't the answer. What I really needed was to increase...so thats what I'm doing now.

You do sound similar to me. I am 5'3" and should be around 115 lbs. But, am at my highest at 127 right now. I know what you are saying about the meds slowing down your own production and perhaps making you more hypo, thus the weight gain, swelling. But, you said you increased and the situation got worse. That is what happens to me. What is the answer? How did you get your weight so low? The more I take, the worse things become. But, the less I take, I still am swollen, etc. When I cut back, the next 24 hours, I pee's 4 times in the night and woke up feeling at least 3 lbs. lighter. I felt so much better, more normal. Now I am depressed and blowing up again at this lowered dose. I was at 15.5 TSH in November while taking two and one half 15 mg. tablets. (I had just increased from 2 tabs.) and my weight was dropping. But, that didn't last for some reason. I have been taking hydrochlorathiazide (a strong water pill that people take who have high blood pressure), for a year as prescribed by my endo. It stopped working and I didn't take it yesterday. Why should I take a blood pressure lowering pill when I have low blood pressure? Now, of course, I am bloating up even more. Who knows how I will feel tomorrow or what my weight will be. Thanks for your post. It has given me hope about my weight, and made me feel a little more understood, as I think you are right abour our bodies producing less, as it feels the thyroid med coming in. I am really desperate at this time and having a marriage crisis as I cannot handle my already difficult husband under these circumstances with my health/weight.

I'm sorry to hear about your marriage...I hope things get better. I know how you feel. I lost my relationship almost 2 years ago when all this began...I was too scared about what was going on with my health to even care what was happening in my relationship. Now I regret that I became so stressed out...sometimes I guess its too much for others to deal with because they don't understand it...and the personality changes that go along with it. Anyways I wont even try to be in another relationship until I am back to my old self.
I was expecting as I increased meds to either get better or feel Hyper..I was never expecting to feel more Hypo..like I do. I remember reading once that 75 mcg of synthetic T4 is usually not enough to get someone well again but is just enough to get the TSH down to normal. At the cellular level however it is not enough and this is where it counts.
Because of the fact that my TSH was normal my docs left me on this dose for almost a year. I had to go off work because I felt so bad. It never occured to me until recently that I might need to increase. I just had it in my head that I felt better before I went up to 75. I tried to go back and lower but it didn't change my symptoms...I just got more tired and depressed. My memory was very bad and my mind was very fuzzy.
I guess in the beginning I gained weight because I was healthy at about 120 and then all of a sudden I'm Hypo and retaining water and getting bloated and very quickly I was at 128. I liked the extra weight though...except when I was really bloated and looked pregnant. As time passed I kept losing and now I'm struggling to be above 100. Some people lose weight while Hypo because of appetite changes and malabsorption. I think this is what happened with me. I have almost no appetite and basically I just force myself to eat even though I'm not hungry. I still get bloated and still have lots of fluid but I'm just alot thinner now. It looks really unhealthy. Most of my life I weighed from 100-105. It was only about 2 years that I was weighing around 120 and I was liking it. Even though I was this weight for most of my life..It looked normal before...I was healthy. Now being Hypo and at 100 lbs. it does not look the same. I look sickly..I think because of not absorbing nutrients and such. I tried taking water pills too but it didn't help and only made me look more sick. I remember reading that taking diuretics for long periods can actually worsen fluid retention. Anyways I think its good that you stopped. Now I'm taking 3 grains of Armour but I wont know the full effect for about 4 more weeks. Its been about 2 weeks now on this dose and I'm definately not going hyper at this point. I may be wrong but I think this dose is equivalent to about 3 times the amount of Levothroid I was taking. If I dont go Hyper I will know for sure why I suffered so much the past 2 years. Extremely undertreated.

I'm taking 3 grains right now and I split them. I have my cell phone programmed to chime every day at noon to remind me to take my 2nd dose. I only take my vitamins at night, so I don't worry about them interfering with my thyroid meds.

For those of you reacting to thyroid meds.... maybe there's something else going on? Those symptoms don't all sound like hyperthyroidism to me. I'd expect things like: heat intolerance, rapid heartbeat, high blood pressure, anger, weight loss, diarrhea, itchy skin, insomnia. At least those are the symptoms I get.

I have been hyper on about .187 grains of levoxyl but on 3 grains of armour I'm not. I think it is because my T4/T3 ratios were so out of balance. My FT4 was way too high while my FT3 was in the cellar.

Nancy, We are not HyperT....WishSkinny and I are both HypoT....we dont have Hyper symptoms. I'm taking 3 grains...all at once in the a.m. I'm waiting to see if some of my hypo symptoms go away or if I'll end up Hyper on this dose. So far I'm the same..still feeling Hypo. WishSkinny and I both experience a worsening of Hypo symtoms when we increase our doses.