Thyroid: armour vs synthroid

[OutToLunch]

Was diagnosed with a hypo thyroid by my endo. Bloods have been in the low normal range for some time now.

First prescribed synthroid. I could feel the physiological results from it at 25mcg 5x week and 50mcg 2x week. Def had a leaning out / recomp type of effect.

Second. The endo wanted to try armour for 6-weeks at 30mg 7x week. I have been on for about two weeks and def do not feel the same type of effect as when I was on synthroid.

What are your experiences with these two compounds and at what dosages have you seen positive results?

 

[Love_to_Bodybuild]

Remember when you diet hard, like pre contest, its common and normal for thyroid levels to read lower ranges of normal, and maybe lower, and its a false positive and doctor outs a person on thyroid meds for nothing

my sister was put on t4 and she weened herself off fine. Mom on armour (pigs thyroid) and she likes it. Dad on t4

Ive used gasparis thyrotabs back in 2009-2010 and they re a t3 precursor if I remember right, been a while. Used t3 for a contest for 6-8 weeks and took three months untill metabolism seemed to level out (going by body temperature but thermometer isnt always accurate)

This past summer went though contest prep and did a show and decided to not use any thyroid supplements and glad I didnt. That said, conditioning was off, as on a scale of 1-10 my thyroid levels recently tested out like maybe middle of the road like a 5 naturally, which obviously , if someone is a 8,9,10 like a lot of naturally good and great thyroid genetics, they have an advantage .

 

[Pull Freak]

Was on t/4 for a few years. Could never get my levels right and was taking 225mcgs. I talked my doc into just putting me on t/3 at 50mcg. My tsh is always around 2.5 now. My thoughts is if you take time and get a mix of t4 and t3 it would be best.

 

[OutToLunch]

Def not taking the meds for the sake of taking them. Just curious if my bloods are better after armour versus better physiological results on synthroid.

 

[Elvia1023]

Was on t/4 for a few years. Could never get my levels right and was taking 225mcgs. I talked my doc into just putting me on t/3 at 50mcg. My tsh is always around 2.5 now. My thoughts is if you take time and get a mix of t4 and t3 it would be best.

The guy I help out as just got in Novothyral which look really good. They are a combo of t3/t4 (20mcg/100mcg). That seems like a good ratio to me so I will definitely try them out in the future. I always stayed away from thyroid medication but used t3 and t4 seperately this year. I want to experiment again next year when I cut.

 

[cheloz28]

Currently having my own battles with Thyroid problems.

From what I've learned is that different thyroid meds affect people differently(you may be aware already). Which is why it can take a while to dial in your meds. It usually takes about 4-7 weeks for your body to fully absorb, at which time bloods are needed to figure out increase or decrease in meds. So it might take a while to find your sweet spot.....took me about 7 months but still want to try T4 only.


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[OutToLunch]

Been on armour now for almost 6 weeks. I feel like synthroid worked better for me. Will look into novothyral. If not back to synthroid.

 

[TheOutlier]

Been on armour now for almost 6 weeks. I feel like synthroid worked better for me. Will look into novothyral. If not back to synthroid.

Far too many practitioners prescribe thyroid medications based on lab values. Often, these same providers are ones who only test a patient's TSH levels. This is not enough, far from it.
If synthroid happened to work well for you then no reason to change or assume you need something else (t3, different source, etc.)

 

[OutToLunch]

These were my latest values:


E2: 30
Testosterone total: 507
Lh: 2.02
Fsh: 2.79
Prolactin: 3.63
Shbg: 20.3
Dhea-s: 254

T4: 0.7
T3: 2.6
Tsh: 2.83

Endo said she's willing to work with me and try various options. I thought novothyral may be a good option since it's a t3/t4 combo.

 

[TheOutlier]

These were my latest values:


E2: 30
Testosterone total: 507
Lh: 2.02
Fsh: 2.79
Prolactin: 3.63
Shbg: 20.3
Dhea-s: 254

T4: 0.7
T3: 2.6
Tsh: 2.83

Endo said she's willing to work with me and try various options. I thought novothyral may be a good option since it's a t3/t4 combo.

Great news that she is open to working with you. When it comes to thyroid deficiency, quality of life is much improved when you have someone willing to treat the issue symptomatically vs. the numbers on a sheet of paper.

I am not familar with Novothyral being available in the US. Now, if that location does not effect you than definitely give it a shot as you've he made it clear that Armour is not providing much benefit. There is another combo available, Nature-Throid. Also, if you have a compounding pharmacy close by they will often provide specifications if needed

I only made my initial post because from what I have seen, most who do not respond well to Levothyroxine do much better when adjusted to a combination like Armour or Nature. However, not always the case but more times than not, yes.

By the book, according to your values it does appear that you need some additional tweaking. All other lab vales are looking pretty good, slightly low FSH and LH, considering our forum I'm assuming this is not a big concern at the moment (my apologies if I am wrong).

I'll be brief, but do enjoy this discussion, a few pieces of information regarding conversion of T4 to T3; adequate zinc, iodine, selenium, and vitamin A (if low or deficient) are all highly beneficial.
Also very low progesterone can inhibit proper conversation of T4 into T3, this is seen more often in women with severe PMS, even PMDD.