Armour Thyroid Medication Reformulation Causing Some Patients Problems
by patient-advocate
Filed under Thyroid
Thyroid Medication Reformulation – Some Patients Report Armour Thyroid No Longer As Effective
Patients taking the thyroid medication Armour Thyroid, which is a naturally desiccated thyroid hormone drug, are reporting problems with the medication after the manufacturer, Forest Laboratories, changed some of the fillers of the medicine.
What was reportedly changed: According to Forest Labs the only thing that has changed in the new formulation of Armour is the fillers. More specifically they say that they have increased the amount of cellulose, added cornstarch and decreased the amount of dextrose in the Armour Thyroid tablets. Unfortunately, for many thyroid patients, this change has resulted in patients reporting that their hypothyroid symptoms, or problems with too little thyroid hormone, have returned when they receive their new prescriptions filled with the new formulation of Armour.
We’ll talk more about this in upcoming articles, but what was most striking maybe the fact that I cannot find any announcements to physicians, pharmacists, or even the general public from the manufacturer, Forest Labs, advising anyone that the medication was changed.
Can you imagine how it feels to be taking the very same medication you had been taking for months or years and suddenly having symptoms start returning and then calling your doctor or pharmacist and being told that “everything is the same” with your medication when it’s not?
Stay tuned as we’ll share the story of one of our readers who had that very same experience. Thyroid medication can sometimes take months to regulate, and once you are on an optimum dose it gives many patients the feeling of having their energy and sense of self back. To suddenly lose this with no warning and then perhaps worst of all to be told that it is “all in your head” when there is really something changed with your medication is not a good thing. Another reason, dear readers, to trust your judgment when it comes to your body, your medications, and how you feel. More on Armour Thyroid and our reader’s stories coming up soon.
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I have been feeling poorly since April of this year, with continued worsening of my symptoms throughout the summer. I have been complaining to my Fibromyalgia doctor that I am feeling more pain, exhaustion, etc. all summer, with no results. I finally went to see my primary physician complaining of hair loss, headaches, exhaustion, weakness, and an 11 lb weight gain with no change of diet or exercise. She insists that my tsh is in the “normal range” so I am fine. (She is not the doctor that prescribed the Armour in the first place. I can no longer see him, as my insurance has changed.) We had a heated discussion on how I felt I needed my Free T3 and T4 also checked, and I will have those ranges tested for next week.
Imagine my surprise, when I started looking on the internet and found that the formula for Armour Thyroid was changed in spring of 2009! Coincidence? I think not, now I will have to try and get my physician to do something about it, which will be an uphill battle, unless my T3, and T4 levels test “out of the normal” range. I am so angry and sick right now, I don’t know what to do, and if I will be able to get the help I need. I cannot believe that Armour’s manufacturer didn’t feel it was necessary to notify patients, or doctor’s of this change. They obviously have little regard for patients health.
Hi Barb, I am so sorry that you were affected as well by the changes in Armour. Many of us are in the same boat, but I can tell you that Armour is not the only non-synthetic medication that you can try. Unfortunately, right now, many thyroid patients are scrambling to get their natural thyroid prescriptions filled. Here is an article that may help you with some options for the interim. http://www.hospitalsoup.com/health-conditions/thyroid/natural-thyroid-medication-shortage-hits-patients-hard
Bottom line though, if you are not doing well on the Armour, find a practitioner who will listen to you and work with you so that you can try some other natural thyroid meds (even if you have to have it compounded in the interim) to try, because it’s so miserable to be on a medication that just doesn’t work right for your body, and there’s no need to be feeling bad and tired all the time. The biggest thing that has helped many of us on thyroid medication is to find a doctor who will listen to you and not just look at you like a lab number. You are not a laboratory number, trust your body, and keep on keeping on until you find the right person who will work with you to get you feeling as you should. Good luck, please let us know how you are doing, and thanks for writing in.