Wellness

[emmysmom]

On 6/23/2014 Rachelle said:

On 6/23/2014 violann said:

On 6/23/2014 CalmInTheHeart said:

I talked to an endocrinologist about armor and she said no. I'll stick with levothyroxine, what she recommended as the generic. It works great for me.

Did you state SPECIFIC reasons for changing from Synthroid to Armour? Did your MD give you SPECIFIC reasons for not switching? In my experience, if you don't have SPECIFIC reasons from doing something different, a doctor will be very unlikely to approve a change.

Your good doctor said no because Levo is the drug that is being pushed through the medical system and the more doctors write scripts, the more perks they receive. Armour is much safer than Levo.. Oh and to the nurse of 30 years who said she never heard of any side effects.....you better get on the pc and read.........................It helps to renew your education, especially when you are caring for people...

Ah Rachelle, I knew this but was afraid to talk about it. I thought the same about the nurse. I worked in healthcare years ago and knew this went on, lol. She knows! Its very easy to read the side effects, just google!

[onlyshopsonline]

I insisted that my endocrinologist put my on Armour years ago. And, then when it was unavailable, we switched to a compounded version. I never felt well and had all sorts of side-effects that I blamed on other things. We played around with the dose forever, and nothing worked. It's kind of funny because he told me, when I requested it, that he didn't think I would be able to tolerate it.

After quite a few years on the natural stuff, I started to think that maybe he was right. Last summer I asked him to switch me to Synthroid for a trial, as my daughter does wonderfully on Synthroid. This is the best I have felt in 10 years. My numbers are much more stable. My skin looks good. My horrible anxiety is gone. My mood is good. And, I have a full, thick head of hair again.

I wouldn't touch the natural stuff again.

[adelle38]

On 6/23/2014 Rachelle said:

On 6/23/2014 violann said:

On 6/23/2014 CalmInTheHeart said:

I talked to an endocrinologist about armor and she said no. I'll stick with levothyroxine, what she recommended as the generic. It works great for me.

Did you state SPECIFIC reasons for changing from Synthroid to Armour? Did your MD give you SPECIFIC reasons for not switching? In my experience, if you don't have SPECIFIC reasons from doing something different, a doctor will be very unlikely to approve a change.

Your good doctor said no because Levo is the drug that is being pushed through the medical system and the more doctors write scripts, the more perks they receive. Armour is much safer than Levo.. Oh and to the nurse of 30 years who said she never heard of any side effects.....you better get on the pc and read.........................It helps to renew your education, especially when you are caring for people...

That simply is not true Armour may work better for some people but it can cause just as many problems and is much harder to regulate. I've tried Synthroid. Levoxyl and Armour. For me Levoxyl works best and Armour cause major problems.

[emmysmom]

On 6/23/2014 only shops online said:

I insisted that my endocrinologist put my on Armour years ago. And, then when it was unavailable, we switched to a compounded version. I never felt well and had all sorts of side-effects that I blamed on other things. We played around with the dose forever, and nothing worked. It's kind of funny because he told me, when I requested it, that he didn't think I would be able to tolerate it.

After quite a few years on the natural stuff, I started to think that maybe he was right. Last summer I asked him to switch me to Synthroid for a trial, as my daughter does wonderfully on Synthroid. This is the best I have felt in 10 years. My numbers are much more stable. My skin looks good. My horrible anxiety is gone. My mood is good. And, I have a full, thick head of hair again.

I wouldn't touch the natural stuff again.

We all react differently, but we all deserve the option to try different meds, if one doesn't feel right.

[gailcoco]

On 6/23/2014 Rachelle said:

On 6/23/2014 violann said:

On 6/23/2014 CalmInTheHeart said:

I talked to an endocrinologist about armor and she said no. I'll stick with levothyroxine, what she recommended as the generic. It works great for me.

Did you state SPECIFIC reasons for changing from Synthroid to Armour? Did your MD give you SPECIFIC reasons for not switching? In my experience, if you don't have SPECIFIC reasons from doing something different, a doctor will be very unlikely to approve a change.

Your good doctor said no because Levo is the drug that is being pushed through the medical system and the more doctors write scripts, the more perks they receive. Armour is much safer than Levo.. Oh and to the nurse of 30 years who said she never heard of any side effects.....you better get on the pc and read.........................It helps to renew your education, especially when you are caring for people...

This is simply not true! Doctor do NOT receive perks for prescribing a particular drug. The physicians that do receive perks are the ones that teach and hold seminars for the drug companies. Once in a while a drug company will buy sub sandwiches for the office but that happens maybe once a year. And by the way, Levothyroxine is a generic of Synthroid. So drug companies wouldn't even offer perks on a generic (even if they did).

I work in a physician's office and I have never heard of any of our patients reporting side effects with Synthroid or the generics. The one thing I would like to mention is that patients make sure they take Synthroid as directed. I was taking my iron medication at the same time as my Synthroid and it screwed up both my thyroid and my anemia! Now I take them at separate times - so follow the directions.

Each person is different, some people respond to the generic synthetic thyroid medicine and some only respond to the brand name - Synthroid. While others prefer the Amour thyroid. I'm on the brand name, along with my dog. My dog was on the generic but he was not responding. I started using the brand name and his hair starting growing back and he had more energy. So now we share a prescription.

The website TiredThyroid.com has a lot of information about why the synthetics work for some and the Amour works for others.

Here's my personal experience for the poster that is having thyroid surgery soon. I had a fine needle thyroid biopsy done that showed I had thyroid cancer. The nuclear medicine test also showed the nodule as cancerous. However, the biopsy was done again on the thyroid surgically removed and it was clear of cancer. I am thinking good, good thoughts for your surgery. Gail

[emmysmom]

On 6/23/2014 gailchap said:

On 6/23/2014 Rachelle said:

On 6/23/2014 violann said:

On 6/23/2014 CalmInTheHeart said:

I talked to an endocrinologist about armor and she said no. I'll stick with levothyroxine, what she recommended as the generic. It works great for me.

Did you state SPECIFIC reasons for changing from Synthroid to Armour? Did your MD give you SPECIFIC reasons for not switching? In my experience, if you don't have SPECIFIC reasons from doing something different, a doctor will be very unlikely to approve a change.

Your good doctor said no because Levo is the drug that is being pushed through the medical system and the more doctors write scripts, the more perks they receive. Armour is much safer than Levo.. Oh and to the nurse of 30 years who said she never heard of any side effects.....you better get on the pc and read.........................It helps to renew your education, especially when you are caring for people...

This is simply not true! Doctor do NOT receive perks for prescribing a particular drug. The physicians that do receive perks are the ones that teach and hold seminars for the drug companies. Once in a while a drug company will buy sub sandwiches for the office but that happens maybe once a year. And by the way, Levothyroxine is a generic of Synthroid. So drug companies wouldn't even offer perks on a generic (even if they did).

Each person is different, some people respond to the generic synthetic thyroid medicine and some only respond to the brand name - Synthroid. While others prefer the Amour thyroid. I'm on the brand name, along with my dog. My dog was on the generic but he was not responding. I started using the brand name and his hair starting growing back and he had more energy. So now we share a prescription.

The website TiredThyroid.com has a lot of information about why the synthetics work for some and the Amour works for others.

Here's my personal experience for the poster that is having thyroid surgery soon. I had a fine needle thyroid biopsy done that showed I had thyroid cancer. The nuclear medicine test also showed the nodule as cancerous. However, the biopsy was done again on the thyroid surgically removed and it was clear of cancer. I am thinking good, good thoughts for your surgery. Gail

Gail, great news about your thyroid results! Good information too! Sorry about your dog having thyroid issues! You sound like a good mommy! I love your signature, I'm also 63 and owned by my dog, I wouldn't have it any other way!

[Gabby1_1]

If you're on thyroid medicine, watching using anything with soy products in it. The soy prevents the medication from doing its full job. I've been on Levo for many years and never had any problem with it.

[addiegal]

I agree with those who point out to the nurse of 30 years that there are side effects! Some see them especially when first starting thyroid medication...the hair loss for sure. But some will do better on one medication over another. Gail, congrats on the great report on your biopsy! I chose to take the synthetics, Levoxyl and Cytomel, over Armour but want say never on the Armour! Oh, and the cannine levothyroxine my vet says is made by the same facility as Synthroid. A dog just needs more than we do. I buy my thyroid medicines without insurance as the generic is cheap but the name brand has a huge co-pay. So, it is cheaper to just pay cash for it because I do not want generics because if you are doing okay why risk not doing well? Any change between brands or generics can cause a need for adjustment of dosage. Not fun! I avoid soy as it will interfere with thyroid meds as will iron. I was a few years ago eating my breakfast cereal too close to my thyroid meds and it was affecting me! There is a lot of iron in these cereals. I try to wait to take vitamins, etc. the recommended 4 hrs. It's inconvenient but worth it!

[twocent]

NM

[Lucky Charm]

On 6/21/2014 birddrops said:

On 6/21/2014 Lucky Charm said:

On 6/21/2014 emmiesmom said:

<em>I am SORRY I ever posted about this!! Won't be doing it again!!</em>

Honey--you're fine!

How ridiculous for anyone to say that a post may affect a reader's health. What????

I'm feeling a little bit off and reading on different sites, yes people, different sites, that some of the symptoms I have been experiences could mimic a worsening of my thyroid problems.

I guess I wonder why my thyroid has gone down hill. Hypo. What did I do wrong during my lifetime to end up with this? I'm paranoid of xrays. Guess what my doctor told me last week when I suggested we investigate my thyroid. An xray. Does anyone here think an xray is the best option? What tests have your wonderful doctors done?

Never had an xray while being diagnosed. I know I had some kind of radioactive tests and either a CT or an MRI. But this was twelve years ago. Are you seeing an endocrinologist?

No, he's never done anything other than blood work to know that my tsh numbers were off a few years ago. So he put me on generic levothyroxine even though I heard that name brand synthroid was better.

But, I just found out that it's not an xray I'm supposed to have, it's an ultrasound which poses no risk of radiation. (It's a soft tissue ultrasound of head and neck). So I'm relieved. I was going to ask them how much for an MRI as I'm sure my insurance wouldn't go for that and I'd have to pay out of pocket.

I don't like ct scans or xrays due to the radiation. I often wonder if that's what caused my hypothyroidism. Xrays....never had a ct scan and I hear they're much worse radiation-wise.