I haven’t heard it all after all!
Sometimes when you think you’ve heard it all, you find out–you haven’t.
There are a plethera of puny and particularly pitiful excuses that doctors give for not prescribing Armour:
1) It only works for a few
2) It’s unreliable
3) It’s dangerous
4) It’s not consistent from dose to dose
5) It’s outdated
6) It’s not accepted as a medical standard of practice
7) It’s unregulated
And now….TAH-DAHH…#8: It’s not “mainstream”. Yup, that was said to a friend of mine this week who visited her doctor. It was their excuse for not prescribing Armour at that clinic.
Well gee……this medication that is “unreliable, dangerous, inconsistent from dose-to-dose, outdated, not the medical standard of practice, unregulated and not mainstream“….is saving and enhancing the lives of THOUSANDS of patients who have chosen to ignore your negative and brainless pronouncements.
Armour works. Get over it.
The following was sent to me by John Dommisse MD. concerning why to raise the free T4 as well as the free T3. Thank you Dr. Dommisse!:
The reason why it is best to optimize the Dialysis Free-T4 – the only accurate test for it – as well as the DFT3 level, is because the brain seems to need to receive thyroid hormone in the form of T4 as well as T3, and then converts T4 to T3 INSIDE the brain cells. e.g., Patients on the so-called Wilson’s T3-only approach get good relief of physical symptoms but retain their brain fog, memory loss, concentration problems, etc.. The other reason is it is a good idea to have your
“reserve” of thyroid hormone, which is the T4, as high as possible as long as that is without any adverse effects – so that, if you miss a dose of T3-containing preparation, you can possibly convert T4 more readily to T3 than if the T4 level is not as optimal.
If I had to choose between a high-normal DFT3 level with a mid-range DFT4 level, on the one hand, vs. a high-normal DFT4 level and a
mid-range DFT3 level, on the other, I would choose the first scenario, above. But, since I have the ability to optimize BOTH levels, that is what I prefer MOST.
Armour and other Thyroids, contain the ratio of T4 to T3 that the PIG thyroid gland puts out (4:1) – which is perfect for humans who have secondary (pituitary), tertiary (hypothalamic) and/or
Non-thyroidal-illness hypothyroidism, with or without some primary hypothyroidism. These other forms of hypothyroidism run much lower T3 levels than T4 levels, so the pig thyroid turns out to be just right for some of them.
Purely-Primary hypothyroidism patients, whose T3 level tends to run higher than their T4 level, can sometimes do fine on T4-only, but they are in a distinct minority, <10% of all hypothyroid patients that I see. A larger minority, maybe 20-30% do fine on just Armour/ Thyroid/Thyrolar. But, if you keep DFT3 levels constant thruout the 24 hrs of every day, you will find that the only way to optimize BOTH the DFT4 and DFT3 levels is to use some combination of T4 and Armour/Thyrolar, or some combination of T4 daily and Compounded T3/ Cytomel 2-3X/d. Since I am virtually the only physician using a combo of thyroid preparations – which is necessary to optimize both levels – this tells me that MOST hypothyroid patients under the care of other physicians never optimize both their DFT4 and DFT3 levels!!
Best wishes,
John ‘Domm’ MD
http://www.JohnDommisseMD.com
I had to respond to you by email, Janie, as I couldn’t reach this 2nd page of the blog before. Could you please post it here for me? Now I can reach the 2nd page by clicking on “4 comments”, but not when I tried to go to “second page”.
Yesirree, John, we’ve had no choice but to do this on our own in the face of a race of zombie doctors who put us on lousy Thyroxine-only treatment, who ignore obvious continuing hypothyroid symptoms, bandaid them with all sorts of medications like anti-depressants and statins, make ink marks printed on a piece of paper ABOVE AND BEYOND our obvious symptoms, and compare the effects of Armour treatment to being on Heroin…..or a placebo effect.
And I am waiting to hear from you WHY you recommended that your patients also had a free T4 towards the top quarter of the range, as would be the free T3. What is the biological and functional significance of having that free T4 up there as well? You can respond here or use the Contact Me page. Janie
The T3 fraction of Armour Thyroid is rather short-acting (8 hrs on an empty stomach; 12 hrs after a meal), so it should ideally be taken every 8 or 12 hours for the T3 level to be optimal thruout the 24 hrs of every day.
There is a way to make the 3 main blood tests – TSH, Dialysis Free-T4 and -T3 – work for diagnosing, regulating and monitoring the various types and grades of hypothyroidism and their treatment OPTIMALLY, 24 hrs/ day. Going by the TSH-alone is like expecting one leg of a tripod to do the job of a tripod on its own.
I do phone consultation to people in every state, and even in several foreign countries. That way, at least the blood tests and prescriptions can be paid by health insurance.
Best wishes to all of you (and congratulations for overcoming your victim status on your own!),
John ‘Domm’ MD
Hi. You know, those are good questions and I have definite answers. 🙂 But, I’m trying to get folks to use the Forums for questions and answers, and just leave the blog for comments. So, could I get you to ask those same questions over there?? Thanks!
Thank you for your site. I have been on Armour since 4/05 & feel so much better. Still have hair loss & breakage & would love to get that under control – maybe it takes a long time? Any advice for the hair loss problem? I’m taking 4 grains in the morning orally & am contemplating taking them in multi doses throughout the day instead. Any suggestions??
Thanks a million!
Sandra