What Is The Suggested Medication For Low Functioning Thyroid?

Posted on Tue, 21 Jan 2014

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Tue, 21 Jan 2014 Answered on

Mon, 10 Feb 2014 Last reviewed on

Question : I live in Springfield, Illinois and I am in need of a thyroid specialist who will take Medicare and supplemental insurance. My family physician will not prescribe armor thyroid and the synthroid I take now is not helping. I have every symptom of low functioning thyroid but heavy periods. I have been taking Synthroid for many years and been at the same dosage for at least 8: 1.00. My symptoms continue to worsen but my GP says my blood tests are "normal." I am at my wits' end. I have no energy; I'm cold (I am typically "hot blooded); every joint in my body hurts; I have muscle pain; I don't sleep well; I will be awakened at night with a "racing heart rate;" my voice is hoarse by the end of the day.

Answered by Dr. Shehzad Topiwala (5 hours later)

Brief Answer: Armor not safe Detailed Answer: I am sorry to note your symptoms. You will probably be disappointed to hear that armor is not recommended by thyroid experts. It is considered unsafe. Even the latest guidelines still recommend the use of levo thyroxine which is also available generically. It only costs a few dollars at a national grocery store/pharmacy chain, for a whole months supply. The price for the generic is not different from this even at other pharmacies. However,brand names provide consistent batch-to-batch amounts of active medication and are generally preferred but if cost is a constraint then the generic does the job too. Hypothyroidism ('an under active thyroid) is often caused by Hashimoto's disease and the sole treatment for this is levo-thyroxine (also called T4). Armor is made from hog's thyroid. It has unregulated and varying amounts of lio-thyronine (T3) and T4. The human body converts T4 to as much T3 as it requires inside the cells. There is no need to take T3 directly as it can be potentially harmful if overdosed. It would be worthwhile to investigate other potential causes of your complaints. I believe you when you state that you have many symptoms typically attributed to thyroid problems but I will emphasize that many of these symptoms overlap with those of several other conditions like vitamin D deficiency, anemia and fibromyalgia to name a few.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar