Type 1 & hypothyroid:looking for armour instead of synthroid

[sparrow08]

Hello,
My 11 yr. old son has Type 1 and was just diagnosed as hypothyroid yesterday. I am also hypothyroid and had a horrific experience on synthroid. I am now on armour and doing very well. My son's endo will not prescribe armour, so I am looking for one that will. Anyone else have experience with synthroid or armour? Can anyone recommend a good doctor in the Denver, CO or Sioux Falls, SD area? We are an equal distance from each.
Thanks,
Laura

[Sandy's mom]

What reason did your endo give for not prescribing it?

My dd has hashimotos and takes synthroid without any side effects. Armour is pig thyroid, is that correct? I am curious to learn about the benefits.

There are a few here from CO. Hopefully they can help.

[Toni]

DN takes Synthroid, no problems ever. Curious as to what kind of problems you had with Synthroid. Your post makes me nervous.

[giddyup_go]

Good luck. :-( My daughter and I have both been using Armour thyroid for 3+ years and it is getting increasingly harder to find. Something to do with production & supply / demand. There are other brands of natural , desicated thyroid....westhroid, naturethroid...but both are hard to get because the demand is high due to the shortage of Armour. So my dr recently switched my prescription to a combination of synthroid & cytomel (which now comes in generic) so I'm getting both T3 & T4 instead of just the T4 in synthroid. Hopefully Armour will rectify this situation soon, but it's been ongoing for a little over a year now. :-(

[giddyup_go]

I didn't finish reading the thread...

the advantage of naturally desicated thyroid hormone (armour, naturethroid, westhroid, etc) is that it contains ALL of the thyroid hormones and not just T4 as in synthroid. The way synthroid is SUPPOSED to work is that once in your system, your body will take over and synthesize the hormone and create the T3 on it's own. This doesn't work for everyone.

My daughter's endo won't prescribe armour either, but her pediatrician will. But as I stated before it's almost impossible to get a hold of right now. So her endo just put her on levothyroxine but not cytomel. I'm going to keep pushing the cytomel so we can get the T3 in her. the synthroid alone did not work for her before, so I'm not sure why she is thinking it will work now. :-(

[sparrow08]

Thanks for your replies. The endo did not give me a reason why she wouldn't prescribe armour. She told me to take him to my doctor, but mine doesn't see anyone under 16. My experience on synthroid (for 14 years) was extreme fatigue, constant night-waking (and I mean constant, I woke up every half hour ALL NIGHT LONG). I also felt extreme irritation, like I was wound way too tight. I thought that was just my personality, that I was just destined to be a big jerk! After I started armour, all of those symptoms disappeared. I found the relaxed and much less irritable person inside. I just don't want to risk all that for my son. If I can't get armour, I definitely will push for the synthroid/cytomel combo. My body obviously was not converting the T4 from the synthroid into the much needed T3.
Thanks again. We live in a rural area and I have little contact with other parents of Type 1 kids. Thanks. Thanks.
Laura

[sam1nat2]

We go to Pediatric Endocrine Associates in Denver. www.denverpedendo.com

They see many other endocrine issues besides diabetes.