Ticked Off Thyroid Patients Take On Public Citizen
Thursday September 4, 2003
While I still await response from Public Citizen to my lengthy letter to Dr. Sidney Wolfe outlining the inaccuracies in their "Worst Pills, Best Pills" article on Armour Thyroid, the emails being sent out by their representative, Betty Bount, RN, and letters sent by Ms. Blount. Readers who were amazed that a group like Public Citizen is disseminating erroneous and potentially dangerous information about Armour Thyroid have been deluging the group with indignant emails. Here are some samples of just a few that readers have shared with me.
* * *
You are completely misinformed! Armour is a prescription medication that is regulated by the FDA. I was disabled with hypothroidism in 1988, using Synthroid, Levothroid and others. I finally got my life and complete health back when my doctor prescribed Armour in 1991. Armour saved my life and my sanity! I am ashamed of your erroneous publications about Armour Thyroid. If you aren't willing to tell the truth, then your organization is a sham.
ER
Dear Ms. Blount:
The information and statement contained in your email message to Joy Richards, posted by Mary Shomon on thyroid.about.com, is disturbing, to say the least.
While I am not trained in any area of medicine, I have studied a great many of the current medical articles and reports on recent thyroid research. I have been suffering from Hashimoto's hypothyroidism for several years and several different thyroid hormone replacement therapies have been tried in the treatment of my ongoing symptoms.
I find it appalling that you have asserted many statements which I know to be erroneous, indicating that you failed to do any basic research before preparing your responsive email message. One of the most glaring and frightening errors is your statement that Armour Thyroid is not a prescription drug, but is available over the counter. Not only have prescriptions been written for me for Synthroid and Levoxyl, but three (3) different qualified physicians have WRITTEN PRESCRIPTIONS for Armour for my hypothyroidism--a family practitioner, a board-certified interist, and a my current board- certified endocrinologist! Both my local pharmacist and my niece (a pharmacologist with many years experience) assure me ARMOUR IS NOT AVAILABLE WITHOUT A VALID PRESCRIPTION and that it is indeed FDA- regulated.
Had you taken the time to visit the Armour website at http://www.armourthyroid.com you would have discovered the statement "Rx only" at the very top of the "Prescribing Information."
It is extremely disappointing that a publication purporting to provide information to the public would, first, publish an inaccurate article and, second, defend the inaccuracies with additional inaccuracies.
Incidentally, my own hypothyroidism has responded best to Armour. Synthroid and Levoxyl did not regulate my thyroid hormone levels sufficiently to alleviate the disabling symptoms I have been suffering for years.
Sincerely,
SK
Public Citizen,
You have erroneously identified ArmourŪ Thyroid U.S.P as a dangerous "supplement" in your Worst Pills, Best Pills newsletter, May 2003. This product is prescription-only drug produced by Forest Laboratories, division of Forest Pharmaceuticals in St. Louis, MO. It is not an herbal product, nor is it an unregulated, or over-the-counter supplement.
http://www.armourthyroid.com/armourthyroid_pi.pdf
If you had bothered to read the above mentioned product insert from Forest Labs, you would have seen that it is a United States Pharmacopeia (official standards) product, regulated and monitored by the FDA. ArmourŪ Thyroid Tablets, USP contain labeled amounts of T4, levothyroxine and T3, liothyronine, as established by the United States Pharmacopeia (USP). To meet FDA quality standards, the product must also pass bacteriological testing and must meet other quality tests.
Furthermore, there are plenty of research studies available in such scholarly publications as the New England Journal of Medicine, http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/short/340/6/424, about the benefit of T4 and T3 in treating thyroid conditions. Another recent article in the British Journal of Medicine, http://www.endocrine-abstracts.org/ea/0003/ea0003s40.htm also supports the use of T3, in addition to T4, to treat thyroid problems.
Many people depend on Armour prescriptions from their doctors to regulate their thyroid problems. For you to disseminate such false information to the general public without the proper facts to support your claims is inexcusable.
A concerned thyroid patient,
DKH
For more background on the Public Citizen Armour Scandal, read:
You are completely misinformed! Armour is a prescription medication that is regulated by the FDA. I was disabled with hypothroidism in 1988, using Synthroid, Levothroid and others. I finally got my life and complete health back when my doctor prescribed Armour in 1991. Armour saved my life and my sanity! I am ashamed of your erroneous publications about Armour Thyroid. If you aren't willing to tell the truth, then your organization is a sham.
ER
Dear Ms. Blount:
The information and statement contained in your email message to Joy Richards, posted by Mary Shomon on thyroid.about.com, is disturbing, to say the least.
While I am not trained in any area of medicine, I have studied a great many of the current medical articles and reports on recent thyroid research. I have been suffering from Hashimoto's hypothyroidism for several years and several different thyroid hormone replacement therapies have been tried in the treatment of my ongoing symptoms.
I find it appalling that you have asserted many statements which I know to be erroneous, indicating that you failed to do any basic research before preparing your responsive email message. One of the most glaring and frightening errors is your statement that Armour Thyroid is not a prescription drug, but is available over the counter. Not only have prescriptions been written for me for Synthroid and Levoxyl, but three (3) different qualified physicians have WRITTEN PRESCRIPTIONS for Armour for my hypothyroidism--a family practitioner, a board-certified interist, and a my current board- certified endocrinologist! Both my local pharmacist and my niece (a pharmacologist with many years experience) assure me ARMOUR IS NOT AVAILABLE WITHOUT A VALID PRESCRIPTION and that it is indeed FDA- regulated.
Had you taken the time to visit the Armour website at http://www.armourthyroid.com you would have discovered the statement "Rx only" at the very top of the "Prescribing Information."
It is extremely disappointing that a publication purporting to provide information to the public would, first, publish an inaccurate article and, second, defend the inaccuracies with additional inaccuracies.
Incidentally, my own hypothyroidism has responded best to Armour. Synthroid and Levoxyl did not regulate my thyroid hormone levels sufficiently to alleviate the disabling symptoms I have been suffering for years.
Sincerely,
SK
Public Citizen,
You have erroneously identified ArmourŪ Thyroid U.S.P as a dangerous "supplement" in your Worst Pills, Best Pills newsletter, May 2003. This product is prescription-only drug produced by Forest Laboratories, division of Forest Pharmaceuticals in St. Louis, MO. It is not an herbal product, nor is it an unregulated, or over-the-counter supplement.
http://www.armourthyroid.com/armourthyroid_pi.pdf
If you had bothered to read the above mentioned product insert from Forest Labs, you would have seen that it is a United States Pharmacopeia (official standards) product, regulated and monitored by the FDA. ArmourŪ Thyroid Tablets, USP contain labeled amounts of T4, levothyroxine and T3, liothyronine, as established by the United States Pharmacopeia (USP). To meet FDA quality standards, the product must also pass bacteriological testing and must meet other quality tests.
Furthermore, there are plenty of research studies available in such scholarly publications as the New England Journal of Medicine, http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/short/340/6/424, about the benefit of T4 and T3 in treating thyroid conditions. Another recent article in the British Journal of Medicine, http://www.endocrine-abstracts.org/ea/0003/ea0003s40.htm also supports the use of T3, in addition to T4, to treat thyroid problems.
Many people depend on Armour prescriptions from their doctors to regulate their thyroid problems. For you to disseminate such false information to the general public without the proper facts to support your claims is inexcusable.
A concerned thyroid patient,
DKH
For more background on the Public Citizen Armour Scandal, read:
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