The natural desiccated thyroid drug Armour Thyroid, which has largely unavailable for months during a reformulation, was the subject of a statement issued by its manufacturer, Forest Labs on August 17, 2009, indicating that while some Armour in 4 grain (240 mg) and 5 grain (300 mg) tablet sizes is still available, the remaining dosages are all on back-order. The company has indicated that they cannot provide an estimated date when product will be available.
The following is the company's statement:
Forest Laboratories and its supplier understand how frustrating the back order situation of Armour Thyroid is for patients, and we apologize for the supply interruption.
Forest Laboratories is working closely with its supplier of the product's active ingredient, powdered Thyroid gland, and both companies are working diligently to return to normal supply levels as quickly as possible.
There are many complicated steps involved in the supply chain for a naturally desiccated thyroid product like Armour Thyroid. One factor in the supply interruption involves the manufacturing of a sufficient quantity of powdered Thyroid gland. American Laboratories, Inc., the sole U.S. supplier of Thyroid Powder Products, is working as quickly as possible to provide Forest with a sufficient quantity of this ingredient.
Forest is addressing the backlog of Armour Thyroid as quickly as possible, however, we are not prepared at this time to give a definitive date by which the product will be fully restocked. Please check for future updates on the availability of Armour Thyroid through the Forest product availability toll-free hotline at (866) 927-3260.
In the meantime, we encourage patients to speak with their physician regarding appropriate treatment for their condition.
I took Armour Thyroid for 1.5 years, 90mg per day. A month ago I began to have symptoms of hypothyroidism again, had my blood tested and TSH level was 18. I was taking 3 of the 30mg tablets per day and still my TSH was 18. Basically no thyroxin in me. I have secondary
hypertension and now require BP meds. Other wise I am healthy and this is just a bump in the road for me. What about the elderly that may buy a years supply at once? They are taking ineffective pills right now. This isn’t a shortage, those pills are not working and someone should notify those people.
Forest needs to get in front of this.
Yes the formula is messed up, not just a small ajustment, all my symptoms have returned and my blood presure shot up. My hair is coming out by the handfuls, My last test Aug.14, ths was 12. This all started in May with the “small adjustment”. I think we should file a Class lawsuit. This is endangering our lives.
I take the 120 mg. thyroid med. I was told they are out of it for three months at my pharmacie, what do I do? I don’t do so well on synthtic med. the manufacture has a back log of 3 months………
I think legal steps should also be taken. Our bodies need the medication to function properly. By switching meds we suffer. Not only do our bodies need an adjustment period, but we have deal with more Dr visits for blood tests. Not to mention the “side effects” of switching to a new prescription and the dose always has to be played with.
I find it totally interesting, that the makers of Armour Thyroid can have such troubles concocting the proper dosage, yet labs can “spit out” a vaccine for the “swine flu” in a few months and deem it “safe.”
When I went to pick up my monthly refill recently and was handed 30mg to take 3x’s a day, without anyone asking me if this was okay? I was not only offended but mad. How can we have patient rights if we are being told what to do/take? How can they just cease our prescription legally like they did? I did not settle for the 30mg, 3xs a day. I searched til I found a place to fill my proper order (90mg) and I bought all they had! 66 tablets!
I wonder if this really has something to do with money. Another interesting fact is I can only obtain Armour Thyroid by prescription, yet my “popular” health insurance will not cover it.
I take 180 mg a day; can’t find ANY strength any where! (Except maybe Canada, but then there’s no guarantee on what you are getting).
I’m deparate – I’ve taken synthroid and cytomel together and it didn’t work. This is the first med that has helped – now I can’t get it!
A local doctor suggested to temporarily try Unithroid or Westhroid. It has to be ordered, but is in available. Let’s hope it works!
For heaven sake please do not even think about a law suite against armor-the big drug company’s have been trying to get the FDA to take armor off the market-I had my thyroid removed 3 yrs ago and the doctor put me on synthroid-it was a nightmare my hair started coming out by the hand fulls my nails were brittle and ridged but worse of all my brain felt numb and I couldn’t even do simple house chores -this went on for 1 whole year then the doc switched me to armor within 3 weeks I felt better and within 6 months my hair grew back and my nails cleared up but best of all my mind started working right again and I was my old self .So please let’s be Patience with armor and let them get the supply’s to us again -I sure do not want to go through that nightmare of synthroid again-I don’t have a thyroid at all and I only have enough armor for 3 more weeks,Don’t have a clue what I will do when it is all gone.
Streamwood, Illinois 60107
Please, I need my armor thyroid, now. I am allergic to the other thyroid meds, I spent 3 month in the hospital earlier this year, almost dying,I started taking armour thyroid and wow do I feel great now. why can’t I get it now? What am I going to do? Please Barak Obama have a heart, when you said change I didn’t know you meant change my meds. Please don’t make me sorry I voted for you.
I completely agree with the person who said we should file a class action law suit, this is medical malpractice. With my symptoms back full time I’m having a hard time just typing this, very foggy, missing words, tired all the time. I’m a teacher and it’ September, I need to be clear headed and awake. Thank goodness I have an appointment with my Dr. this weekend. I though I was losing my mind this summer, what with all the weight gain and other symptoms returning. When the pills basically disappeared from the pharmcy shelves I started surfing and found out everyone else’s symptoms were returning too! At least I know I’m not crazy.
I have bee using Armour Thyroid for over 30 years. It was the only thing that helped me. What in the world happened? I found that Canadian Pharmacy has Armour Thyroid. I wonder what the prescription will cost when they finally produce it back on the shelves of the pharmacy
Let’s be careful here. My wife has taken Armour for years. Lawsuits will only do ONE THING – cause Forest to NEVER bring Armour back out onto the market. Yes, it sucks. I know, I live it.
I found a local pharmacy that will compound Armour Thyroid. Exactly the same as the normal prescription you get but its compounded. I went to Katy Pharmacy located on Fry Rd in Katy, TX
Try to find a local pharmacy where you live that compounds Armour Thyroid.
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I found a local pharmacy that will compound Armour Thyroid. Exactly the same as the normal prescription you get but its compounded. I went to Katy Pharmacy located on Fry Rd in Katy, TX
Try to find a local pharmacy where you live that compounds Armour Thyroid.
Please Barak Obama have a heart, when you said change I didn’t know you meant change my meds. Please don’t make me sorry I voted for you.
Someone commented with this above and as much as I can relate to being upset since I am also without my medication, I have to hope that this is a joke and not an incident of wildly misplaced blame. Obama has no direct control over what a pharmaceutical company does or does not do. This issue isn’t even relevant in the health care debate. Let’s focus on the real issue here. Since running out of my medication, I have been met with shrugged shoulders and apathy about my predicament. The only option suggested to me has been to switch to synthroid and like many others who’ve commented, this isn’t possible for me. Regardless of the solution, someone has to do something, instead of sitting by and letting presumably millions of people suffer as they go off their medication. I understand the impulse for a class action law suit, but my health comes before any desire for vengeance or money.
My pharmacy JUST received a new batch of 1-grain pills and filled a prescription that had been waiting since the end of August. So, it seems there is hope.
Has anyone out there gone off armour and been okay without it ??? I was taking 180 mg a day for years and gradually over several years reduced it to 60mg a day–was in the hospital for other problems and spoke with “gland man” doc who told me I couls stop it anytime I wanted. I have waited until my other problems are gone and a couple of days ago just stopped taking it. I think I feel better already.
It is a little scary as I don’t know if my own thyroid gland will step up and take over or not. I will have my blood tested in a month. How could a manufacturer be so careless as to let this situational shortage occur. Doesn’t anyone give a damn anymore???? My own doc told me a couple of days ago that it was harmless medication and that it did not interact with anything but the first page I looked at today listed 25 or 30 things it interacted with……
Years ago I couldn’t understand why the pounds were packing on when I didn’t eat that much. When I got my TSH levels tested and then found Armour I was able to lose the weight, still with effort but I could. When the formula was changed I started to gain weight again and now that it isn’t available I have to almost fast to keep the weight off. I am worried. My strength in sports is also affected.
Forest Labs can’t get the raw material, so they are not at fault it seems, their supplier may be. Can’t help but wonder if there is a larger conspiracy by drug companies against natural remedies.
Meanwhile the compounding pharmacy in your area is the best option. I located one near me and once I get my TSH levels retested to see if 90mg is still what I need I look forward to see how that works.
Help! No more armour around my town, doc wrote me a prescription for Levothyroid, what do I do now? I don’t want to go through all the side affects what is the best dose to replace 60 mg /day of armour?
I took Armour Thyroid just about my whole life. I just turned 66 years old. I never had a problem with the Armour. This past Fall all of a sudden I couldn’t get my Armour prescription filled. Now I am stuck taking Levothyroxin. I started taking it in November 2009. A month or so ago around Christmas 2009 I started noticing my neck itching alot. It itches clear up around my jaw bone down to my chest. It finally dawned on me that I bet it is the Levothyroxin. I wonder if this itchng will eventually stop or is this something I have to deal with from now on. I am tired of this itching and I have made the skin all around my neck area rough from all the scratching I have done. I want my Armour back!
I took Armour Thyroid with relative success for the last several years, after decades of ups and downs with Synthroid. My most recent dose of Armour was 225 Mg/day (2.5 90 mg tabs).
When the formula changed, I started rapidly gaining weight. Up 20+ pounds in just a few months. At the time, I didn’t know the formula had changed so I wasn’t sure why I was gaining weight. Then I got word that Armour wouldn’t be available any more and that became a concern.
Following information Mary Shomon provided here, I worked with my doctor to do a conversion to generic synthroid/cytomel, aiming to mimic the T3/T4 of Armour.
I never did start feeling better and weight loss has been just about impossible. Today I learned that my TSH is now up to 39.94 (before the formula changed Armour had my levels at about .3 – a good level for me). No wonder I’m getting bigger.
Next step. A local compounding pharmacy that has Armour in powder form. I pick up the new meds tomorrow. With the old Armour, I paid about $16 a month. The compounded version will be about $100 a month, no insurance.
Oh well. I’m grateful to have an option. And I’m grateful that this site exists!
Hope you are all doing well.
I don’t know what to do. I didn’t even know about the shortage until I went to get my usual refill. I am now on a thyroid medication from a compounding pharmacy for about a week andstarted feeling really sick yesterday. My throat is sore, my energy is really low and I just feel a huge malaise, like I used to a lot before the doctor got me on the Armour. I was on Synthroid for years and felt like this a lot no matter how healthfully I tried to live.
FYI -
The change in Armour was to mostly remove dextrose as a filler and replace with cellulose.
Dextrose(sugar) is crucial in helping the med get in to your bloodstream, where it can be properly absorbed and utilized by your tissues. Without it you may not make use of the med at all…
I’ve no idea why Forest would remove the ingredient that helps most patients utilize the thyroid powder. (plus allowing the FDA to make them re-cert!)
ASK YOUR COMPOUNDING pharmacist what their fillers are. If sugar or dextrose is not one of them, you may not have much luck with the med. I had no luck at all – it was worse than the new armour.
HOWEVER – you can open up the capsule (or crush the tablet) and mix the powder with a little sugar and water, and you may have a lot better results. I certainly did, and so are some of the folks on SaveNaturalThyroid yahoo groups.
Dextrose/sugar seems to be key. Good luck everyone!
I, too, am having allergic reactions to all the other thyroid meds and I want my Armour back! Let’s not just complain to each other. Contact the FDA Ombudsman and tell him your story. Ask him to allow Armour production to be restored while clinical trials are underway. Here is the contact information:
FDA Product Center OmbudsmEn
Drugs
Phone: (301) 796-3436
E-mail: cderombudsman@fda.hhs.gov
I was only diagnosed with an underactive thyroid in late 2009. My dr prescriped armour thyroid for me which I liked tremendously…then there was this shortage. Now I am taking generic synthroid and another pill that I am disappointed with taking. I started losing weight with the armour thyroid and with these other two pills I have gained almost all the weight back. I really hope they bring armour thyroid back very soon!
All, I have had hyperthyroid from childhood to early twenties, then hypothyroid kicked in. I went from 105 lbs in 1990 to 146 lbs in 1996 to 200 lbs pounds in 2001. I’ve tried all the synthetic thyroid and armour. I’ve had liposuction, spent thousands on a trainer, thousands on weight loss plans and tried all types of natural solutions. None of them worked! Finally I decided to go back to Armour thryoid for the last 4 years which made me feel better, but I did not loose weight and I continued to retain water and look bloated. When I took my last pill of Armour, I was like many of you who didn’t know what to do. I thought I would try compounded armour from a pharmacy in Dallas, Texas. Dougherty’s. I’ve taken the medication for 30 days and I’m back in clothes I worn in 1997. I’ve lost alot of weight. My complextion is clear, my skin is not murky, I’ve lost 3 inches in my waist and my feet do not look swollen. I don’t know what’s in the compounded armour, BUT, it has restored my health and look.
I think it is disgusting that we have to pay for compounded prescriptions that are not covered on our healthcare plans (in my case BC/BS of Oklahoma) when they are not available any other way. I have been taking Armour thyroid for over 10 years. Now that it is no longer available, my doctor tried to find an alternative to no avail. My dog takes a compounded thyroid medication that is cheaper than mine! I think this needs to be addressed to the insurance companies, as it obviously could impose serious health risks to all who are prescribed this medication and can no longer afford it.
You can get bio-idential armour thyroid made to any specific dosage from Hazel Drug in Hazelton, PA. Take a look at their website and have your Dr. Fax in a prescription. They have been in business over 100 years. Cost is reasonable.
My doctor has ordered a thyroid compound drug. Contact your doctors for a prescription compound drug. It may require a special pharmacy, and it is not cheap. My prescription is about $97/mo, but it’s better than sliding the slippery slope to illness.
Do they UNDERSTAND we are talking about people’s very lives here????????? This dely is very unacceptable and there seems to be an underlying situation here. Pigs die everyday, what’s the problem! This is an outrage, I’m watching my beautiful daughter slip away daily, get a heart Forrest Labs. and produce the pills or at the very least come clean with the REAL reason. From mothers everywhere.
You all are paying an awful lot of money for compounded armour. My ins. never covered armour to begin with ($10 a month) and now it still doesnt cover the compound version ($15 a month.)Thats 30 days worth and 90mg. I’m thinking someone is taking advantage of you, when I read your replies and thats toooo bad!
Shell – could you please give the name and location of the compound pharmacy that charges you only $15. We can order from there. A compound pharmacy doesn’t have to be in the area we live. Thanks.