Combined T4/T3 Therapy: Placebo or Tomato?

Armour Thyroid, one of many combination T4/T3 medications has been available for over 100 years. There is no patent protection for Armour Thyroid and there are many competing T4/T3 brands as well as generic versions of Armour available on the market. There are no “new” studies comparing Armour Thyroid to other thyroid medications. There are no journal, magazine or television advertisements regarding this therapeutic option. There are no sales representatives calling on physicians to prescribe Armour Thyroid. Is it any wonder that combination T4/T3 therapy has fallen out of favor?

FINAL THOUGHTS

For many reasons, these two studies should not close the door on combination T4/T3 therapy in the treatment of hypothyroidism. It is near impossible to prove a contrapositive statement such as “Combination T4/T3 therapy never works better than T4 therapy alone.” As Richard and Karilee Shames state in their book, Thyroid Power, thyroid hormone therapy is highly individual. Some patients will respond best to one therapy while others will respond better to another. Though combination therapy patients in these two studies may not have done better than those taking T4, they did not do appreciably worse either. As long as combination T4/T3 therapy appears to be well tolerated (and desired) in my patient population, I will continue to prescribe it along with the other therapeutic options that are available.

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Dr. Kenneth Woliner is a board-certified family physician in private practice in Boca Raton. Though he often recommends vitamin supplements, he does not sell them due to conflict of interest concerns. He can be reached at Holistic Family Medicine, 2499 Glades Road #106A, Boca Raton, FL 33431; 561-620-7779; Email: knw6@cornell.edu

Reprinted by permission. This article originally published online.

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