Readers Respond: What Stories Do You Think Were Most Important to Thyroid Patients?

Responses: 24

By Mary Shomon, About.com Guide

Updated December 29, 2009

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(1) How has the Armour thyroid formula changed? (2) Why cannot any form of Armour thyroid be obtained in drug stores?
—Guest DEREK Spark MD

I can't believe the shortage/lack/backorder of Armour Thyroid and I can't believe that it can be allowed to continued. Aren't there politicians or lobbyists or somebody who can get to the bottom of this? Is Forest Labs working some deal with Synthroid to foist patients onto that method? Is there a shortage of raw product (i.e. porcine material...? I doubt it)... I can't believe the pharmacists have no clue, the distributors have no clue... this is really outrageous.
—Guest mary anne

This was a great synopsis. I've been on thyroid replacement for 2 years and a lot of suffering could have been avoided if I'd started 2 years before that. My TSH levels are still a moving target. I wish there were a simple blood test patients could do at home like diabetes patients do to check blood sugar. Changing the dose and waiting 6 weeks to retest is tiresome when you have symptoms. I also wish doctors would actually consider changing the dose when a patient has thyroid symptoms even when TSH is in the "normal" range. Duh!!! I have thyroid symptoms can we please change the dose? The acceptable range is huge, I can still be in that range at a different dose and maybe I'll feel better. This has proved to be the case.
—Guest meadow

It is my TSH and I'll keep it where I want it! With 5/6 of my immedate ancestors dead of cardiovascular disease, and having a blood pressure very sensitive to TSH I want my TSH between .4 and 1.2 (the bottom third of the smaller range). If you as my doctor can't live with this, you can live without my money and I will find a doctor who will comply. What I am wondering about is is there any predjuice toward keeping TSH at the upper end of the scale, and minimizing the dose. I'm not sure I care (given my history) but there may be an argument, but I've never heard it. And please don't whine if your doctor doesn't know what he's doing. As informed consumer you can always dump him and get another.
—Guest Edward Wilson

I think that Synthroid might have been quietly reformulated (perhaps the fillers that affect the timing and absorption were changed). I was not fine on Synthroid, but my doctor wouldn't consider a natural thyroid product. My numbers would always come back as irregular, and my doctor would always query me to make sure I wasn't taking generic (no, the pharmacy always filled his rx as written for Synthroid). Suddenly in May/June 2009, after having a new rx filled for Synthroid, I started to feel better. This has continued, much to my relief, but I am usually so much worse in winter. We'll see what the colder months bring. It is my belief that due to the controversy surrounding the natural thyroid drugs and the shortages and seeming removal from the market, the manufacturer of synthroid might have taken preemptive action to standardize its formula to avoid the same scrutiny by the FDA.
—Guest Brenda R

As a thyroid cancer patient, the most important thing I think of is Thyrogen. It allows cancer patients to remain on thyroid meds while having scans and treatments for cancer.
—annbrad4d

To me, the most important story of the decade is that Armour Thyroid changed its formula and that so many people suffered because of it. As a 54 year user of Armour, I feel very ambivalent at this time. I'm sad that the drug which I thought would be there for me for the rest of my life isn't going to be (at least not in the form where I can take it and be helped.) I'm also angry: angry at Forest Labs for changing a medication that worked so well for me and angry about the months of abdominal discomfort and fatigue which I experienced while taking the "new Armour."
—Guest Joy Squilanti

Wow! You really did capture the 10 top thyroid stories of the decade. This was a great article! We truly have come a long way - but with still a ways to go. I thank you for all you do for helping us on this thyroidal journey!
—Guest CindiS

To me, the fact that I can't get the thyroid medication I need to survive -- Armour Thyroid -- is the top story. Why the FDA and the pharmacies and drug companies and everyone else seems to be getting involved in all this and messing things up, so that patients like me can't get our medication -- and believe me, my health FALLS APART on Synthroid -- is just mind-boggling. We've come so far, and yet we have so far left to go.
—Guest Evelyn R.

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