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One of the most frequently prescribed medications in the pharmacy is thyroid hormone. At last count, drugstores filled nearly 100 million prescriptions for thyroid hormone in 2008. But people taking a natural form of thyroid hormone are distressed because their medication has disappeared from pharmacy shelves.
No one knows why so many people suffer from sluggish thyroid glands. Symptoms include fatigue, constipation, dry skin, lowered libido, brittle fingernails, high cholesterol, depression and hair loss.
Physicians have been using desiccated (dried) thyroid medicinally for more than 100 years. Armour thyroid got a head start because the company had access to thyroid glands from animals slaughtered for meat.
In the mid-20th century, synthetic thyroid hormone (levothyroxine, also known as T4) became available under the brand name Synthroid. This product was promoted as a modern treatment for hypothyroidism, and it dominated the market for the next several decades. Now that generic levothyroxine is available, doctors prescribe it more often than any of the brands.
Desiccated thyroid, however, has its strong supporters. For years there has been a controversy about the benefits and risks of natural thyroid hormone compared to synthetic levothyroxine.
While most hypothyroid people do well on levothyroxine, there has always been a minority that feels better while taking a mixture of hormones (T4 plus T3) found in natural products such as Armour, Nature-Throid or WesThroid. In recent years, this option has become increasingly popular, but many endocrinologists feel that it is antiquated and varies too much from one batch to the next.
The big mystery of the moment is why desiccated thyroid products are becoming hard to find. We have heard from dozens of readers like this one: "I'm unable to get Armour thyroid. Everyone says it's unavailable at this time. It is the only thing that helps me feel good, so I am beginning to feel desperate. Is there an alternative?"
The disappearing act seems to be a tale of woe and intrigue. The manufacturers tell us that there is a shortage of raw material. It is not clear why that would be the case, nor when the shortage might ease. There are rumors that the FDA would like to eliminate natural thyroid, but an agency spokeswoman denied this.
In the meantime, hundreds of thousands of desperate patients are looking for options. Thyroid patient advocate Mary Shomon (SaveNaturalThyroid.com) has found several possibilities. Desiccated thyroid is sold in Canada as Thyroid, manufactured by Erfa Canada, Inc. Another alternative might be to look for a compounding pharmacy. Finally, a combination of synthetic T4 (levothyroxine) and T3 (liothyronine, brand name Cytomel) might be the right choice for some people.
For more information about treating thyroid disorders, we offer our Guide to Thyroid Hormones.
My wife has been on thyroid for 50 years. The first few years her body just didn't function as it should and it was a constant battle of physical and emotional ups and downs. A fellow worker recommended a doctor that specialized in thyroid problems. After trying several different treatments, my wife was switched from synthetic thyroid to natural thyroid (Armor). After several weeks her physical and emotional problems dissipated and for the next 30+ years she functioned as a normal person.
The doctor stated that she was on thyroid permanently (doctors tried to take her off thyroid) and to not go back to synthetic thyroid. So for thirty years natural thyroid has worked for her.
Now the FDA has shut down one natural thyroid manufacturer (Time-Cap Labs) declaring that they are making an unapproved drug causing the other manufacturer (RLC Labs) to stop production. After 100 years of successful use of natural thyroid this item is unapproved?
So now what we do? Do I allow my wife to digress back to her former physical and mental problems taking synthetic thyroid or maybe the FDA would rather just let her die without any thyroid?
I suggest that you contact Erfa Canada. I have been on Armour thyroid since 1956 (when I had thyroid cancer as a teenager). I did try Synthroid at the urging of an endocrinologist in the early 90's (he said Armour would cause osteoporosis and I am at risk as a petite woman and my mother has it). I felt horrible on Synthroid and blood tests showed too low t4 and almost no t3. My family doctor took one look at me after I had been on Synthroid for about 7 weeks and immediately put me back on Armour.
When I went to refill my Armour prescription (90 days) in early September my pharmacy had almost none but didn't know why. I then researched it on the net and read a great deal about the situation. My pharmacy did give me the last they had which was a one week supply. It was the new Armour formulation which did not smell. I would not take Armour again unless they go back to the older formulation as I have read too many comments about how the new formulation doesn't work any better than Synthroid. Dessicated thyroid tablets are supposed to stink.
I followed the instructions at the Erfa site and I now have an 8 month supply of their thyroid. It stinks exactly the same as the old Armour formulation. I've been on it for a month now and after two more weeks will do blood tests. I feel fine. I feel just as I have all these years on Armour. Since it takes about a month for what is stored in the body to be depleted, I suppose it is possible I will start feeling awful in another week or so (hence the wait to do blood tests) but I don't think that will happen. When I tried the Synthroid, I started to feel awful after about two weeks and at a month I was feeling depressed, weird (not myself anymore), tired and I had a flat affect.
When I got my Erfa thyroid, I had to get my physician to fill out a new drug study application form for the FDA but Erfa now has someone on their staff whom they hired recently to do that paperwork. Erfa is preparing for a NDA with the FDA for their thyroid to eventually be sold in the USA. Their medical director said all of us getting their thyroid would become drug study patients and that means the FDA will let us continue to obtain it from Canada even if the FDA shuts down Armour thyroid or Forest decides to stop production. Don't hesitate to call Erfa if you have questions. They have a toll free number and also a thyroid patient's web forum. The Erfa formula has a higher temperature storage than Armour and a much longer shelf life.
http://thyroid.erfa.net/index.php/en/component/content/article/1-latest-news/7-steps-to-fill-in-a-prescription-for-thyroid-outside-of-canada.html
I too am missing my Armour thyroid and currently taking synthroid which I don't like - I seem to need the combination, so I shall ask the doc for Cytomil next time I see. Thanks for the information. It was a great help.
This is a great information site for Natural Thyroid news.
http://www.savenaturalthyroid.com/
I buy Armour Thyroid from Ralphs (Kroger) pharmacy. My Medicare RX plan does not cover it but the price is cheap enough outside of the plan. Could it be that drug companies would like to see this cheap alternative disappear?
I too have been taking Armour Thyroid along with Levothyroxine for years. I now have a compounding pharmacist at one of the major pharmacys that puts together the Armour Thyroid for me. As long as he can get the ingredients I am OK. This article has been a great help. I too have tried going without the Armour Thyroid and felt really bad doing so. Thanks for the info.
I cannot understand why people don't know why they become hypothyroid. How old are they?
Did they have treatment in the 1950's for acne? They laid me under an x-ray machine, put a rubber mat over my chest, turned the machine on and walked off. After what seemed like a really long time (I was 14) they came back, turned off the machine and I went home. After months of this, the doctor terminated the treatments. In 1993, I became hypothyroid. This year, I have begun to have
basal cell carcinomas on my face. I have had five Mohs surgeries with reconstructions the day after. Who knew?
I have been on Thyrolar two 1/2 tabs for about 4 years. Forrest Pharmaceuticals who make Armour Thyroid make this drug also. It has also disappeared along with Armour. It is the only thyroid drug that kept my hair from falling out. It even fell out when I tried Armour Thyroid.
It is now fallling out as if I were a cancer patient. I was told by Forrest Pharmaceuticals that the U. S. Pharmacopeia shut the production down of these two drugs. If I could let those people see my hair which is now in a plastic bag, maybe they would not be so hasty to ruin peoples lives. I suppose this organization is taking their time to oversee the retooling of Forrest so that they can again manufacture these drugs. I wish they would all lose their hair. Maybe they would do better for us.
I am on Cytomel which is not helping. Please give me my Thyrolar back. Please. Could you advise me if the drug Thyrolar is available in Canada in 1/2 tab strength. Thank you.
PEOPLE'S PHARMACY RESPONSE: THE US PHARMACOPEIA PROVIDES STANDARDS FOR MANUFACTURERS. IT DOES NOT SHUT COMPANIES DOWN. AS SOON AS WE LEARN WHAT IS BEHIND THE SHORTAGE, WE WILL LET YOU KNOW.
I get my Erfa Thyroid from Universal Drug Store in Canada. So far, they are the least expensive to buy from. I started getting it there when I could no longer get it in the USA. I cannot take synthroid--it makes my heart skip every other beat and that starts after only a day or two on synthroid. I used to take Armour, but when they changed the formula it quit working as well for me.
When I was in the hospital recently, even their pharmacy could not obtain thyroid anywhere. I brought in my own and then they had the nurse give it to me (strange, I know). It is just too crazy for such an innocuous medication as thyroid to go off the market!
I, like many others, have been on the natural thyroid for about 6 months.. I finally felt normal and then, wham! It's gone.
Now, while I support the FDA inasmuch as it is supposed to protect us. I think any drug that has been used successfully for over 50 years should be AUTOMATICALLY approved and not just taken off the market in a blink of the eye.
I have found that no matter what the problem with the government, the squeaky wheel gets the grease. So, the answer is to write, phone, complain to the FDA, your congressman or woman.. whomever will listen or read what you write.. In other words.. Protest!
Seems to me there should be some kind of grandfather clause, even with medications.
Unless there is a huge outcry of the meds making people sick.. someone dying, etc.
But, then, that's logical.. not governmental!