Comments on: Why the party is over with Forest Pharmaceuticals, the makers of Armour

By: Noreen

Noreen — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 02:22:13 +0000

In early 2008 I was doing so well on Armour Thyroid that for the 1st time in many years (since Proloid) I was able to throw away the many drugs I was on for the many chronic hypothyroid symptoms that both Levoxyl AND Synthroid (and probably levothyroxin) had caused despite my taking the drugs properly and diligently. Then in the summer of 2008 my good life reversed and I have not been able to get stable regardless of all my efforts. I am now forced to go back to Levothyroxin until I can (hopefully) get an Rx for Efra, the Armour equivalent, from Canada. This is terribly devastating to persons like me born without a thyroid and we ALL need the hormones T1 and T2 and calcitonin which NONE of the synthetics have. So I am making a complaint to the FDA against Forest Pharamaceuticals for this formulary disaster and trust me folks they know what they have done.

By: ba

ba — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 18:50:56 +0000

Got a bottle of 500 tabs, 1 grain, from Erfa at the end of last summer, $100 delivered to US. Erfa’s 500 tab bottle is now only available special order from inside Canada. Erfa now only offers 100 tab bottles at $39 plus shipping. Wife picked up Thyroid-S on Bangkok tour, $18 for 1000 tab bottles, but still using the opened Erfa bottle. Thanks STTM, with the money saved, we bought the book. Down with the corrupt and dangerously reckless FDA. Would appreciate if anyone has practical experience or historical tech literature with freezing vs refrigeration + desiccant.

By: Angel

Angel — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:13:42 +0000

I began taking Armour in Dec. 08. Apparently my pharmacy had some of the “old” Armour around, because that’s what I took through July 09, and it worked great!! I was thrilled to have a non-synthetic option. Then I received my August refill…The taste was off; chalky instead of what had been sweet on contact. Hhmmmm…I thought, this is different! Well – it was more than the taste that was different!! Steadily my hypothyroid symptoms returned and by mid-Oct. my resting temps. were around 95.5 and only got up to a high of 96.8 the whole month. My limbs felt like they were filled with lead with the slightest bit of exercise. I called my ingerative medicine doctor. I found Thyroid, available through ERFA thyroid in Cananda and my doc wrote a new prescription. It’s supposed to be the same formula as the OLD Armour. It’s on it’s way right now…I’ll let you know how it goes.

You can look up http://www.northwestpharmacy.com/ProductSearch.aspx?mid=acdcd670377741c3842c3c7d128fc503&s=thyroid

http://thyroid.erfa.net/distribution/

By: Liz

Liz — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 20:59:10 +0000

I didn’t realize there was a reformulated Armour until I was so ill I couldn’t get out of bed. I had my thyroid removed due to a severe case of Hashimotos. My thyroid was literally shrinking around my throat and choking me until I passed out. Of course as usual, like everyone else I was told in was all in my head and I lived like that for 4 years. I finally took matters into my own hands, got on the internet, found out what was wrong, and insisted on Armour. It took almost a year to level out, but I was not passing out anymore.
I have literally gone into 3 pharmacys crying, begging and asking for answers. I have been taking the new formulated Armour, swallowing it, throughout the day. I started uping my dose and so far that is working. I got up to 4 grains when on the original Armour I only needed 2. I am now cutting back to 3 as 4 was getting me to jumpy.
My therapist was the one that suggested I try to increase my dose. Her and my thyroid Dr. are very worried about this whole Armour situation. No one is telling the truth and my medical Drs. just really don’t know what to do. This is just horrible. I read a lot of these comments and one lady said there was a lot of people that commented that they took their Armour sublingually. I never did. I make sure I don’t do coffee in the morning anymore since it is acidic and could disrupt the Armour in my stomach. That made a difference for me.
Well, I wish everyone good luck. Keep posting as we really need each other since western Medicine is so blind do our situation.

By: kay_tee_did

kay_tee_did — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 20:52:18 +0000

I have been on .5 Armour for years and had been doing great. I get a 90 day supply at a time. Since the last refill I have had the hypo symtoms return with a vengeance, plus some pretty intense new ones so I thought I needed to have my levels raised. Then when I tried to do a refill I was told by several pharmacies that it was no longer available. I started researching to see what I could do and discovered the reformulations and concluded that I probably didn’t need the raise so much as I needed the old formula-the new one does not work at all for me and I was on it for 3 months while my body was reeling from it. I have a two week supply of naturthroid from my Dr. and am now required to go in for an office visit. Since she only ordered the THS, no frees, this will be a pointless visit unless I can encourage her to write my prescription for Naturthroid. Thank you so much for all the information.

By: Fluxnull

Fluxnull — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 16:55:28 +0000

800-678-1605 ext 66297

This comes directly from Forest Pharmaceuticals per my conversation with them on 09/11/2009 During last year(2008) Forest Pharmaceuticals was working on the reformulation and the newer product was first released and available around March or April of 2009 depending on the grain size. The reformulation was done because of the design decision to update some of the older technology involved in the creation of Armour.

I asked him what the changes were made in the new formulation.

He stated that the there has been no changes to the active ingredient. The chemical changes that have been made are as follows to the inactive ingredients.

Decreased the amount of dextrose
Increased the amount of micro crystalline cellulose

I asked if there was any reason why people have been claiming that they have seen their symptoms returning?
He answered that no he was unaware of any reason why this would be occurring.

I requested if he had any suggestion for alternatives to the Armour?

He said that there isn’t really any available dessicated alternative currently for the following reason. There is lack of supply from the distributor of the dessicated Thyroid gland(American Laboratories) they cannot fulfill the current demands due to recent increases in demand on the available supply. Therefore as a result all manufactures of dessicated Thyroid products will have or do have shortages of the active ingredient (dessicated Thyroid gland powder) They are however in the process of trying to increase the available supply to meet the demands.

By: Terry

Terry — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 04:40:09 +0000

Glad to find a site where people are sharing their knowledge and experiences of natural thyroid medications. I have been taking Armour for 24 years. Started with synthetic versions but was having adverse reactions to them. Tried Armour, what a blessing! For the past 6-9 months I have been having old sensations but never questioned the Armour as being the problem (remember 24 satisfied years). This area of the country has stopped aquiring 90 and currently only get 120 and I was informed tonight the entire product line was ending. Oh no! Didn’t beleive the pharmist so I went to several other pharmacys. I did get the last 23 pills of Armour 90 in the county. So now I too am trying to find another natural medication to replace it. Does anyone know if the Swine flu may be having an affect on the slow down of production? Or do you think this is like OPEC and the companies are going to use the Swine flu so they will be able to say there is a shortage so they can raise the price? It is the most inexpensive medicine I have ever taken. Guess after reading all your comments I will be trying Nature thyroid. Thank you for all the hyper-links. Or are they hypo-links?

By: Cindy W.

Cindy W. — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 10:47:39 +0000

I can’t believe this….like everyone else i was really starting to get my life back and WHAM had gotten a new bottle of pills and noticed the difference with the pills right away and things have gone downhill ever since..wasn’t able to put 2+2 together until i came back to this sight yesterday (had been away from it awhile as i was feeling pretty good). Trying now to get changed over to something else and see if i can climb out of this funk.

By: pam

pam — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 18:52:47 +0000

About a month ago I couldn’t get my armour refilled at CVS, so I called Walgreens…they filled it but the consistency was such that when I cut pill in 1/2 it disinegrated. Also, I’ve been feeling like I “hit the wall” way too often. Can’t hold my eyes open, NO energy etc. The worst thing is that when I got off synthroid and began armour, my blood pressure returned to normal and I was able to get off meds…well it’s back. Normally I take BP after the treadmill and it’s normal…yesterday it was 167/107!!!!!!!!Today I called cvs and they have a new supply. I am hopeful and will ask what brand it is. I will let you know in case anyone else has similar experiences.

By: Chrissie

Chrissie — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 21:43:23 +0000

Has anyone definitely tried the new compound, but taking the tablets orally and not under the tongue? And have they definitely had problems? Everyone complaining seems to take their tablets under the tongue and I wonder whether (and hope) that the compound is perhaps aimed at improving digestion losses. but that perhaps one of the results of this is that it is no good unless you swallow the tablets now – ie it is not appropriate to take it under the tongue anymore?
I’m probably paranoid but I can definitely imagine that a ban on Armour could be in Forest’s favour, as the artificial alternatives that they make are cheaper and more profitable, and easier to make, with unlikely shortage problems, so they are less hassle, ie they would probably love to drop Armour and concentrate on the alternative products? The quickest way to do this is to meddle and make Armour lose it’s grandfathered status!