This year, I went to another top hospital and they believed me and put me on Synthyroid. It did help initially until I got a reaction to it 3 weeks into it. Then I went to Armour (my Endo does presentations on behalf of Synthroid but he is great and does not force it on you – I am hoping he tells Abbott Labs [makers of Synth,] that many don’t have a choice and NEED Armour). Anyhow, 2 months on meds and my cholesterol went from 240 in May to 170 in July?! There was no change in diet or exercise. My Endo now believes my symptom complaints over the phone vs. having me take lab tests to believe me. He is even willing to write my a prescription for Thyroid meds from Canada (him being Canadian helps, but he knows I would use Synth IF it worked).
This is what I don’t get??!! I would happily use Synth IF it worked for ME. But it doesn’t. I am sooo exhausted looking for a replacement. Armour was AWESOME (I was on the new formula – imagine what the original one would have done form me). The Naturethroid did not work for me – the fatigue came back instantly. So pharma companies need to back off and let the patients decide what works for them. I do agree with many of you who think there is a conspiracy. Of ALL the meds I have taken through out my life, local drug stores have NEVER called me on why I have stopped taking something. Yes, wouldn’t you believe it, last week CVS called me as a “courtesy” to see why I have NOT filled my Synthroid medication. Do you think they called me about the Armour shortage and not being able to fill my future prescription?! Hell no!! I told the pharma asst. (not her fault, she is just the messenger and probably doesn’t know the whole controversy) that she needed to tell her bosses this was an inappropriate call and that the Armour filled AFTER Synth. was an obvious indication that Synth did NOT work for me. So, I DO believed Abbott is out to make money, I do think they want to bump off the competition and I do believe the drug retailers like Medco, CVS have been bought in. However, I think Forest changed the Armour formula for cost savings and it back fired. If you read about them in About.com, Forest has been in costly trouble with other drugs they make. I think Armour changes was a bad decision and now it has come under the FDA scrutiny. This is what I have concluded based on I what I have read.
Anyhow, I plan on calling the FDA tomorrow to let them know the ORIGINAL Armour works and they have millions of users to pick from for evidence. They need to focus on making Forest continue to produce the original drug. If anything, FDA needs to investigate why the aggressive push for Synth by drug retailers and doctors? Shouldn’t they be neutral? I am careful NOT to bash Synth as it works for the other half of hypo patients. I don’t want my experience to impact them. Anyhow, I wish you all best during this shortage. I NEVER thought in a million years I would be facing this once my diagnosis was correct. Part of me wants to cry and the other laughs about this irony…. 
Like many of you, I am fed up with 7 years of suffering from hypo symptoms and one year of Levothyroxine which is not working. I am descending down a slippery slope.
Is it possible to buy it off the Internet or from an ex-US manufacturer?
Thank you
Cathy
I’m not sure what your stand is on this? Are you angry with Forest because they aren’t knocking at your door to woo you? I understand that you are one of the best advocates for thyroid patients and it is greatly appreciated. However, for those of us who are grateful to have found Armour and quite frankly, are doing fine with it, it seems to me that you have a personal vendetta out to see the demise of Forest Labs, hence an end to Armour. After all, it was you who stated in your original website that it was Armour which gave you your life back. Armour has been around long before you ever came into the thyroid picture. Millions are still alive today because of the inception of Armour, when it was the only game in town. Long before Synthroid or any others for that matter. What is your agenda, if I might ask. Do you want Armour to go away? I’d just like a yes or no answer. Not seeking a debate.
(from Janie: huh??? Do you think I’d want Armour to go away when I need it as much as you? lol. Perhaps you are confusing my statement about Armour’s reformulation resulting in a medication that doesn’t work as well as it used to. So I’d strongly recommend you read more on this website, becuz you’ll find out a lot about me, which isn’t at all what you describe.)
]]>Perhaps it is to get all prescription drugs in the same “category” so-to-speak? Just wondering.
]]>My cousin is a top sales rep for Johnson and Johnson and he sells the One Touch Monitor for diabetics. He has told me some of the secrets of Big Pharma and how doctor’s get kickbacks for pushing certain medicines, etc. I have to say that Donna, Jay, Nancy and Siobhan are all correct, however, “S”, SAID IT ALL through and through!!!!!
hate to be consipiracy minded, but why do you think this shortage happened?? Was there REALLY a shortage or did the big pharma’s not like their loss in profit and lean on them to “CREATE” a shortage?? Why do you think the reformulation happened? To MAKE people sick so they would be FORCED to go back to synthetic crap like Synthroid!!
As the people above mentioned, especially “S” (Her post was right on!!) the FDA and government BOTH use direct and covert tactics and backdoor s**t to get their agendas pushed through. I think VERY SERIOUSLY, that the makers of Synthroid and the other ones the ENDO’s push didn’t like the fact they were losing money because people were leaving them and like any good “mob” style tactic they leaned on them etc.
Look at all the drugs like Vioxx and ALL kinds of other drugs that make MILLIONS (I’m being conservative here!) of dollars for the big pharma companies that kill people!! They get “PUSHED” through by the FDA “because the benefits outweigh the risks” My A** they do!! It’s ALL about profit!!
Why do you think this website was created?? Thank you Janie !! Because people were not being treated properly because “DOCTORS” are GOD and THEY know best (God forbid you question them or ask for something else they become so offended!) and people were tired of feeling like crap and decided I’m going the osteopathic way Holistic, alternative etc ) instead of allopathic medicine ENDO’s mainstream medical etc. Doctor’s that are alternative or an Osteopath treat people by symptoms as well as tests, but do not put LAB results before how the patient feels. My doctor is a real MD but decided to become more alternative because he saw how sick people were and how the drugs they were on were making them sicker. He does saliva testing, food allergy testing, etc etc and thinks the TSH is Bull***t!! He TRULY cares about his patients and thinks outside the box!!
However, he gets treated like a pariah by the mainstream medical community because he doesn’t do things “their way”. When he took the “Hippocratic Oath” HE MEANT IT, most doctors are “Hypocritical” with their oath or are so naive that they think they are doing the right thing. This, like so many other agendas will eventually get pushed through and our hands will be tied.
Maybe just maybe, I think that the GOOD doctors and all of us need to complain to the FDA and be assertive and proactive, maybe not aggressive like how I can be, but I’ve HAD to be because sometimes when they push you, YOU HAVE TO PUSH BACK HARDER!! Sometimes they listen sometimes they don’t, when they don’t I DROP THEM and fast!! Whether it’s the FDA, Big Pharma, the Government and our elected officials, they don’t care what WE want, they care about themselves and their agendas. Guiber_Garcia spoke the truth as well and was right on!!.
I understand Janie’s point though we need facts not negative speculation and the latter can backfire. If we all, including doctors in large numbers, complain and are assertive and firm, really firm, we might get somewhere. However, I’ve seen the money making machines get further than many voices, so be realistic but hopeful.
P.S. Why do they need clinical trials anyway, how about interviewing all of US and seeing our LABS and asking us how we feel on dessicated thyroid?? They don’t NEED to do clinical trials, there are millions of us that can give them all the info they need. “Choe stated that the FDA is very aware of problems with Armour and will be looking into that eventually.” Did you feel the smoke being blown up your a** cause I did!!!! Why do you think the problems with Armour happened in the first place?? It’s really NOT conspiracy minded to think this way, has anyone seen the movie OUTBREAK, this was based on true events with a little fiction thrown in. It’s true folks our government and the FDA are capable of these things, and are in this for the money not to make us healthier. Sickness/illness are BIG money makers, why would they want something to cure us, then their money goes bye bye, think about it.
]]>2.Even with the doc’s certificate it’s likely Armour production will be eradicted due to the huge costs involved, the big pharma interest is purely with synthetics and they have the money to do ‘research’ (cooking the books in fact is what they do).
The time of PASSIVE HOPE HAS PASSED, GET REAL EVERYONE, GET ACTIVE AND FIGHT FOR YOUR RIGHTS, THAT IS THE ONLY CHANCE WE HAVE NOW!
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(From Janie: I think I’m being misunderstood. We do have to fight. But to call for hope on my part was not also calling for passivity…because you are correct in your implication that we’d be eaten like a gazelle. I’ve been concerned about the “crowd mentality”, for lack of a better word, where the fear of one or two individuals based on speculation becomes blown into huge all-encompassing crowd fears that go in too many directions and become irrational panic–i.e. emotion and actions not based on facts of the moment, but emotion and actions driven by negative speculation. The latter can backfire; the former can be more productive. But that’s just my observation, and in no way do I disagree with you that we all have to be proactive in this. )
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