Being Jewish, dietary law, and using Armour
The following is written by thyroid patient and advocate Christina, who wanted to help those who are concerned about Armour being pork.
In April 2006, I started calling the wide variety of Jewish synagogues and Chabads here in Berkeley, California to ask about keeping Kosher and needing to take Armour natural desiccated thyroid.
In the Reformed denomination, there is no problem with eating pork as they aren’t required to keep Kosher (observe ancient dietary laws). The Conservative denominations said there wouldn’t likely be a problem - “particularly if Armour is needed to “save a life/mind.”
The very best help I got on the subject was from Orthodox Rabbi Silverman. He stated that if indeed Armour is unique and required to save a life or mind (and it is definitely a unique medication that works!), he could see two ways that it would be fine to take Armour. First, it must be swallowed and not taken sublingually. This way it doesn’t violate the Dietary Laws. Second, if it is necessary for saving a life/mind, this always takes precedence. He suggested to talk this over with your own rabbinical authorities, but he said he’d be happy to talk with any Jewish people who are concerned about this.
Then the good rabbi blessed all of our efforts to help people.
This discussion doesn’t cover people who are vegetarian although I think that if Kosher Dietary Law can be accommodated, that vegetarians might have some basis to reconsider taking Armour.
Also, this doesn’t address allergy to pork. IMHO, allergies are related to chronic hypoadrenal issues as well as leaky gut which has a number of proposed etiological factors. My guess is if your adrenals are well supported, a trial of Armour is worth a try, regardless.
So now we have a good answer from the Orthodox rabbi that swallowing Armour circumvents Dietary Law (he used words like Haruchuch [or halachah] and Kashrut if that helps anyone…)
Hope this helps. Shalom!!
Christina
**To read about being a Vegetarian or Vegan and thyroid treatment, go here.
**To order a bovine over-the-counter desiccated thyroid, go here. They are far weaker than Armour and other prescription meds, and one bottle may be different in potency from another, but might do in a pinch if you take enough.
This bible of hypothyroid treatment contains most everything you will find on this site, plus a whole lot more, including a chapter on T3, an explosive doctor chapter, historical information on desiccated thyroid as well as T4, an entire chapter on the TSH (Thyroid Stimulating Hooey), how to interpret your cortisol labs, extra details in two adrenal chapters, and more!
You can order the book from the publishing website here:
www.laughinggrapepublishing.com
