westhroid tags

Unfor­tu­na­tely, patients who want to switch to desic­ca­ted thy­roid from T4-only meds like Synth­roid et al, or those already on desic­ca­ted thy­roid who want to fill their next presc­rip­tion, are going to find it dif­fi­cult. There are wides­pread shor­ta­ges in desic­ca­ted thy­roid like Armour, Natu­reth­roid and Westh­roid. (see my posts below).

But there’s good news, and it comes in the form of “Thy­roid”  by Erfa.

Erfa’s “Thy­roid”  is an exce­llent natu­ral desic­ca­ted thy­roid pro­duct accor­ding to the expe­rience of patients who use it. It contains:

• Dried Thy­roid
• Mag­ne­sium Stearate
• Corns­tarch
• Talc
• Sugar

**Note the “sugar”. Patients also report they are able to do this brand of medi­ca­tion sublin­gually! That is good news.

The Erfa web­site sta­tes you can obtain their desic­ca­ted thy­roid medi­ca­tion outside of Canada via a spe­cial access pro­gram and follow their steps:

For patients outside Canada and the US:

For patients in the US:

1. get a valid presc­rip­tion of Thy­roid from your local doc­tor
2. your doc­tor has to fill FDA form 1572 (e-mail us a request at info@ERFA.net
3. Fax or e-mail us the docu­ments at 1 – 514-931‑7330 or info@ERFA.net

Thank you Erfa from Stop the Thy­roid Mad­ness and thy­roid patients all over the world who KNOW what a supe­rior treat­ment desic­ca­ted thy­roid really is!

Nume­rous and ongoing com­ments to my blog posts below about the newly for­mu­la­ted Armour are shoc­king and despairing.

Addi­tio­nally, thy­roid patients are crying out about the loss of being able to do Armour sublin­gually. (Was Forest Labs not paying one hoot of atten­tion to thy­roid patients the last few years in their praise of Armour because of it’s sublin­gual effec­ti­ve­ness??) Sublin­gual admi­nis­tra­tion was a god­send for thy­roid patients who had diges­tive issues, inc­lu­ding glu­ten into­le­rance and Celiac, as well as those who nee­ded to take iron tablets (which you can’t do at the same time as you swa­llow desic­ca­ted thy­roid, but could do with taking Armour subingually)

So how in the world did Forest Labs get away with refor­mu­la­ting and pro­du­cing a pro­duct that so many patients are repor­ting to be problematic?

It’s not FDA appro­ved. As many of you may know, Armour desic­ca­ted thy­roid, even when it was pro­du­ced by a phar­ma­ceu­ti­cal other than Forest Labs, was around far before the FDA (Fede­ral Drug Admi­nis­tra­tion) came into being in 1938.  That’s why it does not have the desig­na­tion of  “FDA appro­ved” as do those drugs which were crea­ted after the FDA exis­ted. It’s called an unap­pro­ved drug, but Armour was pre­su­med to be safe and effec­tive already.

From the FDA: Under the 1938 grand­father clause (see 21 U.S.C. 321℗(1)), a drug pro­duct that was on the mar­ket prior to pas­sage of the 1938 Act and which con­tai­ned in its labe­ling the same repre­sen­ta­tions con­cer­ning the con­di­tions of use as it did prior to pas­sage of that Act was not con­si­de­red a new drug and the­re­fore was exempt from the requi­re­ment of having an appro­ved new drug application.

Because it’s not “FDA-approved”, it does not have an NDA, aka New Drug Appli­ca­tion. An NDA is used by the FDA to esta­blish if the phar­ma­ceu­ti­cal pro­duct is safe,  EFFECTIVE, more bene­fi­cial than side effects, and has in-house  “con­trols” which main­tain the qua­lity, strength and purity of the pro­duct. (Thanks to “Ben” the phar­ma­cist for remin­ding me of this.)

So…without that NDA, Forest Labs is, and has been, on their own, inc­lu­ding with the latest intro­duc­tion of a newly for­mu­la­ted Armour. So you might say, WE as patients were the gui­nea pigs.  And sadly, we’ve been squea­ling and it’s a muddy picture.

The most impor­tant fact to state: USP (Uni­ted Sta­tes Phar­ma­co­peia) desic­ca­ted thy­roid is an effec­tive and impor­tant drug which is chan­ging the lives of a huge and gro­wing body of indi­vi­duals around the world. That was evi­dent before Armour was refor­mu­la­ted, and is still evi­dent with pro­ducts like Natu­reth­roid or Westh­roid, which many patients are switching to.  See my blog post about Natu­reth­roid here, plus RLC Labs com­ment about Natu­reth­roid here.

But something has gone terribly wrong with the refor­mu­la­tion of Armour, and patients appear to be lea­ving it behind in the dust in favor of another great and effec­tive brand like Natu­reth­roid. And whether it’s the fillers are not, Forest needs to take a new look at their refor­mu­la­tion of what was once a GOOD pro­duct, and hope­fully this time, LISTEN TO PATIENTS.

*Want to be infor­med of these impor­tant blog posts? Curious what’s on Janie’s mind? Just use the Noti­fi­ca­tions to the left and below the links.

*SALE! Stop the Thy­roid Mad­ness T-shirts are now 50% off just because I like sales. A great way to spread the word about our patient revo­lu­tion for the supe­rio­rity of desic­ca­ted thy­roid over T4-only meds. You’ll also see funny bum­per stic­kers. Also…when you order the STTM book and request it (i.e. you have to request it),  you get a Cal­vin peeing on….(you’ll see) bum­per stic­ker for FREE, and it’s a hoot.

With so many folks repor­ting pro­blems with the newly-formulated Armour, there is a gro­wing body of indi­vi­duals sta­ting they are switching to Natu­reth­roid by RLC Labs (for­merly Wes­tern Research), another presc­rip­tion brand of desic­ca­ted thy­roid.  Here is info to carry with you if you switch:

1) Natu­reth­roid has a coa­ting on the outside, and some patients state they bite on the pill to remove the coa­ting, and still try to do it sublin­gually. No sugar, but some are determined.

2) One grain of Natu­reth­roid is 65 mg rather than the 60 mg that Armour users have been used to. Two grains are 130 mgs, etc. (One grain is actually 64.8 but it’s easier to round it up). Strengths are 1/4, 1/2, one grain, two grains, three grains.

3) The makers of Natu­reth­roid will be crea­ting a 1 1/2 grain tablet by next year to add to the sizes they currently have. Other sizes are in the works, as well.

4) Ingre­dients are:

• Por­cine Thy­roid Pow­der, U.S. Pharmacopeia
• Mic­rocrys­ta­lline Cellulose
• Dical­cium Phosphate
• Sodium Starch Glycolate
• Mag­ne­sium Stearate
• Hydroxy­propyl Methylcellulose
• Stea­ric Acid
• Car­nauba Wax
• Pol­yethy­lene Glycol

5) Natu­reth­roid uses the same USP thy­roid pow­der as any good desic­ca­ted thy­roid pro­duct — it “adhe­res to full phar­ma­ceu­ti­cal purity and stan­dar­di­za­tion on the con­sis­tency of the hor­mo­nes along with full pre-and-post tes­ting pro­ce­du­res asso­cia­ted with qua­lity presc­rip­tion products.”

6) RLC Labs is a small and friendly phar­ma­ceu­ti­cal com­pany, and you are going to see impro­ve­ments to their web­site coming.

7) Twit­ter has a new Nature Throid website.

8 ) RLC labs also dis­tri­bu­tes Westh­roid, which is iden­ti­cal and mostly used by vete­ri­na­rians.  There won’t be newly-created strengths for Westh­roid as there will be for Naturethroid.

9) When switching, you will have to figure out if you need to be on a simi­lar amount as before, or a dif­fe­rent amount, accor­ding to symptoms.

10) And finally, it’s been around since the 1930’s – another tried and true desic­ca­ted thy­roid product!

*From the UK? The Royal College of Phy­si­cians isn’t too smart.  See below.  And for other still-very-relevant posts, scroll down.

*Want to be infor­med of my blog posts? Curious what’s on my mind? Use the Noti­fi­ca­tions on the lower left of the links.

In 2002, when I first got on desic­ca­ted thy­roid and it abso­lu­tely chan­ged my life, it hap­pe­ned to be the brand name called Armour by Forest Phar­ma­ceu­ti­cals.  And I swoo­ned.  You could do it sublin­gually (even if it wasn’t made that way), and I prai­sed Armour for that. So did other patients after we spread the word on patient groups, on the STTM web­site and in the Stop the Thy­roid Mad­ness book.

My fond­ness for Armour did not take away my prai­ses for other presc­rip­tion brands, though, inc­lu­ding Natu­reth­roid or Westh­roid by RLC Labs.  I simply made a doe-eyed com­mit­ment to Armour for my per­so­nal treat­ment because you could do it sublin­gually. I have also used the name “Armour” interchan­geably to repre­sent all good desic­ca­ted thy­roid products.

But because of a suc­ces­sion of three events, I think it’s time to give back my going-steady ring.

The first blow to my romance with Armour cen­te­red around the extreme tight-lipped sec­recy from Forest when the refor­mu­la­tion of Armour began. We can sur­mise the trou­ble begin in 2007 when patients were fin­ding Armour in the lar­ger sizes to be sud­denly inef­fec­tive.  For the entire year of 2008, sup­plies were extre­mely limi­ted and only the one grain size or lower could be found, if at all.  Patients were worried and unhappy.  I even sup­por­ted Forest in my blog posts, assu­ring patients that everything would be fine.  But Forest said prac­ti­cally nothing. Why was and is Forest mum about why this was happening ?

The second blow to our courtship was the change to the “refor­mu­la­ted” Armour. Sud­denly, patients find that doing Armour sublin­gually was a thing of the past. Now all we get is a never-ending chalky pasty resi­due.  Addi­tio­nally, many patients have been repor­ting that the amount of Armour that once remo­ved all symp­toms, was now brin­ging them back.  Huh?? In spite of an appa­rent draw­back in some batches in 2007, why would Forest take an effec­tive pro­duct and change it?

And the third and final straw to my affair of the heart? I made a phone call to Forest using the same 800 num­ber you all can use. That was Tues­day, May 5^th. My intent was to ask about the word anhy­drous which is now after the ingre­dient dex­trose in the Armour ingre­dients lis­ting. (It means that all mois­ture has been with­drawn, but I wan­ted to con­firm the details for the brands page.)  When I reached the repre­sen­ta­tive for Forest, and after she asked my name and I gave it (oops),  the tune of the con­ver­sa­tion chan­ged.  She said she could not ans­wer my ques­tion since I own a public web­site, and would have to inform the “Media group” from Forest, and they would call me back. When I asked when, the ans­wer was a vague as Synth­roid is in trea­ting hypothy­roi­dism i.e. she didn’t know. I even called back the next day to get the same drib­ble.   Why have repre­sen­ta­ti­ves on the Forest hot­line been ins­truc­ted not to ans­wer a sim­ple ques­tion from someone like myself,  and I still have not recei­ved a phone call from Forest?

Sob.  Yup, brea­king up is hard to do, but a gal can only take so much strange betra­yal, tight-lipped silence…and igno­ring a sim­ple ques­tion from someone who has done a LOT to put money in their poc­kets out of extreme gra­ti­tude. Besi­des, there’s another phar­ma­ceu­ti­cal cour­ting me at my door:  RLC Labs. Thank good­ness there are other fish in the sea.

As the “newly” for­mu­la­ted Armour desic­ca­ted thy­roid pills, made by Forest Pharmaceuticals/Laboratories, have been hit­ting the mar­ket, so are com­ments coming out from some thy­roid patients…and they are not in the least complimentary.

The rea­son that Armour had been favo­red by so many thy­roid patients among all the desic­ca­ted thy­roid brands is the abi­lity to take it sublin­gually.  Sure, Armour was never offi­cially made to be taken sublin­gually, but it worked.

Sublin­gual refers to the admi­nis­tra­tion of a medi­ca­tion via the millions of tiny capi­lla­ries that line your mouth and mucous mem­brane. The pill was pla­ced under the ton­gue and allo­wed to dis­solve – most of it ente­ring the body directly via your sublin­gual glands, and only a small amount swallowed.

Some patients who switched from swa­llo­wing to sublin­gual noti­ced the dif­fe­rence, too.

But the beauty of sublin­gual has gone even farther than noti­cing anything dif­fe­rent. First, it was always a known “baddy” to swa­llow any pills that might con­tain iron, estro­gen or cal­cium at the same time we swa­llo­wed Armour or any other desic­ca­ted thy­roid brand. Why? All three inter­fere with and bind a cer­tain per­cen­tage of the thy­roid hor­mo­nes in our sto­machs.  We were for­ced to take any of those hours apart from swa­llo­wing our pill. So doing the Armour sublin­gually allo­wed us to swa­llow the above pills, or drink milk, or eat high iron foods, at our own timing and not hours away.

Second, the old for­mula was usually gone in our mouths within 30 minu­tes give or take. Now, patients who take their newly for­mu­la­ted pills sublin­gually (which now has less dex­trose and more cellu­lose) des­pise the “chalky, pasty, gritty resi­due” left in one’s mouth.  It also results in Armour taking far too long to be pro­perly absorbed.

Third, those with adre­nal fati­gue can find them­sel­ves waking up with nau­sea due to the mor­ning low cor­ti­sol. And being able to take Armour sublin­gually bypas­sed the need to swa­llow a liquid to take a pill and pro­mote more nausea.

Fourth, those with Celiac disease, and even those with stan­dard low thy­roid diges­tive issues, found sublin­gual admi­nis­tra­tion to help their absorp­tion of what desic­ca­ted thy­roid offers, which they didn’t get well if they swa­llo­wed the pill.

All in all, the buzz around patient groups or on com­ments here  about the newly for­mu­la­ted Armour is not com­pli­men­tary.  It doesn’t work well sublin­gually. It’s too chalky. It lea­ves a gritty paste in your mouth.  And patients are highly disap­poin­ted.  Let’s hope that one of the phar­ma­ceu­ti­cals takes the ball and runs to create a sublin­gual desic­ca­ted thy­roid.

What is your expe­rience with the new for­mu­la­tion? Are you still trying to do it sublin­gually?  Have you found doing Natu­reth­roid sublin­gually works? Are you switching to Natu­reth­roid or Westh­roid out of prin­ci­pal, as many are sta­ting they are doing? Use the com­ment sec­tion and let’s talk.

*Express your opi­nion to Forest here: 1 – 800-678‑1605, ext. 66297.

*Want to know what’s on Janie’s mind? Want to read the latest about desic­ca­ted thy­roid and bet­ter treat­ment? Use the Noti­fi­ca­tions on the left at the bot­tom of the links.