What Is Armour Thyroid Used For?
Armour Thyroid is the brand name for a natural thyroid replacement that is sometimes used by patients who suffer from hypothyroidism. Hypothyroidism may occur due to an underactive thyroid related to an autoimmune disease (Hastimoto's disease); when surgery is used to remove part or all of the thryoid; or, in the case of Grave's disease-related hyperthyroidism, when radioactive iodine treatment is used to "kill" the thyroid gland. Without a functional thyroid to produce hormones to regulate the metabolism, patients require the use of some form of thyroid replacement therapy. However, instead of giving patients the option of natural hormone therapy such as Armour Thyroid, physician's typically offer them synthetic thyroid replacement therapy as an "only option." Prior to the invention of synthetic hormones, the use of natural hormone therapy, such as that provided by Armour Thyroid, was the only way to treat hypothyroidism. This article takes a look at the difference between the two types of treatments.
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What Is Natural Thyroid?
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Natural thyroid is made from the dried thyroid gland of pigs. Armour Thyroid is one brand name for natural thyroid medication. Others include Bio-Throid, Naturethroid, and Westhroid. Natural thyroid provides patients with hypothyroidism with both thyroxine (T4) and triiodothyronine (T3)--the two hormones that constitute what is known as "thyroid hormone" and which is produced by a healthy thyroid gland.
Synthetic Thyroid Drugs
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Currently, the most popular method of treating patients with hypothyroidism is through the use of a synthetic thyroid hormone replacement called levothyroxine, which came into use in the 1950s and made extinct natural thyroid treatment used prior to that time. Synthetic thyroid hormone replacements go by the trade brands of Synthroid, Unithroid, Levoxyl, Levo-T, and Levothroid. Levothyroxine replaces the hormone thyroxine (T4), which is low or absent in patients suffering from hypothyroidism.
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Criticism of Synthetic Thyroid Hormone
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As noted, the most popular form of synthetic thyroid hormone drugs provide a patient with only one hormone--T4. Because the human thyroid produces both T4 and T3, many patients have found use of drugs such as levothyroxine ineffective, particularly those who have had their thyroid surgically removed or rendered nonfunctional by radioactive iodine treatment. Research has shown that patients who do not receive T3 in their treatment have a poorer quality of life and experience worsened symptoms. This indicates that natural thyroid replacement therapy may be more beneficial for some patients.
Clinical Study
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In 1999, the New England Journal of Medicine reported on research results which indicate that hypothyroid patients functioned better when given a combination of thyroxine (T4) and triiodothyronine (T3). The study, which was conducted jointly through the Kaunas Medical University in Kaunas, Lithuania and the University of North Carolina's Department of Psychiatry, took 33 patients who suffered from hypothyroidism either due to an autoimmune thyroid disease or removal of their thyroid gland. The patients were studied for two five-week periods. During the first period, they were given levothyroxine alone; during the second week, they received levothyroxine in conjunction with triiodothyronine. While physiological differences such as changes in pulse, blood pressure and reflexes were minute, the patients' mental functioning increased dramatically when they received both T4 and T3. At the end of the study, 20 patients indicated that they preferred the T3 and T4 treatment, indicating that they experienced improved energy and concentration and felt better overall. The study concluded that "treatment with thyroxine plus triiodothyronine improved the quality of life for most patients."
Which Thyroid Treatment is Best?
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Natural thyroid replacement has undergone criticism by physicians, who find this therapy "outdated" in light of the advances in synthetic hormone replacement. According to Dr. Thomas Repas, an endocrinologist at the Regional Medical Clinic in Rapid City, South Dakota, natural thyroid preparations have an "unacceptable level of variability batch to batch, often resulting in unacceptable variation in thyroid-stimulating hormone." However, numerous patients who suffered from persistent hypothyroidism despite the use of synthetic treatments have attested to experiencing weight loss and increased energy and alertness when using natural thyroid hormones. If you are a patient with hypothyroidism whose symptoms have not abated despite use of medications such as levothyroxine, consult your endocrinologist or seek a second opinion.
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