Sandra Keeps Us Posted on Armour Reformulation
Sandra posts vital information for those who want to do something about the reformulated Armour Thyroid product, while she brings us up to date on related issues. Thanks Sandra!
Sandra writes:
I too have had a wonderful experience with Armour thyroid after years of struggling with synthroid and have been symptom free of my Hashimoto’s for the last three years – until now. Lethargy, muscle aches, hair loss, temperature disregulation, digestion problems, and just feeling like a 60 watt bulb only able to muster up 15 watts of energy. After reading what everyone has said I called Forest Labs and spoke with a pharmacist, a nurse and customer care. They were very interested in what I had to say and would like anyone who is having problems since the reformulation to contact them. The reason for the change is a supposed bioavailability increase with the change between sucrose (why the original tasted sweet) to cellulose. Doesn’t make sense to me as cellulose in indigestible and if the active ingredient is binding to it, it may be less available than with the sucrose formulation. Any thoughts? I also asked about the rumored FDA requirements – NO the FDA is not requiring them to go through trials as they are grandfathered in under the “generally recognized as safe” ruling. They have also just released a large amount of the one grain size (60mg) to pharmacies so it should be available. He said that if the pharmacy didn’t have it yet to call Forest Labs again. He also wanted me to speak to a nurse to document the symptoms I was experiencing. The transfer was quick – no getting put on long holds, and she was very thorough and pleasant. The pharmacist, Pat, and the nurse that I spoke to want to hear from the people who are having difficulties with the change in formulation – so Call, Call and Call again. The only way to get the formula back to where it was is if we let them know it now doesn’t work. Call 800 678 1605 ext 66297 for medical input and 66298 for customer service and quality control. One voice is a whisper, many voices is a shout to be acknowledged.
I too have had a wonderful experience with Armour thyroid after years of struggling with synthroid and have been symptom free of my Hashimoto’s for the last three years – until now. Lethargy, muscle aches, hair loss, temperature disregulation, digestion problems, and just feeling like a 60 watt bulb only able to muster up 15 watts of energy. After reading what everyone has said I called Forest Labs and spoke with a pharmacist, a nurse and customer care. They were very interested in what I had to say and would like anyone who is having problems since the reformulation to contact them. The reason for the change is a supposed bioavailability increase with the change between sucrose (why the original tasted sweet) to cellulose. Doesn’t make sense to me as cellulose in indigestible and if the active ingredient is binding to it, it may be less available than with the sucrose formulation. Any thoughts? I also asked about the rumored FDA requirements – NO the FDA is not requiring them to go through trials as they are grandfathered in under the “generally recognized as safe” ruling. They have also just released a large amount of the one grain size (60mg) to pharmacies so it should be available. He said that if the pharmacy didn’t have it yet to call Forest Labs again. He also wanted me to speak to a nurse to document the symptoms I was experiencing. The transfer was quick – no getting put on long holds, and she was very thorough and pleasant. The pharmacist, Pat, and the nurse that I spoke to want to hear from the people who are having difficulties with the change in formulation – so Call, Call and Call again. The only way to get the formula back to where it was is if we let them know it now doesn’t work. Call 800 678 1605 ext 66297 for medical input and 66298 for customer service and quality control. One voice is a whisper, many voices is a shout to be acknowledged.
sandra52525@gmail.com
Sandra
1
I am also a patient with Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis and have called Forest at least six times since June 2009. They took my bad reaction in a report of the new reformulated Armour, but made it clear that no matter how many reports they receive Armour won’t be going back to the previous formulation. I just called them again today and according to the people I spoke with this is still the case. I switched to Nature-Throid after my Free T3 and Free T4 levels fell below the ranges. I felt so hypO that I was sure there were no thyroid hormones in the pills. I had all of the symptoms that Sandra mentioned plus the numb hands and feet, cold my temp went down to 96.5 degrees, my ankles hurt so bad that it felt as though they were made of sharp broken glass. Forest has shunned and ignored me and now I plan to shun them. Forest is not a friend to natural thyroid patients in my honest opinion.
I am sure Forest is losing a lot of customers to other suppliers of NDT because of their formula change. In fact, I am surprised no one has started a class action suit against them–I would participate if there was one because of all the suffering it caused me when I was taking it without knowing it was the change in the formulation that was making me get very hypo and sick!
I went through all kinds of hearts tests because of this reformulation. These companies should not be allowed to change meds without informing the pharmacists and patients. Armour was the culprit for my problems alright, because the stopped as soon as I switched to Erfa.
Hi. Thanks for this information. I had no idea that Forest had reformulated Armour until a few days ago. I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism about 4 and a half years ago when my youngest child was born. I spent more than two years suffering on synthroid and thinking that I’d never be normal again. Finally after a little bit of research, I switched to Armour. I felt the best that I had in more than ten years.
During the last two months, I’ve slowly felt my symptoms coming back. I couldn’t understand it and finally started to think that I must be eating too much soy even though I was always very careful to wait at least an hour after taking my meds to eat anything that contained soy or calcium. I quickly stumbled upon information about Forest reformulating Armour and am convinced at this point that this is what is causing a resurgence in my symptoms. I will go for a full panel of labs tomorrow, and as soon as those come back, I will call Armour with the results. I can’t imagine that they don’t want to hear from people that have been affected by the change. I also am shocked that they were able to simply change the formulation without any sort of clinical trial or without notifying doctors or pharmacists. That is the kind of action that will quickly make a person lose trust in a company. I used to say that if my house was on fire, I’d grab the kids and the Armour. Now I’d just let it burn.