Armour Thyroid for Treating Hypothyroidism

American presidential candidates Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton have released some of their medical revelation, most of it posing few surprises. However, many American doctors took note when it was revealed that Hillary Clinton has hypothyroidism that is being treated with Armour Thyroid, a natural product made from pork thyroid glands, rather than the more usual treatment, Synthroid. The revelation that Mrs. Clinton was receiving a treatment for thyroid disease that has been used for hundreds of years drew both praise and derision.

"I am glad to hear she is taking Armour Thyroid rather than synthetic substitutes which contain only T4 and not T3. I always prescribed Armour for my patients because it is more natural, safer and more effective,"

wrote one doctor on MedPage Today.

"Armour Synthroid? One would think we could do better for our former First Lady,"

wrote another.

What's Armour Thyroid?

Dried thyroid extracts have been used as medicine for centuries, but the first mention of them in English-language medical journals appeared in 1891 when Dr. George Redmayne Murray of the United Kingdom described a method for using thyroid glands from sheep for making a thyroid hormone injection that could be used for treating a severe form of hypothyroidism called myxedema. Nearly 30 years later he published a report of a patient who had been successfully treated for myxedema for decades on the sheep thyroid extract.

American doctors started experimenting with pig thyroids as a source of the thyroid hormone, and in 1934 the Armour (not Armor) company (the same company that makes canned pork products today) started collecting and drying pork thyroids for use as medicine, as a way to reduce slaughterhouse waste and increase profits. Armour thyroid is the best known form of dried thyroid in the United States, although two other companies also make it. For another 30 years, Armour Thyroid was the treatment of choice for hypothyroidism in the United States. Then it was replaced by a synthetic hormone called levothyroixine, or Synthroid.

READ Thyroid Hormones, Iodine Deficiency and Hypothyroidism

What Is the Difference Between Armour Thyroid and Synthroid?

In healthy people, the thyroid gland makes a hormone called thyroxine, or T4 (because the molecule contains four iodine atoms). Other tissues on the body convert it into triiodothyronine, also known as T3 (because its molecule contains three iodine atoms). Tissue can't use T4 until its enzymatically converted into T3.

Synthroid is just T4. The body has to convert Synthroid into T3 before it can perform its functions. Armour Thyroid contains both T4 and T3. It can be used in the body right away. To make the enzymes that convert T4 into T3, the body needs copper, selenium, and zinc. If there are shortages of these minerals, there will be shortages of the active form of thyroid hormone. Armour Thyroid has a distinctly "piggy" odor and doesn't taste good, but it gets to work a lot faster than Synthroid. Why wouldn't doctors prefer Armour Thyroid to Synthroid?

Predictability Is Sometimes Key to Thyroid Hormone Replacement

Just like there are short people and tall people and  plump people and thin people, there are differences between pigs. Every pig's thyroid isn't the same. The thyroid hormone content of dessicated pig thyroid powder, researchers discovered about 50 years ago, can vary by more than 15 percent from sample to sample. 

This means that the effects of Armour Thyroid are somewhat unpredictable, while the effects of Synthroid are much more reliable. It's possible to need a lower dose or a higher dose of Synthroid to get good results, but once the doctor gets the dosing right, the patient can know what to expect. That's not the case with Armour Thyroid. There's no way to guarantee the results of Armour Thyroid. Some people treated with it will still have low-thyroid symptoms even on a maximum dose.

The usual argument for giving Armour Thyroid is that it provides both T4 and T3. However, while Synthroid does not provide T3, another medication called Cytomel does. There is another hormone that Armour Thyroid provides that Synthroid does not called calcitonin. This hormone is made in parafollicular cells lining the thyroid that may be destroyed when the thyroid gland is removed in treating Grave's disease. Calcitonin is one of several hormones that helps move calcium out of the bloodstream and into bone. It may help joints regenerative the tissues destroyed by osteoarthritis, and it may also help stabilize mood, especially in bipolar disorder. 

These facts do not mean that Hillary Clinton has osteoarthritis, osteoporosis, or a mood disorder. However, when thyroid treatment is followed by these symptoms, then giving Armour Thyroid may be indicated.

If you have hypothyroidism, should you be on Armour Thyroid? Here are some things to keep in mind:

• Not everyone reacts to every form of thyroid hormone replacement the same way. Some people do best on Synthroid alone. Others have fewer symptoms on a combination of Synthroid and Cytomel. Still others feel best when they take Armour Synthroid, and some do best on one of the other dessicated thyroid products such as Naturethroid or Westhroid, made by RLC Labs, NP thyroid by Acella Pharmaceuticals, or Thyroid made by ERFA Canada. There may be some trial and error before you and your doctor find the best product for your needs.

READ Holistic Approach to Thyroid Related Problems: Naturopathic Medicine for Thyroid Disease

• Everyone who takes thyroid replacement hormone still needs the raw materials for the body to make the enzymes that convert T4 into T3. It's important not to take overdoses of copper or zinc, but at least 1 to 3 mg of copper daily and up to 15 mg of zinc daily on an ongoing basis usually help symptoms. It can also be helpful to take 100 micrograms of selenium daily, preferably in the form of selenomethionine from yeast, which is easier for the body to absorb. It's not as important to get iodine in the diet as it is to get these trace minerals if you are on thyroid hormone replacement therapy.
• Doctors rely on TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone) levels will reveal whether your treatment is working. If your TSH is "normal," however, you can still have symptoms that will benefit from treatment with Synthroid, Cytomel, or natural thyroid hormone replacement.