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What Is The Difference Between Armour Thyroid And Synthroid?
Question: compare and contrast armour thyroid and synthroid base on drug interaction,efficacy,safety cost and expected outcome
Brief Answer:
About synthroid and armour thyroid:
Detailed Answer:
Hello and thank you for asking!
Armour Thyroid (desiccated porcine thyroid gland) and Synthroid (levothyroxine) are used as replacement therapy for thyroid hormone when the thyroid is under-active, nonfunctioning, or has been all or partly surgically removed.
The controversy over whether to use synthetic versions of thyroid hormone (Synthroid, Levoxyl, et al.) versus natural forms (Armour Thyroid) is better stated: “whether to use T4 alone or a T3 and T4 combination.”
A disadvantage of Synthroid is that some patients do not feel quite as well on T4 alone as they do on T3/T4 combinations. This is thought to be because not all tissues have the ability to convert T4 to T3 equally, such as brain tissue. In order to compensate for this, physicians may over medicate patients with T4 in order to compensate for this conversion problem.
Armour Thyroid was the only treatment for hypothyroidism for about 50 years, but it was found that the amounts of T3 and T4 varied greatly from batch to batch.
Eventually, synthetic T4 (Synthroid) was being produced and widely used because it did not have similar problems of standardization in common with the naturally derived Armour Thyroid.
So, Armour thyroid is used in specific cases, when the FT4 and FT3 can not be corrected by synthroid.
It costs more than synthroid, is not as safety as it ( hyperthyroidism is more difficult to be prevented by using armour). Regarding to drug interactions, it is the same with both preparations.
Hope i have answered your query.
Kind regards,
Dr.Mirjeta
About synthroid and armour thyroid:
Detailed Answer:
Hello and thank you for asking!
Armour Thyroid (desiccated porcine thyroid gland) and Synthroid (levothyroxine) are used as replacement therapy for thyroid hormone when the thyroid is under-active, nonfunctioning, or has been all or partly surgically removed.
The controversy over whether to use synthetic versions of thyroid hormone (Synthroid, Levoxyl, et al.) versus natural forms (Armour Thyroid) is better stated: “whether to use T4 alone or a T3 and T4 combination.”
A disadvantage of Synthroid is that some patients do not feel quite as well on T4 alone as they do on T3/T4 combinations. This is thought to be because not all tissues have the ability to convert T4 to T3 equally, such as brain tissue. In order to compensate for this, physicians may over medicate patients with T4 in order to compensate for this conversion problem.
Armour Thyroid was the only treatment for hypothyroidism for about 50 years, but it was found that the amounts of T3 and T4 varied greatly from batch to batch.
Eventually, synthetic T4 (Synthroid) was being produced and widely used because it did not have similar problems of standardization in common with the naturally derived Armour Thyroid.
So, Armour thyroid is used in specific cases, when the FT4 and FT3 can not be corrected by synthroid.
It costs more than synthroid, is not as safety as it ( hyperthyroidism is more difficult to be prevented by using armour). Regarding to drug interactions, it is the same with both preparations.
Hope i have answered your query.
Kind regards,
Dr.Mirjeta
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Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Nagamani Ng
Answered by
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