"Evil" Armour thyroid

I have taken Armour thyroid for 20 years and I am still alive and kicking.  A patient of mine recently shared with me an experience she had with her primary doctor—she has since fired him—and her request to change from synthetic Synthroid to the natural Armour thyroid medication. 

 Anne (not her real name) had spent quite a bit of time researching and learning about Armour thyroid on the internet.  She decided there were a number of benefits to changing from Synthroid to Armour thyroid.  Anne politely asked her doctor to make this change and he became visibly angry with her and shouted “Armour thyroid is nothing more than legal crack cocaine and I will not prescribe it for you!” 

This is one of the most stupid things I have ever heard said by a doctor—of course I did not actually hear it, Anne did.  FDA-approved, FDA-regulated Amour thyroid is legal crack cocaine?  Really?  I will be sure to pass that on to the FDA so they can correct their oversight and take Armour thyroid off the market. 

If this stupid doctor was the only doctor out there who thought Armour thyroid was “evil” it would not be a serious issue.  No, in fact the vast majority of doctors in this country believe Armour thyroid is evil and refuse to prescribe it. 

Many of my patients suffer from hypothyroidism and come to me for help.  The typical story goes like this:  Patient goes to their primary doctor and requests to change to Armour thyroid, doctor gets upset and tells the patient that Armour thyroid is unregulated, unsafe, unavailable, blah, blah, blah.  Whatever excuses the doctor gives are stupid because they are nothing but lies. 

Armour thyroid is safe, it is fully regulated by the FDA—like all legal drugs in this country—and it is readily available.  And in case you were wondering, it really is not legal crack cocaine. 

The ideas most doctors seem to have about Armour thyroid are simply not based on reality.  They are nothing but unfounded, unproven concepts; not facts as the good doctors represent to their patients. 

One of the reasons that so many doctors have these false concepts about Armour thyroid is due to the fact that virtually all post-medical school education comes from pharmaceutical drug pushers—they like to call themselves drug reps—that parade through doctors’ clinics on a daily basis.  But that will be a topic for another blog. 

One thing to always remember about most doctors—if they don’t know something they will immediately condemn it.  Wouldn’t it be nice if a doctor would first admit he doesn’t actually know something (humility—what’s that?) and then do the work of learning about what it is he doesn’t know from an unbiased source (i.e. not from drug pushers).

 When it comes to the truth about Armour thyroid, don’t hold your breath that you will ever get unbiased information from your doctor.  Bottom line, you have to take responsibility for your own health, do your own research (isn’t the internet wonderful) and then find a doctor who will listen to you.