Congrats! I'm glad to hear it. And also, thank you for sharing part of it here- I am likely to get thyroid cancer myself some day, and seeing how well you have gone through it has made it less scary for me.
I know you asked awhile back why I think Armour is superior to synthetic replacement and I never answered, so here is the short form: basically, Armour gives you everything that your own thyroid would ordinarily give you. (Here's where I might start telling you stuff you already know, so bear with me.) The thyroid would ordinarily give you T1, T2, T3, and T4, and calcitonin. Synthetic replacement (Synthroid, Levothroid, etc) is synthetic T4 only.
The first assumption is that T4 is the only "important" hormone. The second assumption is that if your body needs T3, it will synthesize the T3 it needs from the artificial T4. But the first reality is that our thyroid produces T1, T2, T3 and calcitonin because we need them, because they serve important functions in the body. The second reality is that not everyone's body synthesizes T3 from T4, at least not enough for adequate replacement.
You mentioned that your doctor says Armour is not standardized. This is absolutely not true, but it is unfortunately a myth that many doctors believe. Armour is tested and standardized before being made into pills.
The other thing you mentioned is that the proportions in Armour are not the same as human proportions. No, they are not: Armour has more T3 than humans naturally have. This typically is not an issue until you get up into the large doses. At that point, a lot of doctors recommend using Armour and then additional synthetic T4 on top to make things more human-norm.
All this isn't to pressure you, just to let you know that there are other, very good ways of treatment out there and give you the info that I have. I can tell you honestly that T4-only treatment made my condition worse, whereas Armour has made it better. So I'm a big fan of Armour.
no subject
I know you asked awhile back why I think Armour is superior to synthetic replacement and I never answered, so here is the short form: basically, Armour gives you everything that your own thyroid would ordinarily give you. (Here's where I might start telling you stuff you already know, so bear with me.) The thyroid would ordinarily give you T1, T2, T3, and T4, and calcitonin. Synthetic replacement (Synthroid, Levothroid, etc) is synthetic T4 only.
The first assumption is that T4 is the only "important" hormone. The second assumption is that if your body needs T3, it will synthesize the T3 it needs from the artificial T4. But the first reality is that our thyroid produces T1, T2, T3 and calcitonin because we need them, because they serve important functions in the body. The second reality is that not everyone's body synthesizes T3 from T4, at least not enough for adequate replacement.
You mentioned that your doctor says Armour is not standardized. This is absolutely not true, but it is unfortunately a myth that many doctors believe. Armour is tested and standardized before being made into pills.
The other thing you mentioned is that the proportions in Armour are not the same as human proportions. No, they are not: Armour has more T3 than humans naturally have. This typically is not an issue until you get up into the large doses. At that point, a lot of doctors recommend using Armour and then additional synthetic T4 on top to make things more human-norm.
All this isn't to pressure you, just to let you know that there are other, very good ways of treatment out there and give you the info that I have. I can tell you honestly that T4-only treatment made my condition worse, whereas Armour has made it better. So I'm a big fan of Armour.