If any of you have a chronic condition and are taking meds, pay attention. I have been on Armour Thyroid for years. It's made from pig's thyroid glands and was the med of choice for hypothyroidism for about a century until Synthroid. It's the most natural choice and was very cheap - like $10 /month. Big Pharma hates all "natural" meds.
Armour was manufactured by Forest Pharmaceuticals out of Ireland. Carl Ichan became their biggest stock holder forced Forest to sell out to Acticvis which was in turn bought by Allergan. In 2019, Allergan was bought by AbbeVie. Guess what one of Abbevie's big products is? Synthroid.
Okay, now with the backstory out of the way, I noticed a couple of months ago that my newest Armour script did not have the fonky distinctive scent that it had had for all the years I've taken it. My weight increased even though I was only eating 1 meal/day, my energy was in the toilet, and I was catching every damn bug around - except, I'm happy to say, Covid.
My family came over for my Dad's 83rd birthday and my sister-in-law also on Armour asked me what the hell was going on with the med. I told her about the lack of scent and she said, "You're right". So I began investigating and found posts all over the internet asking, "What has happened to Armour?" and them having the same problems I'm having.
So, if everything else was the same but the scent is gone, it tells me the medication has been reformulated. With my conspiracy based nature and hey, that's a good thing, I now wonder if AbbeVie has reformulated the medication hoping patients will switch to the much more expensive but less effective Synthroid. Only about 30% of those on Synthroid say it works for them. That's because Synthroid is T4 only and you need T3 as well. So that usually means another medication like Cytomel has to be taken whereas with the more natural products, both T3 and T4 are present.
Seeing the doc next week and will ask for Acella NP which is the only other natural thyroid med left. If that goes down the tubes, my meds will have to be compounded. And compounding is a whole other story. Until not too long ago, a patient could ask their doctors to have their meds compounded. it was an easy process. Now, a doctor has to have an acceptable reason to present to a pharmacist stating why a patient cannot take an already manufactured medication. I mean, come on, it's our fucking money. Shouldn't we have the right to request a compounded formulation if it works w/out going through all the hassle?
This whole post is so you guys have a heads up to notice if your meds are not working the same or if they seem different, especially if they're natural.
I suffered a major back injury a few years back. The Dr.'s put me on Oxycodone for almost 3 years. When I told them I wanted something natural to help with the pain, and tried Kratom, they suddenly claimed I pee'd dirty for Cocaine. Pharma and Dr's are in bed together and you can't trust any of them.
I take Kratom for my back and neck pain, too. Had a Laminectomy (sp?) And Intervertebral Fusion L5-S1 back in '02 while on Active Duty in the Navy. Completely shattered L5, had donor bone inserted in the disk space, and had my hips shaved down to the marrow mixed with ground coral rock to form a "plaster of paris" of sorts because of the shape L5 was in. Needless to say, the coral mixed with bone marrow caused an overgrowth of bone and scar tissue to the point it grew over the Left Sciatic Nerve. I'm in constant pain and have been since the surgery. The VA wanted me to go back on opiates long ago. I got hooked on that shit during the whole ordeal (it took the Navy over a year to get the surgery scheduled and completed) and I had to quit the pills cold turkey, because in those days, even if you told them it was their fault your hooked, they'd pit you thru narcotics rehab and then boot your ass out with either an OTH, Dishonorable, or BCD discharge. I swore back then I would NEVER go on pills again. So I suffered for the better part of 18 yrs...UNTIL I found Kratom.
Now, I'm not completely pain free, but it's to the point where I've regained most of me old life back. To the point I've started biking and hiking again, and will start weight lifting heavier weights again, and have been able to train my daughter in the CQB techniques I learned in EOD. It's been a God Send for me and my kids (I'm a single father of 5, 4 still living with me). It's even helped with the IBS-D side effect from my fusion.
I can't stress enough, how much Kratom has changed me life.
So glad to hear it helped you. Big Pharma has had a push on to make it illegal in all 50 states for a few years now.
I'll have t look into Kratom. Had to have a scan for female stuff and my doc walked in to give me the results. He said, "Girl, your back is all fucked up!", lol. Desiccated disks where the only thing between my vertebrae are the sheaths, bulging disks, etc.
Pitiful - I can't stand doctors who are in bed with the pharmaceutical companies.