Dosing Armour Safely and Effectively
NOTE: 1 grain = 60mg, 1/2 grain = 30mg, 1/4 grain = 15mg
The official dosing instructions for Armour can be found at the Armour website. The instructions on this page have been adapted based on actual patient experience.
If you've been on no thyroid meds yet, most people do best starting with 1/2 grain or two 1/2 grain doses. You will want to increase that by 1/2 grain every 2-3 weeks, as hypo symptoms return or new ones arise. Once you reach 3 grains, slow the increases to 1/4 grain every 4-6 weeks, to allow the T4 & conversion to stabilize. Stop increasing your dose when you have NO hypo symptoms and NO hyper symptoms. You're optimized!
If you've been on synthetic T4, it appears that you'll have a smoother transition if you wean off the T4 as you increase the Armour. Removing approximately 25mcg T4 with each 1/2 grain raise seems to work well, though you may want to wean even slower than that.
While some people seem to do fine with a once-daily dose of Armour, most of us do better with dividing the dose, because T3 has a short half-life. A typical way to do it would be morning, lunchtime, midafternoon, and bedtime--but you get to play to find out what works for you.
I probably went to the most extreme when I started, hoping to go easy on my adrenals. I took a small dose every 2 hours while awake! And to start with, those doses were only 1/8 grain! LOL!!! Now, I'm doing what I outlined above.
Many of us prefer to take Armour sublingually in order to:
- absorb the same amount at each dose
- be able to swallow food & supplements without needing an empty stomach
- preserve the effectiveness of calcitonin (which may be destroyed by stomach acid and is ncessary to preserve the integrity of our bones)
If you're going to swallow your Armour, it needs to be on an empty stomach&emdash;at least an hour before eating and 3 hours after eating.