Warnings
Armour Thyroid Risks, Warnings, and Complications
Armour Thyroid can cause rare but serious effects in some people. Check with your doctor or pharmacist about other treatment options for underactive thyroid gland if you are at increased risk of these unlikely but serious effects from Armour Thyroid. Some of the risks of taking this medicine include:
|
Precautions Before Starting Armour Thyroid
Tell your doctor if you have ever had an allergic reaction to thyroid medication, any of the active or inactive ingredients in Armour Thyroid tablets, pork, or any other medications. Your pharmacy can give you a list of ingredients.
Give your doctor and pharmacist a complete list of your medications, including prescription drugs, non-prescription medicines, vitamins, supplements, and herbal products. This can help avoid possible drug interactions between Armour Thyroid and your other medications.
Give your doctor a complete medical history. Armour Thyroid may not be right for people with certain medical conditions such as diabetes, coronary artery disease, cardiovascular disease, heart attack, angina (chest pain), heart arrhythmias, high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, pituitary gland or adrenal gland conditions, osteoporosis, malabsorptive disease (conditions that lead to poor intestinal absorption), kidney disease, or liver disease.
If you are an older adult over the age of 65 years, talk to your doctor about the benefits versus risks of taking Armour Thyroid.
Very little thyroid hormone passes the placental barrier or into human milk. Therefore, Armour Thyroid is generally safe to take by pregnant women and nursing mothers. However, tell your doctor if you are pregnant, could be pregnant, planning a pregnancy, or breast feeding before starting this medicine.
Precautions During Use of Armour Thyroid
Keep all your medical and lab appointments while on Armour Thyroid. Your doctor may want to order certain lab tests and monitor you for adverse reactions such as thyroid hormone toxicity.
If you are on cholesterol-lowering medications such as colestipol (Colestid) or cholestyramine (Questran), make sure you take them at least 4 hours before your Armour Thyroid dose. If you are on iron supplements, iron-containing drugs, antacids, sucralfate (Carafate), or simethicone, take these at least 4 hours away from your thyroid medication.
Tell your health care professional if you become pregnant while on Armour Thyroid.
Armour Thyroid Drug Interactions
It may not be safe to administer thyroid hormones with certain other medicines. Possible drug interactions between Armour Thyroid and other medicines can increase your risk of serious adverse reactions. Your doctor may change the dose of your medications and/or monitor you carefully for side effects if there are known interactions between Armour Thyroid and your other medicines. The following medications may have interactions with thyroid hormone therapy
- Amphetamines such as benzphetamine (Didrex), dextroamphetamine (Dexedrine, in Adderall), and methamphetamine (Desoxyn)
- Oral anticoagulant therapy with warfarin (Jantoven, Coumadin)
- Hormones like danazol or testosterone
- Human growth hormone (Genotropin)
- Antidepressants
- Antiemetic agents like aprepitant (Emend)
- Anticonvulsants like carbamazepine (Tegretol, Epitol, Carbatrol), phenobarbital (Luminal, Solfoton), phenytoin (Dilantin, Phenytek)
- Insulin and oral diabetes medications
- Heart medications like digoxin (Lanoxin)
- HIV medications such as efavirenz (Sustiva), nevirapine (Viramune), and ritonavir (Norvir, in Kaletra)
- Estrogen containing oral contraceptives and hormone replacement therapy
- Antifungals like griseofulvin (Grifulvin, Fulvicin, Gris-PEG)
- Cholesterol-lowering drugs like lovastatin (Mevacor, Altocor)
- Oral steroids such as prednisone (Deltasone), methylprednisolone (Medrol), and dexamethasone (Decadron, Dexone, Dexpak)
- Antimycobacterials like rifampin (Rifadin, Rimactane, in Rifamate) and rifabutin (Mycobutin)
- Asthma medications such as theophylline (Elixophyllin, Theo-24, Theolair, Quibron, others)
- Pain relievers such as aspirin and aspirin-containing products, choline salicylate (Arthropan), choline magnesium trisalicylate, magnesium salicylate (Doan's, others), salsalate (Salgesic, Argesic, Disalcid) and diflunisal (Dolobid)
- Potassium iodide (in Elixophyllin-Kl, KIE, Pediacof)
- Strong iodine solution (Lugol's Solution)
Give your doctor or pharmacist a complete list of your medications, including prescription drugs, non-prescription medicines, dietary supplements, and herbal remedies. Also, tell your healthcare provider if you smoke, drink alcohol, or use recreational drugs because some of these substances can cause serious health complications when used with prescription medicines.
SOCIAL