symptoms with levothyroxine and the actvis brand

[elements]

I am on 100 mcg of levo, the actvis brand as goldshield is no longer available and i have been getting symptoms of headaches and feeling feverish, one minute hot the next cold has anyone else been getting this with this brand?

[helvella Administrator Thyroid UK]

The company Goldshield renamed itself Mercury Pharma early last year.

Mercury Pharma was merged by its parent company to form Amdipharm Mercury Company Limited a few months ago.

If you want to have the same product as Goldshield, ask for the levothyroxine packaged by Mercury Pharma.

If you feel there is anything wrong with your tablets, or you are simply suffering side effects, then fill in a Yellow Card report:

yellowcard.mhra.gov.uk/

What you are reporting might have nothing to do with the levothyroxine and could have another cause altogether. Be careful not to pin all the blame on one thing.

Rod

[elements]

@ helvella thank you for replying Yes i know went to the doctors to get my usual dosage and told him they dont do goldshield anymore and to give me a new script for the mercury pharma levo unbranded but the gp didnt put it down and i ended up leaving the pharmacy with the activis that doesnt agree with me. Didnt have these symptoms with goldsheild brand and i know they say the unbranded and brand pharma group levo is the same but i think it will have different binding in the unbranded one. As i had taken a rash all over my body with an unbranded levo before due to the binding an that is why i was initially changed to the branded one - i am apprehensive about going on the unbranded on as i dont want that happening again but i would try it out as the feverishness i am getting from the activis is unsettling. The goldshield tablets for 100 mcg cost a pound each and the 50 mcg cost a bit less but they were expensive, so i think the cheaper unbranded one may have cheap binding products within it.

[Jane104 in reply to elements]

The main TUK website lists all the different makes of levothyroxine and their ingredients if you want to do a comparison.

thyroiduk.org.uk/tuk/treatm...

[Hidden in reply to elements]

Marfit

There is one ingredient in Mercury Pharma and Eltroxin "acacia powder" that is not an ingredient in Actavis Levo. ( have looked at the leaflets)

I decided to look it up on line and found that acacia powder seems to be used for dieting .......can reduce weight and cholestral.

However, it also seems that it can have a side effect of bloating.

There is surely only a minute amount in thyroxine tablets,however it left me wondering why some brands are more acceptable than others to we thyroid patients?......I was happy on Eltroxin and now have MP.

Does anyone know anything more?

[Jane104 in reply to Hidden]

There's only a minute amount of thyroxine in the tablets too and what a difference that can make! I'm convinced it's the acacia I can't tolerate - don't know why or what it does but it makes me really unwell (as if I'm getting no thyroxine at all). I realised this when I tried Nutri Adrenal which had the same effect on me and contains 'gum acacia'.

Eltroxin is made by Mercury Pharma and is identical to their levothyroxine, just packaged differently.

[elements]

many thanks i will look.

[elements]

But pharmaceutical companies don't have to list binding products in their tablets there is no law covering this so they can use cheaper binders in the cheaper generics.