Different brand of levothyroxine?

[Churchie]

I have been persuaded by my GP to try levothyroxine again but another brand. In the summer I took Levo for 7 weeks that at the end of that left me practically bed bound and then took me another 2 months to fully regain my strength. On that occasion I was taking actavis.

Just wondered if any of you wonderfully informed people have got a suggestion which brand I should try next.

Understandably scared.

[Clutter]

Churchie, the generic alternatives are Mercury Pharma and Wockhardt. Wockhardt has less fillers than either Actavis or MP. I think Wockhardt is only available in 25mcg. I believe Boots Almus is actually Actavis so you may want to avoid that.

You can request the pharmacist makes a note to only supply MP or Wockhardt and don't have to accept Actavis if that is all they have stocked. It will only take a day to order in what you require. Check what you are supplied before leaving the counter as they may refuse to change it if you have left the counter with it and try to exchange it. Any aggro, ask for the prescription back and take it to another pharmacy.

I do better on Actavis than MP and I've not had problems with mixed Actavis/Wockhardt.

[Churchie in reply to Clutter]

Hi clutter.

I have just had an appointment with my endo who has prescribed t3. Before I go and fetch my prescription I just wondered if there were different brands of t3 similar to t4 and there is a particular one I should try. Any advice appreciated.

Thanks

[Clutter in reply to Churchie]

Churchie, Liothyronine is usually the only T3 prescribed by the NHS. I hope it helps you as much as it helped me.

[Churchie in reply to Clutter]

Thank you. Not sure difference I'm expected to see but will find out.

[Churchie in reply to Clutter]

Sorry me again. I've been reading around here again about t3 and hadn't realised that others had had such difficulty in getting prescribed it. It seems to be very expensive. If I get on well with it and then agree to a partial lobectomy is there any danger the GP could decide afterwards to take it away and put me back on t4 mono therapy

[carolinep]

Hi Churchie, I was diagnosed 3 years ago and initially given Actavis/Almus and I took this expecting to feel better, but it actually disabled me completely. I then switched to Eltroxin which was much better, but that isn't available now. I have been on Mercury Pharma for the past year, and although this is better than Actavis in terms of awful side effects, I still didn't feel brilliant. I persuaded my GP to let me try Mercury Pharma liquid instead (I was keen to see if other meds would improve my quality of life), and very gradually changed over from the pills to the liquid. However, once I got to three quarters liquid, and one quarter pill, I started to experience other fairly nasty side effects. I have been on half MP pill and half MP liquid for the past couple of months (I only take 50 mcg of Levo in total), and for me that seems to be the best compromise. I have never tried Wockhardt because it takes a few weeks to see what the side effects will be, but then when they surface, it takes months to change over to another brand, and for the side effects to lessen. It can feel like life is passing you by, I have tried different brands and regimes for the last 3 years, and I can't believe how time has flown, yet I still feel worse on meds than I did prior to being diagnosed. I hope a different brand works well for you.