Erfa Thyroid

[howlyn]

Please can anyone tell me if the Erfa October 2016 is ok to start using now? i have had problems with the March 2016. Thank you

[shaws Administrator]

Yes, you can begin it now. It expires in 2016 you have a little while to use it.

There have been complaints about Erfa by some members. You should report to the pharmaceutical company that you had a problem. They have denied there is any change but this is an excerpt from STTM:

stopthethyroidmadness.com/s...

[Framboise]

Hi howlyn, some people are having problems with all batches which expire in 2016, others seem to think those for October 2016 are ok. It still seems to be trial and error. A few people have managed to get some which expire in 2017, but it's still not clear if there actually was a problem with some batches or whether some were damaged in some way or whether a change in processing was responsible for some people's reactions. I have found that people using jars of 60mgs packed in 100s seem to be doing better than those using the ones packed in 500s or the 125mg tablets. Also people in the eastern part of Canada seem to have had far fewer problems than even those in the western part of Canada, let alone Europe! There are several forums and particularly STTM Facebook pages for various areas which have been discussing this, but they are going quiet now as people who continued to have problems with ERFA changed to other brands. If you try some and think they're ok please let me know

[Hidden in reply to Framboise]

I had problems with all of the batches expiring in 2016; however, the company denies any reformulation, and did not seem to want to hear of any problems. I have since stopped taking Erfa, and also read somewhere (here, I think) that Health Canada is investigating complaints concerning Erfa...the only thing the company has confirmed is that 1. they moved production from Belgium to Spain a couple of years back and 2. at the same time, they updated the machines used to press the pills (which, according to some, can affect effectiveness...).

Everyone seems to concur that the problems first appeared around this time; before that, the STTM used to sing Erfa's praises all the time....I still remember the title of that STTM post (after Erfa turned out problematic as well): "NOT AGAIN"...

[Framboise in reply to Hidden]

The company always claimed that the bad batch of ERFA I had was made at the old factory in Belgium but who knows! I actually had a type of allergic reaction to one particular batch it and so did two other people I'm now in touch with. I've been following what's going on and someone did finally complain to Health Canada and they are investigating now, but I didn't take any more ERFA, I just couldn't trust it any more and switched to Thyroid-S which isn't as good but I've been ok on it. I have some WP to try out next though.

[deceived in reply to Framboise]

Hi Framboise, Have you been taking WP? If so how are you doing on it?

[Framboise in reply to deceived]

Hi deceived, I haven't tried the WP yet but I have a bottle ready. The only reason I haven't is that I had a lot of Thyroid-S to finish and am very sensitive to meds so am a bit hesitant after the awful reaction I had to a bad batch of ERFA. I shall be trying it now in the next month! Are you also thinking of trying it?

[Hidden]

I am currently using two bottles of Erfa: one 60 mg bottle expiring in October 2016, and one 30 mg bottle expiring in February 2017. The 60 mg bottle is a 500 ct bottle, the 30 mg bottle a 100 ct bottle. Both work just fine. I have been taking 5.5 grains for quite some time and am doing fine. These are my most recent labs from last month:

FT4 1.2 (ref 0.7-1.5)

FT3 3.6 (ref 1.7-3.7)

TSH completely suppressed, but you should not go by TSH when on meds containing T3.

I have no hypo symptoms at all. I did suffer from terrible itching for a while, was not sure if it was caused by Erfa, but it is gone now.

[deceived in reply to Hidden]

Hi Anna, Are you still doing good on ERFA?

[Denise10 in reply to Hidden]

Hi Is been years since you posted.

New here and wondering how you are doing on erfa.

[howlyn]

Thank you for telling me

[Hidden]

So, has anyone noticed a change lately? Some batches still more problematic than others?

[Hidden]

I had terrible problems on the batches expiring in March 2016. I had less problems, but problems nonetheless, on the batches expiring 10/16. I have been itching like crazy lately, and was ready to give up on Erfa when I decided to try to decrease the dose...so I have gone from 5.5 grains to 5 grains daily (same bottle) and, within 48 hours, the itching all but disappeared. This suggests to be me not only that overdosing can cause itching, but that the itching is related to excessive T3 rather than T4, as T3 levels will decrease within 24 hours, whereas T4 will take weeks to change...

[howlyn]

Yes you are right glad it is working out for you.

[deceived]

I have a bottle date 4/17 and it is not the same as the old erfa. It looks, smells, and tastes different and gives me terrible hypo stmptoms...

[howlyn]

So sorry about that mine are ok.

[deceived in reply to howlyn]

howlyn - you have a 4/17 bottle too? What mg pill and count bottle? Are they the newer looking pills?

[howlyn]

i have 30/04/2017 60 125 MG they are ok with me

[deceived in reply to howlyn]

Hi Howlyn,

Your bottle actually has the day of the month it expires? None of mine state a day. Only the month and year... What are you lot numbers. My bottle of 125mg expires 04.2017 the lot # is LF03727A and my bottle of 30mg expires 09/2018 lot # LF05828A. Neither are any good. I have been tking Nature-throid but now I just noticed a change in taste that coincides with hypo symptoms creeping back in...

[howlyn in reply to deceived]

Mine seem ok

[Hidden]

How are you doing on Erfa now, if still on it? Some seem to think the problems were temporary, while others claim something changed when Erfa moved production from Belgium to Spain; in which case I guess the change is permanent...

[Yogagirl1 in reply to Hidden]

My recent bottle of 1 grain Erfa brought back all my hypo symptoms after doing well on it for the last 3 years, so I bought a bottle of 2 grain that expires 4/17 and the symptoms are just as bad now I don't know what to do? West throid was no good for me, any suggestions? Got all the pain in my joints and nausea that I forgot about! Help! What next?

[Hidden in reply to Yogagirl1]

OK, then, that settles it for me. I am not getting more Erfa...given how expensive it is in Belgium, I don't see the point in paying that much for something that may not work properly....or turn out to be inconsistent.

I have been on Thai Thyroid (Thyroid-S) lately and doing really well on it, so I am planning to stay on it rather than experiment with "legit" drugs (prescribed by doctor, that is) and pay a fortune, only to end up disappointed and frustrated...

I still have a bottle of "old" Erfa (blue and white labels as opposed to green and white/pink and white labels now) and the pills definitely look different. The "old" pills are uniform in color (off whitish), whereas the newer pills look more blotchy. So, to me, it seems they changed more than the pill compression machines...