brands of thryroxine

[richie296]

(follow up of my recent post) Went to chemist to ask for the same brand of thyroxine each prescription. It was like world war 2. she seems to think it's all in my head. she said. Even the doctor will not state that you should be on a particular brand. They are definitely all the same dosages and work the same. Where do i go from here

[rebekah40]

If you can I would try another chemist i.e. take back the prescription (if you haven't already been issued with your thyroxine) and take to another chemist. I have been fortunate and not encountered this problem so far, but my regular chemist does not stock one brand and have now started to use another.

[Hidden]

I always have a particular brand, to get that if you ask the GP to specify on the prescription the brand you want and he does this, you MUST get the one you want.The only slight downside to this is if that brand is in short supply or more time needed for chemist to get stocks in it can lead to a delay,so always put the prescription in a few days earlier to allow for that.

[Hidden]

Oh and chemist talking rubbish! They do vary even within the same brand there can be small variation in strength,confirmed by my GP.mainly it's the fillers that can cause problems for some tho.

[diogenes Remembering]

Put in "consistency of thyroid tablets" into Google, and then open the American Thyroid Association's website: Q & A about 5 posts down. This discusses the problem of brand differences and the apparent FDA failure to provide sufficient checks to maintain consistency between products. It also advises against brand change either into generics or between brands.

[Clutter]

Richie, If your pharmacist is unobliging ask for your prescription back and take it somewhere else. It's better to change pharmacy than have your GP specify a certain brand on your script as alternatives can't be offered in cause of shortages without the script being reissued.

[janetEB77]

when generic prescribing was enforced by the Nhs a large number of brands of many drugs were imported some of dubious quality. As a pharmacist of many years I remember that we were told that at least six drugs which were not to be altered by brand because they were not bioequivalent and thyroxine was one of these six. Personally I never had any trouble until Eltoxin was discontinued by GSK. You can request a brand from the pharmacy .You are more likely to get co-operation from a private chemist and not one the multiples If possible ask your g.p. for at least 3 months supply, In USA all the thyroxine tablets are standardized on a state by state basis.

[richie296 in reply to janetEB77]

Thank you for your reply. My pharmacist was on the defense regarding brands. She is aged late fifties so experienced i would have thought. She tried to convince me my condition was either in my head (imaginary) or via another ailment. As a pharmacist would you agree that be it the filler, binder or very minute differences in compound drug itself could cause symptoms to reoccur. Bear in mind i get 2 months supply at a time. furthermore the brand could be changed every 4, months or 6,8,10 onward

[Chancery]

Hi Richie. Where you should go is straight to another chemist. Your chemist is talking nonsense and should be ashamed of herself. The world is FULL of chemists - why put up with that? Change it. And for the record, I was told by a pharmacist that I shouldn't take a different brand of anti-convulsants because occasionally they could cause seizures. This was because your body adapts to one 'recipe' and it may respond differently to another. Until she told me this I would have been none the wiser, and would have taken any brand I was given.

Furthermore, when I went to the doc and asked him to put a specific brand on because the pharmacist had warned me, he didn't even blink an eye and changed it straight away. So, your pharmacist is talking nonsense. Walk away now...

[crimple]

Having suffered badly due to a particular brand not being produced properly (licence withdrawn by MHRA) I know how important it is to stick with a brand that suits you. I experienced unpleasant symptoms (no doubt caused by fillers- others on here had same problems- with another brand over a year ago) I would go to a different pharmacy. Your pharmacist perhaps needs retraining!

[helvella Administrator Thyroid UK in reply to crimple]

I too was on Teva at that time.

Interesting that Teva 100 and 50 microgram tablets were their own, made to their formulation. But their 25 microgram tablets were [ an on-line source ] (later Mercury Pharma) formulation and product licence. So there were differences within what appeared to be one make.

[ Edited by admin to remove reference to a specific on-line source. ]

[crimple]

Teva and MP are like swear words to me!!