Yesterday, I opened a new bottle of Erfa, 60 mg pills (exp 04/17). When I held them at a certain angle, I thought they looked different...darker and blotchy. Sure enough; I had a couple of older pills left (expiring in late 2014), and they are brighter in colour and not blotchy.
Erfa denies any reformulation, just confirms that they moved production from Belgium to Spain. If the formula is indeed unaltered, is it at all possible that new equipment could account for the change in appearance? So far, of course, I have not had time to notice any difference but, so far, Erfa has worked well. Unfortunately, I did not compare the batch I just finished (exp 01/16) with older ones but, since I never reacted to anything, I guess those pills looked like they always have...
For me, it would be a nightmare if it stopped working, as only Erfa and Armour are available in Belgium. In that case, I would have to resort to Thai NDT (or synthetic combo drug Novothyral as a last resort, although I tend to think that NDT is better at raising body temp than synthetics...).
I just don't understand WHY Erfa would not admit to any reformulation...?
Those of you who have had problems with Erfa, did they start with the darker (more beige/yellow) and blotchy pills?
The word 'reformulated' might mean the whole tablet. Whereas if the hormones (T4/T3 etc) remain the same but the fillers/binders slightly different would it be reformulated? Just a guess.
That is what happened to Armour, with the change in the cellulose-sucrose ratio...however, change in itself is not necessarily bad. I just cannot understand why Erfa cannot admit to it...there is no reason, IMHO, for the pills to look different if nothing did change...that is not to say that they are working less well. So far, they seem fine, but it's only my second day on the new batch.
A lot of the criticism, especially on STTM, has been about the "new" pills being much harder, or even impossible, to take sublingually. Since I have never taken thyroid medication that way, that is not a problem for me, as long as the pills continue to work. I chew Erfa up and, unlike Armour, it does taste sweet.
As far as I understand it, no thyroid hormone replacement pills are sublingual because the molecules are too large to be asorbed through our tongues, which means we may not always be getting the amount of 'hormones' we think we are taking.
There was a problem about fifteen months ago with UK T3 and I didn't realise at first it was the T3 that was giving me symptoms I hadn't had before, as I had been taking it for a while and you assume it's something with you personally. When a question was asked on the forum, quite a few responded and I myself took notice of the batch number and when I switched to another T3 the symptoms went.These tablets were tested an found to be (I cannot remember actual phrase) o.k. but quite a few members switched. I don't know if they switched back again.
You stated in your announcement: There was no difference in concentration from one batch to the other. We did not change our formulation, suppliers nor our manufacturing technique. What is missing from that statement is that you have, in fact, stated to others than Erfa Thyroid did change the facility in which the pills are made. And as far as the “manufacturing technique”…patients clearly see a difference in the “new” batches. They are now slightly shinier, the indentations are deeper, and the new pills have a blotchy look that wasn’t there before.
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