Changing brand/make of levothyroxin!

Huge thanks for this post. I'm also contemplating changing brand.

Did you just ask pharmacist for a different brand, or is it more complicated, eg to I need to ask doc for something different on pescription?

thyroid-fed.org/tfi-wp/wp-c...

This link underlines that different brands of thyroxine work in different ways & that they are not interchangeable.

Like you I greatly prefer Mercury Pharma. Others on here find the reverse is true. We are all different.

At least some medics are beginning to realise that we need to stick to same brand.

Very true in that we all respond differently, i found Mercury pharma made me feel dreadful i now take Wockhardt and seem to do okay on that.

Dotti

Interesting ,as I have not had Mercury Pharma for 9months and thought it was in short supply or costlier than he rest.Or maybe being punished for profiteerng on T3. Luckily ,I seem no different whatever I get.

I used to take mercury pharma but got terrible stomach problems on it,,

A few years ago the chemist kept switching me between brands and every time I was given Wockhardt I would become ill, recovering when I was back on any other brand. When I mentioned it to three different chemists they all said that this was a known phenomenon but no one knows why, but unless a brand is specified on the prescription they are only allowed to dispense what their wholeseller has supplied. When I told my (ex) GP he told me I was talking rubbish, but I wouldn't leave his surgery until he wrote a prescription specifying a brand (I asked for one specifying Not Wockhardt but he wouldn't do that). When I recovered he "tried an experiment" and stopped prescribing it completely, told me I was cured and didn't need it again. I then spent four years getting worse and worse to the point I could barely walk and thought I may die I was in so much pain.

My sister in law is a nurse and has told me that they are taught that when patients come into hospital there are three types of medication they must keep to the same brand, thyroid related meds being one of them.

When I told my (ex) GP I'd seen on this forum that time of day made a difference to blood tests he told me I was talking rubbish. I have since found out that my mother has been reminded by her various GPs for 40+ years that her annual blood test needs to be fasting and first thing in the morning to be accurate.

When I changed GP and mentioned this he knew about changing brands having an impact, but was unaware time of day made a difference. I'd just had an early afternoon test (4.5 TSH) and ordered an early morning test (9.5 just a week later). He thanked me and said he'd learned something new and would keep it in mind for future patients. When I developed double vision he sent me to the optician's, who sent me back saying it was my thyroid. The (new) GP then put me back on thyroxine (I'd only been at the practise for a fortnight at this time) and when the double vision went away after just two days, and the other symptoms started to improve in less than a week, he also thanked me as he wasn't aware the eyes could be affected by the thyroid, he'd learned something new and would keep it in mind for future patients.

Just goes to show how some doctors are willing to learn, others aren't.