Allergic to oral iodine has levoroxine got iodine or anything similar in it ?

[Pascha1]

When I had an over active thyroid I was given oral iodine and I had a bad reaction to it, I was told I was allergic to it and told to not take it again and to avoid it on skin also.. many years have gone by and now on Levoroxine and have never even thought about if Levoroxine could have some in it , thinking about the dr who prescribed it was not a brilliant Dr. I have never felt right on Levoroxine but only really just thought about it as after two changes in brands I am feeling so much worse,but been feeling not good since I 1st ever took Levo but just thought that is how you feel underactive thyroid with aches and pains, etc freezing cold and still feel hypo and worse than I ever did before taking the Levoroxine.. anyway if it has Iodene in it would explain it, I've tried to look to see if it has iodine in but nothing is clear, I've seen few somewhere about Providone maybe in it but nothing clear cut.

I searched allergy to Iodene and they say you can't be allergic to it, I can assure them I was definitely allergic as they stopped the treatment and I was made to have part thyroidectomy and put on carbimizole and propranolol till I had settled down for them to operate . All I can find on allergy to iodine is quite unhelpful it says shell fish isn't iodine ? So I am a bit miffed and also wondering if I have been taking something that is making me feel worse I do itch quite a bit and since being on Levoroxine I have also become very sensitive and allergic to many things, asthma, tablets foods all that I was fine before taking Levoroxine. So if someone could clarify if it has got any Iodene in Levoroxine or Providone I would appreciate it..

Thank you

[Hidden]

Iodine is part of the Throxine molecule, i.e. 4 atoms of iodine. I don't know how much iodine is in Levo but 1 grain of NDT has about 120mcgs.

[Pascha1]

I would like to add my Basaphil blood count is raised so could this be why ? basophil 0.05 10*9/1 range U< 0.1.

Eosinophil 0.10 10*9/l range U< 0.4

Monocryte 0.46 10*9/l tange U< 0.02- 0.08

[greygoose]

Well, you can't live without iodine. And, as Cassie0707 says, it's part of the T4 molecule - that's what the 4 means. T4 is converted to T3 by removing one of the atoms, and the iodine is recycled. 100 mcg T4 contains 65 mcg iodine.

But, it's just like having iodine in food. It's not at all the same as taking iodine supplements. I would be very, very surprised if that what's making you ill, because when your thyroid was working, it was making T4 with 4 atoms of iodine. It's just the same thing. And, what's the alternative? T3 contains 3 atoms of iodine. And NDT has both T4 and T3. Without iodine, there is no thyroid hormone.

If you were hyper, they were probably giving you iodine to suppress thyroid activity. But, you can be allergic to iodine, I am. If I put it on my skin it burns! Lots of Hashi's people are allergic to iodine - do you have Hashi's?

Povidone does, of course contain iodine - that's what it is - iodine solution.

[helvella Administrator in reply to greygoose]

Pascha1,

People often use the name povidone to mean povidone-iodine solution. But pure povidone does not itself contain iodine! Just (C6H9NO)n (that is, the same thing repeated in a long chain).

drugs.com/inactive/povidone...

At least one make of thyroid hormone tablet (I think liothyronine rather than levothyroxine) contains povidone - probably to help hold the tablet together. Cannot now remember if it is Tiromel or Uni-Pharma!

Other than some special-purpose products, ordinary levothyroxine tablets do not contain any extra iodine than the 65% greygoose mentioned.

[jgelliss in reply to greygoose]

greygoose your so right once again . "YOU REALLY GET IT". Your post are so educational and enlightening . The problem that one can have with thyroid meds is NOT the iodine in them but the fillers and or the dyes that most T4 thyroid meds have . I wish that all the T4 thyroid meds would stop adding dyes . So far only the 50mcg are dye free . There is a lot of hyped up iodine pushing . Ingesting more iodine then is needed will cause all kinds of adverse affects . Including stressing the adrenals skin out breaks . Patients that are on thyroid meds do NOT need more iodine . They are getting enough and it can just cause hypo symptoms .

[greygoose in reply to jgelliss]

Thank you, jgeliss.

I cannot imagine why they put things like dyes in medication of any kind - why the acacia power, as so many people are allergic to it? But, remember, Big Pharma doesn't produce cures, it produces repeat customers!

[jgelliss in reply to greygoose]

YES !!!!YES !!!! YES!!! Love it . BIG PHARMA has big MONEY following .

[Pascha1]

I thought I had graves , but was years ago I was so ill I don't remember what it wasprobably graves with goitre , never heard of Hashis before, maybe I will ask my next appointment , at time the drs were saying to me you can't stand the cold I was no actually I can't stand the cold ,I really didn't look into what I had as was ok after Op for years . thank you for answer

[Treepie in reply to Pascha1]

Hashimotos is mainly known by GPs as auto- immune thyroiditis when antibodies attack the thyroid.There are two types of antibodies . Many,but not all ,with Hashis find going gluten free helps.

[Pascha1 in reply to Treepie]

Can you get Hashis (hadn't heard of it till I've seen it on here ) if you have a part thyroidectomy years ago, they left me a bit in and was ok for quite some time , years then it started to go all wrong down hill and getting worse . I would love to feel well again ..

[Treepie in reply to Pascha1]

Sorry,no idea.But suggest you get antibodies tested.

[greygoose in reply to Pascha1]

Could very well be that you had Hashi's all the time, and not Grave's. Doctors so often muddle the two when the patient is in a 'hyper' Hashi's phase. And, that would explain your extreme reaction to iodine.

[startagaingirl]

Hi - on a slightly different tack, it sounds like you may be undermedicated and that is making you feel I'll, rather than any reaction to the levo. Have you any recent test results you can share?

[Pascha1 in reply to startagaingirl]

Was over cut back but have been to,d on here take another 25 but cutting those tiny tablets is hard so going to see if Dr can write me up for 25mgs tomorrow so I can try get it right, mind you not felt good since I've been on Levo, I've got other pains I never had before going to an Endo soon as even though I was hyper due to over dosing I was still freezing and Basal temp was very low . I suppose I'm same as most others and just have to live with it ..

[startagaingirl in reply to Pascha1]

Did they class you as over-medicated (Not hyper) based on tsh by any chance rather than ft3? We have seen a lot of badly undermedicated people have their doses cut recently. As to the levo, you may be sensitive to some of the fillers, but it could also be low nutrients (typical with hypo), being exposed by the treatment. Pains can be caused by being under but also by low vit d or magnesium deficiency. With hypo it is easy to become a bit fixated on one factor and miss that there could be several others at play, that is why people are typically asked for a full range of results, like vit d, vit b12, folate and ferritin.

Gillian

[Pascha1 in reply to startagaingirl]

I will be going to an Endo soon , but if it's more than 6 weeks away I will get another blood test as have reduced 50mgs as dr said I was being fried ? They have also swapped my Levoroxine brand again which seems to always make me feel worse than the last one , pharmacist keeps changing supplier not sure if that's why feel c**p all the time but dr says they are all the same , I'm not convinced they are .ANyway not sure what he meant by fried ! , I had put the dose up myself as a while back I had been on 100mgs Levo had bloods done and I was told to up dose another 50 and I still felt the same 6 months later, so I didn't bother with dr and upped them on my own then was having some tests done for HRT and came back I was hyper and told to drop down, the dr didn't say how much so as they come in 50mgs I dropped that , but I went back to drs and said I had been doing my Basal temp and it had never been higher than 35.8 and was as low as 34.4 at times and it just didn't match me being hyper I was still getting severe pains all over my body, head aches , my hair just keeps getting thinner, I went on HRT thinking it was that that was wrong, although I felt better in parts still felt achy sore,my muscles still feeling wasted , ,anyway the Dr (a young locum Dr who was more sympathetic than my usual one ) he agreed that the way I felt did not match my blood results , he said he will get appointment with Endo so I'm waiting and still freezing to death here, I was ok sitting in sun as I felt a normal temp but everyone around me complaining it's been too hot, I thought it was perfect . , I've been on Vtamin D for years , my results are on my other post. My Testosterone was red flagged as being low but my HRT Dr said she will not do anything yet! she was going to add a bit of testosterone if it was low but won't till I get my thyroid sorted out as she said she didn't want to add to my problems , she is good she let me have the HRT I wanted so she works with me, but she isn't my GP ..she also did the Free T3 on bloods , I have a post with results on it I put on the other day .

[startagaingirl in reply to Pascha1]

Ok, so your ft3 was good but you weren't feeling good. I would look to vitamin testing as your first port of call and don't expect an endo to do that. Many here use blue horizons or medichecks. Also, since you are highly likely to be auto-immune, have you tried gluten free diet and are you taking selenium?

The other factor - though relatively rare - could be some form of cellular resistance, though check the nutrients first - vit d, b12, folate and ferritin.

Gillian

[Pascha1 in reply to startagaingirl]

I have been on Vit D for years but will get bloods done on others .. where do I get selenium from as not heard of that Startagaingirl ? Not great with doing diets seems I'm

more allergic to seafoods I don't eat dairy things as don't like them much only drink some herbal teas and water don't eat bread so probably don't eat much gluten d thanks for advice x

[Pascha1 in reply to startagaingirl]

I did share on another post