Liothyronine by TEVA

[paulaelizabeth]

Hi there. I am new to this site and was interested to read people's comments with regard to the two new Liothyronine manufacturers.

I have been using Liothyronine by Mercury for some time and upon collecting my recent prescription I was given Teva.

I have a question ....

The instructions for How to Take state:

If taking a whole 20mcg in one dose, swallow whole with water.

If taking less than 20mcg in one dose you should crush it and disperse in water in the dosing cup and then use a syringe to draw out the amount of liquid corresponding to the recommended dose. Please ask for a dosing cup and syringe from your pharmacist.

Is this really necessary??

Like others on here I have noticed that the Teva brand seems stronger than Mercury and is giving me headaches.

Also, I am finding them very difficult to cut as there is no half way line and they crumle. (Hence the need for a dosing cup and syringe??)

I would be interested to know how others are getting on.

Paula

[SlowDragon Administrator]

Ridiculous isn't it. If we did that and took 2 or 3 divided doses a day that would be 2 or 3 times as many pills used up (at £9 a time)

Morningside Healthcare issue same advice about dissolving and syringe (which I completely ignore)

I cut with a small craft knife or scalpel. Easier than Mercury Pharma ones

I divide daily 20mcg into 1x 10mcg and 2 x 5mcg

[helvella Administrator Thyroid UK in reply to SlowDragon]

SlowDragon,

They do not give any proper advice about disposing of the excess liquid. We are advised not to put medicines into the sewers. Are we supposed to store up loads of liothyronine/water and take to a pharmacy? Can't imagine they would be impressed.

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to helvella]

Very good point about tipping T3 down the drain. B***dy expensive water!

I am sure GP budgets wouldn't be too impressed if we requested double or treble number of pills either.

Completely ridiculous advice aimed at increasing pharmaceutical profit

Everyone just cuts tablets up.

If they want us to take more uniform smaller doses, then 5mcg tablets should be more widely available.

Are there even any 5mcg tablets on NHS? I don't think so

[helvella Administrator Thyroid UK in reply to SlowDragon]

SlowDragon,

The only 5 microgram tablets I know are:

Mylan

Perrigo

Pfizer Cytomel

SigmaPharm

- all USA products. Never even seen them for sale anywhere except the USA.

[larksnest]

I had the Teva brand of liothyronine for two months (previously on Mercury Pharma). I found at first it appeared to be working better for me, as you say, it is stronger. However a few weeks into taking Teva I started to become very constipated, then headaches, muscle pain , bloating, fatigue and other symptoms. I felt as if I was not getting the T3 into my system. I have posted a complaint on the NHS Yellow Card website. I had to come off it as I was not well on it at all.

[fortunata in reply to larksnest]

This has happened to me on Teva Lio, too!

[paulaelizabeth]

Ooh dear Larksnest. Let's hope that this will not be the same for all of us! I will keep you updated ....

P

[hobbycat]

I too have been on Teva T3 for a week now, having been on Mercury Pharma T3 (20mcg added to my 100mcg T4). If anything I am not finding it so strong. It’s harder to get up, I’ve lost a bit of my zing and I’m having heart palpitations all day long now. I’m thinking these are all signs of under medication rather than over.

I’m also finding it tricky to split the tablets but hope that if I take both halves of the same tablet on the same day my dose is pretty accurate for the day.

[paulaelizabeth]

I have just returned from a trip to Boots to discuss with the pharmacist as I have 6 months supply of Teva T3 and don't want to get stuck with them if they don't work!

She said that if the tablets are not scored then the drug may not be equally distributed when cutting, hence the need for a syringe. She also confirmed that yes, you would need to crush a new tablet each time you took a dose lower than 20mcg! And dispose of the remaining unused drug in the syringe each time! I said that this was ridiculous and would mean that I would have to order more tablets!

We discussed and she said that she would have to look into it as it wasn't possible for me to return any of the 6 month supply once they had been dispensed. I said that I had not realised that there had been a new manufacturer until I got home as I have had Mercury for a very long time.

I have to call back in the week....

Who do we complain to about this as this is clearly non sensicle unless Teva manufacture lower dose tablets??!!

P🙄

[larksnest in reply to paulaelizabeth]

Whoever sourced these Teva tablets for the NHS has not done a proper job and looked into how to take the medication. If everyone did as the manufacturer says and use one tablet in water for each time we need a dose, this is going to cost the NHS even more.

[helvella Administrator Thyroid UK in reply to larksnest]

paulaelizabeth and larksnest ,

The people who issue product licences are the MHRA - I suggest you contact them in the first instance - and also ask them who else to contact.

gov.uk/guidance/contact-mhra

Be as specific as possible. Explain fully so they cannot claim they did not understand your question or why you were asking.

[helvella Administrator Thyroid UK in reply to paulaelizabeth]

paulaelizabeth,

We are repeatedly told that we should ask pharmacists for advice about medicines. Yet, when we do, we so often get wrong or conflicting advice.

Several years ago, member(s) asked manufacturer(s) why they had a score across tablets yet the advice was not to split them. The answer was that the score mark was to help those who need to split tablets if they could not swallow a complete tablet.

Yes - they also said that the active ingredient might not be evenly distributed in the tablets.

[paulaelizabeth]

Just received a call back from Boots.

They reported that if your prescription states that you need 'scored' tablets, then they would not dispense Teva ones (!!)

She said that she had checked with their suppliers for 'scored' liothyronine tablets and the company that has been recommended is Amoc Pharma. I think she may have meant Amco . Isnt this the co that was formed by the merger of Mercury Pharma and Amdipharm?

Getting more confused by the day.. !

P