Can dosages vary on different brands... - Thyroid UK

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Can dosages vary on different brands...

ThyroidObsessed profile image
9 Replies

Im wondering if u may need more on a specific brand as when i was on 125mcg actavis brand of levo it pushed my levels to be overmedicated, where as on mercurypharma 125 im not overmedicated??....

Anyone had experience of this?...

Iv tried all the brands and i find actavis is quite potent do people agree??...

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9 Replies
SlowDragon profile image
SlowDragonAdministrator

Yes, medics deny it .....BUT they know that different brands are NOT bio equivalent

Different brands of T3 also have same problem

academic.oup.com/jcem/artic...

Summing up last paragraph

"Physicians should:

1) alert patients that preparations may be switched at the pharmacy;

2) encourage patients to ask to remain on the same preparation at every pharmacy refill; and

3) make sure patients understand the need to have their TSH retested and the potential for dosing readjusted every time their LT4 preparation is switched"

ThyroidObsessed profile image
ThyroidObsessed in reply toSlowDragon

Thank you very helpful if only gp's or even endos actually made us aware of this! ..

helvella profile image
helvellaAdministrator

Yes - different makes do behave differently.

What makes it even more difficult is that my experience makes it seem that Actavis is effectively slightly less potent than Mercury Pharma! (I have not taken any Mercury Pharma for a long time now.) Always seemed that Mercury Pharma made me feel slightly over-dosed shortly after taking them. But under-dosed by the time I was due my next tablet. Actavis seemed to be more even but I ended up on 112.5 micrograms rather than 100 to feel the same. Maybe that would have been necessary anyway?

Wouldn't be at all surprised if the effect in one person is different to another person. We might end up considering that one make is generally considered more potent but that doesn't mean it will be true for everyone.

ThyroidObsessed profile image
ThyroidObsessed in reply tohelvella

Its strange how we all respond differently, just shows all us hypos are very individual we are like a big spectrum and i wish endos would realise this...

My experience with actavis is i felt overmedicated from the very start of taking them, i couldnt tolerate 125 of them i ended up with severe paranoia on that dose and really bad anger issues.. but mercurypharma seem to be less potent at 125 and less side effects, i suppose its fine tuning really isnt it anf trial and error...

But by god iv gone through hell and back and im still not 100% yet iv got some sort of panic disorder with derealisation which all started when i was undermedicated and my gp not understanding my levels so lowering my dose when all along i need a higher dose!!..

I know mental issues take time to heal so im hopeful..

Sybilla14 profile image
Sybilla14

Yes I agree, I have posted about it before. I was on actavis 100mcg and had very unpleasant reaction of being slightly spaced out and zooming back into reality - too strange to explain. My ft4 was slightly over range tsh 0.08. I'm taking 150mcg of Eltroxin (MP) and none of such side effects with my ft4 high but in range, when it was last tested, tsh only slightly below range. It's either potency or something else in these pills affects absorption somehow. I've been getting symptoms lately and think this correlates to my last prescription of eltroxin so I'm now suspecting a dodgy batch... this conundrum of hashimotos never ends for me!

ThyroidObsessed profile image
ThyroidObsessed in reply toSybilla14

Woh this sounds exactly like the symptoms i had on Actavis!! Hard to explain but same spaced out and back to reality weird it really is, though im still not 100% yet and still having weird moods on mercurypharma but i feel this is because im not at my optimal dose yet... so the hell continues...

Sybilla14 profile image
Sybilla14 in reply toThyroidObsessed

Yes it was very odd. I'm glad it wasn't just me, my gp looked very strangely when I was explaining when asking for a new prescription😯About 6 weeks in on the dose I felt really good but a couple of weeks later I started experiencing these weird sensations so I had to try something different. My ft3 was below 6, high end if the range but not overdosed so it wasn't the hormones themselves. I've since added c.18mcg if t3 and still no overmedicated symptoms. But still experiencing regular swings between very good days followed by dreadful ones. Not able to work out the triggers at all, which is the worst part of it for me.

ThyroidObsessed profile image
ThyroidObsessed in reply toSybilla14

I understand exactly bow u feel! Its so strange and so hard to explain to a doctor or endo, and for them to say that the hormones shouldnt affect us as we are only replacing the ones we are not making ourselves absolute bullcr##...

I was ok for 9 years on Levo dose of 100 never stuck to any particular brand was always ok on any... then all of a sudden in 2016 my tsh went up to 10 and ft4 stayed top of range my gp didnt understand results so just lowered my dose to 75 MASSIVE MISTAKE!!..

From then on was referred to an endo up and down between 75 and 100 all the while me developing even more weird brain symptoms, depression/anxiety/panic.. allsorts.. until a new endo decided that my ft4 is not accurate and to discredit it and just dose me going by my tsh, which was only decided 4 weeks ago this is right from oct 2016!!.. so now im at 112.5 and still having symptoms hoping an increase will help... all i have had is hope for the past nearly 2 years endo says t3 will not help in my situation.. i may result in taking anti depressants if i dont get better soon!!.. IV HAD ENOUGH IM NOT COPING AT ALL..

Sybilla14 profile image
Sybilla14 in reply toThyroidObsessed

Poor you, this sounds like a nightmare! This whole paradigm of tsh high when frees are low is just a belief or a result of limited research, in my opinion! I waited over a decade for my tsh to get over range but there are often posts from people with their results and lots of times I've seen ft4 and ft3 almost identical to mine in the past with tsh of c.2 whereas others' tsh can be as high as 10 with the same. The lowest ft3 I had was 3.2 in a range starting at 3.1 but my tsh was around 2. My TPO was high then too but I was told I had cfs! There is such poor understanding magnified by even poorer, oversimplified understanding by doctors. Personally I'd not be reliant on tsh at all but rather go by symptoms. I think you'll know when you're taking too much so can reduce. I'm doing this with adding t3, slowly building the dose over months, watching my reaction. Your endo's view that t3 would not be helpful for you may also not be reliable! It certainly is worth a go to see for yourself, I notice a difference since adding t3 in that's for sure. Though this means sourcing yourself or finding a private prescription.

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