Tirosint - levothyroxine alternative

[Ben17484]

Has anyone any experience with Tirosint? I’m reading good things about it and how it supposedly absorbs better than Levo. Has anyone tried it?

[greygoose]

Tirosint is levo, just a different brand name - and probably different fillers from other brands. But, the active ingredients is levo - T4.

[Ben17484 in reply to greygoose]

I read that the difference is the fact that Tirosint doesn’t have a lot of the other ‘inactive ingredients’ (I.e filler materials) that may inhibit the absorbtion of the actual T4 ‘active ingredient’.

[greygoose in reply to Ben17484]

That's what I said, isn't it?

[MaisieGray in reply to Ben17484]

Ben17484 By definition, excipients are required to be inert, unless of course, they have been incorporated deliberately, to provide a specific effect. It would be unlikely that an ingredient would be added that generally inhibits the absorption of the active ingredient, as that would seem to be counter-productive, to say the least - "buy our drug because we put something in it so that its of no use to you" doesn't seem a particularly good marketing ploy. I think what you mean is that for some people, some excipients (not all ingredients have the purpose of being fillers/bulking agents) might not be suitable or may even have adverse effects, such as gluten or lactose. But that is not the case for every person or even the majority of persons taking them. There's no best or better form of L-thyroxine, only what suits you best; and for instance, tirosint being delivered in a gelatin capsule would be a complete no-no for vegetarians and vegans. Incidentally I read recently of someone in the US who has their T3 compounded with magnesium malate, which on the face of it, would raise doubts regarding the type of contraindications to which you allude, but presumably it is "a thing" otherwise the compounding pharmacist would have refused (or perhaps he was plain old wrong ....).

[Kitten44]

Agree with Greygoose - it is just the name, and in different countries it can mean a different formulation. I got some "Tirosint" in Italy and it is bog-standard Levo tablets, but seeing from other posts, looks like in other places Tirosint is a liquid capsule.

[helvella Administrator in reply to Kitten44]

The gel caps that I know are all from IBSA - via Akrimax in the USA. Branding does vary a bit.

[milkwoman]

Tirosint is a name brand of Levothyroxine. In my experience, I have found it to be better absorbed and therefore, more effective, than other brands I’ve tried. I also do not experience any side effects from the the fillers as it only contains water, gelatin and glycerin. So, if you have no issues with those as fillers, it should work very well for you. I will not take any other kind of Levo. I’m in the USA, so Tirosint comes in blister packs (4 packs containing 7 gel caps each) by the manufacturer Akrimax.

[Ben17484 in reply to milkwoman]

Thanks MilkWoman. This is the information I had read in other places as well. I wanted confirmation that some people do find it a better alternative to other forms of Levo.

[Koola]

Hi Ben, How do you feel now, 4 months later? I was just prescribed Tirosint.