levothyroxine

[ninja1]

what brand of levothyroxine is the most popular, can anyone help. I found an article saying 50mcg have either none or less fillers, is there any truth in this. The reason I ask is I have taken 50 x 2 for 23 years, doctor changed to 100 x 1 and I have terrible high pulse and palpitations and I am wondering if it is the 100 mcg causing it.

[SeasideSusie Remembering]

Do you have a link to the article?

All tablets have fillers of some sort.

Has the brand of your tablet changed since you went from 50mcg x 2 to 100mcg x 1?

[helvella Administrator]

The factual basis for this is that in the USA, 50 microgram tablets have no colouring agents.

Anyone who needs to avoid the various substances used to colour other dosages and is in the USA should stick to 50 microgram tablets.

Trouble with this is that no UK levothyroxine tablets contain any colouring agents - they are all white.

The actual amount of "filler" depends almost entirely on the size of the tablet. The amount of active ingredient is tiny. Two 50 microgram tablets could very well contain around twice as much filler as one 100 microgram tablet.

Probably a good idea to think this through from the beginning. Is the 100 microgram tablet you are taking the same make as the two 50 microgram tablets were?

[ninja1 in reply to helvella]

yes exactly but when they changed it to 100 I thought no problem 50 x2 = 100. However, I started to get palpitations within a couple of days so I stopped the 100 and went back to the 50s and everything was ok. Then I restarted the 100s and here we go again palpitations so I just done understand why.

[helvella Administrator in reply to ninja1]

Sorry - are you saying they are exactly the same make?

[ninja1 in reply to helvella]

yes boots almus

[ninja1 in reply to ninja1]

I must mention that I have overactive adrenals as well so don't know if this is part of the problem

[helvella Administrator in reply to ninja1]

Almus is repackaged Actavis.

It isn't obvious why you should react like this but I suggest your best course of action right now is to ask your GP to reverse the change of prescription.

I urge you to put in a Yellow Card report as soon as possible. Retain any tablets, including packaging, that you have. These issues need reporting even if another explanation is eventually found.

yellowcard.mhra.gov.uk/

[ninja1 in reply to helvella]

yes I have an appointment tomorrow. GP sent me for an ECG because resting pulse was 135 bpm but went down when I went back to 50 x 2 just seems strange, I must mention that I am super sensitive to many medications but I have been without my thyroid for 23 years without many problems.

[helvella Administrator in reply to ninja1]

Yes - it is strange. But I have been here long enough to accept that some very strange things happen.

[silverfox7]

Potency can vary slightly I was on Mercury Pharmacy for many years and my pharmacist said she would make my script up in 25's. Was very good on it for years but then started feeling guilty about the cost to the NHS as 100 where cheaper than 4x 25's. I had a similar problem. I was told tablets are made within a tollerance and so it's always best to stick to one size and use a pill cutter if necessary.