Has anyone had trouble with different brands of medication

[Megluka]

Since 2006 I have suffered from Hashimotos. About two months after I started taking Levothyroxine (in increasing dosage until the level was right) I had horrendous eyelid swelling...so bad I thought I was losing my sight when in fact, the lids had swelled right down over the eyes. I naturally thought I had reacted to something in Malaysia where I was on holiday. A couple of doses of Piriton soon restored my good looks.

After that I had occasional swellings of fingers, feet, lips and the tongue. Various skin prick tests with an allergy specialist showed nothing abnormal. I was advise to always carry Piriton which I have done since then.

Over the years I have managed to virtually control these attacks by taking Piriton as soon as I can feel swelling starting.

Last September when was on holiday I woke to find my tongue has swollen so much I could not speak. It all took 8 hours to subside. Since then I have had various minor swellings until the day after Boxing Day. That night my tongue swelled so much I could not speak and all I could do was dribble copious amounts of saliva. I rushed to A&E where they saw my problem and put me straight into resus in case I needed to be intubated!

I have been trying to work out why these swellings are suddenly escalating. I talked with my cousin last night who knows all about AI disease because she is a fellow Hashi and one of her children has 2 AI diseases.

I remarked that my Levothyroxine which I get in three months supply are never the same brand twice in a row. My husband and I both take Simvastatin and when I looked at the packets last night they were not the same brand even though they were prescribed only days apart and were dispensed by the same pharmacy.

I am wondering whether anyone else has different brands each time and whether the different brands affect them in any way.

My prescriptions are all sent electronically so I presume I must have a computer record at the pharmacy. I am going there tonight to see if they record brand and batch no. and then I will look for a pattern.

I welcome your comments

[ellj]

I have problems if I do not get my levo by Mercury pharmacy but it affects how my body absorbs and I do not get any swelling as you describe.

What happens to me is that my levels go crazy and now my GP has put on my repeat script that I MUST have the MP brand.

Sorry this isn't much help, I hope you get some answers when you look at branding or keep a note yourself of the brand so you can see which ones cause this horrible problem you are experiencing.

Reference all my other meds, every month a different brand. Both mine and my family's.

I expect it is a financial decision between suppliers who offer better prices or better incentives.

[Megluka in reply to ellj]

Thank you ellj

These awful tongue swelling episodes have escalated in the last 6 months i.e with the last two three month batches.

I have always got my meds from Sainsburys pharmacy but a few months ago Lloyds moved in. It would not surprise me to find that the cheapest brand has now been given

[MaisieGray in reply to Megluka]

It isn't that you get the cheapest brand, in the sense of poorer quality - such as buying a supermarket's basic cereal instead of Kellog's. Rather that at any time, the importer/wholesaler might negotiate a particular deal with the manufacturer for a particular brand, who might then offer on the benefits of that deal to the pharmacist, and so that is what he buys and dispenses. Next time he orders, there could be a deal on a different brand and so he'll buy that, and that is what is dispensed. Hence why we can get a variety of brands, but it doesn't mean that the quality is better or poorer; only that the excipients might be different, such as Teva being lactose-free. For those who are sensitive to any particular ingredient, this can cause a problem, but it isn't about poor quality products per se.

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Thyroid dysfunction and drug interactions

Correcting thyroid function can require dose adjustment of common medicines to prevent serious complications.--------

In this article you will learn:

How thyroid dysfunction can affect drug metabolism

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