Hi,
I've noticed that my bottle of T3 shows an expiry date of only 3 months. Before this prescription, I obtained 6 months' supply through a German pharmacy.
Does T3 lose its strength after so many months? Should I be ditching the older medication?
Thanks
health.harvard.edu/staying-...
I hope that this reassures you. I have T3 which is past its use by date which is still doing the business 
Be well x
Thanks Rapunzel 😊
In the 9 years I had UK T3 it always had a short use by date, and in the 18 months of using Thybon Henning it's always had a much longer date. Some drugs are of course, time critical, but I would always happily use both T4 and T3 beyond their dates, and in fact am using Levo at the moment that is dated Nov 2018. The FDA carried out a survey into the massive drug stocks held by the US military, and found that some drugs were perfectly fit for purpose up to 15 years beyond their use by date. Unless your T3 is way past its date, you'll be fine to use it, and the worst that could happen is that it loses potency, which you'd begin to notice if it did happen. I've never noticed loss in effectiveness myself, and often went beyond the date when using the short date UK brands.
That's good, thanks for that.
It sounds to me as if your pharmacist filled your prescription with one of their larger bottles that was close to its expiration date. That's the date that appears on your prescription container.
Kind of sneaky but it is what it is. Perhaps when you refill tell them don't give you such a short exp time. They may say that's all they have but trust me-not true. If they can't dispense all the pills in their bottle before they expire they must throw them out and that's lost revenue.
But still not a reason to push the problem off on you. Also (US) when I pick up my meds I check several things before stepping away from the counter. If they refuse to rectify it is your prerogative to refuse the med, ask for your prescription back and go elsewhere.
A huge pain I know but I believe when we refuse to be scammed in any way-at least they know we are an educated consumer and won't try to fool us again. Hopefully.
We don't have to buy 'soon-to-expire' food at the market and we don't have to accept soon-to-expire meds.
A tip: Next time you might try calling before refilling or ask* them before they fill it not to give you pills with a short expiration time.
You're the customer. irina 👍 *"TELL' don't 'ASK'.
The system in the US is of course, very different from that here in the UK. If for instance, a UK pharmacist has to purchase a certain pack of items wholesale, in order to dispense only part of them, he is reimbursed by the NHS for the full cost, whether he can later dispense the residual items or not - so he doesn't lose a penny in that circumstance. He is also free to negotiate as good a discounted wholesale price as he is able, yet will still be reimbursed at the full tariff price exactly as if he had paid the full NHS indicative price for the meds. There is no scamming going on, and if there were, then over 9 years of being dispensed T3 by different pharmacies, different companies, and different branches of them, both in England and in Wales, I would have had a wide variety of use by dates, which was not the case. If a bottle of tablets is dispensed with a use by date that goes beyond the date that the next prescription can be requested from the GP, then again, there is no scamming going on, and nothing to be rectified. I used to be dispensed two monthly prescriptions so needed only to have tablets that were dated for that period - if I'm compliant with my med-taking why would I need say, a 6 month date when we know tablets are both safe and effective not only up to, but well beyond the use by date. The analogy with the supermarket doesn't parallel the situation here - the pharmacist is a contractor to the NHS, not to patients, who are consumers of the NHS service, not retail customers of the pharmacist (regarding prescriptions). Even if thyroid patients were required in England, to pay the prescription charge instead of being exempt, the prescription fee is a payment to the NHS not to the pharmacist. We most certainly have our particular challenges here, but we are not being scammed in the way you believe is the case.
Wish we had your system. Medicare often negotiates the same price for drugs but even within a 5 mile radius we can find copay amounts wildly different.
Sorry if I sounded critical of your system. This is never my intention.
I really love the UK and have made many visits over the years.
In fact if my sister were still married to her Scottish ex-husband-a lovely man- I would be retired and living in Cumbria as we speak.
I do often have a problem with the world's greed in general and usually try to figure out others' agendas to keep from being ripped off particularly financially..Unfortunately it often seems the case here (US), especially now.
Take care. irina 🐱
Thanks irina,
I'm about to move to a different area so will check how they dispense there. Might be a bit different.
Mercury Pharma is nearly always very short life.
One of the reasons I changed to Morningside Healthcare T3
Also morningside Healthcare is blister packed so stays fresh right to the last tablet
The latest batch of MP T3 I've had dispensed has an expiry date of 19/01/2020 and I have to say that this is the longest expiry date I've ever had! Usually it's only a couple of months ahead.
My nhs T3 always ran out or just before or literally few days after that prescription ended. When I have got cynomel in France is was always new stock with 2 year expiry date. I spoke to hospital pharmacist and said I was unhappy as a tax payer being fobbed off with old almost expired stock that was decanted into brown bottle so for all I know it had already expired. My last 2 batches have had a full 12 months before expiry. So asking nicely but firmly worked for me (so far)
I might be better using the NHS ones first, then going back to the Thybon Henning.
Many of us find changing brands of T3 is difficult so best to stick on same brand if possible
Thanks SlowDragon,
I'll be mostly just having the NHS ones as now able to get T3 on prescription but will keep the Thybon ones for emergencies and for when I need slightly more in particularly cold weather.
So you might consider trying Morningside Healthcare.
Thanks SlowDragon
Just checked which ones were dispensed last couple of times, bottle showing Thame laboratories and the tablets themselves have a M on them. Would these be Morningside?
As far as I am aware Morningside Healthcare only come in blister packs
Good for you.😊
Boy this is really timely for me. I am waiting and waiting on a T3 arrival, says now, after a MONTH it is on its way...but had to rely on outdated T3 which is 2 and nearly 3 years old. I must say, I feel pretty good so this is great to see it is still valid. What a relief!! Many thanks!
Hi, can i ask have you noticed a big difference your health for taking T3 my daughter want's to try Armour. Thanks
Hi katbar,
For me, it was a very needed and good decision. My worst symptom was a constant feeling of suffocation. Even with the first tablet, I noticed an improvement. I wasn't converting thyroxine well.
As my walking had slowed down, I feel that thyroxine took the brakes off and T3 put me into first gear and beyond. Consultant doesn't want me on higher than 10 mcg a day as FT3 is very near top of range but I feel that it's about 80% improvement.
I hope that helps.
In treated patients Free T3 does correlate with quality of life
Does T4 have any value, other than being converted into T3?
DOES ANYBODY HAVE AN OPINION ON MY PROBLEM WITH T3 PLEASE?
Questions on how to keep levo meds and shelf life
