Nortons Thyroxine

[shemoon]

hello I had radio active iodine on my thyroid many years ago and was taking Nortons thyroxine tablets, they were discontinued years ago , has anyone heard of this brand, If yes could you tell me the brand name has been changed or if another company has taken Norton over and changed it's name, I am currently on wockhardt and actavis, but lately I seem to be having serious stomach and fatigue issues,

[Hidden]

Not heard of it.It might be worth posting your lastest blood tests as well to see if there is any other reason why you are not so well. Ideally you will need TSh. T4, T3, ferretin, folate,B12 and vitamin D.

[helvella Administrator Thyroid UK]

This is what I think happened - please allow that there is inevitably some assumption in the story.

In the 1990s Norton Healthcare was a large generics manufacturer.

Norton was, or became, a subsidiary of Ivax. Norton Thyroxine was rebranded as Ivax.

Ivax was bought up by Teva (around 2006). The Ivax product was rebranded as Teva. This period probably also covered the name-only change across the industry from thyroxine to levothyroxine.

Teva levothyroxine had a licence withdrawn and became unavailable around 2013. This was due to failure of the product to deliver the claimed dose and that manufacture varied a significant ingredient without gaining approval from MHRA first.

Around 2016, Teva introduced a new formulation of levothyroxine. No connection whatsoever with the original Norton product. Different formulation. Uses mannitol instead of lactose.

I suspect that what you should be doing at this stage is getting your test results, getting re-tested if appropriate, and posting them.

[shemoon in reply to helvella]

Thank you so much for the information, I go to see my GP next week, and I will ask for my thyroid text results. I am extremely exhausted most days and finding it quite difficult to get out of bed, lots of hair loss and many many more new ailments, from being an active person to now feeling shut down, brain fog, and lost two and a half stone in a matter of three weeks last year when they started altering my thyroid meds, pigmentation, extremely dry skin, blurred vision, and I still can't put weight on, despite being told by my doctor that going by my last thyroid test, I have gone slightly under active, the blood test before the last one I was over active and Visa Vera every six weeks, I also been diagnosed with anxiety recently, have recently developed gastrointestinal problems, I had polps removed last month from my stomach, I also had heart attack last September, I also have a 2.5 tumor in the right side of my neck which has grown from 2.1cms. Urology problems, all this in a year, as previous I was a healthy nine and a half stone female , and as I. have mentioned before no problems on 125mg of Levothyroxine for twenty six years after having radio active iodine to remove my thyroid after developing Graves disease, problems started March 2018, last year, and on going, feeling so miserable, I have had the tests done for B12 folic acid they are okay, just started to take vitamin D. I am at my wits end, and I feel that I have no normality in my life anyone, lost interest in my favourite pass times, Music, and my art, don't want to see any body, , seems that if the doctors tell you that your thyroid levels are in range either slightly over or under, And I know that I feel really unwell , then the case being that I now have to suffer, I do apologise for the long script, and living in the UK, I am stuck with Levothyroxne . Has anyone been in a similar health Crisis and found a relief? Any advise would be greatly appreciated, I am still losing weight as now six and a half stone. Trying to eat little but often, and also developed recently a intolerance to many foods, So difficult and each day is a big challenge.

[helvella Administrator Thyroid UK in reply to shemoon]

When you have your results, come back and post again.

You should be able to get your results printed just by asking.

[nightingale-56]

I took Norton in the late 1990's until it went off the market in 2006 and then was given Actavis, but could not tolerate this. I was then given Goldshield Eltroxin a very good Levothyroxine and was on this until 2010 when this (unfortunately) went off the market. Could only tolerate Wockhardt, but even this not well, so inFebruary 2019 I changed to NDT privately and am now doing well.

[HowNowWhatNow]

I haven’t been in a thyroid health crisis quite as bad as the one you describe. I do find my life post-Hashimoto’s very different to the one before and don’t find the meds I take an adequate panacea. But your crisis sounds worse, and is still getting worse. I salute you for everything you are doing just to get through the day!

Have you had anything else tested, or just the thyroid, Vit D and folic acid?

What do you think the gastro problems you describe relate to? Have you been able to rule out being coeliac/intolerant of a food group, having a bacterial infection in the gut, having a reflux-type problem, or any other systemic problems?

When you are losing this much weight, you should really get your full blood count done too - if that hasn’t happened.