Changing Brands - should I worry?

[Lovecake]

Hi

I’ve just moved house (and area). I went into 2 local pharmacies today to find out which brand of levothyroxine I will be dispensed if I just have “levothyroxine” on the prescription.

Each answered with a different brand. 🤦🏻‍♀️

I currently have 25mcg by Teva

And 50mcg by Actavis (preferred tablet)

The brands the new pharmacies are dishing out are:

North Star and

Advanz

I’ve heard that different brands can be stronger/weaker. Should I request the brands I’ve been given for the last 3 years or chance the new ones?

Appreciate any thoughts and comments if you have time

Thank you. 🤗

[SeasideSusie Remembering]

Lovecake

For your 50mcg tablet:

Northstar is Actavis, it's just rebranded for Lloyds Pharmacy (also as Almus for Boots) but can sometimes be picked up in other pharmacies. The foil on the blister pack will still say Actavis, and it will also be written somewhere on the box. So you wont have any problem with the Northstar tablet.

For your 25mcg tablet:

Advanz is by Mercury Pharma.

Teva is lactose free (the only UK brand that is).

Advanz ingredients are:

Anhydrous levothyroxine sodium, sodium citrate, lactose, maize starch, acacia powder, magnesium stearate

Teva ingredients are:

Levothyroxine sodium, maize starch, mannitol (E421), microcrystalline cellulose, sodium citrate, acacia, magnesium stearate

So the difference is you will be getting lactose in your Advanz 25mcg tablet rather than mannitol, but as you already have lactose in your Actavis this shouldn't be a problem.

If you want all the same brand why not ask your GP to drop the 25mcg tablet and increase your prescription of the 50mcg tablet and either cut a 50mcg tablet in half to give the 25mcg or alternate 100/50mcg to average 75mcg.

[Lovecake in reply to SeasideSusie]

Thank you SeasideSusie for a brilliant and prompt reply 🤗

[SeasideSusie Remembering in reply to Lovecake]

You're welcome

[Manjiajk]

Hi, I do find different brands work differently and I do prefer Actavis. As someone has already mentioned, North Star is Actavis, to which I’ve just recently found out. When I went into my local pharmacy, they said if I ever have a problem with any of the meds, I could just take it back. I’m sure if you asked, your pharmacy would probably be just as obliging.

[Lovecake in reply to Manjiajk]

Yes, they did say that when I popped in yesterday to ask.

I think I’ll be ok with the North Star, so will use the local Lloyds chemist for that prescription.

[Janetcat]

I was given Teva and had some awful cluster headaches! I believe others may have had side effects too.

[Lovecake in reply to Janetcat]

I have read similar. I didn’t think that I had a reaction to the 25mcg of Teva, but thinking back maybe I do. I do suffer with migraines (have done for years, before taking Thyroxine) and it goes in cycles of calming down a bit and flaring up. It’s not great at the moment, but then I have recently moved house (temporarily into rented) and will be moving into our own place again, hopefully in October.

Maybe the Teva is not helping? So when I get my next prescription and change to North Star I will keep a note in my health diary as to how things go.

I also think I need to get a cat too, my beautiful cat died 4yrs ago and it wasn’t possible to get a new one, but it is now. Hopefully that will help me relax and feel better too. ☺️

Thank you.

[barneton]

I moved chemists and was given Teva 50g instead of the Mercury Pharma from Boots.

If you search the internet you will find that many women in France had a problem when Teva changed prescription tablet to include' mannitol.' There were so many complaints

that the government asked the firm to change the ingredients back to original.

Maybe it was because I was taking 50g of Teva and 25 g of Wockhardt but I changed chemists back to Boots for the Mercury Pharma(because when I asked the chemist to change they said they could not obtain other brands???) they provided me and feel better.

But maybe everyone has a different reaction to these ingredients?

[Lovecake in reply to barneton]

I do get reactions to ingredients. I generally get a headache or even a migraine as a result. My body tends to warn me there’s an issue with a migraine. I just have to work out what it is. (Includes some spices, alcohol, sometimes garlic, hot chilli)

I can only take the original Imigran for halting a migraine, the generic sumatriptan throws me into 7hrs of violent sickness and a worse migraine.

Ah well, such is life. My husband doesn’t get that I’m happy to eat plain food all the time. I actually prefer it - years of practice - but can be an issue if eating out (which is rare) or at a family/friend’s house. I regularly take my own snacks/lunch, saves me pain and discomfort. (Add in no Soy, dairy or most grains too).