After complaining to the gp surgery that no one is listening to me and taking my symptoms seriously I got a phone call from the pharmacist whom shot me down and said all brands are the same and that it’s a myth about the fillers and things in Levothyroxin tablets, didn’t want to hear about the problems I’m having since starting meds and told me that there is nothing in mercury pharma that is making me feel the way I do, I beg to differ because I never felt like this before and I got worse with every increase! He the told me that there is a prescription waiting for me for beta blockers at the surgery and they will stop palpitations and anxiety.
Is this going to solve my problems? I won’t hold my breath, sorry to rant
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There are differences in the brands ,you might find the detail on the Thyroid UK site. Beta blockers can help but may lead to need increasing the levo.
Best to sort out the levo brand first. Every brand seems to cause some problems with Teva most mentioned.
So sorry to hear they're not listening to you. I had something similar happen to me where the gp said you should take what the state gives you! Even though I had been told by a specialist to stick to the same brand. I was looking on endocrineweb and it says there are differences in brands and that this very small difference can have a major effect on a thyroid patient. Google endocrineweb and levothyroxine brands or something like that (sorry not totally helpful). Can you go back to your gp and say can we just try a different brand to see? and have only that on the prescription?
I’ve been back and forth for the last 4 months, I’ve done everything they have told me to do but here I am stuck on the sofa feeling terrible, I give in😢
I don't know what to say. In the end I found a thyroid savvy doc and got a prescription for armour. That was 7 years ago. I changed to naturethroid due to cost. I had to do it all myself as many of us here do. xxx
never give in - just because those who should know better do NOT so we can be successful with help/advice on the forum.
The fact that they are so poorly trained, except - maybe - know about a TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone). I doubt they know it is from the pituitary gland, not the thyroid gland). i.e. the pituitary gland tries to flag up that the thyroid glan needs help.
Palpitations are common with levothyroxine. I had them constantly but it was some months after being diagnosed that I knew they could be common.
We don't give in. We understand that those who are hypo need doctors who do understand but few seem to otherwise we wouldn't have so many members on this forum.
Those who do well on levo will not be searching the internet.
So it's step-by-step and we can achieve, with the help/advice of others who have tread this weary road, can restore our health.
The method for blood tests is they have to be at the very earliest, fasting (you can drink water) and allow a gap of 24 hours between last dose of levo and test and take it afterwards. This helps keep the TSH at its highest as it drops throughout the day. We need an increase of 25mcg T4 each time until our TSH is 1 or lower. Some doctors think that a TSH of 1 or lower means we're on too high a dose.
Always get a print-out of your results, with the ranges. Ranges are important in order for members to comment as labs differ.
Also request B12, Vit D, iron, ferritin and folate. Have you had thyroid antibodies tested? If not request at next blood test.
Also some have Anhydrous levothyroxine sodium and some have Levothyroxine sodium, the difference being that "Anhydrous" means "without water" and this can cause problems for some people.
How we can get through to these pig headed invidivuals is, unfortunately, beyond me at times.
they are the one I’m on, they just won’t listen and I find it difficult to fight them, I just want to feel well, and I really don’t want to take beta blockers as I have a naturally low bp
As your dose is increased your palps might disappear. If they continue ask for an alternative levo from another pharmacist I think. Those who don't have hypo don't understand what an affect it can have on our lifestyle.
they are the one I’m on, they just won’t listen and I find it difficult to fight them, I just want to feel well, and I really don’t want to take beta blockers as I have a naturally low bp
I have a naturally low bp but bloody love beta blockers for anxiety (from work; teaching.) i don’t have an issue with them; in fact I find I have more energy and sleep better as I feel they take a level of adrenaline away that saps my energy levels.
I got some last week actually just to take on a Wednesday if I need to which seems to be my worst day.
I used to take time all the time and ended up needing a tiny adjustment to thyroxine. (Extra 12.5.)
Yeah, it was 3.8 so increased to 50 started feeling worse palpitations and generally feeling ill went back she thought I would probably need to be on 75 worse palpitations and chest pains so dropped me back to 25 which I know will be playing havoc on my body but the side effects that I got when starting levo have been persistent, I just know it’s something in the tablet that is making me feel ill but I’m too scared not to take it if that makes sense
TSH is not a good enough measure on its own. She should at least be looking at free t4 as well. Ideally free t3 too but they don't consider that. Given that you are having major problems they should be looking at more than tsh.
See GP (or ring) and request new prescription for 50mcg .....then make sure to get paper prescription and take this around to different pharmacies until you get brand you need
Mercury pharma is the levothyroxine and propanol is the beta blockers, I’ve not picked those up yet as I’m a little unnerved to take them, I feel it’s a little drastic, I thought maybe change brand but pharmacist disagrees 🙄
Yes....I can definitely say I have experienced propranolol. It was an effective sticking plaster......unfortunately left on for twenty years!
I had very low blood pressure (low adrenals probably) so starting on beta blockers was tricky. (Beta blocker tends to lower blood pressure). I started very slowly on10mg 3 or 4 times a day (after initial disasterous dose of much higher slow release dose).
You can't take beta blockers if you have asthma
I only ever take one brand of Levothyroxine. Initially that was Goldshield. When that was discontinued I had to change to Mercury Pharma
I think you should ask for referral to an endocrinologist
Email Dionne at Thyroid Uk for list of recommended thyroid specialists
Getting full Thyroid and vitamin testing is first step .......Privately if necessary
For full Thyroid evaluation you need TSH, FT4 and FT3 plus both TPO and TG thyroid antibodies tested. Also EXTREMELY important to test vitamin D, folate, ferritin and B12
Low vitamin levels are extremely common, especially if you have autoimmune thyroid disease (Hashimoto's) diagnosed by raised Thyroid antibodies
Ask GP to test vitamin levels and antibodies if not been tested
Bloods should be retested 6-8 weeks after each dose (or brand) change of Levothyroxine
Recommended on here that all thyroid blood tests should ideally be done as early as possible in morning and before eating or drinking anything other than water .
Last dose of Levothyroxine 24 hours prior to blood test. (taking delayed dose immediately after blood draw).
This gives highest TSH, lowest FT4 and most consistent results. (Patient to patient tip, best not mentioned to GP or phlebotomist)
Private tests are available. Thousands on here forced to do this as NHS often refuses to test FT3 or antibodies or all vitamins
Medichecks Thyroid plus ultra vitamin or Blue Horizon Thyroid plus eleven are the most popular choice. DIY finger prick test or option to pay extra for private blood draw. Both companies often have special offers, Medichecks usually have offers on Thursdays, Blue Horizon its more random
Beta lockers are the drug Dr's pull out for thyroid patients when they don't know what to do. Levothyroxine are not all the same. Give your pharmacist a copy of the MHRA 2013 review of levothyroxine. It states it will keep levothyroxine under review as there have been all sorts of quality and production issues.
Beta lockers have me back pain and masked other problems like low calcium and vitamin D levels which can cause anxiety. It's best to get the real reason sorted than stick a plaster on.
Your doctor and pharmacist sound really unhelpful.
Am I wrong in thinking Pharmacists should know these things? I can understand the ones preparing the prescription may not but I would have thought the actual Pharmacist would have a better grounding.
Palpitations aren't uncommon with hypothyrodism, particularly if we aren't on an optimum dose.
I would not go back to this pharmacist as he is like the majority of GPs, i.e. knows very little indeed. We shouldn't have palpitations, usually it is because the product we are taking may not agree with us. One size doesn't fit all and the main aim is to relieve all of the clinical symptoms and on this forum, that's what we've found, going-it-alone can bring rewards of good health because the doctors aren't doing so.
They've no idea that we are relieved when we've been given a name for what has been bothering us for a while. Probably, like me, had never heard of hypothyroidism but neither did the six or seven or eight other Consultants didn't know either and I was given this and that reason for feeling bad.
Thank Goodness for Thyroiduk.org.uk who put me on the right road and on this forum, the members are very willing to help us along the weary road so that we can recover our health.
When do you get the palpitations? I had palps all the time and it is quite scary if you've not had this experience before. I found drinking ice-cold water could relieve them but the fact is you've got to get onto the proper medication and dose.
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