OMG I can't believe this.

[Pixipot]

Today is the 1st day I've walked on my feet without inscruciating pain on my heels and all I can think it's been is>> instead of taking 25mcg of (Teva) to make up my 75mcg daily dosage of levothyroxine, I cut a (actavis) tablet in half to make up the 75mcg so no Teva has been used, I also don't feel vomity & my scalp doesn't feel nippy, this is the 1st day as I said so I will keep you guys informed of how things keep going.

[humanbean]

That excruciating pain in the heels is quite common in hypothyroidism. The ankles not bending for an hour or two at the start of the day is also a common symptom.

The medical name for the condition is "plantar fasciitis".

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plant...

Unfortunately for us, doctors don't recognise the connection between hypothyroidism and plantar fasciitis. Instead, they are dismissive of the pain, and are likely to tell patients they have brought on the condition by themselves because they ate too much and did too little exercise. So the sufferer is fobbed off with the "eat less and move more" advice that has been so useless for the last 40 or 50 years for the population as a whole. They may be told to try foot support inserts in their shoes. Those never did anything for me, and in fact made the pain worse.

Having problems with Teva Levothyroxine is common. It's been described as a "Marmite" brand - people either love it or hate it. The ones who hate it significantly outnumber the people who love it (on this forum). There are some lucky people who can cope with any brand.

Send your doctor a letter telling him that you want to cut 50mcg tablets in future, and can your prescription be adjusted accordingly. You don't want the 25mcg tablets any more (because they are always? or nearly always? Teva), so you will need extra 50mcg tablets to make up the difference.

You need to make sure that you tell the pharmacist that dispenses your prescriptions that you can't tolerate Teva and must be given one of the other brands. There are plenty of pharmacists who will still dispense Teva even if the patient can't tolerate it (which I think is dishonest!), if it is what they have in stock. So, always, always, always check you haven't been given Teva tablets before you leave the counter. Once you've walked away from the counter it gets difficult or impossible to get your drugs changed.

[Pixipot in reply to humanbean]

Why can't pharmaceuticals just make Actavis in 25mcg it would make life more simple, I've bought myself a pill cutter instead of reverting to using my teeth 😁

[humanbean in reply to Pixipot]

helvella has a document which lists the companies that make Levothyroxine which can be prescribed in the UK market. It mentions which dose sizes are available for each brand as well. Unfortunately I can't find a link for it, so hopefully helvella will jump in here.

[helvella Administrator in reply to humanbean]

As requested, so posted!

UK Levothyroxine Tablets

➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖

Last updated 30/04/2020.

This is a list of currently marketed levothyroxine tablets in the UK.

Please note that re-branding (whether by a manufacturer or as an ‘own label supplier’ - which has happened with several products) does not mean any change to formulation.

—————————————————————

🔹 Accord – formerly Actavis (marketing authorisation holder)

🏭 Accord-UK (manufacturer)

🥛 contains lactose

  50  PL 0142/0104

  100  PL 0142/0105

White

6mm diameter

—————————————————————

🔹 Advanz – branded both “Mercury Pharma Levothyroxine” and “Mercury Pharma Eltroxin” which are identical (marketing authorisation holder)

🏭 Custom Pharmaceuticals Ltd. (manufacturer)

🥛 contains lactose

  25  PL 12762/0016 5.5mm diameter

  50  PL 10972/0031

  100  PL 10972/0032

—————————————————————

🔸 Almus – (an ‘own label supplier’ brand owned by Walgreen Boots Alliance – Boots pharmacies and Alliance distributor)

  50 – This is repackaged Accord – formerly Actavis.

  100 – This is repackaged Accord – formerly Actavis.

—————————————————————

🔹 Aristo – (marketing authorisation holder)

🏭 Aristo Pharma GmbH (manufacturer)

  100  PL 40546-0159

—————————————————————

🔸 Northstar – (an ‘own label supplier’ brand owned by McKesson – Lloyds pharmacies and AAH distributor)

  25 – This is repackaged Teva. ❗

  50 – This is repackaged Accord – formerly Actavis. ❗

  100 – This is repackaged Accord – formerly Actavis. ❗

—————————————————————

🔹 Teva – (marketing authorisation holder)

🏭 PLIVA Croatia Ltd (manufacturer)

  12.5  PL 00289/1971

  25  PL 00289/1972

  50  PL 00289/0038

  75  PL 00289/1973

  100  PL 00289/0039

—————————————————————

🔹 Wockhardt – (marketing authorisation holder)

🏭 CP Pharmaceuticals Ltd (manufacturer)

🥛 contains lactose

  25  PL 29831/0130

➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖

🔹 – identifies marketing authorisation holder.

🔸 – identifies ‘own label supplier’ products.

🏭 – identifies manufacturers (where known).

❗ – Take particular note of the actual product which varies by dosage.

—————————————————————

Numbers refer to tablet dosages in micrograms.

Only products which definitely contain lactose are identified (🥛 contains lactose). Please check other products. Where products are ‘own label supplier’, check the marketing authorisation holder.

If there is anything inaccurate in this information, please let me know by Private Message:

healthunlocked.com/user/hel...

➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖

This document is updated whenever I am aware of any changes or enhancements are needed. Please check the Last updated date. The current version is available as a PDF here:

dropbox.com/s/6h3h0qi4eqwi6...

[humanbean in reply to helvella]

Thank you, helvella.

[helvella Administrator in reply to helvella]

The above is out of date!

helvella - Thyroid Hormone Medicines

I have created, and try to maintain, a document containing details of all thyroid hormone medicines in the UK and, in less detail, many others around the world.

From Dropbox:

dropbox.com/s/wfhrlmb5983co...

From Google Drive:

drive.google.com/file/d/11z...

[helvella Administrator in reply to Pixipot]

I do agree - it is very frustrating they don't.

[humanbean in reply to Pixipot]

From the information just posted by helvella it seems that you can be prescribed 25mcg tablets :

🔹 Advanz – branded both “Mercury Pharma Levothyroxine” and “Mercury Pharma Eltroxin” which are identical (marketing authorisation holder)

🏭 Custom Pharmaceuticals Ltd. (manufacturer)

🥛 contains lactose

  25  PL 12762/0016 5.5mm diameter

  50  PL 10972/0031

  100  PL 10972/0032

—————————————————————

🔹 Wockhardt – (marketing authorisation holder)

🏭 CP Pharmaceuticals Ltd (manufacturer)

🥛 contains lactose

  25  PL 29831/0130

--------------------------------------------------

Make sure you avoid Northstar 25mcg because it is repackaged Teva.

But, if you are happy to cut up 50mcg tablets of a brand you like and get on with, and your GP is happy to prescribe them, then that might make life easier for you. But I'm not sure how likely it is for GPs to allow patients to do cutting up of tablets.

[SeasideSusie Remembering]

Pixipot

If you believe it's the Teva that caused your problem, please do a Yellow Card report.

yellowcard.mhra.gov.uk/

[Pixipot in reply to SeasideSusie]

It's early days yet but will do if heel pain never comes back but im annoyed that my doctor never warned me about mixing brands I was oblivious of this before coming to this forum.

[Gingernut44 in reply to Pixipot]

Doctors don’t know, they think Levo is Levo, full stop and, to be honest, they don’t care otherwise they would be up to speed on the excipients of each brand and would suggest trying a different one if you were having problems.

I was having so many side effects on Northstar (Actavis). I was already up to 100mcg . After my TSH came back at 0.62, my GP said keep taking that dose but when I told him of the side effects I was having he just said “well stop taking them and have a blood test in six weeks, you were only just over at 5.2 TSH” This was after RAI treatment! Of course, at that time I knew no better. That was my second most stupid decision (the first was having RAI) I have never been well since, that was Dec 2018.

I truly believe most Doctors don’t give a t*ss