I have just been told that my gp has sent a prescription to the pharmacist for a months supply of Eltroxin. I had no idea they were doing this. Ive been on Actavis 50mg and 25mg Wockehart, because i have been feeling so ill since i started on Accord from Actavis i called the pharmacist to ask if i could try Mercury Pharma, thats when i was told about the month supply of Eltroxin that had been ordered for me by my gp. I hesitated as i knew nothing about it or anything about Eltroxin, she said its very good, very expensive and we have to pay for it. Can someone help me please, after the struggle i have had for the past 6 years i cant risk swapping from one brand to another. I see that Mercury Pharma seems to be popular on here.
Please can someone advise me.
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Odinil
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Mercury Pharma Eltroxin is the same product as Mercury Pharma levothyroxine. Absolutely identical. Same number and everything. Mercury Pharma Eltroxin is neither better, nor worse, than Mercury Pharma levothyroxine
The cost is next to nothing. See the British National Formulary here:
(The information isn't quite as clear as you might wish. But it is obvious that none of them is approaching the "expensive" range!)
Looks like the person who told you doesn't understand. Or I have got it all wrong. I sincerely hope I have not.
UK Levothyroxine Tablets
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Last updated 20/09/2020.
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.
❗ – Take particular note of the actual product which varies by dosage.
🟢 PIL – Patient Information Leaflet
🟣 SPC – Summary of Product Characteristics document
🟢🟣 Single document combining typical PIL and SPC information
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Only products which definitely contain lactose are identified (🥛 – contains lactose). Please always check other products. Where products are ‘own label supplier’, check the marketing authorisation holder for the specific product.
There are links to product information on the MHRA (Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency) website. products.mhra.gov.uk/ These are the latest versions known.
If there is anything inaccurate in this information, please let me know by Private Message, or on the forum:
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Its unbelievable, i feel so out of control with it all, we have a right for it to be less complex.
So theres no point in me asking that my prescription states Mercury Pharma and not just Eltroxine or Mercury Pharma Eltroxine, sorry to keep on but its so important to get it clear in my head.
I would keep things simple at this stage. Try the Eltroxin first, at least to placate your GP. If it works for you, then you will know that you can take both of them, and that may be the time to have a new discussion about what your prescription does, or does not need to state.
Realistically, your prescription doesn't necessarily need to state anything other than the dose. Many of us deal with the brand issue directly with our pharmacies. In other words, take your prescription to your preferred pharmacy, tell them that you want either Eltroxin or MercuryPharma. If they can't supply it, take your prescription to another pharmacy and try again. Eventually you'll usually find one that will take your preference into account and give you your preferred brand every time.
Thank you i will do that. I have a telephone consultation tomorrow, different gp always, probably to tell me why i cant have a serum methylmalonic acid test or a pernicious Anaemia test or are they the same thing? that i requested because of my low B12 and Folate Medicheck blood test results and recommended by Medicheck to get done, i suppose i'll have another fight on my hands. If gp's listened to us they could educate themselves and make theirs lives so much easier and ours.
That's exactly what I have to do. Sadly many pharmacies are at the mercy of their suppliers and it's whatever they have, which isn't always the brand you want.
I take MP. I asked my GP to add the brand a while back as some pharmacists asked for it to be on the prescription. He added a line to ‘please dispense MP or Eltroxin’ but one pharmacy recently refused to dispense despite having it in stock because they needed the brand to be specified on the same line as the dose.
This week boots had the 100mcg and an independent helpful pharmacy had the 50mcg. They both can’t order the other strength. Looks like I need storage prescriptions for both strengths in the future to make things easier.
It is becoming increasingly frustrating to source this brand and I’m having to run around and grovel to chemists who are kind enough to want to help.
If you do stay on it watch out for the changes when MP generic is replaced with Eltroxin for a while. This totally confuses the pharmacists and I got caught out by this a couple of years ago before I realised what happened. Eltroxin was out again for a few months last year and early this year but think MP may be back now (I’m due to collect my prescription from the pharmacist tomorrow). Once you get over the hurdle of filling your prescription, the pills are identical so don’t worry about the different boxes.
My GP is extremely helpful and gave me an extra prescription for 8 weeks after I explained the problems with finding the brand in time and the need for the name on the prescription. Now I always have a buffer stock allowing me plenty of time to find it and I did struggle at times. May be worth asking your GP for one too.
Thanks for advice. When that happens do you go from MP to Eltroxin and vice versa? They dont both go off at the same time do they? Theres always one or other?
I cant believe how difficult it all is, nothing is straight forward.
When i sat down with my consultant discussing the removal of my thyroid he said, i'll whip it out, you'll take a tablet everyday and you'll be fine. I havent been fine since although i must say i havent been as bad as some on here.
The prices of all levothyroxine tablets, as in NHS Tariff prices, are the same. (And the NHS indicative prices don't vary very much.) The highest prices are for 12.5 and 75 microgram tablets. The rest are all between about £1 and £2 for 28 tablets.
I do not think of there being a "best" one. Some people find they don't get on with some makes. The best is really just the one you do well on. (If you are lucky, you might find they are all much the same to you.)
We have seen some members say that each of the available makes has been their "best"!
No idea what pharmacist was thinking. I was happy on Actavis and Wockehart but when Actavis changed to Accord thats when i felt ill.
I experimented, stopped Accord, took Actavis for 28 days that the pharmacist managed to source, i was ok again, when they ran out back on Accord, felt ill within two days. I cant explain why if theres been no change in the ingredients or fillers, but i know how it made me feel, terrible!
Martindale Pharmaceuticals used to appear to be, primarily, a supplier of "specials". These are typically made to order. However, it appears that they are now producing several medicines that are not specials.
I know that in some cases, the difference between true "specials" which are made for individual patients, and making a small batch and supplying several patients, then making a slightly larger batch and treating it as small scale manufacturing is a slippery slope. There is no obvious point at which things change from one classification to another.
Even more confusingly, some of the documents for these medicines say "Macarthys Laboratories Limited T/A Martindale Pharma". Some of the documents show a completely different Marketing Authorization Holder. Which makes them appear to be acting as a contract manufacturer.
All super-confusing.
The end result, the MHRA do not list any documentation I could find for levothyroxine produced by Martindales. Therefore, I would tend to assume it is a special of some sort.
Such specials and very small scale manufactured products will not have printed, product-specific packaging.
You should still be told the ingredients.
And you most certainly can put in a Yellow Card report for side effects. Have a look at a previous post of mine:
I currently ive in Manchester and take T3 (Morningside 40mcg) plus 25mcg T4.
I will be moving to Shropshire in a few months and am terrified that I will lose my T3!!
Is there anything I can do before I move to assist in continuing with it? If 1 Endo in one part of the country prescribes it, does another have to? (The Endo here is not very user friendly!).
I understand that I will have to find a new Endo but would be very interested to hear your thoughts.
Odinil, How old is your GP? It may be that she's quoting very out f date info to you. Eltroxin was once touted to be "the only branded' levothyroxine in the UK, and did command a higher price at that time. This was quite a few years ago now though.
Im confused why she never discussed it with me, its news to me. I spoke to her a week ago over the phone about my medicheck results, she didnt seem to care what they were and said she was going to send me blood test form to have them done again i said why medicheck results were up to date, i told her i was concerned that my t3 was low and my t4 was high my b12 was low and so was my folate, she disagreed, said they were all in normal range, totally disregarding medicheck results and now hearing that i have a months Eltroxin prescription waiting for me to pick up. I havent heard about this brand i want to try Mercury Pharma as its seems popular, im scared to keep trying different brands. I wouldnt of changed from Actavis if it hadnt been taken over by Accord and i experienced horrible symptoms.
I never know what doctor i speak to different everytime, she sounded young and had an answer before i finished my question. It was the pharmacist who said how expensive it was, i asked if she could get Mercury Pharma if the gp put it on my prescription, she never said but it is Mercury Pharma surely you would expect her to say that instead of trying to convince me that Eltroxine was some new brand. All very weird.
Odinil, Your GP doesn't seem vey clued up on hypothyroid testing, which is no surprise as most of them aren't. I wouldn't worry about the Eltroxin because as helvella pointed out, it is identical to MercuryPharma. They are made by the same factory, same ingredients, same pills but just in a different box. Just try the Eltroxin and see how it is for you.
I know it sounds ridiculous but i would feel happier if it said Mercury Pharma as ive seen it mentioned alot on here. Sounds like im losing my mind lol.
Is it better in your opinion that i take one brand for both doses, i was Actavis and Wockehart because Actavis didnt do 25mg?
The packaging, the PIL and the actual blister pack itself will all be marked the manufacturer's name. You will probably get a box marked Eltroxin on the front, as this is the brand name, and elsewhere on the packaging you will see Mercury Pharma, the actual manufacturer. If you were to get the usual generic version, it would simply be called levothyroxine, like all others, but the Mercury Pharma name and logo will appear on the box and inserts. As pharmaceutical companies can be subject to buyouts and subsequent name changes, it is important to check the labelling of medications and their formulation, too. It is not always possible to have each of your levo dosages from the same manufacturer, as not every UK company produces every dosage. Out of interest, I have always had my 50 mcg levo dispensed from Boots under their Almus branding. Previously produced by Actavis, now Accord, these are identical. Always check the PIL for the formulation in case it contains an ingredient you are sensitive to. Hopefully the Mercury brand will suit you, and I would also try to work out what ingredients in your previous brands caused issues, as excipients used in levo are common to many other medications and supplements, too.
I checked the ingredients in the Accord box to the ingredients in the Actavis box and they were the same. All i know is that when i took Accord it made me very ill, dizzy, headaches, blurry vision, sick, stomach pains.
How strange to get that reaction, because nothing has changed apart from the manufacturer's name. I noticed no difference at all when the name change finally appeared. (The actual takeover was a while ago now). Did the name in the actual blister pack inside say Accord, too? If so, that's really puzzling. Hope you get on with the Mercury. I have Mercury 25mcg with no problems.
I felt so ill when i took it for 28 days, my eyes blurred, had to go a and e eye clinic on my opticians request. Ive now been on Mercury Pharma 62.5mg for 4 days and feeling weird, dizzy, brain fog, not with it, achey joints, no energy grrr!
Oh its definitely criminal. I feel ive been deceived for years by nhs doctors and endo's. Ive always been made to feel that i was the only one who didnt feel well on levo, now i know about T3, it all makes sense now. Im being told only a private endo can prescribe T3 and B12 injections. Im frustrated and upset i feel ive been lied to and i cant do anything about it
I’ve never seen an endo and haven’t really felt well for many years, I settled for the least dreadful of the levo meds in the end and feeling under par has become normal for me 😕
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