Change of levothyroxine brand causing anyone problems?

[Alwaystired5]

My pharmacist has changed my brand from Teva (still tired) to Accord (ok) to North Star (feel awful). I have bad headaches and no energy I even wake up tired on North Star. But the packet says North Star is made by Accord. Anyone else struggling with brand changes? What is the best one?

[tattybogle]

Northstar 50mcg and 100 mcg are repackaged Accord

Northstar 25mcg are repackaged Teva

why, i have no idea....

Just to keep us on our toes and make it even harder to know what's what

[Alwaystired5 in reply to tattybogle]

Thanks so much, that flummoxes me though because accord own brand was ok and North Star awful, both at the 100mg tablet size.

[neckmed1 in reply to Alwaystired5]

My 100mg North star says Actavis on blister pack lot TC1535, I could not believe that 1 tablet could make me feel so bad, from the taste, headache, dizzy, nauseas and short of breath when walking, like you can't replace oxygen, felt bad for 2 days after then had half a tablet and the same side effects. So now trying Metavive 1&11 + a 60mg Thiroyd that I have been taking for 10 years, but I'm getting worried about not being able to get any pure NDT before I run out.

Anyone have blood test results for Metavive or Tru thyroid to show they suppress the TSH?

Thanks, N

[Partner20 in reply to tattybogle]

They are not repackaged, it is just the manufacturer producing the commodity under brandings for other companies, because not every dosage is produced by every manufacturer. Accord, for instance, produces medications both with its own branding and also under the Almus branding for Boots. The most important thing to do with any medication or supplement is to check the formulation in the PIL.

[tattybogle in reply to Partner20]

thanks for the clarification that's what i meant really, just making the point that Northstar/Accord 50's /100's are identical, as are Nothstar/Teva 25's .

[SlowDragon Administrator]

Welcome to the forum

How much levothyroxine are you currently taking

As tattybogle says.....25mcg Northstar is Teva

When were thyroid and vitamin levels last tested?

Bloods should be retested 6-8 weeks after each dose (or brand) change in levothyroxine

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

Do you have Hashimoto’s?

Ask GP to test vitamin levels and antibodies if not been tested yet

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)

Private tests are available as NHS currently rarely tests Ft3 or thyroid antibodies or all relevant vitamins

List of private testing options

thyroiduk.org/getting-a-dia...

Medichecks Thyroid plus vitamins including folate (private blood draw required)

medichecks.com/products/thy...

Thriva Thyroid plus antibodies and vitamins By DIY fingerpick test

thriva.co/tests/thyroid-test

Thriva also offer just vitamin testing

Blue Horizon Thyroid Premium Gold includes antibodies, cortisol and vitamins by DIY fingerprick test

bluehorizonbloodtests.co.uk...

If you can get GP to test vitamins and antibodies then cheapest option for just TSH, FT4 and FT3

£29 (via NHS private service ) and 10% off if go on thyroid uk for code

thyroiduk.org/getting-a-dia...

monitormyhealth.org.uk/thyr...

[Alwaystired5 in reply to SlowDragon]

I’m taking 100mg and haven’t had bloods tested for a year. I’ll take your list and have them tested again and put the results up. Thanks so much

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to Alwaystired5]

What were results a year ago

What vitamin supplements are you currently taking?

Remember to stop taking any supplements that contain biotin (Eg vitamin B complex) a week before all blood tests as biotin can falsely affect test results

[Citrine77]

I have the same problem with all of those brands and take Mercury pharma, my doctor has put it on my prescription as a named brand, although I still have to check they have given me that before I leave the pharmacy.

[Alwaystired5]

I’m searching out my last blood results and I’m going to ask for Mercury, I know I’ve had that before. Thanks all, you are so supportive

[rioqueen55]

I had lots of problems with a couple of years ago with being tired, losing my hair, itching, weight gain, not being able to put a sentence together, and a few other symptoms. It seem to start when my Levothyroxine was changed to TEVA, and my daughter had the same problem. After months and months of feeling really ill, putting on over 3 stone in weight, and losing my hair every time I brushed it, I asked my doctor to refer me to an Endocrinologist. I had every test that she could possibly do, and they all came back clear, so she decided it must have something to do with my medication.

I found an old empty packet of Levothyroxine and they were manufactured by Mercury Pharmaceuticals . I looked at all the ingredients in all of the Pharmaceutical manufacturers for Levothyroxine, and all the other medication i'm taking. They had one filler/ingredient in that Mercury didn't have in Levothyroxine, and that is something called

Microcrystalline Cellulose. I stopped all my medication for as long as I could tolerate, which was about 10 days, as everything I was taking had Microcrystalline Cellulose in it. After a few days I started to feel a bit better. Whilst I was doing my research, I found that Mercury manufactured Eltroxin Levothyroxine, and it did not contain that filler/ingredient. Mercury was brought out by (Concordia International). I researched all my medication and found the manufacturers that did it without Microcrystalline Cellulose. I got my Pharmacist to only give me the makes I asked for, and got my doctor to write on my prescriptions Eltroxin Levothyroxine, and I have never looked back.

I'm not saying this applies to everyone, but it is definitely worth looking into, and maybe ruling out what i've mentioned.

Sorry it was long winded, but I hope it helps.

Best wishes

Jenny

[PirateQueen]

I always took Actavis with no problems, until a few months back when Accord snuck in. I've had (sorry if TMI!) pretty much daily diarrhea, crazy anxiety, very fast heart rate and other lovely side effects. It all coincides with this brand changing over - I absolutely do not believe for a second they are the same, despite people saying "only the name on the packet has changed" over and over to me. The tablets even *feel* different! So yes, brands can make a huge difference lol

[LMor in reply to PirateQueen]

Hi pirateQueen. I absolutely agree with the changeover. There is a big difference with Actavis and accord. I’ve been good on Actavis for years and then noticed my hair falling out, a feeling of anxiety, brain fog, joint aches, headaches, etc and checked my tablets and they were accord (supposed to be the same). I use 50 of accord and 25 Mercury, so I started taking 3 of mercury and all the symptoms stopped. Wanted to make sure I wasn’t going mad so took accord again and it all started again. It’s so frustrating 😬. Doctors have given me a new prescription for 3 x 25 but I’m now having severe migraines with aura again so now wondering if Mercury are the cause. I wish they would just leave tablets alone.

[PirateQueen in reply to LMor]

That’s horrible about your migraines! So sorry to hear that. I hope they get sorted soon.

I’m gutted that these tablets have changed, I feel like I’m being slowly poisoned now. Going for a blood test to check my levels next week, and then I’ll be asking to change to Mercury. I’ve been on them before and they made me very tired, but might be better than this state!!

It’s such a shame there aren’t many options for Levo, I feel like it’s a “That’s all we’ve got, get on with it” situation.

[PirateQueen in reply to LMor]

Also, have you filled out a yellow card report to report your side effects?

[Alwaystired5 in reply to PirateQueen]

This rings true for me. Exhausted. Awful joint aches. 6 weeks ago I could run 10k now I can hardly walk 1k without going for the ibuprofen. Running to loo is another symptom I think might be linked. And just feel a tiny bit sad.

[PirateQueen in reply to Alwaystired5]

How awful! Same for me exercise wise, though nowhere near as impressive as your 10k!

[LMor in reply to PirateQueen]

Hi. Yes I have filled a yellow card. Thank you for your response. It’s a nightmare this thyroid disease & no one knows how tough it is unless you have it x

[PirateQueen in reply to LMor]

Absolutely! Let’s hope you get back to smashing those 10k’s very soon!

[Alwaystired5]

Hi

I realise it’s a year since My last blood tests. They were:

D3 64

Folate 7.3

B12 352

TSH 0.7

T4 23

Ferritin 28

Calcium 2.14

Inorganic phosphate 1.03

Adjusted calcium 2.23

Liver normal

White blood cell count 3.2

Red blood cell count 4.16

Haemoglobin 131

HCT 0.39

Mean corpuscular 94.8

I’m guessing there is no T3 test so they’ve not worked out if I convert well. They just told me they were fine results and I was normal.

I am normal except that I always have some muscular skeletal thing stopping me run or stopping yoga. Now a hip. Then a planta fasciitis. And at 4pm I’m done. No more energy - nothing.

I will get tests again. Thank you for being such a supportive forum.

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to Alwaystired5]

Obviously these results are too old

Please add ranges (figures in brackets after each result)

BEFORE Considering seeing any thyroid specialist endocrinologist we ALWAYS recommend getting FULL thyroid and vitamin testing first

A) frequently much cheaper via test options here

B) essential to test early morning before eating or drinking anything other than water and last dose levothyroxine 24 hours before test

C) if Vitamin levels are low important to improve and then retest thyroid and vitamins again before considering adding T3

D) if autoimmune disease confirmed by high thyroid antibodies then strictly gluten free diet frequently helps or is essential

E) frequently testing shows on inadequate dose levothyroxine

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

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)

Is this how you do your tests?

Private tests are available as NHS currently rarely tests Ft3 or thyroid antibodies or all relevant vitamins

List of private testing options

thyroiduk.org/getting-a-dia...

Medichecks Thyroid plus vitamins including folate (private blood draw required)

medichecks.com/products/thy...

Thriva Thyroid plus antibodies and vitamins By DIY fingerpick test

thriva.co/tests/thyroid-test

Thriva also offer just vitamin testing

Blue Horizon Thyroid Premium Gold includes antibodies, cortisol and vitamins by DIY fingerprick test

bluehorizonbloodtests.co.uk...

If you can get GP to test vitamins and antibodies then cheapest option for just TSH, FT4 and FT3

£29 (via NHS private service ) and 10% off if go on thyroid uk for code

thyroiduk.org/getting-a-dia...

monitormyhealth.org.uk/thyr...

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to Alwaystired5]

These results show extremely low vitamin levels....highly likely to have poor conversion of Ft4 to ft3 as direct result

What vitamin supplements are you currently taking

Vitamin D3 64 - too low

aiming to improve vitamin D to at least around 80nmol and around 100nmol maybe better

Folate 7.3

B12 352

Both far too low. Looking for B12 at least over 500 and folate at least half way through range

supplementing a good quality daily vitamin B complex, one with folate in (not folic acid) may be beneficial.

This can help keep all B vitamins in balance and will help improve B12 levels too

Difference between folate and folic acid

chriskresser.com/folate-vs-...

B vitamins best taken after breakfast

Igennus Super B is good quality and cheap vitamin B complex. Contains folate. Full dose is two tablets per day. Many/most people may only need one tablet per day. Certainly only start on one per day (or even half tablet per day for first couple of weeks)

Or Thorne Basic B or jarrow B-right are other options that contain folate, but both are large capsules

If you are taking vitamin B complex, or any supplements containing biotin, remember to stop these 7 days before ALL blood tests, as biotin can falsely affect test results

endo.confex.com/endo/2016en...

endocrinenews.endocrine.org...

Low B12 symptoms

b12deficiency.info/signs-an...

With such low B12 result taking a B12 supplement as well as a B Complex (to balance all the B vitamins) initially for first 2-4 months, then once your serum B12 is over 500 (or Active B12 level has reached 70), stop the B12 and just carry on with the B Complex.

B12 sublingual lozenges

amazon.co.uk/Jarrow-Methylc...

cytoplan.co.uk/vitamins/vit...

Ferritin 28 - far too low

Low iron and/or low ferritin frequently linked to hair loss

Never supplement iron without doing full iron panel test for anaemia first

Eating iron rich foods like liver or liver pate once a week plus other red meat, pumpkin seeds and dark chocolate, plus daily orange juice or other vitamin C rich drink can help improve iron absorption

List of iron rich foods

dailyiron.net

Links about iron and ferritin

irondisorders.org/Websites/...

drhedberg.com/ferritin-hypo...

This is interesting because I have noticed that many patients with Hashimoto’s disease and hypothyroidism, start to feel worse when their ferritin drops below 80 and usually there is hair loss when it drops below 50.

Thyroid disease is as much about optimising vitamins as thyroid hormones

[Alwaystired5 in reply to SlowDragon]

That is phenomenally helpful. I am going for blood tests tomorrow. I will purchase those vitamins to take afterwards. Then I’ll wait 3 months before going to Endo to let the vitamins take effect. I honestly feel like your website is the first time anyone has listened to me. Thank you.

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to Alwaystired5]

Recommend you read posts everyday, learn as much as possible about how to manage this very tricky disease