Tirosint

[Rubble86]

Hi, I'm new to this community and looking for an alternative to the standard levothyroxine medication given in the uk. Are there any patients in the uk taking Tirosint? If so I'd be interesting to hear about about any experiences with the medication and if they managed to get it through the nhs?

[SlowDragon Administrator]

Which brand of levothyroxine have you tried

Difficult (perhaps impossible? ) to get tirosint

Liquid levothyroxine often gives good results where tablets don’t

Often symptoms are due to being under medicated rather than the levothyroxine itself

How much levothyroxine are you currently taking

How long on this dose

Do you have autoimmune thyroid disease

Absolutely ESSENTIAL to regularly retest vitamin D, folate, ferritin and B12

When were these last tested

What vitamin supplements are you currently taking

[Rubble86 in reply to SlowDragon]

Thanks for replying and for the list. I don't want to say too much on a public site about the brands and my circumstances as it may make me identifiable. I've tried most the tablets prescribed for the uk on the thryoid uk list and a couple of the liquids and have had side effects on all of them. The last brand was Mercury Pharma, I struggled for nearly a year with very bad side effects, it ended up affecting my chest and breathing. Thankfully I was switched to a special, took it for several years at the same dose as the problem medication, felt fine thyroid wise but I can't obtain it any more and need to find a suitable alternative. In the absence of an identical formulation, Tirosint seemed the logical choice for a trial because it has very little added to it. I was hoping that someone had managed to get it prescribed in the uk under the nhs. I couldn't afford to buy it in.

I do have auto immune disease thyroid disease - 12 years.

I'd have to look for the readings for vitamin d, ferritin, folate and B12; I do remember but they were within the normal range and I've been supplemening with iron at a 14mg iron citrate daily for a couple of years ( couldn't take the nhs preparations managed a month of 1 ferrous fumerate tablet before I had to discontinue due to side effects). My last iron test was around 18 months ago; reading was 31, reference range on the result 15-300 that's burned into my memory.

Also taking Engevita yeast flakes as a vitamin b complex - directed dose daily, pantothenic acid 50mg daily, vitamin d3 1000-200mg daily and selenium 200mg 2-3 times a week. I've recently stopped supplementing with vitamin b/c complex but I try to get enough vitamin c in my diet naturally.

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to Rubble86]

Suggest you consider getting FULL thyroid and vitamins tested then

Tight chest and difficulty breathing often low iron or ferritin

On any levothyroxine (or NDT or T3) we need OPTIMAL vitamin levels

Vitamin D at least around 80nmol and around 100nmol maybe better

Folate and ferritin at least half way through range

Serum B12 at least around 500

Active B12 at least over 70

For full Thyroid evaluation you need TSH, FT4 and FT3 tested.

Also EXTREMELY important to test vitamin D, folate, ferritin and B12 annually

If thyroid levels are poor vitamins drop

Vitamins tend to drop as we get older too

Low vitamin levels are extremely common with Hashimoto’s

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)

If/when also on T3, (or NDT) make sure to take last third or quarter of daily dose 8-12 hours prior to test, even if this means adjusting time or splitting of dose day before test

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 antibodies and vitamins

medichecks.com/products/adv...

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 down to £26.10 if go on thyroid uk for code

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

monitormyhealth.org.uk/

Also vitamin D available as separate test via MMH

Or alternative Vitamin D NHS postal kit

vitamindtest.org.uk

[Rubble86 in reply to SlowDragon]

Thank you so much for all that, going to scuttle off and look at those links and just inwardly digest everything you've said.

[SlowDragon Administrator]

List different brands available in U.K.

Tirosint is listed (unlicensed)

thyroiduk.org/if-you-are-hy...

[Liyaelize]

Tirosint-Sol contains glycerol and is histamine liberating. Tirosint Gelcaps contains pork and bovine gelatin which also are histamine liberating ingredients. Many found Tirosint to cause heart palpitations and it's expensive. The only way you can know if it will work for you is to try it.

[Rubble86 in reply to Liyaelize]

Thanks very much for the information,

[helvella Administrator in reply to Liyaelize]

I think that should read "glycerol" (rather than "glycol"). Might be significant if someone wants to look things up.

You may not realise that you can edit, or delete, any posts or responses you have made here.

HealthUnlocked have produced some help for how to do this. You can find this here:

support.healthunlocked.com/...

When you edit the original post in a thread, you will also have the option to add (or remove) a single image. (To replace an image, remove the existing image, then add the new one.) This is the same process as writing a new post:

support.healthunlocked.com/...

I am pointing this out purely to ensure that you know your options.

(If you make extensive changes, it is sometimes helpful to add a comment so that people can see that you have made changes.)

[Rubble86 in reply to Liyaelize]

cut myself off mid reply there - gosh I'm really surprised that they would use pork and beef for the gelatin - yuk, it doesn't specifiy on their website or on the information leaflet I found online so I thought that the capsules would be vegetable just goes to show you can never take anything at face value

😀

[helvella Administrator in reply to Rubble86]

It does say the ingredients on their website - this is from their USA site:

The inactive ingredients in TIROSINT are gelatin, glycerin and water.

tirosint.com/wp-content/upl...

(Gelatin is always from animal or fish sources.)

[Liyaelize]

I only found it on the insert after I started with Tirosint. Gelcaps and then Tirosint-Sol. Worst experience in my life. Rashes all the time. Weakness and palpitations.

[Rubble86 in reply to Liyaelize]

You must have a rotten time, hope you managed to find something that didn't give you such dreadful side effects.

[Liyaelize]

Back to Synthetic T4 and T3 Levoxyl and Cytomel