Mannitol intolerance.

[Dillongirl]

Hi, its been some time since my last post. To recap.

I changed the brand of levothyroxine since January - by chance I was given Mercury Pharma back in December which coincided with an article/survey published on this forum about mannitol in the TEVA brand. So I've requested Mercury Pharma since then and now my GP has put that request on my repeat prescriptions.

Well, I still haven't had a palpitation since beginning of January!

I feel lighter and that I've got my life back. I fluctuate between relief and anger - anger because I've had these palpitations on and off for the past 12 years that had no rhyme or reason - well that makes sense if I got a different brand at different times. Through those years I felt that I was perceived as a worry guts or hypochondriac by medical staff. I presented as being well, often by the time I got an ECG it showed that my heart was healthy . Had a 7 cuff in December 2015 - it was a particularly bad week and showed that my heart was all over the place. This resulted in a pacemaker in 2016 . Now I wonder whether I actually needed the Pacemaker. Hence, my anger.

Someone, on this forum mentioned that mannitol was in sweet potatoes and pumpkins. I eat those from time to time with no ill effect. I can only suggest that mannitol in medication is an artificial sugar which, according to my local pharmacist, "some people cannot tolerate" .

I'm reminded of an episode I experienced with my young son many years ago. He returned from a family visit and was very agitated and restless - abnormally so. It transpired that he'd been given quite a lot of a very cheap lemonade with high content of artificial sweeteners. So perhaps humans can tolerate natural sugars but not artificial ones.

I'm still dealing with long covid quite successfully - generally getting better with some minor set backs so it is a relief not to have to deal with the many palpitations which were so debilitating. I'm being more productive generally even with the occasional afternoon sleep. Just sometimes, I get a very very slight and brief sensation at the base of my throat. This has happened at the end of a busy day and I wonder whether it is a signal that I am tired? I've booked my annual blood test for next week and will follow the pre-test advice given on this forum. So far so good - thank you for reading this far - if you have

Good luck to everyone .

[shaws Administrator]

For your palpitations to be resolved due to a change to another brand is very good luck. Palpitations are horrible when they set off without warning. I have experienced them - usually in the middle of the night - but am fortunate they've resolved.

Regarding Long Covid it is great that you're now feeling so much better too - just in time for summer

😊

[helvella Administrator]

In case it is of the least interest, some mannitol contents are given on this link:

alittlebityummy.com/lets-ta...

100 grams of sweet potatoes is quoted at 0.27 grams of mannitol (270 milligrams).

Whilst we know Teva levothyroxine contains mannitol, I don't think we have ever found out how much! But if effectively the whole weight of the tablets were mannitol, it would be something similar to that - 200 to 400 milligrams - at a guess.