What the best brand of levothyroxine to have

[Bookworm90]

I’ve just realise that my 75mcg is the brand Teva & my 100mcg is Mercury pharma

And I’ve been okay using them until lately & im getting more frequent headaches than normal & wonder if it could be due to the Teva I take that four times a week on set days, Sunday Monday Wednesday Friday & my 100mcg on Tuesday Thursday Saturday. I only started set days for each meds in the past two week.

I know many don’t get on with Teva & so wonder if that is too blame and changing brand will help

[Carna]

I can’t take Teva but it was only by excluding it did I find out for sure. Perhaps ask your GP for some 50 and 25 mcg tablets by another manufacturer and see if it makes a difference. It’s the manitol in the Teva that has caused problems for some I believe.

[helvella Administrator Thyroid UK]

It is very easy to read about Teva and assume it is a problem. Truth seems to be that it is a problem for some - but is preferred by others.

The only way to know seems to be to try out the possible alternatives - such as Teva every day for a while, then no Teva at all.

Of course, you do have the issue that 75 microgram tablets are only available in Teva. In order to switch from them, you need a different prescription.

[Partner20]

To see if Teva is causing issues for you, have you sufficient Mercury tablets to use only those for a while? As your weekly total seems to be 600 mcg, that would mean one Mercury 100mcg a day for six days of the week, leaving out the seventh day. If, after a couple of weeks or so, your headaches have subsided, it could well be the mannitol excipient used in Teva which is causing them. If your symptoms do not change, then it could be the acacia filler, common to both Mercury and Teva, which is the issue. It is also possible that you have a slight sensitivity to both these fillers, which, combined, adds up to a double whammy, causing your headaches. This may be a matter of trial and error, I'm afraid, but best to get these sensitivities excluded before trying yet another brand. There is always the possibility of either overmedication ir undermedication, too, or simply that your body needs time to adjust to a new dosage. Hope you find the answer soon.