Hives

If my hives are more severe should l ask to have an alternative to Levothyroxin as its a side effect also I often get mixed manufacture tablets from the chemist as on 1.5 should l insist on the same brand ?

Could switching cause me problems ?

I am also wondering if low T3 can impact O/A as I have a consultants appointment for O/A this week l thought l might ask him this question , I have not had T3 tested but will if he wont do it , just wondered if anyone is aware of a link ?

all replies gratefully recd

[helvella Administrator Thyroid UK]

If you are continually taking two or more makes and switching frequently, you really are not going to be able to tell.

See if you can stick to one make for, say, a month, and see if you have the issue. You might find it best to discuss with your pharmacist what they can do to help you achieve that.

If you do find hives are associated with one or more makes, definitely file a Yellow Card report for each one that is a problem.

helvella - Thyroid Hormone Medicines

I have created, and try to maintain, a document containing details of all thyroid hormone medicines in the UK and, in less detail, many others around the world.

From Dropbox:

dropbox.com/s/wfhrlmb5983co...

From Google Drive:

drive.google.com/file/d/11z...

[Hidden in reply to helvella]

Thank you I will do that X

[humanbean]

One suggestion that can give useful information is if you try taking a hay fever / allergy anti-histamine about an hour before you take your Levo for a week or two (or longer, if necessary).

If the anti-histamine helps and reduces the hives it shows that the Levo you took contains something you are intolerant to.

So, if you get a reduction in hives with an anti-histamine with two different tablets but a third tablet doesn't give you hives at all, then you can compare the ingredients of all the tablets and see if you can identify the common factor in the two tablets that gives you hives which isn't contained in the third one. Then you can tell a pharmacist not to dispense a make of Levo that contains the ingredient you are sensitive to.

Common ingredients that can cause allergy / intolerance reactions are :

1) Acacia

2) Mannitol

3) Lactose

Note that UK medicines are not allowed to contain gluten. (I think.)

[helvella Administrator Thyroid UK in reply to humanbean]

Virtually no UK medicines contain gluten.

I think all that do are obvious - such as products used for allergy testing. Some contain wheat starch but if that is pharmaceutical quality, it will have low enough gluten to be considered gluten-free.

[Hidden in reply to humanbean]

Great idea thank you 😘