Eltroxin

[Roma2975]

I’ve been given 125mg Eltroxin . I haven’t started it yet , can anyone tell me how they feel on it. Accord was fine until I had rai since then I’ve been unbalanced.

[helvella Administrator]

Eltroxin in the UK is absolutely 100% identical to Mercury Pharma levothyroxine.

Can you explain a bit more about your history, please?

How much Accord were you taking? Were you taking anything else (for example, carbimazole). Can you give a rough calendar of when things happened?

[Roma2975 in reply to helvella]

I don’t have my latest blood results taken this week. I’m a thy ca survivor so was on 150mg. Has many symptoms and oncologists said I’m over medicated. Dropped to 125mg. Not on anything else. So had rai end of October and started getting symptoms mainly terrible

Anxiety after that. The other day I forgot to take my pill and felt like old me . It’s definitely medicine that’s not agreeing with me

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to Roma2975]

ESSENTIAL to get FULL Thyroid and vitamin testing done 6-8 weeks after any dose change or brand change in levothyroxine

Almost everyone feels better if they stop levothyroxine…..it’s a well known phenomenon. You would rapidly become extremely unwell if stayed off it

Likely you have poor conversion of Ft4 (levothyroxine) to Ft3 (active hormone)

Reducing dose levothyroxine (usually inappropriately) results in vitamin levels crashing

What were your results on 150mcg levothyroxine

Good vitamin levels are ESSENTIAL for good conversion of Ft4 to Ft3

ALWAYS test thyroid bloods early morning, ideally just before 9am and last dose levothyroxine 24 hours before test 

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 all relevant vitamins

List of private testing options and money off codes

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

Medichecks Thyroid plus antibodies and vitamins

medichecks.com/products/adv...

Blue Horizon Thyroid Premium Gold includes antibodies, cortisol and vitamins

bluehorizonbloodtests.co.uk...

Monitor My Health also now offer thyroid and vitamin testing, plus cholesterol and HBA1C for £65 

(Doesn’t include thyroid antibodies) 

monitormyhealth.org.uk/full...

10% off code here 

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

Only do private testing early Monday or Tuesday morning. 

Watch out for postal strikes, probably want to pay for guaranteed 24 hours delivery 

[paddington]

I take both, and have not noticed any difference. Closest match to Mercury as far as my body is concerned.

[Santolina]

not all generics are equal and for me, Eltroxin was the most stable. Yet Mercury over 4-6 months created an instability. It's the nuances that may be out of sync with medical practice and the pharmacists call this 'an availability factor'.

[Longinthetooth]

HiI've been stable on Eltroxin for a few years now (currently 100mcg) & hope the doc continues to keep me on it. It's slightly more expensive than the usual brand that he dishes out. (which he happened to mention to me!). Initially, I was started on Wockhardt which didn't agree with me.

I hope you find that Eltroxin suits you too, but you will have to be patient as we all do when there is a change in medication. So good once we find the balance.

[Roma2975 in reply to Longinthetooth]

Glad to hear it’s working for you. As I mentioned before I was tolerating medication till I had rai for my thyca .

[Longinthetooth in reply to Roma2975]

Sorry to hear this. I had breast cancer, lump removed in July 21. But, regarding your thyroid cancer I honesty don't know how this affects your meds along with whatever treatment you have been prescribed. I was so afraid of my balance going off sync but have been ok except when I had long Covid last year which disrupted my levels & I went hyper. Fortunately, I'm back on track thanks to the admin staff's knowledge on this site who always steer me in the right direction. You will get good advice from here. Take care.

[catherine1712]

i never took this medication.

[NIKEGIRL]

hi. I have been taking eltroxin for 6 months. For 4 months it was 50mcg a day. Post total thyroidectomy it is 150mcg and just increased to 175mcg. No physical side effects I can say.

[helvella Administrator in reply to NIKEGIRL]

I suspect you are taking Aspen Eltroxin.

Back here in the UK, we get Advanz (Mercury Pharma) Eltroxin.

Yet another issue for us all to deal with. They are different formulations so need to be treated as different products - even though they have the same name!

[NIKEGIRL in reply to helvella]

Hi. I will ask this week when I pick up my prescription because the bottle just says Eltroxin. Then I will know. Thank you for highlighting this.

[helvella Administrator in reply to NIKEGIRL]

Do they not give you Patient Information Leaflets down there?

In UK majority of medicines are pre-packed - usually blisters in card outers - with PIL included.

Pharmacies are even doing that for split packs where they have to print a copy themselves!

[Roma2975]

I hope it works for me too

[NIKEGIRL in reply to Roma2975]

I genuinely hope so too. All we learn is to feel well and get on with life. Kindest regards always NIKEGIRL