Can change in my levothyroxin tablet product or dose cause me dizziness,internal heat, feeling sick and missing my steps on the stairs.

[Tosinfatbee]

I had my total thyroidectomy done and was fine on 100mcg of levothyroxin for 4 years. Later, I have to change my levothyroxin product because it was unavailable in the area I moved to in the UK. I immediately started having motion sickness in the car with the new product. Later, each time I wake up in the morning and stands up to walk, I feel terribly dizzy, feel sick, feel hot inside and would want to faint unless I lay on the floor or lay back on bed for another 1hour. I started missing my steps on the stairs. Symptoms started at work after. Bartholin's cyst and abscess started as well continuously.My GP seems to be less bothered as my serum TSH was always normal and the last one in August was 0.8U/ml(0.38-5.33).I decided myself to reduce the new product dose to 100mcg every 3 days and all symptoms reduced significantly. I am confused now, does one product give more levothyroxin than the other or I was having another problem. Can someone help me explain this please?

[helvella Administrator Thyroid UK]

Changing to one 100 microgram tablet every three days is a massive reduction.

Many people find they initially feel better by reducing, even stopping, levothyroxine. Unfortunately, all too many later realise it was temporary - but only after having started to suffer issues. Then struggle to re-establish a stable dosing regime.

Some products do seem to deliver more than others - despite the actual content being well controlled.

What make did you change from? And to?

helvella's medicines documents (UK and Rest of the World) can be found here:

helvella - Thyroid Hormone Medicines

helvella has created, and tries to maintain, documents containing details of all thyroid hormone medicines in the UK and, in less detail, many others around the world.

This link takes you to a page which has direct links to the documents from Dropbox and Google Drive, and QR codes to make it easy to access from phones.

The UK document contains up-to-date versions of the Summary Matrix for tablets, oral solutions and liothyronine available in the UK.

helvella.blogspot.com/p/hel...

[Tosinfatbee in reply to helvella]

Thank you for enlightening on the reduction.

I changed from levothyroxin by MercuryPharma UK to Accord UK.

[helvella Administrator Thyroid UK in reply to Tosinfatbee]

Despite repeated reports about Accord, MHRA and company insist it is fully potent.

I have a suspicion that some people do not do as well on Accord as perhaps some other make(s)? (Many are just fine!)

[Tosinfatbee in reply to helvella]

Thank you.

[sandi in reply to helvella]

Very interesting and useful info. I’ve been on Accord since the summer and my latest blood test shows T4 has dropped to pretty much bottom of range. I couldn’t work out why this had happened but this could be the answer to that one. Thanks.

[helvella Administrator Thyroid UK in reply to sandi]

Please put in a Yellow Card report!

[TiggerMe]

It could be that your vit and min levels have been falling over those years if you have only been accessed on your TSH level it could be you have been underreplaced?

Do you have any blood test results showing your TSH, fT3 & 4 levels? Also results for folate, ferritin, Vit D and B12 as when these are low it can cause dizziness and make you feel generally crappy... With a total thyroidectomy you are reliant on good conversion

100mcg of Levo isn't a big dose unless you are petit so unlikely you are over doing it, possibly you are reacting to the excipients in the new brand?

[Tosinfatbee in reply to TiggerMe]

Thank you for your reply. I have no levels done for fT3 and 4 in the past 2 years since symptoms have started . I have never had folate, ferritin, Vitamin D and B12 tests done since my total thyroidectomy 6yrs ago. No GP ever mentioned them. I will have to go for it .

[TiggerMe in reply to Tosinfatbee]

Sadly I'm not surprised, worth asking your GP to do the Vits, Mins and a full iron panel but unlikely they will do the full thyroid panel, I'd grab one from Monitor My Health or Randox whilst they are on offer... then post it up and we'll give you any advice we can 🤗 at the moment we are all flying blind!

[Tosinfatbee in reply to TiggerMe]

Thank you.

[Mollyfan]

I was changed from mercury tonaccord and felt terrible. T4 plummeted and I had major tachycardia. Also dizziness. When I switched back to mercury it all resolved.

I have now found a pharmacy that can get mercury and insist on only this brand. I also had major issues with Teva and do not take that.

I am sure that the brands are the same in the laboratory, but feel that we absorb them differently. I would recommend you shop around and find a chemist that can consistently provide your preferred brand. If not, the GP should prescribe the brand rather than generic.

gov.uk/drug-safety-update/l...

[Tosinfatbee in reply to Mollyfan]

Yeah! The absorption for different brands might vary . I am glad to know that I am not the only one who experienced this. I had shop around but will do more and tell my GP to prescribe mercury just as you advised.

Thank you