hello,
I wondered if anyone can help. My son is prescribed liquid Levothyroxine 75mg brill pharma. He can’t tolerate the tablets. Our pharmacy have told us it’s sold out and none in stock. I phoned round a few other pharmacies and they don’t have any. In your experience which brands are the same as brill pharma and who have you contacted in the past to find out if there’s stock? I phoned brill pharma but the phone kept being cut off. Thank you ❤️
Annie
Stocks of liquid Levo of any brand have been very hit and miss for 18 months or so now.
Do you know what it was in the tablets that your son didn't tolerate?
See helvella document for details of each brand.
dropbox.com/s/bo2jzxucgp9hl...
hello,
Thank you for your reply. We don’t know what it was in the tablets that made him feel ill and numbness in his face and body. The liquid is a godsend and he is able to take 150mg of levo since he was diagnosed 10 years ago with no side effects.
I don’t know what to do to find any liquid levo and wondered if anyone knew which brand is similar to brill pharma liquid. Thanks ❤️
To be perfectly honest it might be a question of what is available currently as availability has been so patchy for so long.
Phone up your usual pharmacy and then try your local independent pharmacy who seem to have best access when stocks are low. See what they can get hold of and if necessary you can get his prescription changed a sa pne off to fit whatever is available.
Thank you! I’ll phone our chemist back. ❤️
There are only small differences between the various liquids. They are all levothyroxine in glycerol and water - with tiny amounts of acid/alkali (base) to adjust pH, and preservatives.
Some members seem to find they respond somewhat differently but the reasons are not at all clear.
I think that Brillpharma is the only 75 micrograms per 5 ml product. But, obviously, they could prescribe 100 micrograms per 5 ml which is potentially available in other formulations - you just have to be careful measuring it out. I assume you use an oral syringe?
You could consider trying Aristo Vencamil tablets - they do not have acacia, lactose, or mannitol - the three ingredients most often suspected of causing problems. But, at present, only available in 100 micrograms.
McPammy might have some info
Hi. What I did when everywhere seemed to have no stock of any brand of liquid oral levothyroxine, was to check with my local hospital pharmacy. They did have some stock but I had to get a white hospital Drs prescription to obtain it. I use to always get Wockhardt brand which I much prefer but they stopped production from Ireland last year. Now I get Mercury Pharma 50mcg without any issues so far. I’ve not long ago collected 4 bottles of 50mcg strength. Your son could maybe get 100mcg strength and the pharmacy will work out his dose for him with the increased strength. I’m like your son and can’t do the tablets. I think my issue is an absorption one. I had to briefly go on tablets last year when no stock anywhere. I plummeted and my levels crashed. Liquid is much more absorbed than tablet form.
So, see if your local pharmacy can get Mercury Pharma 100mcg strength and adjust the dose. I wouldn’t go down a strength. Or check with your local hospital pharmacy and get a white hospital prescription from your son’s Endo if he has one. Sometimes hospitals have community pharmacies on site. If so get the hospital pharmacy to transfer the stock to the community pharmacy and then you can use the GP green prescription. It can be a little complex but its the stupid way the NHS supply chain is run unfortunately.
I hope he can get his liquid oral levothyroxine soon. I know it can be frustrating and worrying. I’d also report the stock out to your GP surgery medication manager. You might have to get a new prescription if the strength changes and you go to a different pharmacy than you normally do. I had a terrible time this time last year souring my liquid.
Thank you for the information McPammy. I really appreciate everyone taking the time out to help. It is really worrying isn’t it. I just can’t get over the fact that the uk doesn’t have enough liquid levothyroxine. It’s very scary. ❤️
It’s happened since Brexit. Not sure exactly what but my MP who I emailed at the time and Wockhardt in The Republic of Ireland said Brexit was to blame. My medication manager at GP surgery said that daily she has about 100 patients unable to obtain their usual medications for various illnesses especially diabetes, and she also said it’s all since Brexit.
It’s scary isn’t it. Im going to contact my MP if no liquid levo is found after a few weeks. Thank you for your time McPammy.
I am on 75mcg strength Brillpharma and have had to use different strengths for a 75mcg dose in the past. 7 and a half mls of 50mcg strength is equal to 5mls of 75mcg strength, and previously this is what I had to do as I couldn't get the 75mcg strength. (Brillpharma is the only company manufacturing this strength). I am now not prepared to use anything but the 75mcg strength. A word of warning to you would be to pay special attention to the syringes. I previously often had to switch between Teva and Brillpharma liquid, using 7.5 mls of 50mcg strength liquid. This was a full draw for the 5mls and a 2.5ml draw. However, on a full draw, some syringes are delivering more than 5mls, some less. It is cheaper to take a reduced dose from a 100mcg strength bottle than a higher dose from 50mcg strength. I never could get my G.P. to prescribe the 100mcg strength, which would have lasted longer. ( 3.75mls from 100mcg strength, equates to 75mcg, and a 200ml prescription would last 53.33 days). I think 100mcg strength does go out of stock quicker, however. 2 bottles (200mls) of liquid if 50mcg strength only lasts 26.66 days!
I was being told everywhere, in the run up to Xmas when I enquired, that 75mcg Brillpharma was out of stock. I could have obtained any other strength of a liquid from a local independent chemist. I wanted the 75mcg strength, as I have been told by my Endo not to switch again, after a history of being switched back and forth due to supply issues.. I actually had to switch to the 75mcg Brillpharma from Teva, directly after being told not to switch again, as this was the only liquid available at that time. It took me a month to source it, hampered by Xmas and New Year delaying things. Eventually a young pharmacy assistant/pharmacist was prepared to source it for me. The supplier must have had a minimum order of 6 bottles as that is what came in. I got 2 per my prescription, and they have 4 bottles in stock now which will be there to fulfil my next 2 prescriptions. It is a round trip of about an hour and half for me to get the prescription. The pharmacy seems to have changing locums as a matter of course. Most switch off the ringers on the phones, or leave them off the hook. You can't then check if it has come in or not. The pharmacy is a distance away. It is highly unusual for any pharmacy to hold the liquid levo as a stock item because it is so expensive. Their computerized ordering system originally showed it as "in stock. " It didn't come in. Their system is doing this with a wide range of medications. He then phoned around, and sourced it for me. You are searching for the one in a hundred person who is prepared to help you. It is not out of stock if they are prepared to source it for you. It is the exception rather than the rule, when someone does help you.
Boots in Scotland have not supplied liquid levo since July 2022. They continue to supply in England. A cooperative locum in Boots honoured a balance of one bottle that I still had on my prescription in November 2022, which they still owed me from September 2022 . They could supply one bottle in September 2022, as they still had a bottle of a make I had refused in July, in stock , in the September. It took a week for a bottle to come up from England to Scotland in November 2022. He had been able to look up every warehouse/distributor/wholesaler in England and Scotland on the computer and identify the make and strength they all had. It took 2 months to come across a locum in Boots prepared to do this. Boots in Scotland currently show all liquid levo as unavailable. It is available. It is their policy not to supply. In times of shortage all pharmacists are allowed to use suppliers they would not normally deal with. It is their policy and preference not to. They are off- loading the non profitable supply of liquid levo to the independent pharmacies with the excuse that they have a wider range of suppliers. They can redirect you to an independent as they know it is not , not available or out of stock. In a stock outage, Boots are allowed to source from other routes they don't normally use, but don't.
You can try the routes McPammy has suggested first. Although when this route worked for her, a fellow sufferer of hypothyroidism took pity on her and transferred hospital stock on her behalf. So again, I think it was a case of being lucky enough to find a person willingly to help. Otherwise you are looking for an independent pharmacy prepared to help you. Rowlands Pharmacy did supply it to me my last 2 prescriptions. Before Xmas they said it was out of stock. I suspect they may now be choosing not to supply. I think that the pharmacy I eventually got it from, must have had to do a minimum order of 6. Because of the high cost involved, you will most likely struggle to find anyone prepared to do this.
Good Luck!
Jeezo Wua13262348. What a time you’ve been through. I’ve got severe M.E and anxiety so I’m leaving things for a few days then I’ll get back onto it on Monday. Thank you so much for your information and help. I really appreciate it.
What was the name of the independent chemist you got a supply from in Scotland?
It is not so much who the independent pharmacy is, but the individual member of staff you are dealing with. As I said , most staff in the branch make sure that they don't even accept telephone calls from customers. Not handy when you are having to travel a distance to get there.
It was from a pharmacy that have only operated in Scotland since around August last year, purely because they have bought a few former Lloyds pharmacies which were sold off then, and former Coop pharmacy. They are owned by Bestway Pharmacies/ Well Pharmacies, who operate in England. Rowlands pharmacy also bought a lot of former Lloyds pharmacies. Lloyds hadn't been supplying liquid levo in Scotland either for a while, but my local Lloyds was taken over by Rowlands. Rowlands now send my prescription off to a hub in Cheshire to be made up there, and it is sent back up to Scotland! I got it from them a few times this way until just before Xmas when they said it is out of stock.
If you google Springfield Pharmacies in England they do mail order. You need to email them a copy of your prescription and they will email back, eventually, to say if they can get it. If they can , you post them the prescription and they post the levo out to you. They can't get 75mcg Brillpharma at the moment, saying it is out of stock. They offered me other strengths to alter the 5ml dose to take. They did not specify what brand it would be. They have stock of an alternative strength, but whether you would be able to push them to find out the brand or not I do not know. They all seem to be ignorant of the fact that brand matters, and that to offer just whatever comes in is not what thyroid patients require. I was wished a Happy New Year in my reply e mail, so they are very nice, and suggested altering the dose on a different strength of liquid, which is helpful of them. It takes a few days for them to answer your email, and it would be another few days to make up your prescription and another few days waiting for it to arrive in the mail. You would also need a new prescription for whatever alternative strength you were ordering.
I would avoid Zentiva brand if at all possible as a few of us forced to switch to it when nothing else available don't seem to find it to be of a comparable strength to Teva and Brillpharma.
Good Luck!
Edit: From past experience Brillpharma are not customer friendly. Last year or the year before, I eventually got a reply to an email. I think maybe about 4-6 weeks later. They basically said they don't usually deal directly with customers, and that at that time Brillpharma was being distributed through AAH Pharmaceuticals and AAH Trident.
Thank you for your help and information. Good luck to you too!!
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