Unacceptable side effects of Levothyroxine

Rosie, I'm sure I've mentioned it before, don't know if you saw them... I felt like the Levo accelerated my thyroid disease. I was able to get some relief from the essential amino acids supplements. But if you no longer have a thyroid gland, you'll want to try the thyrogold.

Also, realizing that I now have severe allergies that I've never had before. Only figured out I have severe allergies when I took some cold medicine and felt amazingly better, probably due to antihistamines.

I would if I could afford it but I'm on a pension so I'm relying on the NHS mores the pity 

Is there any way you can get a doc to prescribe  the otc natural? Here in the US, you can get it paid for if it's NDT prescription, but not for an OTC (Over The Counter, aka non prescription).

I wish. Unfortunately there's not any way a NHS GP can prescribe an OTC thyroid medication. Or a private GP/endocrinologist. The nearest I got is for my NHS GP to run all the blood tests for me on the NHS, but I had to buy it myself. ThyroGold costs a lot more in UK and the minimum shopping size is is now 2x 90 containers of either 150mg or 300mg, so that is quite a big cost up front, albeit it only costs me 60p -£1 daily, that is still a lot if one is on a pension.

It doesn't work like that. Problem I think is caused by drug companies contracting out the manufacturing to places jn India and China where the standards aren't good, lot of reports online about this. I'm now on a new on Eltroxin which my doctor pointed out is made in the UK it sounded like they are aware of what's been going on. 

I tried this, it was extremely frustrating kne private Doctor I went to was so bad and no help I claimed my money back another wanted me to keep going back again and again at £75 a time plus of course cost of prescription and the cost of the NDT, I had Ertha, only to find there was something in that as well that caused the same side affects. Then I retired and am unable to do this even if it works. 

I was told by my doctor that there were some brands of Levothyroxin that was pushing people into over active thyroid which is exactly what happened to me. Drug companies in Europe and the US are contracting out manufacturing to companies in China and India to reduce costs. I came across a report online a while ago of a manufacturer in the USA who took an Indian company to court because their standards fell short of what was expected.  They were fined millions of dollars, but then the company carried on using them while this goes on people like me will continue to suffer. 

Try WP Thyroid. Its a porcine NDT that's got the fewest fillers in. You might be OK with that one and it can be privately prescribed in the UK.

The chances of getting that here at a price I can afford is about zero I think. Believe me if I could afford to get NDT or similar I would have got it by now. I'm in a stuck situation and hoping this new one I've been given by the Doctor will work and not cause me side affects in the future. 

Thanks for the information, Rosie. I've long suspected this, as I came down with multiple parasites not found in my area, following my use of the Levo. No way to know which one caused it, since I was on half a dozen different ones.

However, at one point, I did water testing for a drug company. I can assure you there are no tests for parasites on water supplies. Cheap manufacturing of drugs in third world countries is a huge problem. 

The drug company sued the Indian  based manufacturer, but it doesn't matter if they still do business there. The drug companies who do business in these third world companies should be held responsible because they know there's no way the drugs can be properly regulated with foreign manufacturing. It's nothing more than greed.

I have a friend who is a nurse in New Zealand they had similar problems there with baby milk where the manufacturer was employing a Chinese company to make it. When it was analised it was contaminated by alsorts of things, caused some babies to die and many more to be hospitalized.  Really bad. 

Barbara, I tried WP. I felt like it was cut with synthetic Levo. None of the NDTs I tried more recently worked the same as they did prior to 2012. Personally, I think they started cutting them with synthetic to reduce the short supply.  Prior to 2012, docs didn't want to prescribe in part due to short supply- you're on the stuff and everything's fine until it's back ordered fur months at a time. 

The natural (back then) was at least a little easier to dose than the synthetic.  However, when I went back on the Naturethroud and WP in 2014, it was very different. 

At this point, I don't trust the drug companies at all. There's no way to really know what you're getting here in the US, because everything gets repackaged at the pharmacy.  The lack of differentiation of names between natural and synthetic is absurd. Every other synthetic hormone in other categories is not allowed to use the organic name for the synthetic. Yet T4 thyroxin, whether natural or synthetic, is always levothyroxin.

Anyone found any data on what the specifications are for NDTs as far as percentage of actual natural product? Is there a test to know the difference between NDT and synthetic compounds? Would they even show differently on an FTIR spectroscopy? There's a loaded question.

Rosie, you aren't missing anything on the WP.  It's just another dead end for those who can't handle the  Levo. Really, if felt like

50/50 synthetic + natural. Better than the Levo, but still toxic. That's when I finally threw in the towel on the meds. Not soon enough, as now I'm looking at full on fibromialgya, arthritis, and other severe autoimmune disease. I feel the meds caused these. 

Rosie, maybe you could try one of those sites people use to get funding. I mean, why not? It wouldn't take much to make a huge difference for you.

Catherine, do you mean a crowd funding website?

Unfortunately I can't do the same as my thyroid doesn't work at all. Hence ThyroGold which has been fine.

Barbara, yes. I think that's what you call those fund-me sites.

I'm sorry to hear that. It's not fair.

Have you ever had your T4 and T3 tested to see if you are converting T4 to T3 properly? I found Wockhart levothyroxine, which only comes in 25 mcg tablets, caused me the fewest side effects.

Quite possibly, I think I'm more susceptible now to side affects of various drugs both prescribed and over the counter due to Levo I'm not sure what will happen if I end up not being able to take Eltroxin. Hoping that they are able to find an Endocrinologist who actually specialises just jn Thyroid as most it seems have all auto immune complaints and thyroid comes down the list with Diabetes at the top. The consultant I saw yesterday at the allergy clinic said just that I need someone who specializes in thyroid maybe he might be able to advise the doctor who this is. He seemed to think there was such a person at the Queens Medical where I went. I hope so.