Synthroid to Levoxyl switch-opinions please

[kitty9309]

I am switching from Synthroid to Levoxyl because:

A.) I am hoping my big, fat tongue is due to something in the Synthroid and

B.) It is cheaper and I have no Rx insurance.

I saw another thread about a Medication Rant and was curious. I saw at least a couple of people say they like Lexoyxl better.

What about it did you like better?

Is your dose of Levoxyl equivalent to the dose of Synthroid you were taking? I read on another forum that Levoxyl is better absorbed and I wonder if this means a dose adjustment.

[Neeson]

Did Levoxyl work for you?

[Thypatient]

Isn't it.

I had my thyroid out because it was growing all over the place.  There is no tissue left.  I believe I have the anitbodies but don't know what the test numbers were (I'll have to ask at the next endo appt).

Thanks for the information.  

Again, hope the med change goes well for you.

[kitty9309]

That is weird! I just went on to make sure.( armourthyroid.com)

What was the reason for your TT? Is any of the thyroid left?

Do you have thyroid antibodies (TGab or TPOab)?

Either way, autoimmune hypo or induced hypo from TT is treated the same way.

[Thypatient]

Nope.  The site still doesn't come up no matter what I do - darn.  Oh, well, especially since they don't mention hot dogs anyways.

Question:  Is autoimmune thyroid disease an automatic after a TT the way hypothyroidism is?  Is it one more thing to have to fret about?  I'd rarely heard the word hypothyroidism before surgery.

[shauneegirl]

Hi Thypatient.

There is a list of autoimmune disorders that are supposed to be determining predispositions, and Pernicious anemia is on that list.  

Sorry, wish I had more info on that.  On the Armour - I just typed in the word on google.  I didnt see anything about hotdogs, thats pretty funny though....

[Thypatient]

Interesting.

[kitty9309]

I was just able to get on the Armour site.I typed Armour thyroid in as a search and it came right up. I don't know why it wouldn't come up for you . Try it as a search.

I think the hotdog thing is a joke. Armour is a brand that is known for it's hot dogs.

Pernicious anemia is also an autoimmune disease and is more common in autoimmune thyroid disease.

[Thypatient]

The one on the list I wonder about is pernicious anemia.  Based on what I’ve read, anemia is something to think about when dealing with thyroid disease.

Holding down the ‘Alt’ key and pressing ‘1’ on the number keypad to the right of your keyboard will give you the smiley (make sure the ‘Num Lock’ is off). The rest of the keys, ‘2-9’, are: ☻ ♥ ♦ ♣ ♠ • ◘ ○.  They don’t always reproduce though.  I recently used the heart one on an on-line obit to express how much I loved a past co-worker who died.  It was suppose to say, ‘I ♥ ed Abby’, but came up as a ‘?’ of all things.  In other words, it was like reading, ‘I questioned Abby.’  Can you imagine?  I had to write and ask to redo it.

Does anyone know why when I try to bring up the Armour Thyroid website it never works?  I’m still into seeing if they talk about the hot dog connection.

[shauneegirl]

Sorry about that, he is really rude to me, and I am just trying to ask you a question.  UGH!

Well anyways - thanks for the info.  I really appreciate you looking that up.  I am going to try the synthetic t3 and t4 together, maybe that will work alittle better.  I cant imagine how they could really control desicated pig thyriod and I wonder if its making me fluctuate to much.  I have been studying this for years, its really confusing and there is so much conflicting info.

[kitty9309]

Found the site. Thanks again!

[kitty9309]

Thanks for looking that up!!

What is the website you found this on?

I am certain I don't have most of them, but some remain a possibility.

My endo actually ADMITS that there is much that is unknown in the thyroid world, as well as medicine as a whole. He is an out of the box thinker, without coming off as whacky.

[Squirley777]

I got this from the health line web site.  This hypothyroidism business is so confusing and  know from asking my endo questions even they aren't sure of the effects it has on us. They are the so called experts and we are their lab rats. Thanks to others here I have learned more about this thing than my endo knows.


Possible causes of tongue swelling:

Acromegaly
Allergic reaction to food or medicine
Amyloidosis
Angioedema
Beckwith syndrome
Cancer of the tongue
Congenital micrognathia
Down syndrome
Hypothyroidism
Infection
Leukemia
Lymphangioma
Neurofibromatosis
Pellagra
Pernicious anemia
Strep infection
Tumor of the pituitary gland

[kitty9309]

I'm still searching for more on the ratios.

I did find this which may contradict the above:

"Thyroid gland produces all of body’s T4 (about 80-90 mcg/d), but only 20% of body’s T3 (~8 mcg). 80% of T3 is produced by peripheral deiodination of outer ring of T4 (by type I 5’-deiodinase, mainly in liver and kidney, little in heart). Total production of T3 is about 32-35 mcg/day."

http://www.endocrinology.med.ucla.edu/Thyroid.htm

Now I am getting confused.....

[kitty9309]

Hi. Here is a link to one reference about it:

BTA Statement
A. Armour Thyroid contains both thyroxine (T4) and tri-iodothyronine (T3) extracted from the thyroid gland of pigs. One grain, about 60 mg, of desiccated pig thyroid extract contains about 38mcg of T4 and 9mcg of T3, a ratio of around 4 to 1. The normal concentration of these hormones in the human thyroid is, however, at a ratio of 14 to 1. In other words, Armour thyroid extract contains excessive amounts of T3 relative to T4 when used to replace thyroid hormone in man. Moreover, as pig thyroid contains other substances apart from T4 and T3, Armour Thyroid is not a pure preparation of thyroid hormones. Historically, extracts of animal thyroid glands were the only way to treat thyroid underactivity, but since the 1950s pure synthetic thyroid hormones have been available in tablet form (thyroxine sodium [T4] and liothyronine [T3]).

This is from this site:

http://www.british-thyroid-association.org/bta_Armour_T4_T3.pdf

No problem on the Levoxyl. I just saw a conflict brewing and wanted to get back to my original question.

[AR-10]

Well, maybe I jumped the gun on natural/organic.
Does Armour contain fillers?

The point I was making was made quite clearly. I will refrain from calling Armour organic, as natural seems apropriate if it contains no fillers at all.

shauneegirl, unless I am banned from the site, I will respond to whomever I wish, and I will ignore whomever I wish. We try to get along here. I've had enough of your attitude already, so I will only respond to your posts when they need correcting and nobody else steps up.

I wasn't talking to you up there anyway. I was talking to Stella. I can do that, can't I? I have been for months, and she hasn't objected yet.

Kitty, I am sorry that this has drug your question off topic.

Thypatient, where did you get the smiley? :o)

[shauneegirl]

Hi Kitty 9309.  I was just curious, you mentioned Armour doesnt have the right ratio of t3/t4 as we need.  I still dont feel right, and that may be why.  But where did you find this?  My endo feels I have a total t-1 through t4 issue, but my meds really aren't helping as much as I feel they should.  Although my symptoms are better, I think its the other things I do to support my thyriod, not the so much the meds.  I am still cold all the time, still fighting my weight, and it sucks..... I so wish I was normal again.  I cant lose weight to save my life!
Oh and I stand corrected, I didnt take  Levoxyl, I took Synthoid.  Sorry - I had to look it up on my logs......

[kitty9309]

Thanks for your experience with Levoxyl.

You are right about the name. Many people think it is generic.

I will swallow it with lots of water.

I am glad to know that your dose is equivalent to the others.

I hope to do well on it. I realize switching may not do anything except save me money.

The tongue is not a physical bother to me. It just started around the time of starting Synthroid, but I really can't say it is related unless I get off of it.

To all:

All I was looking for was information from those who switched to Levoxyl.

Armour is natural . It comes from pigs. It just doesn't have the same ratio of t3/t4 as humans need.  It's great that some people do better on it.

99% of all people convert t4 (levothyroxine) to t3. Conversion problems are very rare, but they do exist.

[Thypatient]

Perhaps I should've said 'all natural.'  ☺

[shauneegirl]

Oh thanks Stella - I only knew it as Levo.... Pharmaceutical name.  I already tried it, Armour works alittle better on me, but only sometimes - its like a roll of the dice.  I use it because of the T3 - T4 combo, I need both, but I know there is another prescription (sythetic) out there.  I have to look up the name of it.

AR-10 - by the way, the insert of the armour meds, and the actual manufactures website states "It is a natural product—not a synthetic compound". Your not correct, everywhere shows its naturual, I dont know about the "organic" thing, so dont correct me, and please stop responding to me on these sites.

[Thypatient]

Good luck with trying this med (make sure you take it with a lot of water).

I’ve been on Levoxyl for about 15 mths now and have been doing pretty well on it.  I went from the generics to Synthroid to Levoxyl.

I hope your tongue issues get relieved some by making this switch.  However, I must admit my tongue has some very slight swelling and very slight scalloping.  So I wonder if it has more to do with just having a thyroid problem than anything else.  But also, I never noticed anything like that before being on ‘any’ thyroid med so maybe it’s that (just my theories).

This was the only med my insurance covered and I’ve always wondered why.  After hearing it’s cheaper – well, it figures.

I switched only because of the insurance but like I’ve shared before, after starting it I noticed some things I’d been experiencing subsided.  One was itching on the top of my head.  Another was sprain-like pain, especially in my hands.  I once went into a walk-in clinic with a painful hand that was a bit swollen and had bruising, convinced I must somehow have injured it.  I was surprised when after an exam and an x-ray the dr said he couldn’t see anything.

The dose I take is equivalent… .

This isn’t a miracle drug, but it’s worth a try (I agree with not liking to take anything, but have to - to live).

As I’ve shared before my biggest complaint about this drug is the confusion over its name.  The brand name Levoxyl sounds too close to its generic name, levothyroxine.  (Some comments above are yet another example of that confusion).  Because of that you really have to monitor what you’re getting when you pick-up your meds, etc.

About Armour, if it works for some – great!  It’s the drug I wanted to be on but my dr advised against, in my case.  I had loved the idea, 1.) because it’s all natural; and, 2.) because I got a kick out of being told it’s the same company as Armour Hot Dogs.  I loved that!

[kitty9309]

Yes, that is true.

Levothroxine is the chemical "mirror image" of thyroxine. The "levo" prefix means "mirror image".

If you look in all prescription product inserts, the little chemical structure picture shows you the composition of the molecule.

Levothyroxine and thyroxine are identical except for the fact the the levo is flipped to the left in the mirror, so to speak.

[AR-10]

Armour is organic, not natural.

Levothyroxine, at the molecular level, is IDENTICAL in cellular structure to the hormone T4. It is "bio-identical", for people who like the sound of that term.

So if you want to get technical, Synthroid or Levo or Levoxyl is closer to your body's T4 than Armour as far as what is natural.

Nothing against Armour. Just trying to keep the facts straight.

[stella5349]

Shauneegirl

Eltoxin is the Canadian brand of Levo.

2wonderfulboys-

Armour is derived from pig thyroid and only that. It's not a roll of the dice to see what the pharmacutical company decides to throw in there on the next patch. It is strictly monitored and had been the drug of choice for over 60 yrs - before symthetics were created. and because of the natural hormones used - it is as close of a natural homone to humans as possible.

[shauneegirl]

Hey whats Eltoxin?  I have been on Armour - because its natural and has both t3 and t4 - but I still have weight problems.