Hi, Bev,

Dale of fibrom-l here.  I've seen several fibrom-l people here.  My
mother's thyroid was removed almost 25 years ago.  Until about three
years ago she took Thyroid Strong, originally by Parke-Davis, but then
made by Jones Medical, and when Jones took over the quality control went
right out the window.  Thyroid Strong was a natural preparation much
like Armour, but she could never take Armour because of GI and other
side effects.  She couldn't take Synthroid for the same reasons.  Her
doctor switched her to Levoxyl (T4) when the Thyroid Strong became
unreliable, and she was doubled up with the same GI symptoms you
describe.  They switched her to Levothroid (also T4, so the "same"
according to the doctor), and her GI symptoms disappeared.  Her doctor
didn't believe her, but she fired him a long time ago.

I might add that she has felt a lot worse on the T4 instead of the
Thyroid Strong which, being a natural preparation, contained both T3 and
T4.  She's going to ask her current doctor about switching to Thyrolar
which is a synthetic T3/T4 combo.  Also, her thyroid tests come back
much like mine (and I'm recently diagnosed as clinically hypothyroid and
have just started on 100mcg Synthroid though my last TSH was 1.2) with a
high normal (11-12) T4, middle-of-the-range T3, and low (very low in her
case at 0.1) TSH.  No doctor wants to look past the "numbers" to see
that she's obviously undermedicated.

You might want to ask about trying Levothroid instead of Levoxyl.  They
are the SAME medication, but if your doctor balks, just ask him/her to
humor you!  People's differing reactions to what appears to be exactly
the same medication are probably due to the different fillers used by
the different companies.  Someone here mentioned acacia as being used in
Synthroid but not in Levothroid.  Maybe that's the link.  Unfortunately,
they don't list all the "inactive ingredients" (talk about your
misnomers!) in all the thyroid drugs in the PDR.  I'm sure you could get
that info directly from the manufacturers.

Good luck,

Dale

Bev Maki Strickland wrote:
>
> I have searched for information on this medication and it says that there
> are no side effects other than those that would occur with incorrect
> dosing.  I have been on it for 2 weeks.  I am experiencing nausea and
> diarrhea-severe.  I am taking it first thing in the morning on an empty
> stomach.  Does anyone have any ideas?
>
> Thanks,
> Bev
>
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> Bev Maki Strickland
> Email:     mailto:[log in to unmask]
> *still* constructing:  http://www.cymitar.net/~urlord/bev.html
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