What implications do these findings have for those of us taking levothyroxine sodium thyroid hormone replacement products?
- Even when your doctor consistently prescribes the same brand of orally administered levothyroxine
sodium, every time you obtain a prescription refill, you run the RISK of receiving a product that varies
in potency from your given dose.
- If the drug you receive is less potent, you can become HYPOTHYROID and suffer symptoms such
as severe depression, fatigue, weight gain, constipation, cold intolerance, swelling, and difficulty
concentrating.
- If the drug you receive is more potent, you can experience serious symptoms of
HYPERTHYROIDISM such as heart pain, heart palpitations, or cardiac arrhythmias. If you have
coronary heart disease, even a small increase in the dose of levothyroxine sodium may be dangerous. And
studies suggest that slight overdosage of levothyroxine sodium such as that which might result from
increased potency can increase osteoporosis risk by causing subclinical hyperthyroidism.
- The variations in potency can make getting the right dosage nearly impossible. Levothyroxine sodium
pills come in dosage strengths that vary by very small amounts, which allow your doctor to carefully find
exactly the right dose for you. But when the amount of available active drug in a particular dosage varies,
that makes finding and maintaining the right dose for you even MORE difficult.
- Your side effects from levothyroxine sodium may not be understood or even recognized because only unexpected and serious side effects of these drugs are required to be reported by manufacturers. (Because of their status as prescription drugs marketed without approved NDA's, manufacturers of levothyroxine sodium drugs are required to report adverse drug experiences that are unexpected and serious. But they are NOT required to report all adverse drug experiences, including expected or less serious events. Lists of negative experiences and side effects of levothyroxine sodium drugs, therefore, are not likely to reflect the total number of non-serious effects associated with these products.)
Many conventional doctors have vocally criticized use of Armour Thyroid, the naturally derived T4/T3 thyroid hormone replacement, claiming that it is not consistently produced. These recent government findings, however, call that criticism strongly into question. Read empowered patient Shirley Grose's eloquent and emphatic letter to her doctor asking why he won't prescribe Armour, and insists on prescribing Synthroid.
