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Lactose in medication


Blondieisaband

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Hi everyone, what a great site this is! I'm 5 days into my first Whole30 and feeling ok. I'm doing this to try and counter some Thyroid/Adrenal

fatigue issues. I already follow a loosely Paleo diet so this is the next step. Anyway all was going well until DISASTER. Last night I checked my thyroid meds (levothyroxine and liothyronine) and sleeping tablet (Zopiclone - I have crazy high cortisol which they have tried various remedies to reduce. This helps me sleep through it) they ALL contain lactose. I'm so annoyed. What do I do? Can I get lactose free tablets? And do I now have to wait til I can get new table and start again. Arrrgghhhh! Any advice welcome.

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This struck my curiosity as I am on levothyroxine as well. On drugs.com generic drug ingredients are listed as follows (in addition to color additives):

 

magnesium stearate

cellulose, microcrystalline

silicon dioxide

sodium starch glycolate type A potato

 

Then, rxlist.com lists inactive ingredients for Synthroid brand as follows:

 

acacia, confectioner's sugar (contains corn starch),

lactose monohydrate

magnesium stearate

povidone [polymer]

talc [magnesium silicate]

 

So maybe (at least for levo) you could get a lactose-free generic? I am curious though if all generic levo contains the same inactive ingredients. I wish I knew. Maybe there is someone out there with more knowledge of pharmacology than I have who can enlighten us.

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Each manufacturer has their own mixture for their tablet base. All the things other than the active ingredient are just fillers used to make the shape of the tablet. With things like thyroid, there is a microscopic amount of actual drug in each tablet, as you are taking it in micrograms, which are 1,000th of a gram. 

 

Like GFChris said, since it is medically prescribed, you get a pass on it, but if you are really concerned and would like to see if maybe you are sensitive to lactose, you might look into getting these drugs custom compounded into capsules instead. The pharmacy I work at makes Lio/Levo capsules and the inactive ingredients are Microcrystalline Cellulose, E4M (this is a powder that slows the release of the drug, making them "SR" or Slow Release rather than "IR" or Instant Release) and a little activated charcoal, which is black against the other white powders and let's us know that we've mixed all the powders thoroughly before we put them into capsules. We use a bulk drug powder that's already been diluted with more Microcrystalline Cellulose by the manufacturer to 1:1000. I know sometimes doctors don't like to switch people's thyroid if the one they are on is working well, as the different formulations can affect people differently, so definitely talk to your doctor about it.

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Thanks for your replies. I haven't looked on drugs.com - it just says "contains lactose" on the boxes. I'm not suggesting I'd stop the meds at all (I felt really awful prior to starting them) but I suppose I wanted to know if that tiny amount if lactose could affect me. I think I'll try and see if my GP can find a non lactose one. I don't think we have compounding pharmacies in the UK..unless anyone knows different. Thanks for help.

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I have Hashimoto's thyroiditis and have been on thyroid replacement for 15years.  Whenever you change to a different manufacturer or a compounding pharmacy the bioavailability of the new med may be different and so you have to get your labs done frequently and have to get adjustments on the dose.  I personally never did well on Synthroid or the generics.  I'm now on a natural desiccated thyroid med.  My endocrinologist that changed my Rx recommended the website "stop the thyroid madness"  (just google that, I think its all one word and .com) anyhow, a trove of info I had never before been exposed to.

Good luck.

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