Hi.
I suffered terribly the past several months. I am hypothyroid and was put on Levoxyl. I suffered nausea daily but did not blame the pill. I went to a new doctor who put me on Synthroid, the nausea miraculously disappeared but suddenly I developed swollen ankles. The edema spread over the next month to my feet. My whole foot/ankle was so swollen I could not wear shoes. Since it was summer, the doctor blamed the heat and the fact that I was still hypo and gave me more Synthroid. And I developed worse edema with pain and stiffness so bad that standing and walking hurt.

But I felt SOOO good otherwise. I had SO much energy!!!!! I was staying up til 3 am every night and waking up at 6 no problem! I wasn't hyperactive - or losing weight - just spunky. So I didn't think it was the thyroid pill causing it. I felt so alive....as opposed to the feeling on the Levoxyl when I felt dead...

I went through test for heart disease, the whole blood battery - nothing was wrong! So I suspected it was the synthroid and asked to switch back to the Levoxyl - which I did and the next day - the swelling and edema had gone down almost 90%! It was gone in a few days. But the nausea returned, my energy died - so he increased the dose and it just made the nausea worse...I felt better with the swollen feet!!!!!!!! So, not believing that it was the synthroid that caused the edema in the first place, the doctor put me BACK on the synthroid at a higher dose. Immediately more energy, but there was still some nausea and NOW JOINT PAIN AND SWOLLEN ANKLES...

So now it was fact....there was an allergy of some sort there...so he switched me to the 50mcg pills which have NO dyes and VOILA - no side effects...no swelling - but also - NO ENERGY...back to the way I felt on the levoxyl - so I looked up the dyes used and noticed a pattern - all the pills I felt nauseaus on had Blue #1 and the ones that cause edema/pain had red#27 & red#30....

Many drugs use colorants that are not approved for food and are approved only for use in limited amounts in cosmetics/drugs. It's hard to find any information on them.

My doctor had NO CLUE about these reactions and I had to suffer.

I hope that others will post their experience and perhaps over there will be more evidence that connects certain side effects to certain colorants. Maybe then something can be done!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If you have had a reaction, please post your medicine, dosage, and reaction! THANKS!

MY DRUGS/REACTIONS:

Levoxyl: 75,137,175 - all caused nausea, loss of appetite

Synthroid: 112, 125, 175 - edema of feet & ankles, pain in feet and ankles, increased energy, very red coloration of toes, soles of feet.


THANK YOU!!!!!!


Here are links to web pages that contain the colorants in levoxyl and synthroid:

LEVOXYL:
http://www.fda.gov/CDER/foi/label/2001/21301lbl.pdf#search='levoxyl%20color%20a dditives'

SYNTHROID:
http://www.rxabbott.com/pdf/synthroid.pdf#search='synthroid%20color% 20additives'

Thank you for posting this. May I ask what medicine you are taking now?

It must have been awful to have to go through all of that. At least you have it whipped now. ;)

HI, and Thanks for the good info.someone mentioned to me that the reason I was getting so many urine infections was because of the dye in synthroid, I do also take 50 mcg and I still get get them but not as often.

Great info! Thanks so much for taking the time to post it. It is good for all of us to keep in mind when starting a new med that it might not be the med that is the problem per say, but the fillers and dyes. Thanks.

I am interested in what you are taking now though????

Karen

I am now taking the Synthroid 50 mcg - I take 3.5 pills to make 175 mcg - but I think i'm still hypo and will have to increase that because since I stopped the dyed ones I am suddenly pooped again and freezing and hypo feeling.

Thank you for answering - PLEASE let me know WHAT exact pills caused the urinary track infection. I'd really like to try to start a kind of research to see if there are correlations between certain dyes and certain reactions!!!!!!!!

Petite,

Thanks again. I've started Synthroid 50mcg and haven't noticed any problems, but I do tend to have some sort of allergic reaction (swelling of my lips) with a particular red used in some dark red-orange lipliners. I haven't been able to figure out which dye it is because I can use some colors, but not others. I also have a horrid reaction (nausea/vomiting/SOB) with salad toppings that my husband loves. They have a red dye in them too. So, your information will be really good to have.

I know a woman who is allergic to yellow dyes. That's even in colas and all sorts of foods. She has this huge list of things she can use, drink or ingest.

Hang in there. Hope you start feeling better.

Kali

Hi, I have taken the pink and also the yellow tablets, i forgot how many mcg's they were will have to look that up, anyway I was wanting my doc to change me to levoxxl, now do all the levoxyl pills have dyes? let me know since I am planning on seeing my doc tomorrow thanks

oh I wanted to add that while on the 2 of the 50 mcg of synthroid daily I have severe edema, so i am not sure if maybe just the synthroid itself is causing the edema. i wante dto try another med.

Thanks so much everyone!

Ok - LEVOXYL & SYNTHROID 50 mcg pills are BOTH supposed to have no dyes.

Jenny - what kind of edema are you having on the 50s? Which brand are you on? For how long have you been on it? Did it start on the 50s...

As far as reds causing reactions, I'm now looking at all the things that have caused me skin reactions - like shampoo, antipersperant or soap. I threw out most but I found one vanilla body wash that I loved except it gave me terrible itching rashes! Well it has red#33. Who knew!

I had a similar experience many years ago. While taking Synthroid I frequently felt nauseous. Also, my ankles became inflamed and swollen (extremely painful and I couldn't walk). It turned out not to be Synthroid but the birth control pills I was taking.

I developed geographic tongue shortly after my thyroid diagnosis and after I started treatment, I wonder now if that could be a reaction to the dye in my synthroid. It's painful and irritating and I've been trying for months to figure out what could be causing it. I take 88 mcg of synthroid, I just switched from Levoxyl thinking that maybe it was because it was generic. It hasn't gotten better and that's probably because there are still dyes in the Synthroid. How could I get my full dose taking the 50 mcg? Do you think this could be my problem?