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'
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