Levothyroxine and Levoxyl (Dec 2017)

[Sara789]

I asked my pharmacist if Levothyroxine was safe for me to take as a celiac. She said she didn't know and told me to look at the ingredient list. Nice huh?

Here's what I found.

Levothyroxine Ingredients:

Active Ingredients: Levothyroxine Sodium 

Inactive Ingredients: Acacia Senegal, Corn Starch, FD&C Blue No. 2, FD&C Red No. 40, Lactose, Magnesium Stearate, Microcrystalline Cellulose, Silicon Dioxide (Colloidal), Sodium Starch Glycolate

 

The starch ingredient worried me, so I Googled "sodium starch glycolate" and found this: "Starch glycolates are of rice, potato, wheat or corn origin."

 

I asked for a thyroid prescription that was on the gluten-free list and was prescribed Levoxyl.

[icelandgirl]

Hi Sara,

I have Hashimotos and was on levothyroxine for years.  About 2 years ago, after my celiac diagnosis, I started having lots of thyroid related issues.  My endocrinologist switched me to Levoxyl and everything seemed to level out.  I've done better on it overall and have even had to reduce my dosage.  I hope it works for you as well!

[Csughrue]

When I was diagnosed with Celiac Disease a year ago I was switched from Synthroid to levothyroxine and have had no issues.  Had a repeat endoscopy since it has been a year since diagnosis and my intestines are healing.

[Gemini]

23 hours ago, Sara789 said:

I asked my pharmacist if Levothyroxine was safe for me to take as a celiac. She said she didn't know and told me to look at the ingredient list. Nice huh?

Here's what I found.

Levothyroxine Ingredients:

Active Ingredients: Levothyroxine Sodium 

Inactive Ingredients: Acacia Senegal, Corn Starch, FD&C Blue No. 2, FD&C Red No. 40, Lactose, Magnesium Stearate, Microcrystalline Cellulose, Silicon Dioxide (Colloidal), Sodium Starch Glycolate

 

The starch ingredient worried me, so I Googled "sodium starch glycolate" and found this: "Starch glycolates are of rice, potato, wheat or corn origin."

 

I asked for a thyroid prescription that was on the gluten-free list and was prescribed Levoxyl.

Pharmacists are not going to know what is safe for a person with Celiac to take.  It is up to us to make sure our meds are gluten free.  They deal with drug interactions and making sure people are not prescribed drugs they are allergic to.....Celiac is a food intolerance and not an allergy.  I never depend on anyone else to tell me what is safe to eat or take. 

FYI.....In 12 years gluten-free, I have never found any drug I may have had to take that contained gluten.  However, I take very few drugs but one of them is thyroid hormone.  I took Levoxyl for quite awhile but my needs changed and I switched to a natural form that contains both T3 and T4 hormone.  I never found any thyroid hormone that contains gluten.  If you take a lot of meds, it might be more problematic to check everything but finding out if meds are safe to take becomes relatively easy with time.

[Sara789]

Thank you everyone. I'm new at this and trying to get as much information as possible, be as safe as possible for my health, and want to post what I find here since I've been getting all sorts of great information from this forum.

[Sara789]

On 1/9/2017 at 2:36 PM, Sara789 said:

I asked my pharmacist if Levothyroxine was safe for me to take as a celiac. She said she didn't know and told me to look at the ingredient list. Nice huh?

Here's what I found.

Levothyroxine Ingredients:

Active Ingredients: Levothyroxine Sodium 

Inactive Ingredients: Acacia Senegal, Corn Starch, FD&C Blue No. 2, FD&C Red No. 40, Lactose, Magnesium Stearate, Microcrystalline Cellulose, Silicon Dioxide (Colloidal), Sodium Starch Glycolate

 

The starch ingredient worried me, so I Googled "sodium starch glycolate" and found this: "Starch glycolates are of rice, potato, wheat or corn origin."

 

I asked for a thyroid prescription that was on the gluten-free list and was prescribed Levoxyl.

Shoot! I put the wrong year in the title, and I can't find the correction button anymore. Sorry everyone.

I looked into this in Dec 2016, not '17.

[Nikki2777]

There's a gluten free drug list you can google; I've used it many times.

I take Mylan brand generic Levothyroxine, which was on that list -- that said, I periodically re-check that it's still on there (haven't lately)

And while I can't swear I haven't seen any reaction (based on my normal symptoms), my blood tests come back fine.