Thyroxine Vs Soloxine

[Guest Tequila]

My 3-year-old grey was recently diagnosed as hypothyroid. (More information on everything leading up to this can be found in a thread called "Anxiety between 2 & 5am in the "Training and Behavior" section). Her T4 results were less than 0.4, and her ft4 resultxs were less than0.2.

 

My vet does not carry Soloxine (although they will be glad to order it for me if that is what I'd like to do), so they suggested we start her on Thyroxine for a couple of reasons: First, because they had it on-hand and could start her ASAP (the Soloxine would take a few days to ship), and secondly because the dosages are such that until we are suer we are giving the right does, it would make whatever size doages of Soloxine I ordered useless if we needed to change dosages. (hope that makes sense), and since Soloxine is slightly more expensive, he wanted to start her on Thyroxine, an dwe could switch later if I wanted to.

 

I've done a lot of reading online (on these messageboards, on the NGAP website, and just various other greyhound sources on the net) and everything I've read basically says Soloxine is superior to all generics, and that it is not a good idea to SWITCH brands, since they vary. (So, even if we establish the correct dosage for her of Thyroxine, she might need a DIFFERENT dosage of Soloxine, which means I'm wasting time right now by "trying" out the Thyroxine).

 

However, that being said, I have a lot of respect for my vet. He is greyhound savvy, and I want to give his suggesti a chance before immediately suggesting something else. (After all, I'm not a vet).

 

So my question is: Has anyone had success with Thyroxine? Should I just stop the Thyroxine now and switch to Soloxine before we've even had a chance to check and see if Thyroxine is working?

 

The current plan is: 0.4mg of Thyroxine, taken 2x day, and she will be re-tested in 4 weeks.

 

Any thoughts/suggestions appreciated.

 

Thanks!

Kathy (Tequila's mommy)

[greyhead]

We started Spencer on Soloxine 5 years ago. Eight months later we went to a new vet, one who had the right equipment to detect Spencer's hookworm. He carried a generic, so we switched to that. Then we moved and see a third vet, she carries thyroxine. Our second dog was diagnosed hypothyroid last year. Now both dogs take thyroxine and do fine on it.

 

When I've asked GTers about it, the only concrete advantage of Soloxine I recall being offered is superior hair regrowth. I don't know if it's true, but that's what I've read. Spencer's hair took a long time to fill back in, and he actually did better on the other meds; but that might just be because of the passage of time.

 

 

[KF_in_Georgia]

I originally used thyroxine--used it for years.

 

I've recently switched to Soloxine when I changed on-line pharmacies. My vet is fine with whichever version I want to use and will write the prescription either way for me. He had no objections to changing from generic to specific as long as we got the dosages right. Both dogs have been fine with the Soloxine.

 

For Soloxine, I'm using Omaha Vaccines.

[CaliforniaGreys]

When it comes to thyroid meds, I won't use a generic. With animals or people.

 

It's just my belief and opinion

[Guest HersheysMom]

I'm going to go against the majority based on my own experience with Thyroxine. One of my last dogs, Hershey was on Thyroxine for the same reasons, my vet carried it and did not carry Soloxine. Once he started it, he got a solid and consistent T4 reading of 2.5 He seemed to absorb it well - it worked fine for him. Clinically he was a whole new dog, and his symptoms disappeared. I think it depends on the dog and you are right, you shouldn't be switching brands once you've started for consistency's sake. If you restest on Thyroxine and get improved T4 results, then Thyroxine is working and just fine.

 

In contrast when Sonie started thyroid meds we went with Soloxine because I could then easily get it, and we are having trouble getting her T4 to even 1.0 However, she may have another problem - we are redoing her panel at MSU and awaiting results. So not sure I can blame this on using Soloxine.

 

Good luck!

[greysmom]

Thyroid meds, whether animal or people, seem to vary quite widely in effectiveness from generic to name brand and from natural hormone to manufactured. Also, just like with people, some dogs do better on one or the other.

 

If you trustyour vet I would say start with what he has and what he suggests and then retest after 6 weeks. If you have good absorption and levels on the thyroxine then stick with it. If you don't get good results over a period of time, then I would switch to the soloxine and see if things get better.

 

Dude was on soloxine and didn't have any trouble with it (other than the fact he didn't really need it and was getting too much - whole other story!). He came to us on it and we continued it until we stopped giving him the Rx all together.

[Guest Energy11]

I tried the generic on Curfew, and his coat was horrible! Back on Soloxine, and I have noticed a considerable difference!

 

I'd stick with the name brand in this case.

[RobinM]

We have always used soloxine and get it for pennies at 1800petmeds.

[ShantisMom]

I tried it with Shanti. She got nasty on it. Back to Soloxine and the world was good again. Won't try generics again.

[PatricksMom]

Ask your vet if they stick to one supplier of thyroxine. That was the main problem I had with it, the vet's office kept changing them (and lots of pharmacies do to), and it made Patrick really sick every time. So I'm not sure the soloxine is or isn't better for him than any one generic, but the switching was horrible.

[Wonder]

Passion started on thyroxine but then after her retest (I would wait 6 weeks, instead of 4 weeks by the way) I switched her to soloxine because I could get it cheaper online (7 cent a pill vs 15 cents a pill at the vet for thyroxine)

Edited March 19, 2010 by Wonder

[seeh2o]

Carl was on a generic for 2 months, I switched him to Soloxine after reading about it here and his coat and skin improved. Both improved even more when I added Melatonin daily.

[Guest Tequila]

Thanks for all of your replies. However, now I'm even more conflicted over what to do! :rolSince she is already on Thyroxine (has been only 3 days, but still), would it hurt to go another few weeks and get her retested before making a decision as to whicich med to continue with?

 

She is mainly taking them for anxiety. AT least, that was my initial reason for looking into her blood work and thyroid. She is also on Amitriptyline, but we are hoping to possibly wean her off of the Ammitriptypiline venetually..oops, eventurally (sorry, I cannot see the textt of what I am typing, so I'm just hoping there aren't too many typos! ) anyway, hoping that the thyroid med will also help a little with the anxiety. leyes:

[CaliforniaGreys]

Talk to your vet, if you trust him/her than I would go with their recommendation.

[PatricksMom]

I see no reason why it would hurt to stick with it for a few weeks. As long as they're not changing generics on him, even if soloxine is better I can't see a few weeks would matter, it's hardly a miracle drug.

 

If you go with soloxine, my vet orders me in a year's supply at once, much, much cheaper per pill, although you might want to wait until the doseage is stable to do that.

[GeorgeofNE]

I originally used thyroxine--used it for years.

 

I've recently switched to Soloxine when I changed on-line pharmacies. My vet is fine with whichever version I want to use and will write the prescription either way for me. He had no objections to changing from generic to specific as long as we got the dosages right. Both dogs have been fine with the Soloxine.

 

For Soloxine, I'm using Omaha Vaccines.

 

 

 

My old dog was on Soloxine, and I ordered big bottles of it from Omaha Vaccine for a FRACTION of what my vet wanted to charge.

 

My parents' English Setter is also on it, and they pay a fortune buying it from their vet!

 

Omaha Vaccine is great!

[greymatters]

Ask your vet if they stick to one supplier of thyroxine. That was the main problem I had with it, the vet's office kept changing them (and lots of pharmacies do to), and it made Patrick really sick every time. So I'm not sure the soloxine is or isn't better for him than any one generic, but the switching was horrible.

 

This is the key issue here, IMO. According to the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists, thyroxine preparations (for humans) from different manufacturers exhibit differences in potency and - perhaps most significantly - stability or shelf-life (link to pdf). For this reason, the AACE recommends that patients stick to the same brand or generic supplier throughout the course of treatment, and that dosage adjustments be made without switching brand/manufacturer. This is important because the optimal therapeutic dose for a given individual has a relatively narrow range. (The FDA was supposed to be tightening their specs to address this issue, but...)

 

Assuming that the above is also true for manufacturers of pet medications, then IMO it would make sense either to ensure that your vet/pharmacy is using a single supplier for generic thyroxine, or to go with a brand name (e.g., Soloxine). IOW, generic is probably just as good as brand name, but the "correct" dose may differ depending on preparation so the generic should be from a single supplier. If you need to switch suppliers at any point, then repeat bloodwork would likely be in order to verify the correct dose for the new preparation.

[greypuppyluv]

I had our first greyhound on the generic, but once we put her on the Soloxine, her coat and demeanor improved. I wouldn't put my dog on anything else now.

 

If I were you and you wanted to switch to the Soloxine, I would wait additional time to do any testing until the Soloxine has time to "kick in".

[vsrenard]

Zola is on soloxine and it seems to be doing its job well. I, myself, switched from brand name thyroid hormone to generic with no ill effects. Other people report the opposite though. I think it's individual-dependent.

[Guest lovemyhounds2]

Our first grey, Ty, was 4 yrs old when diagnosed with hypothyroidism. He just turned 8 this January. He has always been on levothyroxine (started at 0.5mg 2X day, just changed to 0.7mg 2X day). When we increase his dose, he goes through a major hair shed and re-growth (when he sheds, he doesn't go bald, but instead, the fuzzy undercoat--what little he does have--falls out and replaced with longer shinier hair). He doesn't have issues on this med, except the last 4 months he's had more days where he won't finish a meal. After testing at 6mnth interval, the vet suggested moving him up to 0.7mg. That's when he went through the major hair change-over, which I am not too worried about since thyroid directly affects hair growth. He was still being picky....it came to my attention after a big billing error at the vet's office, that he had been getting a different manufacturer each time I refilled the last 4 months. I started to map out which days he was not finishing meals, and it usually was at the beginning of a new bottle. Vet wasn't too impressed with my findings, said it was just the 'nature of the disease'. I'm not as confident. So, regardless of which you choose (both have many trials with equal verdicts), stick to the same maker (from our experience)! I'm now shopping online for a consistant manufacturer (I agree, Ohmaha (sp.) is good!).