Levo is the generic form of Synthroid. It 'shouldn't' make you gain weight, in fact for me, it helped me drop some, with good diet choices. Now some people say that the generic isn't as effective as the name brand, but personally, I haven't seen a difference.
No, it does not make you gain weight. It may help you LOSE weight.
My new doctor explained the difference this way when I asked how he felt about generic synthroid. (To make a long story short, he is fine with it.)
Generics have fillers, and can vary a bit in the amount of active ingredients they contain, though my doctor doesn't think the difference is as big as some do.
Since it is a generic, the pharmacist will get whatever brand is cheapest that month. So one month, Pepsi may be on sale. The next, it may be R-C. A month later, it may be Sam's Choice. The problem is that you're not getting a consistent dose, but again, he doesn't think the difference is that large. Others disagree, since synthroid is prescribed in micrograms, not milligrams.
So if your doctor is prescribing generics, at least get him to do a 90 day script, so you're getting a consistent dose for 90 days.
__________________ The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing. (Zephaniah 3:17)
I just had an appt with my endocrinologist yesterday, and after some discussion about my prescription (through my obgyn) that was for levothyroxine, he said I should never get the generic brand, so he prescribed synthroid only. My thyroid levels would not even out, and after about a year, my obgyn got frustrated and sent me to an endocrinologist. So, now I'll try synthroid only and see if that helps.
I have a book called "Living Well with Hypothyroidism" by Mary Shomon. It's a really good book and it has a lot of info. about what meds to take. She recommends taking the brand name because, as ladioffaith wrote, there are fillers in the generic. But, from my experience I took the levothyroxine last year and dropped 30 lbs. doing nothing! I was on levoxyl before this for years and never lost any weight, I just maintained. Then I got the idea in my head that synthroid would really make me lose weight...Wrong, now i'm maintaining the weight loss and not losing again. Besides the weight loss and taking either brands, I felt the same.
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Hmmmm I have only taken Synthyroid but I feel hunger pains about an hour after I take it... then I eat. I start eating way earlier than I would normally eat in the day and so I feel like this just makes me hungry all day. I have lost a couple pounds though. Before I went on it I suddenly gained over 20 pounds in a period of a month when I was on nothing!!! I got on the meds right away. I feel wayyy better now. I just hope all this weight comes off before I conceive a child... if I do... I hope
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Aug 2007= Hypothyroid & PCOS Sept 22 & 23 2009= BD October 5 2009= BFP BETA 12dpo 38 October 8 2009=BETA 15dpo 197 Progesterone 19.6 October 11 2009= BETA 18dpo 684
October 14 2009= BETA 21dpo 3044
What is the difference between Levothyroxine and Synthroid? 
