This is my first time on this website.  I was diagnosed with hyperthyroidism, with a goiter at age 13, 30 years ago.  They tried to shrink the goiter for a year.  Didn't work.  I was on heart meds and other meds, I no longer remember all of them.  At age 15 they took the goiter out along with most of my thyroids.  I never had to take any meds--what part of the thyriod that was left was enough for me.  I was always slim, never over 112 pounds.  At age 30 my levels started running low so they put me on Synthroid, start out on .025 and now I am up to .150.  I still stayed slim until I was 35 then I gained 30 pounds in less than 12 months.  Doctors had no answers other than at my age I should expect to gain.  I stay around 140.  I am 5'6" so my family thinks I look healthier.  Back in October of this year my cholestrol was up to 268 out of the blue. My thyriod was fine. My doctor said I had to get it down or I would need to go on meds for it.  Family history(mother's side).  I was supposed to try to get it down by March.  Let's just say I had a lot going on during that time and didn't really try.  But when I went to get my thyroid medicine filled they changed me to the generic brand Levothyroxine.  I had alway taken synthroid.  But I took it anyway.  I went to the doctor for my lab results in March and to my surprise and my doctors, my cholestrol had come down 73 points to 195.  He wanted to know how I had done that he knew it was [not]diet because I had not lost any weight.  The only thing I could think of was I had started drinking a small glass of red wine to help me sleep at night.  He said that a lot of people claim that it works.  I have since thought all of this over and was wondering, could it have been the change of my thyroid medicine?  Has anyone been on the generic and had any changes in lab work?  Just curious.