Jeez. Only six days on 50 mg levothyroxine and... - Thyroid UK

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Jeez. Only six days on 50 mg levothyroxine and had to stop cos of acid tummy....I called my doc....

Anuba profile image
19 Replies

and she is going to prescribe me onimprazole is it? and gaviscon and see if there is another brand I can try but I dont hold out much luck for this.....I dunno .....not good that Im so uncomfortable with it. I doubt Id cope taking it at night as Id still wake up with discomfort.....has anyone else had probs with this.....I know some of you take it at night and with a glass of water but isnt doing much good for me really. Im not going to be able to take it today until I get my gaviscon or summit tomorrow .

I might add that the last time I had this sort of thing was when I took iron pills (I ended up taking Solgar Hematonic pills instead)

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Anuba profile image
Anuba
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19 Replies
roslin profile image
roslin

My experience is that the acid tummy is unconnected with thyroxin. With hypothyroidism you get some muscle weakness and that often also affect your oesophagus. When you ly down at night particularly after after a while your muscle tone reduces anyway when you are in deep sleep, the muscle at the top of your stomach may relax too much and let through some acid int the oesophagus. If you are a side sleeper try to ly on your left side as reflux often gets worse when lying on your right. So stopping thyroxine may make things worse. Omeprazole is a proton pump inhibitor and is not good to take if you have hypothyroidism, cant remember why at the moment, too early. I used it for years and it contributed to the mess I got myself into. So think twice before you start and ask your GP if there is an alternative

Roslin

Anuba profile image
Anuba in reply to roslin

Yeah its just I never had it at all with other pills (painkillers) etc Ive taken recently. Only since taking levo....I asked my doc if there was another brand.

Anuba profile image
Anuba in reply to roslin

Thanks and Yes I Def dont want to be taking this sort of thing for the rest of my life just to avoid stomach acid probs thats for sure and folk saying it affects B12 too. Im looking into it. Sorry to hear of your problems.

Marz profile image
Marz

Low thyroid normally means LOW stomach acid due to a lowered metabolism. That includes slower action of the cells secreting acid in the stomach. Far too common that GP's get this one wrong and give you something to lower the acid further. You need stomach acid - that is why it is there - it breaks down your food before it passes into the Duodenum. When your thyroid hormones are better then so will the stomach improve. Remember thyroid hormones are required in EVERY CELL of your body - trillions and trillions of them.

Try not to eat fruit after mid-day as it only ferments in the gut overnight - creating acid - as can certain red meats if eaten late. PPI's are not good as the Intrinsic Factor that is secreted in the stomach is needed to bind to the B12 and carry it through the gut for absorption. Low thyroid = low B12 so the PPI's will lower it even further.

Give yourself time to heal - things do not happen over night - it is a bumpy ride so hang on tight. Maybe a good time to look at your diet and consider the effects certain foods have on your system. Hope you soon feel better....

Anuba profile image
Anuba in reply to Marz

Thanks...interesting....I just confused as I never had this indigestion, acid thing before I took it and I took other pills that didnt do it....thanks it def going to take time

Marz profile image
Marz

....could also be caused by your stomach cells waking up and doing what they should be doing - now that you are taking thyroid hormones. Probably too early for that - but we are all different....

nikkimaa profile image
nikkimaa

I am new to taking levo but I found that setting my alarm an hour earlier than normal to take with a glass of water works best for me as I was having indigestion type problem too

Anuba profile image
Anuba in reply to nikkimaa

Thanks

Danifox6 profile image
Danifox6

I take protium pantaprozole in the morning and thyroxine at night. Unsure if the acid islinked to thyroxine though. People can put on weight on these acid tabs as digestion is inhibited as lack af acid in the stomach.

Anuba profile image
Anuba in reply to Danifox6

Thanks.

PinkNinja profile image
PinkNinja

Hi. Sorry to hear you are still having problems with your thyroxine. Which brand is it? I just wondered because someone else has just posted with the same problem after changing brands.

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

Carolyn x

Anuba profile image
Anuba in reply to PinkNinja

It is Activis.....yes I asked to see if there was a different brand that may work better....What did they change to?

PinkNinja profile image
PinkNinja in reply to Anuba

The other person was taking the mercury pharma brand so I don't know if it is a brand thing. You could ask for liquid or purified thyroxine but it is quite expensive, or you could see if your GP could specify Eltroxin and try that first. A lot of people seem to find they get on better with Eltroxin when they are sensitive to tablets.

What a minefield! Not only do you have to fight to get the right diagnosis and the right dose but there can also be trouble with the different brands for some people. So much for hypothyroidism being easy to treat!

I hope you find something you can work with.

Carolyn x

Barbaraj profile image
Barbaraj

Omeprazole is a proton pump inhibitor - it attaches to folate receptors thus inhibiting its role in Vitamin B12 synthesis.

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/119...

Anuba profile image
Anuba in reply to Barbaraj

yeah....I really want to avoid taking this stuff so Im looking at a different brand of thyroxine maybe

Anuba profile image
Anuba

Thanks.

What worries me is that you say your Dr is prescribing Omeprazole AND Gaviscon. Usually you should not be taking both. If you look in the drug info for Omeprazole you will see that it says "not to be taken with antacids" that is "generally", there are short term exceptions. The Omeprazole prevents acid being produced so there should be no reason to take Gaviscon as well...ask your Dr about this.

Neeta-K profile image
Neeta-K

The same thing happened to me. It was the levothyroxine no doubt. It stopped when I took it at bedtime instead of on an empty tummy in the morning.

shaws profile image
shawsAdministrator

The problem is, I believe, that some GP's do not know very much about thyroid gland problems, except prescribe a pill and don't know clinical symptoms.

As stated above hypo means slow,so you have to get to an optimum of medication for your to feel well.

Acid reflux and low acid have similar symptoms and that's why you were offered the PPI's. I have read, if you need them, that they should be short-term only but they are for high acid.

This is a link

stopthethyroidmadness.com/s...

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