Thyroid meds

[teenarocks]

I take my thyroid hormone as soon as I wake up and then I wait an hour before I eat breakfast. But I usually have a cup of decaffeinated or herbal tea with Stevia while I'm waiting. Is this OK? Thanks for this great forum of support.

[Hidden]

I'm not sure if it's ok but I have a black coffee after I've taken my 3pm dose of NDT, I hope it's ok!?

[helvella Administrator in reply to Hidden]

There may be differences with desiccated thyroid (as compared with levothyroxine), but have a read here:

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/183...

Rod

[teenarocks in reply to helvella]

Rod, thank you so much for this informative study.

[DawnD]

I take my thyroxine every morning just before my morning mug of tea, and have been doing this for the last 22 years, so I think it is okay

[shaws Administrator in reply to DawnD]

If you've been doing it for 22 years and are well it is working for you.

The recommendation is that levo be taken with one glass of water and not to eat for around an hour. Also if you have calcium (milk) in tea, calcium can interfere with levo.

The main thing is how are you feeling and if well it's o.k.

[helvella Administrator in reply to shaws]

Hum Exp Toxicol. 2011 Aug;30(8):884-96. doi: 10.1177/0960327110382563. Epub 2010 Aug 27.

Effect of different doses of un-fractionated green and black tea extracts on thyroid physiology.

Chandra AK1, De N, Choudhury SR.

Author information

Abstract

Tea is a rich source of polyphenolic flavonoids including catechins, which are thought to contribute to the health benefits of it. Flavonoids have been reported to have antithyroid and goitrogenic effect. The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether high doses of green and black tea have a harmful effect on thyroid physiology. Un-fractionated green and black tea extracts were administered orally to male rats for 30 days at doses of 1.25 g%, 2.5 g% and 5.0 g%. The results showed that green tea extract at 2.5 g% and 5.0 g% doses and black tea extract only at 5.0 g% dose have the potential to alter the thyroid gland physiology and architecture, that is, enlargement of thyroid gland as well as hypertrophy and/or hyperplasia of the thyroid follicles and inhibition of the activity of thyroid peroxidase and 5(')-deiodinase I with elevated thyroidal Na+, K+-ATPase activity along with significant decrease in serum T3 and T4, and a parallel increase in serum thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH). This study concludes that goitrogenic/antithyroidal potential of un-fractionated green tea extract is much more than black tea extract because of the differences in catechin contents in the tea extracts.

PMID:

20801949

[helvella Administrator]

I am not aware of sufficient research on Stevia to establish whether or not it interacts with thyroid hormones in the mouth or gut - or even later within the body. So I cannot answer on that basis.

Herbal tea is even more difficult because you don't say which herbs!

Rod

[teenarocks in reply to helvella]

Thank you for your replies to my question. I guess to be perfectly sure I'm getting all the thyroid hormone absorbed I should take only water for at least an hour after taking the NDT.

[helvella Administrator in reply to teenarocks]

It is really nice when someone reads responses and links, and comes to their own conclusion.

I concur. Or do what I do, take it at bed-time.

[belwom]

Phytoestrogen herbs like sage are said to be goitrogenic. Shame, as sage is quite tasty (I find anyway) and is widely recommended as a small aid in combating menopausal symptoms. What do we drink? Purified water only? How boring! Perhaps moderation and variety in everything and keeping coffee/tea as well as iron and calcium away from thyroxine/NDT for 4 hours if we possibly can?