Coffee

[Vrboska]

Hello everyone

Hypothyroid condition for 11 years, hoshimoto, latest tests ok (B12, iron, ferotin all ok.), medication ok, but still feeling tired in the morning.

I am coffee lover, have 2 to 3 cups of espresso with milk, no sugar in the morning plus 1 in the afternoon. After morning coffees, light breakfast, like fruit follows and than I get tired either before or after healthy light lunch.

I am now ready to try to reduce, than stop coffee altogether and see if I would feel any better.

Would like to hear from anyone who withdrew coffee, what is your experience please? Any advise in this respect?

Thank you.

[samjannotti74]

I tried giving up coffee while having this and to be honest it made me worse I have only drank coffee for most of my life gave up drinking alcohol a long time ago so all I do drink is coffee it may be different for you but I couldn't do it I was getting mood swings , headaches and could NOT sleep ! I find that coffee is my one thing that keeps me going as I generally never seem to feel well hope this helps x

[greygoose in reply to samjannotti74]

Sounds like you have an adrenal problem.

[Vrboska in reply to greygoose]

Checked as well. A bit low but I take NUTRI ADRENAL 2 daily-4, advised by Dr Peatfield.

[greygoose in reply to Vrboska]

Vrboska, that remark was intended for samjanotti. lol But I'm not surprised if your adrenals were low, because you're not treating them very kindly.

[samjannotti74 in reply to greygoose]

Really !

[greygoose in reply to samjannotti74]

? Would you care to elaborate on that comment?

[samjannotti74 in reply to greygoose]

Sorry I thought you was being funny x still quite new to this and new to new words so sorry again x

[greygoose in reply to samjannotti74]

lol No! Just confused.

No, I was being serious, it does sound like you could have low cortisol. If it's at all possible, it's always best to get it checked.

[samjannotti74 in reply to greygoose]

I have also been told I had a vitamin d deficiency again for the second time this year and was again given capsules to take 1 per week not sure how long til they run out I suppose does this make an difference to how I feel ?

[greygoose in reply to samjannotti74]

How much vit D3 is in the capsules? Maybe it's not enough.

[Vrboska in reply to samjannotti74]

Thank you. I thought I might come to the same conclusion. And reason I have become coffee lover is exactly because I have always been knackered in the morning. I also gave up alcohol except occasionally. At least I'll have a clear conscience.

[greygoose]

When do you take your thyroid hormone? 2 to 3 cups of coffee with milk sounds like a lot of milk, and could be making it difficult for you to absorb your hormone.

Doesn't sound like a very good brekfast for adrenal support, either. The adrenals Don't like coffee. What they need is good protein as soon as possible after you get up.

But if you're going to give up coffee, do it very slowly. It is a drug, after all.

[Vrboska in reply to greygoose]

I take thyroxine early morning when going to loo, before getting up. Than after coffees straight to 2 Nutri Thyroid plus 2 Nutri Adrenal. I admit that I sometimes skip breakfast altogether or take a bit after all the medication because I am not hungry in the morning. I am reluctant to eat if not hungry as I am 78 kg on my 163 cm height; (overweight I know).

I don't work and prepare healthy food but exception is a cake or some chocolate (the sweet is must), so hard to give up all.

[greygoose in reply to Vrboska]

So how many hours after taking the pill are you swallowing all that milk? Any form of calcium should be four hours apart from levo because T4 binds with calcium and you can't absorb it.

Your weight is nothing to do with what you eat, and starving yourself is just going to make things ten times worse. Make you put on even more weight.

I Don't know about nutri adrenal and nutri thyroid, but it wouldn't surprise me if the milky coffee has an effect on them.

Have you considered taking your thyroxine at night, two hours after eating - assuming that you Don't have milky coffee before bed! That way, you might get your full dose. But I really would advise you to have something like an egg or a piece of cheese for breakfast, with a slice of toast. You've got to eat properly if you want to get well.

[Vrboska in reply to greygoose]

Usually few hours after taking 50 mcg levothyroxine I have 3 coffee cups. Reason I take it with milk is to avoid taking sugar with black espresso. It might be that sugar is less harmful than milk.

Since I was first diagnosed 11 years ago, I was taking levo first thing in the morning after getting up, only since last year started earlier with my last loo visit before getting up.

Having read your advise to take levo at night I googled it and found that people have different experience but I am going to try it tonight, thanks for pointing that out. Will let you know if I feel better. Do you take it at night and what is your dosage pls?

And will have my small breakfast to see if there is a difference with all of this: levo at bedtime, breakfast in the morning, NUTRI THYROID AND ADRENAL a small black coffee before ditching it if I can survive without it. Thank you very much.

[greygoose in reply to Vrboska]

So, you have to get up several times during the night to visit the loo? That could be due to weak adrenals.

I Don't take Levo, I can't tolerate any form of T4. I took it in the beginning, of course, but it made me very ill. And in those far-away days, I hadn't heard about taking it at night. Stoopid endo just said take it in the morning, didn't even say to leave time before eating! I had to find that out for myself. And then they Wonder why you Don't get well!?!?

Anyway, now I'm on T3 only, and I take my whole 75 mcg dose at night, in one go. And I'm getting better and better. But I have had to address my adrenals and nutritional deficiencies in order to get to where I am now.

If the milk wasn't agreeing with you, I think you'd know, have stomach upsets, indigestion, whatever. But if you think it's bad for you, you could try goats milk. I have goats milk (never know where to put the hyphen!) every morning in my hot chocolate (I'm very French! lol), with coconut sugar - which is much better for you than processed white cane sugar or beet sugar. Cow's milk makes me itch!

[Vrboska in reply to greygoose]

Thank you. I keep learning new thing from you, really grateful. Solutions are there but we don't see them I keep saying to myself. I keep going to loo several times because I take a lot of water for kidney stone problem that I had.

Didn't know coconut sugar exist, will try it. Will experiment with milk as well. I wasn't ready to change much in my nutrition before but now I am so fed up being tired all the time that I will try everything.

[greygoose in reply to Vrboska]

I know, it takes a lot of motivation. All my life I'd drunk tea with milk - and sometimes sugar - and then I developed a liking for condensed milk in my tea - until one day, for a reason I can't remember, I thought to myself : I really Don't want this anymore. And I stopped drinking tea. Never have liked coffee, much. So that made social occassions difficult! Everyone wants you to have a 'hot beverage' - to quote Sheldon Cooper! But, the advantage of living in France is that the majority of people like non-tea teas - infusions - so I just accept one of those and sip it til it gets cold. lol

Going to the loo in the night could have something to do with your kidneys and/or the amount of water you drink, but best to check out your adrenals if you possibly can.

Coconut sugar is often called coconut flower sugar. Most health food shops have it, and you can get it on Amazon, too. You can also get coconut flour, if you're gluten free, and something called coconut aminos, which you can use instead of soy sauce if you're sensitive to that. And many other coconut products.

[weg1 in reply to Vrboska]

hello just thought i'd put my two pence in, i am hypo (150mcg levo 10mcg lio t3) and also have lupus, i believe a little of what you fancy does you good, but picked up on the kidney stones, in this case avoid calcium, i learnt through looking up immflamation, vitamin k2 helps put calcium in the bones rather than colllecting in painfull places, also helps absorbtion of vit D, i like to drink sugar free barley water, heard it was good for kidneys too. theres something called mate, amazon sell it, suppost to be good coffee substitute.

[Vrboska in reply to weg1]

Thank you for reminding me on barley water, I used to drink it before getting the stones out. All of us here best stay away from any substitutes, a bit of sacrifice not hard to feel better. Best wishes.

[SilverAvocado in reply to greygoose]

GG, thanks for for this this tip. I didn't realise just that that much milk could be problem for absorbing Levo. I sometimes have cereal for breakfast if it's obvious I'm not going to have the wherewithal to put together a proper breakfast - doh!

[greygoose in reply to SilverAvocado]

Well, you say that, but we Don't actually know how much milk it is. lol It could be half milk, half coffee, or it could be just a dash. Or, If I'm forced to drink coffee, it's all milk with a dash of coffee! But, as a general rule, thyroid hormone should be taken four hours away from calcium if you want to be able to absorb a maximum of the hormone. And just having cereal occassionally would mean that you're getting highs and lows in your dosing. It's difficult, I know, but we have to do the best we can.

[samjannotti74 in reply to greygoose]

So why drink should I use to take my levothyroxine with ? Except for water that is

[greygoose in reply to samjannotti74]

I really Don't know. I've never met anyone before that couldn't drink water. Water is the only thing that isn't going to mess with your absorption. Perhaps you could try putting a little lemon juice in it?

[samjannotti74]

I have never been able to drink water on its own for some reason it makes me feel really sick , heaving sometimes and has been this way since I was about 13 , a long long time ago ! So I use cold is coffee to take my pills x

[Clutter in reply to samjannotti74]

Samjannotti, Washing down Levothyroxine with coffee reduces absorption by around 45%. Take Levothyroxine with a glass of water and an hour before coffee.

[samjannotti74 in reply to Clutter]

I never knew that my doctor never said anything and she knows I only drink coffee ill try putting a bit of cordial into some water to take my levothyroxine with and I did get it wrong I am meant to take 100 daily not 175 I spoke to my doctor this morning I was on 75 and she said my thy was too low then gave me a 100 m g prescription I thought I had to take the 100 on top of the 75 but she said to just take 100 for now more bloods done in 2 weeks so thankyou everyone x

[Vrboska]

There was a lot of advise here not to take coffee and medication in short space of time. Maybe you better take water!

[Hidden]

I deeply sympathise. Drinking coffee just to keep going starts with the tiredness before you've even thought about hypo, and then it's a habit, and then it's very hard to do without. I am still struggling, but herb tea instead kinda helps sometimes. Especially liquorice. Yes, I know, adrenals.

[Vrboska in reply to Hidden]

Actually have liquorice in cupboard and will try it in the morning. I had it few times and thought it was very "sweet" taste! Thank you.

[rustyspokes]

I'd be very cautious about giving up coffee, as stopping suddenly can cause MONSTER headaches. Perhaps just aim to reduce intake, and think about the time u drink it in relation to your meds.

[ScotsLassLondon]

I agree with Greygoose, you need to add protein and fats. Your energy dip is no doubt because you're flooding your body with sugar (fruit) and then that will dip rapidly.

If you take carbs along with protein and fat it will mean the sugars/carbs will be absorbed more slowly and stay in your bloodstream longer.

I highly recommend having egg, avocado and olive oil on a piece of toast and I think you'll be surprised how much less caffeine you'll crave for a boost.

Zx

[samjannotti74 in reply to ScotsLassLondon]

Ju says t do not take sugar never have just plain coffee with milk x

[Adam10]

Is tea bad for hashimoto sufferers? I have 3-5 cups a day. I too like skimmed milky coffee (skinny latte) but limit my coffee to 2-3 per day. I also learned to take levo at night (125 mcg) two hours after eating. I'm interested in Greygoose's comment about avoiding calcium. I eat a lot of skimmed milk yoghurt (low calories) with walnuts and hazelnuts and stevia for taste but usually two hours before taking my levo (not the 4 hours Greygoose mentions). soubds like I need to lengthen the time gap to avoid the calcium?

[Vrboska]

Thank you all. I'll let you know about outcome.

[eeng]

I gave up caffeine in my mid 40s because I suddenly had problems sleeping properly. I would sleep just lightly all night, with a fast pulse, and be awake at least once a hour (I have a bedside clock radio thing) until 6am when I would finally get off to sleep properly. I now drink decaff only, and I now sleep deeply every night. I would say the way to stop caffeine is to drink just enough to keep the withdrawal headaches away. (the ones that feel like headache, eye-ache, toothache all rolled into one). Within a week you will need less and within a month your probably won't need any. Good luck.

[Vrboska in reply to eeng]

Thank you, best wishes.

[1133]

Why not try adding sugar, salt, butter, and coconut oil to your coffee? This makes it metabolically friendly and warms you up, helps metabolism. Takes some getting used to... but it's super delicious once you're used to it. I can't even go back to coffee without it now.

[Vrboska in reply to 1133]

I thought you were joking and googled it and yes people do it: wellnessmama.com/5673/healt...

I am very hard on myself so if I decide to reduce/stop I'll do it and don't need to compromise and go around it. Thank you.

[1133 in reply to Vrboska]

Lighten up on yourself. Taking the pressure of yourself makes a world of difference.

[Vrboska]

Dear all

Thank you for your advice and just to say that I now get up with clearer head and less tired since starting to take 50 mcg Levothyroxine before sleeping instead of morning what I have been doing for 11 years. Greygoose many thanks for your advice.

I also reduced morning coffee to one instead of 3 and replaced milk with almond or coconut milk. Feeling less bloated.