Taking meds

[zoobsmum]

Please can anyone advise. I have been in thyroxine for approx 9 months now and am up to 100 daily. I have been taking my meds approx 1 hr before breakfast ,recently I have been taking them about an hour or so after food and I have had so much more energy. All the sites I've looked at say you must take on an empty stomach for it to be absorbed correctly, but I have felt so much better eating first. I'm wondering if I should go back to taking them the original way .

[Treepie]

It takes some months to start to feel better as the dosage increases and you reach the optimum dose for you. That is possibly why you feel better. But if it works for you to take an hour after, the only reason to change would be to experiment to prove the point.

[bantam12]

If it works then carry on, personally I have found time between taking Levo and eating either before or after doesn't make any difference to results or how I feel. I think we can be too obsessed with following what everyone else says/does, if a different approach works then go with it.

[shaws Administrator]

If you feel much better taking breakfast. Why don't you try taking them at bedtime - you can then leave an adequate space between last eating and levo. Food can interfere with the uptake of levothyroxine and also other things such as coffee or calcium etc. By bedtime dosing you can leave a gap of 2 hours after eating or, in the case of a fatty meal, leave a gap of 2 and half hours). Also if you're having a blood test next morning, you should miss night dose. You have a choice to take it after your blood test plus taking it at bedtime or just take it at bedtime again.

[zoobsmum in reply to shaws]

If I took them at bedtime . What's the best way to start ? Do I take morning dose as usual then start my bedtime dose same day or go the whole of one day without taking anything and then take it .sorry I feel I'm being a bit dense around this.

[shaws Administrator in reply to zoobsmum]

No, don't worry. It depends on how best you want to proceed. I have found in the past that I could miss a dose for 24 hours and then continue with a dose.

So you have an option - you can either begin your dose tonight and then continue or if you are wary of taking too much take 1/2 dose tonight and begin your full dose tomorrow night.

Some people have found a benefit by bedtime dosing. I hope you feel it is helpful to you.

[MrsRaven in reply to shaws]

I have switched to bedtime dosing. I am on 100mcg a day and recently it doesnt seem to be effective. my GP doesnt want to increase it because he says I test "normal" though low end.

[shaws Administrator in reply to MrsRaven]

Mrs Raven, get a print-out of your blood test results with the ranges and post on a new question. I hate GP's when they use the word 'normal' and ignores the patients continuing symptoms. If you're not on an optimum dose it wouldn't matter when you take your medication, because it wont give you sufficient hormones for your cells to work.

[MrsRaven in reply to shaws]

That was my point exactly. My symptoms in fact have actually got worse over the last 2 years. I have never tested below the normal range, but have been symptomatic for 20 odd years. It took 10 years to get anybody to take it seriously. my old GP has retired and I have managed to register with a new practice, but I dont know how seriously they will take it. I am seeing my GP on the 12th. I intend putting my case strongly with the hope of being referred to an endocrinologist. I dont hold out a lot of hope.

[shaws Administrator in reply to MrsRaven]

Just for information:

thyroiduk.org.uk/tuk/testin...

also email [e-mail] and ask for a copy of Dr Toft's Pulse online article and read question 6 where he says some of us may need a suppressed TSH and the addition of T3.

[MrsRaven in reply to shaws]

Thanks for that

[MrsRaven in reply to shaws]

Hi, ive emailed for the required info, thanks. Just waiting now. Went for bloods this morning and the phlebotomist has the same problems as me - basically not being listened to or taken seriously.

[shaws Administrator in reply to MrsRaven]

It does give us extra stress we could well do without.

[zoobsmum in reply to shaws]

Thanks