Levothyroxine

[Elliejade]

Hi

Just looking for some advice

I have completely ran out of my Levothyroxine so haven't had any today & don't have any for tomorrow can't collect any until Monday now is it ok to miss some??

Thank you Ellie

[humanbean]

It's okay to miss your Levo for a couple of days. When you get your next lot of Levo, take the pills you've missed, don't just go without.

It probably isn't common knowledge, but some people take all their Levo for a week in one go. Apparently it does no harm, although I wouldn't suggest someone wanting to get pregnant or who actually is pregnant should try it.

I've never tried weekly dosing and it wouldn't appeal to me as a regular thing. But just for a couple of missing days I would have no qualms about taking the missing doses all in one go (if I still took Levo).

I don't think taking more than a week's worth in one go would be a good idea!

press.endocrine.org/doi/abs...

And weekly dosing of levothyroxine shouldn't be used on infants.

jpeds.com/article/S0022-347...

[Elliejade in reply to humanbean]

Thank you very much for your reply, so helpful 😊

[whispers60 in reply to humanbean]

I never thought of taking the missing meds but it makes sense thank you

[Lily288 in reply to humanbean]

Humanbean

Am I to understand that it is okay to take a whole week's supply of our levothyroxine prescription's tablets all at once or all in one shot and that this will compensate for taking none at all or missing your daily dosage for the whole week? This tells me that, say your daily dosage is 100mcg, then taking all of your whole week supply, this would be like taking 700 mcg in one shot... Wouldn't this just make you real sick or develop hyperthyroidism symptoms like heart palpitations and so on because your body does or would not need or be able to tolerate 700 mcg !? No way that I would chance that! 🤷‍♀️

[humanbean in reply to Lily288]

If doctors suspect patients are not being compliant with taking their thyroid meds, and the patients are lying about it, then they sometimes force the issue by insisting that patients must attend the surgery once a week and take their entire week's meds while being observed by a member of staff.

I don't know how well it compensates for taking none for a week in terms of how people feel, but doctors like the blood test results they get from doing this.

There are loads of links on the subject.

thyroid.org/patient-thyroid...

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...

endocrineweb.com/news/parat...

Just search for "weekly dosing of levothyroxine" for loads more links.

I wouldn't want to do this myself, and I'm not recommending it. A recommendation from me would be worthless - I don't take Levo now, and when I did I was always compliant with my dosing, so I have no experience of doing weekly dosing.

But if people have run out of meds for a few days or have forgotten their meds when going away then weekly dosing is an accepted way of catching up with some or all of the missed doses.

[Lily288 in reply to humanbean]

Humanbean

Thank you... I'll look at the sites later but I truly would not take a full week of levo and I have no need cause I take mine regular each morning... A whole 25 mcg levo... lol. But for doctors to to force a week or such a high dosage of levothyroxine on any person is way too harsh.

[whispers60 in reply to Lily288]

Human bean wasn't saying for you take take s full weeks dose, they were just pointing out that people do and are fine with it

[Lily288 in reply to whispers60]

Whispers60

I know that humanbean was not referring to me.. I wrote my concern to her post because I was interested to know if I had understood correctly. Thank you for your concern ... 😊

[veryangirl44]

Some boots chemists do an emergency supply of tablets in cases like this. Well they do herd in Cornwall as I have had it done for me. It is down to the pharmacist discretion.

As humanbean has said I know you can take a week supply at a time but I was advised against it by the drugs company as my dosage is to high but missing a couple of days is not ideal but OK.

[CarolineAnne]

I agree that it might be a good idea to ask your pharmacist. Take your old box if you have one. Mine will usually give me a couple days supply - they will also have it in their records if you use the same one. Worth a try

[helvella Administrator Thyroid UK in reply to CarolineAnne]

This is exactly what I would have suggested. It is quite normal - if unpopular with pharmacists!

As it is already into Sunday, possibly not worth putting extra effort in now. Original poster seems to imply that getting to a pharmacy is an issue - perhaps there is no bus on a Sunday, or they can't drive and rely on someone else, or...?

It is well worth trying to ensure you getting at least slightly ahead. If nothing else, we always suggest trying to keep to the same make of levothyroxine. It you have taken it to the wire, you don't have room for manoeuvre if your usually pharmacy hasn't got any in stock. And an emergency supply will be whatever they have available.

[Kathyhandis]

I don't feel any different if I miss it for a few days. My pharmacist will lend me some if I run out. When I start up again I just take up where I left off, I don't take loads at once.

[milkwoman]

I've skipped doses as well for one reason or another and I just pick up again with normal dosing (I don't make up for the lost doses).

You could take a little more For the first three days (which if I read correctly, 3 is the number of days you had missed) to give yourself a little jumpstart but not to rush too much at once, then go back to normal dosing on the fourth day.

[HelenL1965]

My uncle (who is a retired GP) actually asked me how I was doing on levo a few years ago and I said jokingly that it was a pain having to remember to take it away for the weekend etc.

He said that it metabolises so very slowly that it doesn't matter if you miss a few days - he just said add the extra dose over the next week or so. He said it would level out.

[Hidden]

A pharmacist will take off your next prescription what they have given you in an emergency if you are a regular at a particular chemist.

[Scouser58]

Hello Elliejade,,,have you got your meds on the automatic monthly reorder system yet??,, this is done with the chemist of your choice and they take your order, then send it through to your gp,,who produces the script and then sends in through to the chemist, and you just go, reorder for next month,and you collect the ones there,,,this saves you dragging to the gp and waiting in line to collect the script,,,mine is done this way all the time,,,and it would be helpful to you to have an extra script to have an emergency supply at home, so these things like running out won't happen,,,and if you really struggle to get there,,,most have a home delivery service, which you could request to be a part,,,good luck,,,ttfn from karen.

[helvella Administrator Thyroid UK in reply to Scouser58]

It does have a downside. If your chosen pharmacy has run out of the make you find acceptable.

Not being on that system, I have never had to work out how to handle problems. There have been a few people who have posted about there being difficulties.