Thyroid removed

[Peanutx]

Hi had my thyroid removed two weeks ago now and I'm now on levothyroxine 150mg a day, can and should I be taking Vit D?

[Clutter]

Hi Peanutx,

You should have a vitamin D blood test to determine whether you need to supplement vitD first. You can order a vitD test from City Assays via thyroiduk.org.uk/tuk/testin...

[humanbean]

You can take vitamin and minerals supplements if you want to. I don't know of any reason why you shouldn't.

There are some people who don't tolerate vitamin D and they have to use special lamps and/or make sure they get plenty of sunshine rather than take supplements. But those people are in the minority.

Another thing to take into account is whether or not you are low in vitamin D.

Some vitamins are water soluble and excess is lost in urine.

Vitamin D, though, is fat soluble and getting rid of any excess is not really possible - you just have to wait for the body to use it up and avoid getting more from sunlight. So fat-soluble vitamins can become toxic if too much is taken.

The answer is, of course, to get vitamin D levels tested and dose yourself appropriately until you get to an optimal level, then reduce dose to a maintenance level. Once you are at an optimal level you would need to re-test once or twice a year to make sure your maintenance dose was at the right level.

Vitamin D raises the absorption of calcium from the diet. People shouldn't take calcium supplements unless they have been tested and found to be deficient.

Calcium is needed by bones and teeth, but if the conditions in the body aren't right then it can be deposited in soft tissues and could end up lining the arteries. To avoid this a couple of co-factors are needed to help the calcium to go where you want it to - Vitamin K2 and magnesium.

There are lots of types of magnesium supplement available. Choose a good one that the body can absorb well and that you think might suit you from the following lists :

naturalnews.com/046401_magn...

metabolics.com/blog/the-def...

globalhealingcenter.com/nat...

There are two types of vitamin K2 supplement - MK4 and MK7. The one you want is MK7.

[Hidden]

I do not know why you would want to take any vitamins.

These are early days for you after such an important event in your life. The likelihood is that you will be fine for some months to come taking levothyroxine. After that there is the possibility, some would say the inevitability, that you will start to get some hypo symptoms, such as fatigue: ie you take hours, if not days, to recover your energy after any sort of physical exertion.

If that happens then you will need to seek further advice on this or another patient-led forum as to what options are available.