Do you take your thyroid meds in the morning or at night?

[sip1]

Just wondering when you take your thyroid medication - morning or night?

I have just read this about taking it at night, which seems interesting:

"Even when waiting for at least 30 minutes to eat, breakfast may be interfering with the intestinal absorption of levothyroxine.

“Bowel motility is slower at night,” which means that it takes longer for the levothyroxine tablet to transit through the intestinal system, resulting in longer exposure to the intestinal wall, and therefore, better absorption and uptake of the medication.

The conversion process of T4 to T3 may be more effective in the evening"

verywell.com/should-i-take-...

[helvella Administrator Thyroid UK]

Have a look here:

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

I take mine at bed-time - always have done.

[sip1 in reply to helvella]

Thinking I might do the same. I struggle with taking it in the morning, and then waiting for breakfast. And if it's better absorbed at night, then all the better.

[Haze1975]

I was told to take it early as possible in the morning. I take levothyroxine.xx

[Hidden]

I take mine in the middle of the night when I usually wake up - anywhere between midnight and 3 a.m. It's because most other times it clashes with other meds or vits.

[SilverAvocado]

I tried and struggled to change from taking mine in the morning to taking at night. Since then I've shuffled timings around in other ways, and I've found it works much better if taking a double dose on one of the days rather than effectively missing a dose.

e. g:

If I usually take my dose when I wake up at 9am, but want to change to taking it at 9pm.

On day 1 of the new timings, I would take 1 dose at 9am, then a second one at 9pm. Then on day 2 take the usual dose at 9pm, and so on.

Previously I'd tried, on day 1 of the new timings would miss that morning dose, take the dose at the new time of 9pm.

As this works out as a very long gap. I think the problems I had with making this change initially were because I was giving myself a lower does AND introducing a change at the same time.

[MajorTom]

Interesting how different we are.

When on t4 only I was told to take in morning but always ended up shaking a d palpitations by lunchtime, even when hypo.

Now, after much guidance from forums and trial and error I take half my t3 first thing, half at lunchtime then t4 at night and that works for me 😊

[Emyloulou]

I take mine at night but purely because I take other medications and it's a nightmare trying to work out what won't affect what!

It seems to be working ok though, although I'm quite new to all this.

[janey1234]

I take mine at bedtime & stop eating / drinking (except water) 2-3 hours beforehand. I take my B vits & Vit C with breakfast, 2-3 Brazil nuts, for selenium, sometime during the day.

I use to take an hour before breakfast but find taking in the evening so much easier to manage plus it stops all of those cheeky late night nibbles and I get that extra hour in bed in the morning 😊

[Grannycake]

I take my t3 just after breakfast,you have to do what's good for you,we are all different

[Margareta3]

I take it in the middle of the day, about 11-12, at least two hours after breakfast and one-two hour before next meal.

[BadHare]

The earlier the better, for me, for T3 or NDT. Afternoon or evenings leave me feeling wired. I keep to restrictive eating times, so my first foodstuffs are are least two hours after my THs, even if I don't take them until 9am.

[milkwoman]

I take Levo at 5:00pm. Works for me. No weight gain and doesn't interfere with supplements I take daily (in the am).

[jgelliss in reply to milkwoman]

I started to take my T4 with small amount of NDT at 5PM like milkwoman . And a tiny dose of NDT about 5-6Am . It works well for me now .

[Scouser58]

I was told to take mine first thing in the morning,,well before food,,and this is what I have continued to do,,,as I have to take my statin at night,,and the new antibiotic for my constant bladder problems,,,so I take it then and it goes through my stomach slowly and my stomach can take it's time to digest them into my system,,,ttfn from karen.

[Syd35]

Tried switching to night time as a trial but felt worse so went back to daytime.

[Print1972]

Hi. This is interesting. I've been on Levo for 4 months. I take it on the morning, and then have that desperate wait for my morning cuppa. To change to a nightly dose, did you skip the next morning and then have at night, or have second tablet in the day you changed?

[sip1 in reply to Print1972]

I just didn't have the morning dose at all, and waited until bedtime I suppose you could split it though, say half lunch time and half bedtime, and then the following eve take the full dose?

[helvella Administrator Thyroid UK in reply to sip1]

For many people, it will make little difference if they do that - or they take one tablet in morning and another in the evening. If you feel towards under-dosed, then the small extra from taking morning and evening could even help! If you feel over-dosed, then skipping the morning dose could help!

If you have enough tablets to sacrifice one, then one in the morning and half at night (or the other way round) could be sensible?

[Print1972]

Thanks. I might give this a whirl.