Sodium? In Levothyroxine?: I was wondering if... - Thyroid UK

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Sodium? In Levothyroxine?

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I was wondering if there is sodium in levothyroxine? And if so, surely this makes fluid retention which you get when hypothyroid, worse?

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19 Replies

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Paquita7 years ago

I don't know, but thought hyponatremia was a symptom of hypothyroidism. I need to take salt tablets. But also have orthostatic intolerance, so not any fluid retention anyway. My levo tablets are very small, so I don't think there is much salt in mine that I don't need.

Aurealis7 years ago

I believe that it is the sodium salt of Levothyroxine that is in the tablets. The sodium is presumably there to make it chemically stable, so is essential. I don’t know if the sodium has the same effect on the body as the sodium in salt, but presume it does. It would be very small quantities though. It doesn’t seem to cause me to retain fluid. But I think it may be a reason to be careful about sodium intake in other ways.

jimh1117 years ago

Without looking up atomic weights, formulae and doing the arithmetic, 100 MICROGRAMS of levothyroxine sodium will make a very small contribution to your 1.6 GRAMS RDA.

HLAB357 years ago

Not sure why such a tiny amount of sodium should be a problem. Fluid retention can be due to poor conversion, even some cardiovascular problems resulting from that and / or diabetes or other hormonal imbalances - better to identify the cause really.

Katherine1237 years ago

Fluid retention can be a sign of not enough salt in the body, along with potassium, magnesium and calcium. You need salt as well as water to get rid of fluid retention. Also if potassium is low we will have fluid retention and we need a lot of potassium 4700 I believe. It is better to get our potassium from meat, eggs, and fish they have the highest count and then lots of green leafy vegetables and fruit (no fruit if your blood sugars run high). I often feel that having hypothyroid makes our electrolytes off. They will show normal in a blood test which is no help because the body strives for homeostasis and will rob the cells of electrolyte's to keep blood levels normal, whilst our cells at cellular level are starving causing all sorts of problems, chronic fatigue, dehydration and fluid retention springs to mind.

HLAB35• in reply toKatherine1237 years ago

I agree. Some silly person in the medical profession told my elderly mum to cut out salt from her diet which resulted in her having terrible fluid retention (she has heart failure) and a dizzy spell that made her pass out by the roadside. Fortunately a pedestrian helped her out and sent her safely off to A&E. I never found out who they are but I'm very, very grateful!

Katherine123• in reply toHLAB357 years ago

Awww! bless her, how is she now HLAB35. We exist with salt in our bodies, our babies are floated in salt water in our wombs. What is no good is lashings and lashings of hidden salt in processed food and not enough potassium to keep it in check. I do think health reform starts in our own kitchen, with plenty of good sea salt, good fats, quality protein, and lots of potassium green veg and avocados.

HLAB35• in reply toKatherine1237 years ago

They only allow the experienced doctors near her now as she complained... I am glad they are taking her seriously as she is the last person to exaggerate mild symptoms and puts up with pain and is very sensible with diet having survived cancer in her thirties.

Katherine123• in reply toHLAB357 years ago

I am happy to hear dearest....

Tanya-B7 years ago

I can taste that it has but it must be in tiny amounts. I take bicarbonate of soda twice daily so not worried about the salt content In Levothyroxine . The bicarbonate of soda helps my tummy as I have a lot of acid and indigestion. If your worried check with your pharmacist, they know more than your GP and are happy to advise.

helvellaAdministrator• in reply toTanya-B7 years ago

Are you sure you can taste the sodium of the levothyroxine sodium itself?

Maybe it could be the sodium citrate present in some makes? That is known to have a somewhat salty taste.

Tanya-B• in reply tohelvella7 years ago

I don't know what it is, it just taste salty the T3 doesn't 😀

helvellaAdministrator7 years ago

It is sometimes hard to appreciate how little thyroid hormone there is in a tablet to begin with. Let alone that the percentage of the levothyroxine sodium that is actually sodium is very small - about 2.9 micrograms in 100 micrograms of levothyroxine sodium.

Takes a sugar cube (about 3 grams is typical). Draw lines on each surface - nine lines so it divides evenly into ten strips. Cut up sugar lump along the lines. Each tiny bit you have now is about 3 milligrams.

On one of those tiny pieces draw nine lines on each surface. Cut up the sugar lump. The unbelievably tiny bit you now have is around 3 micrograms.

If you can even see the extremely tiny fragment you would be doing well!

Another source suggests that a single grain of salt might weigh about 58.5 micrograms (obviously depends on how fine the salt is!) And the amount of sodium in that would be about 23 micrograms.

Some makes include other sodium compounds such as sodium citrate. I have NOT included these - aside from anything else, I have no idea how much.

jimh111• in reply tohelvella7 years ago

So you did the numbers! A litre of tap water has about 40,000 mcg of salt (NaCl - can't be bothered to work out just the Na mcg) which compares with 2.9 mcg in a 100 mcg levothyroxine sodium tablet.

helvellaAdministrator• in reply tojimh1117 years ago

I had 97.1% of the information to hand.

janisjlo1237 years ago

That’s a great question, I don’t know hopefully someone with better knowledge will let us know.I am so bloated since I’ve Ben taking first Levo now Nature Thyroid, it sucks

• in reply tojanisjlo1237 years ago

I know its depressing when u take increased levothyroxine, watch your diet, and exercise, and still have wobbly fluid retention marshmallow flab!! My doctor (female) says it's my age!! Best results I find come from exercising and Nivea anti-cellulite cream/gel which is amazing.

7 years ago

I retain so much fluid that this morning walking round to get the paper I sounded like a hot water bottle! Scary! And that was with 40mg of Frusemide.

helvellaAdministrator5 years ago

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