Blood draw help

[paul1979]

Hi all

I have switched to taking my meds at night about 10pm

How does this work for blood draw and fasting ?

What time should I book bloods?

[SeasideSusie Remembering]

What thyroid meds are you taking?

You should adjust the timing of your dose according to the time of your blood test and leave

* 24 hours from last dose of Levo

* 8-12 hours from last dose of T3 or NDT

Incorrect timing of taking meds will result in a wrong FT4/FT3 result.

Is TSH result important? If so then you need an early morning blood draw as that's when TSH is at it's highest (no later than 9am) and delay breakfast/coffee/tea, etc until after the blood draw. You can drink water.

If you take Biotin or a B Complex, leave it off for one week before the blood test as this affects results.

[paul1979 in reply to SeasideSusie]

Hi. Levo

I take 175 at night. About 10pm

There is no way I can have my blood done at that time of night

What should I do?

My TSH has to be under 1 due to cancer

[SeasideSusie Remembering in reply to paul1979]

So you need an early morning, fasting blood draw to give the highest possible TSH, no-one would ever suggest you have your blood drawn at night (I didn't suggest that).

I would alter the timing of your medication for 3-4 days before your blood draw, altering it by a few hours earlier each day until take it in the morning the day before your test. Then readjust it following the test until you take it at night again if that's what you want to do.

If, say, you have a blood draw on Monday and you take it as normal at 10pm on Saturday, don't take it on Sunday, have a blood test at 9am on Monday, that would be 35 hours since last dose which would give a false low FT4. If you took it at 10pm on Sunday and had a blood test at 9am on Monday, that's only 11 hours and you'd get a false high FT4.

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to paul1979]

If get bloods done, for example on a Monday morning 9am

Then delay Saturday evening dose of Levothyroxine until Sunday morning.

Delay Sunday evening dose of Levothyroxine until after blood draw Monday morning

You can still take Monday evening dose of Levothyroxine as per normal