Thyroid issues

[Deborah-thyroid]

Hi. Starting about ten years ago lhad over and under thyroid levels whil living with diagnosed bi polar. The symptoms were very similar. Eventually had thyroid removed in about 2010 but have felt weak and fatigue ever since. I am on 200mg of thyroxin and mood stabilers but put on weight and too weak to exercise. Booking apt with gp and thyroid specialist

[SeasideSusie Remembering]

Deborah-thyroid

If you are on 200mcg Levo and gaining weight and too weak to exercise, it sounds as though you are either not absorbing the Levo well enough or you have poor T4:T3 conversion. Low T3 causes symptoms and makes weight loss difficult.

If you can post your test results, with their reference ranges, we can hopefully help you.

Please post results for

TSH

FT4

FT3

Thyroid antibodies

Reference ranges are essential as they vary from lab to lab. If you don't have your latest results, ask at your surgery's reception desk for a print out and post them like this, eg

TSH: 2.5 (0.2-4.2)

And because optimal nutrient levels are necessary for thyroid hormone to work properly:

Vit D - include unit of measurement

B12 - include unit of measurement

Folate

Ferritin

Do you always take your Levo on an empty stomach - one hour before or two hours after food, with a glass of water only (no tea, coffee, etc) and water only for one hour either side, 2 hours away from other medication and supplements (some need 4 hours)?

[Jivedancer in reply to SeasideSusie]

I was told to take my thyroid meds in the morning 30mins before breakfast and any other meds and drinks containing caffeine!

[SeasideSusie Remembering in reply to Jivedancer]

Jivedancer

I was told to take my thyroid meds in the morning 30mins before breakfast and any other meds and drinks containing caffeine!

From medicines.org.uk/emc/produc... re specific medication:

Absorption of levothyroxine (thyroxine) possibly reduced by antacids, proton pump inhibitors, calcium salts, cimetidine, oral iron, sucralfate, colestipol, polystyrene sulfonate resin and cholestyramine (administration should be separated by 4-5 hours).

This article lists many medications/supplements and their timings and says for food and drink:

After the medication is taken, avoid eating anything (even drinking coffee) for at least one hour.

verywellhealth.com/how-to-t...

This article mentions multivitamins and Levo:

drugs.com/food-interactions...

Using multivitamin with minerals together with levothyroxine may decrease the effects of levothyroxine. You should separate the administration of levothyroxine and multivitamin with minerals by at least 4 hours. If your doctor does prescribe these medications together, you may need a dose adjustment or special test to safely use both medications.

As so many things affect the absorption of Levo, advice here is to take it as I have outlined above.

[TSH110]

You may find the STAR* D study interesting. A thyroid hormone T3 was found to be very effective in treating bipolar especially rapid cycling. Some even suspect the thyroid is key in bipolar disorder, but quite how has yet to be elucidated

There is a pdf link to it here

researchgate.net/publicatio...

[Marz]

amazon.co.uk/Science-Thyroi...