Advice re blood test and taking tablets please

[Mst27]

Hi I will be having my second blood test soon and I am aware that I should not take my levothyroxin before it. I am taking it at 6.20 am but my blood test is at 8.45 can I take it after this or should I just miss that days dose ? Also could someone be kind enough to tell me what I do about the vitamins I am taking. I am on vitamin b12 vitamin d and folic acid do I stop taking these also ? I take these periodically through the day so that I am not taking them near the levothyroxin or all at the same time.

Many thanks for any help

[Goforitmum]

Hi Mst27. I am not an expert and I am sure someone else will be along soon to give better advice. When I get my blood work done. I drink water before my test. Immediately after my test I pop my thyroid meds. If I can, I go home, by then the meds have been absorbed and I can eat. If I have to work I take my breakfast to work and leave it ideally an hour before I eat (in reality it’s anything between 30 minutes to an hour).

Regarding vitamins. I try to take my vitamins at least 4 hours after my thyroid meds. So, in summary I keep my thyroid meds on my alarm clock and pop one in as I wake up, eat after my shower, dressing etc (usually an hour after all of my pfaffing). I have my vitamins either at lunchtime or evening meal if it’s a workday.

Btw… I don’t take my vitamins for about a week before my blood tests. Otherwise the tests just show if you are taking enough vitamins, it does not show if there is a vitamin deficiency.

Good luck.

[Sparklingsunshine]

Hi

From what I've read here leave at least 24 hours from your last dose before you get bloods done, so you should be OK if you take it as usual the day before but not on the day of the test. Take it after.

Nothing but water until blood test is complete. Its important to check your vitamin B doesn't contain biotin as this can skew results. If yours does leave it off for a week before hand.

I'm not sure about B12, folic acid or Vitamin D. Hopefully someone more knowledgeable will help with that.

[SeasideSusie Remembering]

Mst

Last dose of Levo should be 24 hours before blood test, leaving longer gives a false low FT4 result. Just for the one day before the test, I would delay taking your Levo until around 8.30-9am. Take your Levo after the test on the day, no need to delay that day's dose once the test has been done, it's not going to achieve anything once the blood has been drawn.

Nothing to eat or drink except water before the test.

As for vitamins, the only one that can affect the test is biotin which is found in some supplements, particularly B Complex. This needs to be left off for 3-7 days before any blood test. Any other supplement no need to stop them but take after the test on the day.

[Mst27]

Thank you that has really helped. I will follow your advice it’s much appreciated.

[tattybogle]

Hi Mst27. Since you have only been taking Levo for about a week , then it is usually too soon for them to be retesting your thyroid levels. It takes about 6 weeks before you can rely on the TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone) to have moved / settled in response to a change in thyroid hormone .

hopefully your 'early' test is just to allow them increase your dose to the usual starting dose of 50mcg sooner, without waiting for 6 weeks to do it ...

25mcg is highly unlikely to make you feel much better .. it could even make you feel worse. They usually only use 25mcg 's as a starting dose for people who are frail/elderly / or people with heart problems ... this is to avoid a strain on the heart from increasing thyroid hormone levels to fast.

Do you know why you were only started on 25mcg ?

( some GP's /guidelines are over cautious and think anyone 'over 50' should have just 25mcg's to start with.. but it's a bit daft and just makes the whole process of starting to feel better take so much longer ..... and some guidelines are now suggesting giving the full replacement dose from the beginning ... for most people this ends up being somewhere between 75mcg and 150mcg .... a rough guide is 1.6mcg /Kg bodyweight )

for some reassurance about how bad you feel and when will you feel better :

My TSH was 6.8 when i started Levo age 37.

I felt lousy and everything was a massive struggle. i was knackered by lunchtime , and utterly useless after 4 pm .

So yes it is usual to feel as bad as you do, (slurring words included)

I started on 50mcg Levo , and if i remember correctly i felt nothing much for a couple for weeks.. then had about 2 weeks of feeling quite a bit better, followed by feeling less good again .. then at 6 weeks it was time for my next blood test .. GP said 'Bloods Ok ' as my TSH was now 2.9 . but i said i'd felt a bit better but then less good again, so i put dose up to 100mcg after that blood test . i felt quite a bit better again after a week or so on 100mcg... and the 'feeling better' lasted longer this time, might have been a couple of months .. it wasn't anything like 100% better .. perhaps only 50/75% , but a lot better than before i started Levo.

Then i felt less good again, but not as bad as before . Had another blood test after 4/5 months on 100mcg and since TSH was still 2.5 , I put dose up to 150mcg and i'd say i felt about "75%" on that dose, and more importantly ,it stayed stable and didn't feel like i was going backwards again.