Change in the time gap between taking the med and first meal

[Aghu]

hello,

I’ll describe the case,

Presume that the dose is right when the patient is taking the med after getting up, then waiting one and a half hours before the first meal.

Then one day, they take the med quite earlier then usual; let’s say, not after getting up in the morning but when awoken to pee. They have the breakfast at the usual time, eat the same things etc. But in this case the time elapsed between taking the med and eating is about 4 hours (it’s said that levothyroxine has an absorption window of 3 hours) So, used the full window without interference with food, instead of half.

Might this cause the person to show overmedication symptoms for that day? Might it cause food to proceed too quick in the digestive tract and frequent loose stools as a result (that’s what the patient -me- knows happens in the state of being overmedicated).

thank you so much in advance

[SeasideSusie Remembering]

Aghu

I'm not sure I'm understanding exactly what you're saying, I'm not firing on all cylinders today.

In my experience, as long as Levo is kept away from food, other medication and supplements (which can affect it's absorption) then it doesn't matter when you take it. We advise taking Levo one hour before or two hours after food, but that's just to ensure it's kept away from food. You can take it in the middle of the night, upon waking, at bedtime, it doesn't matter as long as it's the right time for you.

I have never heard of there being a window around eating when you should take your Levo, that doesn't make sense to me.

I always take mine when I need the bathroom during the night (every night, without fail). It can range from 3am - 6am when I take my Levo. I have breakfast any time between 10am and 11am, rarely earlier. It never makes me have any overmedication symptoms.

[Aghu in reply to SeasideSusie]

hi,

Yes it’s a common recommendation to take it one hour before food. Then, by roughly the same logic, I might change the numbers there and ask as follows: if you’ve been waiting only 20 mins before food (consistently) and then you start waiting 45 mins (consistently), will your hormone levels increase on the same dosage. Either for the better or tipping you over to overmedication, although you’re getting the same dosage every day.

In your case; you’re waiting before food long enough that you achieve full possible absorption everyday anyway.

Thank you so much for responding.

[greygoose]

Might this cause the person to show overmedication symptoms for that day?

I cannot see any reason why it should.

If I can have a guess at your reasoning behind this question, I assume that you think just leaving 1.5 hours isn't enough to avoid the levo coming into contact with the food, and that actually the person is taking too much levo, but the poor absorption caused by the food is compensating for that? Is that correct?

But, if they were taking such an enormous dose that this was the case, the effects would be unlikely to be felt that same day, because levo is a storage hormone that doesn't do much until it is converted into T3. And that takes time. And, being a storage hormone, it is unlikely that one day over over-medication would have much effect, anyway. So, no, pretty sure that that would not happen.

[Aghu in reply to greygoose]

yes, essentially that was the reasoning; thinking that what you’ll get out of that pill would be different depending on the time elapsed between the pill and food. Even though the ‘time elapsed’ in question is more than an hour (standard recommendation).

[greygoose in reply to Aghu]

No, I really don't think you will get more out of it. I take T3 only - the active hormone - and sometimes I leave about four hours before eating, and sometime less that one hour. But, I don't feel any different. So, if it doesn't work like that with T3, I very much doubt it would with T4.

[Regenallotment]

I think I’m affected by regulating blood sugar, if I take it very early and go back to sleep then potter about and have a late breakfast I can get a bit whizzy feeling which tallies with over medicated feelings but I think it’s more related to a dietary rush (depending on the breakfast) and not the Levo. I do know that if I do this I wake up ravenously hungry 🤣