Levo steady dose vs alternating dose

[roukounasGK]

Hello everyone!

The medication i am currently taking (t4) only comes up in 100mcg form only. So in order to get to the 128 mcg dose i need i have to alternate my doses. Currently i am taking 2 pills (200 mcg) 2 days of the week and 1 pill (100 mcg) the rest of the days. I find that on the days when i take the 200 i am much more energetic and symptom-free than the rest.

So my question is:

Does it make any difference if i

1. take it as i currently do,

2. 2. if i span it out more (for example by taking 1,5 pill 4 times in a week), or

3. if i change the levo to another company, which has more options, in order to take a steady dose of 127 each day?

[SeasideSusie Remembering]

It might make a difference. Some people can alternate different doses and it makes no difference, some people find that they are better if they take the same amount each day. You need to experiment and see what's best for you.

[roukounasGK in reply to SeasideSusie]

Thanks for the answer!

[radd]

roukounasGK,

Because of Levos long half life it has been previously thought smaller/larger alternating doses could be well tolerated as long as the weeks overall total remained the same.

However, there are now members who claim to feel better with an established same daily dose and then some members who even daily multi-dose, ie split their daily dose into several evenly spaced smaller doses.

Read Hashihousemans account here . ... healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

[tattybogle]

I'd suggest keep it simple for now and keep same brand , but spread it out more evenly. eg. 150ncg Sat/Sun/Tue/Thu ~ 100mcg Mon /Wed /Fri.

Try that for a few months , before considering a different brand with smaller tablets .

I prefer to get my daily doses as similar as possible as i can feel the difference and find it unsettling..

(i also split it ~ 50mcg every a.m, and 62,5mcg/75mvg at bedtime .. just 'cos it seems logical to mimic natural T4 production more closely and i seem to feel generally better. since doing it )

[SlowDragon Administrator]

You could cut a 100mcg tablet into 1/4’s to get 25mcg dose

Add 25mcg everyday

Like tattybogle i also find it better to split my levothyroxine. Half dose waking up and half at bedtime

[roukounasGK in reply to SlowDragon]

I can understand that this is better on our physiology. However the reason I went for a whole extra pill is that i read somewhere that the pill looses its potency if its broken and left without consuming for some time (I don't have a clue what some time means. Minutes? Hours? Days?). So i am trying to get my dose with minimum pill splits. What i have done before and seems ok is to cut it in half and get one half one day and the other on the next. But i am a bit afraid to use more cuts than half or taking a half in a period of more than one day after.

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to roukounasGK]

cutting into 1/4’s and using over 4 days should be fine

Or cut in half for 50mcg and take 100mcg and 150mcg alternate days

Get a weekly pill dispenser for the spare 1/2’s or 1/4’s to be stored in

[MULLIONAIRE]

I take 100 mcg Of thyroxine every day of the week and followed medical advice to take 25 mcg Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Have noticed that Teva 25 mcg tablets are now packaged in North Star boxes!

[SeasideSusie Remembering in reply to MULLIONAIRE]

Mullionaire

Have noticed that Teva 25 mcg tablets are now packaged in North Star boxes!

They have been for a very long time but Teva 25mcg tablets are still available as Teva brand, they haven't disappeared. They are available reboxed as Northstar for Lloyds Pharmacy's own brand and sometimes distributed to other pharmacies if Teva brand 25mcg tablets aren't available.

Northstar 100mcg and 50mcg tablets are made by Accord and reboxed and rebranded as Northstar.

Northstar 25mcg tablets only are made by Teva and reboxed again reboxed/rebranded.