Paxlovid & Levothyroxine

[thyreoidea]

I am not looking to catch COVID but as I have been shielding up to now with another illness and hopefully are going to be mixing with others soon, am likely to catch it at some point even after vaccinations which does not prevent this.

I am looking for advice/experience from others taking Levothyroxine of Paxlovid as it seems to be the antiviral widely prescribed for people who are immune suppressed due to illness or treatment, I am not referring to my Hypothyroidism by the way.

It mentions in the information for Paxlovid to inform your doctor if taking Levothyroxine, it is not one of the listed medication/treatments to not take Paxlovid as others are.

I thought it best to seek information from the good people on this forum now instead of trying to find out in case of contracting Covid and the anxiety it may cause at the time of not feeling too great.

Thank you in advance for any input.

[helvella Administrator Thyroid UK]

I have NO knowledge of Paxlovid.

The general assumption regarding levothyroxine is that, as it only replaces what we all used to have in our bodies, by far the majority of medicines are safe with levothyroxine taking.

However, it isn't entirely plain sailing:

● some medicines affect the levothyroxine dose we need - which might go up or down.

● many medicines potentially interfere with absorption of levothyroxine - in general take a few hours apart.

● anyone not on a satisfactory dose (of whichever thyroid hormone product(s) they take) is in a difficult place to make such decisions.

Obviously, proper research on the actual medicine is needed. But that could take many years - or never be done.

[thyreoidea in reply to helvella]

Thank you for your reply helvella. If Paxlovid affects absorption of Levothyroxine it is only usually a 5 day course so hopefully will not be too bad but will mention to prescribing doctor if required for treatment.

[Gymbuni in reply to thyreoidea]

I believe this is likely the case as nurse also told me that Paxlovid will reduce effectiveness of HRT but will only be short lived.

[Gymbuni]

I was a shielder as immune suppressed and I caught Covid just before Christmas, at the time I was on T3 only but the Covid nurse that rang me to discuss Paxlovid did say that it reduces the effectiveness of levothyroxine, I do think there is an alternative anti viral drug, but I don’t know what that is called. It maybe a coincidence but a month after taking the Paxlovid my thyroid blood tests were dire, but my Endo had dropped by T3 from 40mcg per day to 30mcg, three months previously.

The Paxlovid did really help with the Covid and I had a negative test just after testing positive , but took my husband 2 weeks until he was negative, yet he didn’t feel unwell and I most certainly did.

Hopefully you can continue to avoid getting Covid.

[thyreoidea in reply to Gymbuni]

Thanks for replying Gymbuni. Interesting to know about how other people have experienced other medications other than thyroid replacement hormones and how they react with each other. As you say there are other antivirals the NHS will supply according to clinical needs and circumstances.