taking omeprazole : I was told by doctor today at... - Thyroid UK

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taking omeprazole

Purpleprincess1963 profile image
18 Replies

I was told by doctor today at the hospital

I will have to take omeprazole long term, will this affect my thyroxine? Will it be less effective? Any advice would be appreciated .

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Purpleprincess1963
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18 Replies
Jaydee1507 profile image
Jaydee1507Administrator

You had a lot of really good advice a year ago that you didn' t respond to in this post. healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

Have you now had your vitamins chcked and what were the results?

How did you get on with the Endo you saw?

What supplements are you taking?

Taking any PPI of which Opemprazole is one will reduce your absorption of not only levo but also further reduce your ability to absorb vitamins.

What reason will you need to take this medicine for the rest of your life?

Hypo people suffer from too little stomach acid and not too much.

SlowDragon profile image
SlowDragonAdministrator

what’s the reason for taking a PPI

PPI will tend to lower vitamin levels even further

gov.uk/drug-safety-update/p...

webmd.com/heartburn-gerd/ne...

pharmacytimes.com/publicati...

PPI and increased risk T2 diabetes

gut.bmj.com/content/early/2...

Iron Deficiency and PPI

medpagetoday.com/resource-c...

futurity.org/anemia-proton-...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi...

sciencedirect.com/science/a...

Any PPI should be taken at least 4 hours away from levothyroxine

previous post

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

Presumably you have now had full thyroid and vitamin D, folate, B12 and ferritin levels tested

Please add results and ranges

Purpleprincess1963 profile image
Purpleprincess1963 in reply to SlowDragon

hi slow dragon I did get good advice from everyone on here and actually thought I replied to everyone so sorry if upset anybody it wasn’t done on purpose I followed all advice and got all vitamins tested, I have sliding hiatus hernia and constant reflux which can damage your Oesophagus . I had increase in thyroxine as well. Just wanted to know the effects on my thyroxine .

Purpleprincess1963 profile image
Purpleprincess1963 in reply to Purpleprincess1963

sorry this was for jaydeee 1507

SlowDragon profile image
SlowDragonAdministrator in reply to Purpleprincess1963

What were your actual vitamin results and ranges

What vitamin supplements are you now taking

You may need to increase vitamin supplements to compensate for PPI

Suggest you move taking levothyroxine to bedtime

And PPI in morning

Retest thyroid and vitamins 6-8 weeks after increasing dose levothyroxine

Which brand of levothyroxine is your 100mcg

Which brand 25mcg

If you normally take levothyroxine at bedtime/in night ...adjust timings as follows prior to blood test

If testing Monday morning, delay Saturday evening dose levothyroxine until Sunday morning. Delay Sunday evening dose levothyroxine until after blood test on Monday morning. Take Monday evening dose levothyroxine as per normal

Purpleprincess1963 profile image
Purpleprincess1963 in reply to SlowDragon

thanks for your help I will look for my vitamins results and post them and was thinking of taking my thyroxine at night.my brand of thyroxine is accord .

SlowDragon profile image
SlowDragonAdministrator in reply to Purpleprincess1963

Accord don’t make 25mcg

Many people find Levothyroxine brands are not interchangeable.

Most easily available (and often most easily tolerated) are Mercury Pharma or Accord

Mercury Pharma make 25mcg, 50mcg and 100mcg tablets 

Mercury Pharma also boxed as Eltroxin. Both often listed by company name on pharmacy database - Advanz

Accord only make 50mcg and 100mcg tablets. Accord is also boxed as Almus via Boots, 

Wockhardt is very well tolerated, but only available in 25mcg tablets. Some people remain on Wockhardt, taking their daily dose as a number of tablets 

Watch out for brand change when dose is increased or at repeat prescription.

Government guidelines for GP in support of patients if you find it difficult/impossible to change brands

gov.uk/drug-safety-update/l...

If a patient reports persistent symptoms when switching between different levothyroxine tablet formulations, consider consistently prescribing a specific product known to be well tolerated by the patient.

academic.oup.com/jcem/artic...

Physicians should: 1) alert patients that preparations may be switched at the pharmacy; 2) encourage patients to ask to remain on the same preparation at every pharmacy refill; and 3) make sure patients understand the need to have their TSH retested and the potential for dosing readjusted every time their LT4 preparation is switched (18).

Discussed here too

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

DawnD profile image
DawnD

I was told by my GP that I musn't take Omeprazole as it can interfere with the thyroxine, so I have a different drug prescribed - problem with this is it is often in short supply!

Eton profile image
Eton in reply to DawnD

DawnD may I ask please what the other medication is that you use as an alternative to omeprazole ?

DawnD profile image
DawnD in reply to Eton

Hi Eton. It is Rabeprazole (10mg gastro-resistant tablets, twice a day).

Miffie profile image
Miffie

I have had to take Omeprazole twice daily for about ten years so far, no sign of it ever stopping. I opted to take levo/ ndt when goin to the loo around 02:00 and 03:00. Works for me. With luck you will find the same. I have hiatus hernia and Barrett’s oesophagus. I do struggle with ferritin and low iron. Where I live once ferritin drops below 10 GP refers to haematology for iron infusion. Otherwise I find monitoring and supplementing vitamins as needed is essential. I do this my self as GPs knowledge of nutrition is zero.

Batty1 profile image
Batty1

If you need PPI take them just be sure to take them 3 hours away from your thyroid meds.

HealthStarDust profile image
HealthStarDust

PPIs are useful short term, buying you time to address the root of the problem.

Long term, very bad issues with depleting key vitamins and minerals (making you worse) and affect’s absorption of Levothyroxine.

I would tinker with your diet until you find something that works. For me, I was vegan for 6 months and cut out tomato and my very painful oesophageal reflux disappeared.

Purpleprincess1963 profile image
Purpleprincess1963 in reply to HealthStarDust

thanks everyone for all your helpful information I will take omeprazole till I feel better and then try slowly to reduce them gradually x

HealthStarDust profile image
HealthStarDust in reply to Purpleprincess1963

Good luck. I found it incredibly painful to come off, hence I reintroduced it, and the second time tried I decided to change deit and that helped wonders!

🫶🏽

Purpleprincess1963 profile image
Purpleprincess1963 in reply to HealthStarDust

that’s exactly what I am going to do I know what’s not agreeing with me sort of now thanks healthstardust 😍

HealthStarDust profile image
HealthStarDust in reply to Purpleprincess1963

Your welcome. Let us know how you get on x

Purpleprincess1963 profile image
Purpleprincess1963 in reply to HealthStarDust

I will thank you x x

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