Help changing from nighttime Levo to morning please.

[ChickieBaker]

Hello.I am currently taking my 75mg of Levo at night but I find it's keeping me awake and it's interfering with when I take my magnesium so I'm thinking of taking it in the morning instead but I'm not sure how I do that. I had my last dose at 9.45pm so should I start tomorrow morning or do I have to wait 24 hours ? If I take it in the morning I usually start the day with tea but it's decaf with oat milk. If I wait for 30 mins after the Levo can I have my cup of tea ? Thanks.

[Regenallotment]

if it were me I’d not take any tomorrow night and have it in the morning.

Or if you are impatient have some tomorrow morning and go from there, it won’t make a massive difference as a one off.

I set an alarm and take it then potter about and have first hot drinks/food at least an hour later. Others say half an hour, some have with food. Just do what works for you and be consistent.

🌱

[Ruby1]

We are all different, and you may need to leave that gap, but I just thought I’d let you know that I take mine with my breakfast, with no issues. Sometimes before and sometimes just after.

[helvella Administrator Thyroid UK in reply to Ruby1]

But if you always do this, your dose will have been titrated with the effects of food.

Changing from taking it at night, away from food, might well result in significantly reduced absorption.

(And it is always potentially an issue if circumstances change and you don't get your breakfast at the usual time - or even eat a different range of foods as happens often on holiday.)

[waveylines]

The advice is to take it away from food on an empty stomach for best uptake. So I take my NDT as I wake. By the time I get up shower dress etc it's nearly an hour later.

[SilverAvocado]

Baboon2721,

When I was clearly underdosed, I figured out when adjusting doses like this it was a big help to take both doses. As in, take your evening dose the night before AND then the following morning take your dose at the new time. I just couldn't manage if I skipped one of the doses, and for a long time that hindered me in trying to adjust dose times.

If you take both doses, you are putting a little extra Levo into your system over that 12-16 period. But as you're still having only one dose each day, you're not adding any extra medication to your week, and Levothyroxine has a long half life, so the average over a few days is what really matters.

The only circumstance where I maybe wouldn't do it this way is if you suspect you are overdosed overall, but that is quite rare.

It is best practice to wait an hour after taking your thyroid medication before having any food or drink (besides water). Reading the comments you've had it sounds like a lot of people are squeezing that guideline 😅