Coffee/Tea decaffeinated

[Humphre]

Morning, I've come across various articles regarding coffee/tea bad for levothyroxine & absorbing? I've not had any for one week(ish) but miss my cup of filter coffee breakfast(1hr+) after levo. Does anyone know if it really makes a difference I just feel I'm changing so much now I'm soya/gluten free I still have dairy but minimal. 😊

[Anthea55]

How about having your morning coffee, but moving the time you take your levo?

Levo is a storage hormone, so timing not important - in the same way that it doesn't matter when you fill up with petrol as long as you don't run out.

Others will suggest times that work for them.

[Humphre in reply to Anthea55]

Thanks it's as I've read & understood coffee/tea not good at any time😥just looking at people's thoughts.

[Danielj1 in reply to Humphre]

Hi

I have Levo first thing and wait an hour for my coffee- find coffee vital for digestion and metabolism etc but accept does not suit everyone

Good luck

[helvella Administrator Thyroid UK in reply to Humphre]

Some of us feel positively better for drinking coffee and tea!

Some don't.

Yes, there is an issue with fluoride in tea. But there is a huge difference between ten cups of builders' tea and a couple of enjoyable cuppas. (I have long switched to black tea - reasons nothing to do with thyroid - so that requires less actual tea to make a nice drink.)

[Humphre in reply to helvella]

Great I'll go back to what I was drinking but just do less. Great info from everyone 👍😊

[HealthStarDust in reply to helvella]

There’s fluoride in tea too???!

[Humphre in reply to HealthStarDust]

Yes so I believe it really is surprising the minefield we negotiate 🤦 feeling better on the vitamins I'm taking plus better food choices😁

[HealthStarDust in reply to Humphre]

Blooming eck! There’s just no getting away from it!

[Zephyrbear in reply to HealthStarDust]

Tea is grown in fluoride rich soil…

[Humphre in reply to Zephyrbear]

Thank you for that information I'm begining to realise there's more to this than I ever thought!😲

[Noelnoel in reply to Humphre]

I’m a committed coffee drinker but found I was becoming increasingly sensitive to caffeine. It made an insomnia problem even worse

Since improving thyroid levels my sleep has improved so much. In fact so much so that I started experimenting with caffeine but no, I still have a problem with it so I’ve gone back to Taylor’s decaf, it’s truly excellent. A good full flavour with no harsh bitterness and best of all I like that no chemicals are used in the decaffeinating process

[Humphre in reply to Noelnoel]

Thank for sharing, I've tried caffeine coffee but tummy not happy as I've been without for well over a week now realise decaf best & not in a morning. Have also found I've not to overeat at last meal🤦suffered last night. Great for all these tried & tested ways. Hmm🤔I'll lookout for Taylors 👍

[Noelnoel in reply to Humphre]

I think you misunderstood. I was saying caffeine doesn’t like me and so I drink Taylor’s decaf instead

[SlowDragon Administrator]

Many people take Levothyroxine soon after waking, but it may be more convenient and perhaps more effective taken at bedtime

verywellhealth.com/best-tim...

markvanderpump.co.uk/blog/p...

markvanderpump.co.uk/blog/p...

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

[Humphre in reply to SlowDragon]

I will checkout what you've highlighted, I take at 6am every morning as I don't get up till 7-7.30 light breakfast about 8. I have my vitamins planned throughout the day so hopefully 🤞 no problems. Feeling better daily blood test next month sometime so I'm hoping I'm on the right track. Thank you 😊

[HealthStarDust]

I think this comes up several times in the forum, including by me. The overall theme is to take it with nothing but water for about an 1 hour I think, some people like me avoid calcium for 4 hours after also, and if you do take it with something the. Be consistent with it. As that will affect absorption and theoretically will affects your levels anyway.

I take mine with decaf tea, and organic dairy free milk. I can’t cope without my tea this way! If anything I miss caffeinated tea but I’ve stopped having caffeinated due to all sorts of other reasons.

[Humphre in reply to HealthStarDust]

Thanks I can see how others manage most helpful, think I may go back to late morning coffee(decaffeinated) as I don't think it was bad for me. Concentrating on vitamins at moment, cheers👍

[Humphre in reply to HealthStarDust]

Thinking of changing to goats milk/ cheese but will see thanks for imput

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to Humphre]

Oat milk in coffee is excellent

Avoid ones that have iodine added

[Humphre in reply to SlowDragon]

Didn't realise they had🤨oh my! however I prefer my coffee black so no probs there👍

[FancyPants54]

Oh goodness don't give it up. Just don't drink it around the time you take your meds.

[Humphre in reply to FancyPants54]

🤣so I'm beginning to realise, so glad I have a place to ask questions etc. As I take my levo at 6am I'll be ok for my elevensies 👍

[FancyPants54 in reply to Humphre]

I wait 1 hour after my NDT or Levo when I used that. My first coffee is a very nice decaf filter coffee. In fact I've not had fully leaded coffee for years. But I do drink a mixture of caffeinated and decaf tea. Life's too short to give up such vital things.

[Humphre in reply to FancyPants54]

I'm tending to agree I do like decaff filter coffee so I shall be wary of when but it's good to find others opinion. 👍

[TopBiscuit]

I too have read on here about the problem with caffeine & levothyroxine. I've been taking my levo every morning, first thing, along with several cups of tea for 30+ years. Before coming on this forum I'd never heard about caffeine being a problem.

So two months ago I started to wait an hour after taking my levo before having my tea.

Over the past two years I've been steadily reducing my dose of levothyroxine as I was on too high a dose (long story) but the past two times I've had my levels checked (every six months) my TSH had been steadily going up and my T3 was bumping along the bottom of the range so I agreed with my endocrinologist about 4 months ago that I would increase my levo dose from 75mgs daily to 75mgs 5 x a week and 100mgs 2 x a week.

I just got back the results from my blood test last week and my TSH is almost completely suppressed, T4 above the normal range and my T3 is mid range. This is a massive change from a fairly minor dose increase and I can only put it down to my not taking levo with caffeine any more.

Who knew!

[Humphre in reply to TopBiscuit]

Yes I too have found out loads on here shame my GP doesn't understand though nor the practice pharmacist 🤦 I'm going to be very careful re caffeine most likely be decaffeinated but not often.🙂

[TopBiscuit in reply to Humphre]

Well, in the 35 yrs since I was diagnosed as hypothyroid I've been under countless GPs and three different consultant endos (I've moved around a lot) and not one has ever mentioned it. But really. I don't think you need to give up caffeine, just wait an hour after taking your levothyroxine.

[Humphre in reply to TopBiscuit]

🤣this why I posted here as stuff I was reading was very contradictory, nice to have 1st hand experiences. I moved & this medical practice is not as good as last one even worse since lockdown, has never read my notes....excuse is it's a different trust & a different software🤦 really is quite bad.

[Zephyrbear]

I think that if I had to give up my 5cups of tea and 6 cups of coffee I have per day I would probably either go insane or wither away and die… I need my caffeine!

[RedApple Administrator in reply to Zephyrbear]

Long before diagnosis of hypothyroidism, I was under a hospital for supraventricular tachycardia. They found nothing wrong with my heart though, so I was told to stop all caffeinated drinks as that was the likely cause. I did this (very, very reluctantly) for several months, but it made no difference so I went back to caffeinated coffee again. With hindsight, it's blatantly obvious to me that the tachycardia was caused by undiagnosed thyroid issues, of which I knew nothing at the time.

[Humphre in reply to RedApple]

I believe the GPs/doctors have moved away from holistic medicine e.g. treat the whole person not just the symptoms or test results. I glad that at least you finally found an answer.