diverticulosis, itis, IBS etc

[Calceolaria]

Hi everyone, I’ve taken note of discussions on here regarding gut issues vis a vis under active thyroid. Does levothyroxine of itself also cause gut issues?

Many thanks.

[Jaydee1507 Administrator]

On its own Levo doesn't cause gut issues.

Not enough Levo might cause gut issues, also low vitamin levels caused by low stomach acid might make gut issues worse.

We need OPTIMAL vitamin levels for our thyroid hormone to work well.

Do you have a copy of your latest blood results that you can share with us? You are legally entitled to a printed copy of your results, ask at GP reception. In England you can get the NHS app and ask for permission to see your blood results on that by asking at GP’s reception.

What are your latest vitamin levels?

What are you supplementing with?

[Calceolaria in reply to Jaydee1507]

Thanks Jaydee. I posted my levels fairly recently and have received advice from the group about this.

[humanbean]

Does levothyroxine of itself also cause gut issues?

It might do. But pills of many kinds are made of things besides the active ingredient. The extra ingredients are called excipients and/or fillers. It is those excipients that are more likely to cause gut problems

.

helvella - Excipients

A brief discussion about the 'excipients' - the word and what they are and do.

helvella.blogspot.com/p/hel...

.

In Levothyroxine the other ingredients may include lactose, acacia, mannitol or others. And it is quite common for people to react badly to one or more of these things.

There is a list somewhere (produced by helvella ) which gives a list of the excipients in the approved brands of Levothyroxine, but I can't find it, sorry.

Start keeping records of which brand of Levo your pharmacist dispensed. Also keep a record of your symptoms. Give a score to each symptom out of 5 or 10. So, one kind of Levo might give you pain in your gut with a score of 2 out of 10, another may give you the same pain with a score of 4 out of 10.

If you have been taking Brand A of Levo and it is causing problems with your gut then next time you get a refill of your prescription try Brand B. It can take a while to work out which brand works for you and what excipients you need to avoid, but once you've found out the best one for you, it should make your life easier. Then you have the problem of getting that brand every time you refill your prescription.

[helvella Administrator Thyroid UK in reply to humanbean]

All excipients are identified in my UK medicines document:

helvella's medicines documents (UK and Rest of the World) can be found here:

helvella - Thyroid Hormone Medicines

helvella has created, and tries to maintain, documents containing details of all thyroid hormone medicines in the UK and, in less detail, many others around the world. There is now a specific world desiccated thyroid document.

I highly recommend viewing on a computer screen, or a decent sized tablet, rather than a phone. Even I find it less than satisfactory trying to view them on my phone.

helvella - Thyroid Hormone Medicines - UK

The UK document contains up-to-date versions of the Summary Matrixes for levothyroxine tablets, oral solutions and also liothyronine available in the UK. Includes descriptions of tablet markings which allow identification. Latest updates include all declared ingredients for all UK products and links to Patient Information Leaflets, etc.

dropbox.com/s/bo2jzxucgp9hl...

helvella - World Desiccated Thyroid

Contains details of all known desiccated thyroid products.

dropbox.com/scl/fi/gx6dmz5i...

helvella - Thyroid Hormone Medicines - RotW

Contains details of all levothyroxine, liothyronine and combination products - excluding desiccated thyroid products. Details available vary by country and manufacturer.

The link below takes you to a blog page which has direct links to the documents from Dropbox and QR codes to make it easy to access from phones. You will have to scroll down or up to find the link to the document you want.

helvella.blogspot.com/p/hel...

[Calceolaria in reply to humanbean]

Thank you.

[Calceolaria in reply to humanbean]

Thank you.

[Gorgeousglen]

I was just going to put the same question up.Im hypothyroid but my bowels are hyperactive! It's made me anxious and the more anxious I get the worse it is!