Thyroid Meds--when do you take them?

[MizTink]

i had a friend on some type of thyroid med and it kept him up when he took it at night.

 

[pirateofthecarolinas]

I take my synthroid at 5:00 and walk for an hour with DH and we eat at 6:00.
Just got my blood work back yesterday. It was stable.

Walking in the morning has given me more energy than my pill. I can't exercise at night because I'm DONE by then.

 

[HeatherC]

I also take mine in the morning. BUT....my doctor said that it was perfectly fine to take it in the evening as well if I preferred that. He said that the important thing is to take it at the same time every day...whether morning or night. He also said that your levels should not spike, but that the correct dosing will help your thyroid maintain stable levels throughout the day and night. That seemed to make sense to me. So...I would check with your doctor. It may be perfectly fine for you to take it in the evening.

 

[TinkerbEllnor]

I take mine in the morning on an empty stomach. Within the 30-60 minutes after taking it, I am starving.

I have taken it at night before too, but found myself waking up not due to insomnia, but because I needed a snack!

 

[KAMLEM]

I take mine at about 3:00 in the morning. I'm always up at that time to use the bathroom so it works out well. I know that I have an empty stomach and that I won't be eating breakfast for quite a while.

 

[JessicaR]

Like the majority here I take mine in the AM an hour before eating. I do have coffee though.

 

[Ciao Mickey]

I take Levothyroxine.

The reason I wanted to change is because I am doing Medifast and it contains soy. Supposedly you cannot take soy within 4 hours of taking levothyroxine.

I also need to take a vitamin and fiber and should take a calcium supplement too, which all interfer with thyroid meds.

My life would be a lot easier if I could take this pill in the pm, this way I can eat in the morning and take my vitamin and fiber supplement. But when I asked the pharmacist she told me I couldn't.

Funny thing is I googled the med and they did a very small study regarding am and pm dosing and it claims it was better to take lex. in the p.m.

When I was taking the medication before my bedtime, I had no problem with sleeping. I wake up a couple of times during the night anyway, so that's not an issue.

Who would know what's best? The doctor or the pharmacist? Should I call my doctor and ask what to do?

 

[Tinker'n'Fun]

Just thought you might want to read up on soy and thyroid disease.

There are tons of articles, this one is pretty non-biased, but gives you enough information that you may want to do some more research.

http://thyroid.about.com/cs/soyinfo/a/soy.htm

My thyroid is totally gone and I take the supplements. Both my GP and my endocronologist (sp) have advised me to limit soy to once per week. Not day, not meal, once serving per week...

 

[trip]

I take Levothyroxine also. Along with calcium, vitamin d and a regular vitamin.

I take my Levothyroxine first thing in the morining and usually wait 60 minutes for breakfast.
At noon I take my calcium 600mg and vit D 1000 i.u.
At dinner my regular vitamin
At bedtime my second dose on calcium 600mg and vit D 1000 i.u.

I had to purchase one of the pill holders so I could keep it straight.

 

[safetymom]

I used to take it at night. The doctor was surprised that I could sleep all night. Now I take it in the morning with my other meds.

 

[janets]

My friend just had her entire thyroid out and is on a replacement med. She has been taking it in the AM and was told to wait 2 hours before eating. She finds that she's so exhausted and sluggish for those 2 hours that she can barely function.

Is this just a case of the meds needing time to get her levels stabilized or should she consider taking at night? I know she'll discuss with the endo when she has her f/u appt (hers was removed and found to have a malignant tumor, but all lymph nodes were clean so we're hopeful that it's all done). But just wondering what others are finding in their lives.

 

[Christine]

My friend just had her entire thyroid out and is on a replacement med. She has been taking it in the AM and was told to wait 2 hours before eating. She finds that she's so exhausted and sluggish for those 2 hours that she can barely function.

Is this just a case of the meds needing time to get her levels stabilized or should she consider taking at night? I know she'll discuss with the endo when she has her f/u appt (hers was removed and found to have a malignant tumor, but all lymph nodes were clean so we're hopeful that it's all done). But just wondering what others are finding in their lives.

I've been on thyroid replacement for 14 years due to thyroid cancer. I have always taken mine in the morning. Except for the work week, I have never waited a full 2 hours before eating. The reason they want it on an empty stomach is that many food and vitamins bind with thyroid hormones. I have been told over the years that, if I wanted, I *could* take the medication with food; however, I may require a higher dose of medication if I did. Whatever I chose to do (with or without food), I needed to make that choice and stick with it.

I take my meds at 5:00 a.m. right before my morning commute. I get to work by 6:00 a.m. and I have my morning tea at 6:30. I eat around 7:30. On the weekends, I take my meds, have my tea 15 minutes later, and eat breakfast about an hour after that.

Once you have been stable on thyroid medication, you can be a bit more lenient with it. Since your friend is new to this, her doctor probably wants to get her stable.

As for the feeling sluggish--unless she is taking a T3 medication, she should not be "feeling" anything from her Synthroid. It is a very insidious medication. If you miss a day, you don't notice it either. More than likely, she is still feeling bad from recovering from her surgery. There are a very small percentage of people who do get a quick rush about an hour or two after taking it--that's when the hormone kind of floods your bloodstream. I'm pretty sensitive to meds and caffeine for tha matter and have never notice it.

 

[clovergirl5]

Take my levothyroxine (hypothyroid) in morning on empty stomach and NOT with other meds. Can eat 30min. after taking it.