I am suppose to take my thyroid medication at least 30 minutes beford anything else goes to my stomach, and this is not working for me. I drink coffee first thing, and as soon as I am done with breakfast, I take lots of vitamins. I do not have a problem remembering to take it; I have a problem with the scheduling of it. Does anyone know of thyroid med. that can be taken with breakfast and vitamins? I am not a morning person, so changing my morning routine would be extra hard for me. Can I take it at night along with my Zoloft?
Kim,
The reason you shouldn't take the thyroid hormone with food is that it would likely reduce the amount of hormone that your body actually gets. The same with vitamins as things like calcium will bind with the thyroid hormone. I take my thyroid hormone sublingually and just let it dissolve under my tongue). This by passes the gut for the most part (it doesn't all dissolve, so some will go thru the gut). I don't worry about my tea and we've discussed this topic on the Texas Thyroid Yahoo group and it seems that coffee should not be an issue. The most important thing is that you take it the same way and same time everyday otherwise your body isn't getting a consistent dosage. BTW, once your thyroid levels are optimized you may not need that Zoloft, as low thyroid levels are likely the biggest contributor to depresssion and anxiety. You'll be amazed at how those problems resolve once you've got the right thyroid dosage, which is highly variable for everyone.
That all said, if you're only taking T4 (i.e., Synthroid, Levoxyl, Levothroid, etc.) then taking it at nite might work well. That's what my 15 year old son does.
Also, I encourage you to join the Texas Thyroid Group:
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/Texas_Thyroid_Groups/
There's lots of folks there to answer these sorts of questions and provide support as you work with your doctor to get the right dosage. That is highly variable and if you're just taking T4 and your symptoms don't resolve, then please ask for some T3 (Cytomel) or Armour, which has both.
No. You need to take your thyroid med as soon as you roll out of bed. Have a bottle of water next to your bed, and your thyroid pills. Take them, then go have your coffee.
It's supposed to be 1 hour before you eat. You can drink coffee.
You can't take it at night.
It was hard for me at first too, but if you have it by the bed with a bottle of water, you will get into a habit. The time will fly, because most people get up, go the the bathroom, make the coffee, do a few other things and before you know it 1 hour has passed.
Call the Dr who prescribed this medication for you, speak to the staff they will find out for you. You can also speak to your pharmacist who can tell you about any drug interaction between the Zoloft & thyroid med as well as time to take it. I had a similar problem remembering to take med on empty stomach so I set it by my bed, set the alarm early, set up took the drug and went back to sleep. It took me a few mornings to get it down but having the drug by my bed with water helped tremendously. Best to you.