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Levothyroxine and the wait? Anyone take levothyroxine?


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For those on levothyroxine do you wait 2 hours to take the rest of your morning meds after you have taken your levothyroxine? And then wait “?” hours before eating anything after taking your levothyroxine?

This is what my pharmacist told me. I can’t recall what he said about how long to wait before eating though after taking the levothyroxine.

I always wait to eat, but I have never waited before to wait to take the rest of my morning pills. I always just took all my pills together, levothyroxine with the rest all at once. But I’m trying to take levothyroxine by itself and waiting two hours before nuvigil and Prozac, etc. I hope this helps me. It’s hard waking up but it might be worth the benefits.

Just curious what others here do with taking levothyroxine experiences. Thanks!

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I take 0.100 mg levothyroxine. I have been instructed by my GP to take it at least an hour before eating. I have to eat before I take my other morning meds (Viibryd, metformin, and my vitamin) otherwise I feel really sick and nauseous. Usually I set my alarm for 6 am, wake up take my levothyroxine and usually go back to sleep for an hour or two. Then get up, morning routine 8-9 am, eat, take my other morning meds. 

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2 hours ago, Wonderful.Cheese said:

For those on levothyroxine do you wait 2 hours to take the rest of your morning meds after you have taken your levothyroxine? And then wait “?” hours before eating anything after taking your levothyroxine?

This is what my pharmacist told me. I can’t recall what he said about how long to wait before eating though after taking the levothyroxine.

I always wait to eat, but I have never waited before to wait to take the rest of my morning pills. I always just took all my pills together, levothyroxine with the rest all at once. But I’m trying to take levothyroxine by itself and waiting two hours before nuvigil and Prozac, etc. I hope this helps me. It’s hard waking up but it might be worth the benefits.

Just curious what others here do with taking levothyroxine experiences. Thanks!

So I was told to take my levothyroxine in the morning, with a glass of water, 1 hour before other medications and food. To be more specific. I set an alarm at 6:30am to wake up take levothyroxine and go back to sleep, then another alarm at 7:30am when I would normally wake up to take the rest of my meds and then have breakfast. That's generally the safe way to go near as I can tell from reading and hearing other's experiences

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4 hours ago, browri said:

So I was told to take my levothyroxine in the morning, with a glass of water, 1 hour before other medications and food. To be more specific. I set an alarm at 6:30am to wake up take levothyroxine and go back to sleep, then another alarm at 7:30am when I would normally wake up to take the rest of my meds and then have breakfast. That's generally the safe way to go near as I can tell from reading and hearing other's experiences

Those are the exact instructions I got too 

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20 minutes ago, Banana Smurf said:

I am bad and never wait.  However, at least I am consistent with not waiting to take food and meds?  I probably have to take a higher dose because of it.  

I hate to tell ya but Synthroid is one of those things that if you don't take it the way it's supposed to be taken there's no point in taking it. Like levothyroxine when so much as taken with another pill can reduce its bioavailability up to 90% depending on what's in the other pill.

Trust. The above mentioned is the tried and true method. A higher dose would likely be insufficient. The bioavailability of Synthroid is so low if not taken in the fasting state that the dose you would require in the fed state in order to get normal T4 and TSH levels has never been manufactured. Like you couldn't take enough Synthroid to overcome the fact that there are other pills or food in your stomach.

I thought it would be super annoying too but I've actually found that I've gotten used to 2 alarms each morning now. The other nice thing is that when I wake up for the second alarm, I'm less sleepy than I would normally be when I wake up because I've already woken up once before and haven't fully fallen back to deep sleep.

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My thyroid panels come back normal most of the time, but if it is useless some days, or worse several days in a row, maybe it is having a lot of effects that I haven't been realizing.  I think I'll try to alter my morning habits in some way so that the Synthroid will be taken fasting.  

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Thanks to everyone for the wisdom and experience. I like @browri idea for setting 2 alarms. I might try that. 

I wonder why my pharmacist said 2 hours? 1 hour would be much nicer. I read online 1 hour was fine too from various sources. I also read adding fiber to your diet can mess with levothyroxine dose in your body. I am adding fiber to my diet. Do I alert my endocrinologist about this? Or am I ok?

You know what, I’m going to message my endocrinologist and ask about how long I need to wait before having caffeine with levothyroxine and how long before taking other pills after taking levothyroxine and about the addition of more fiber to my diet. I’ll try to remember to keep you guys posted on what he says. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

I take it with about 5 or 6 other meds, may or may not be near food, and I’ve always done it that way, have stable labs. I have no intention of changing any of that. I’m lucky to remember to take pills and that’s my system. I’d been doing it many years before I heard it was wrong. Since it’s not causing a problem, I question why I’d change. If someone is more sensitive then it makes sense for them but apparently I’m lucky on this one. 

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On 2/28/2020 at 2:50 PM, Wonderful.Cheese said:

For those on levothyroxine do you wait 2 hours to take the rest of your morning meds after you have taken your levothyroxine? And then wait “?” hours before eating anything after taking your levothyroxine?

This is what my pharmacist told me. I can’t recall what he said about how long to wait before eating though after taking the levothyroxine.

I always wait to eat, but I have never waited before to wait to take the rest of my morning pills. I always just took all my pills together, levothyroxine with the rest all at once. But I’m trying to take levothyroxine by itself and waiting two hours before nuvigil and Prozac, etc. I hope this helps me. It’s hard waking up but it might be worth the benefits.

Just curious what others here do with taking levothyroxine experiences. Thanks!

When I was on it, I took at at bedtime. This is because I get up at different times everyday and I MUST have coffee and breakfast right away. I'm often rushing in the morning and can't delay breakfast. I couldn't do the get up early & avoid eating for an hour. In fact, I don't know why no one mentions bedtime dosing, especially if you eat at 7pm and don't go to bed until 10-11pm...

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1 hour ago, Blahblah said:

When I was on it, I took at at bedtime. This is because I get up at different times everyday and I MUST have coffee and breakfast right away. I'm often rushing in the morning and can't delay breakfast. I couldn't do the get up early & avoid eating for an hour. In fact, I don't know why no one mentions bedtime dosing, especially if you eat at 7pm and don't go to bed until 10-11pm...

I would totally do that if I wasn't on Latuda.  That is awesome.  I need food and stimulants right away, too.  

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