[SueAndHerZoo]

#1060562

I know it’s been discussed but it never hurts to get new, updated opinions and experiences on this. I’m having a hard time lately with taking my Levothyroxine dose. It can’t be at night because I “munch” pretty much right before bedtime. It can’t be when I get up because I take other pills at that time AND because I would then have to wait an hour for coffee and food (that would be torture).

What I have been doing for the past year or so is setting my alarm for 4:00 a.m. so that I wake up, pop the pill by my bedside, and fall back asleep. Actually I never even remember taking it except that when I get up for the day I notice it’s gone. However lately I have been waking up for the day and the pill has still been sitting there, so this is not working for me anymore.

I’ve been reading the studies that claim it can be taken with breakfast but that depending on the food content it will probably lead to flutuating levels. Apparently taking it before bed works, too, but not if you are eating up to 2 hours before bed.

So what is everyone else doing? I’m experiencing the lousy effects I always do when my levels flucuate so I guess my recent screw-ups are catching up with me.
Sue

[Raspberry]

#1183343

Hi Sue, how’ve ya been? I had a brief dalliance with remission and am back on the methimazole. And so it goes I had an idea for you – maybe you are at the wrong part in your sleep cycle when the alarm goes off, maybe very deeply asleep. What if you try setting it at a different time during the night?

[SueAndHerZoo]

#1183344

Hi Ras – nice to “e” you! Great news about the remission, but sorry it was short lived. Sometimes you wonder if they’re even worth getting excited about because you’re always looking around the corner for it to end.

I’m betting you’re right about the timing of my pill and my sleep cycle. On the nights that I have slept through my pill alarm I had stayed up too late. Had I gone to bed like a responsible adult I would have probably not had a problem.

So yes, the new plan, starting tomorrow, is to set my pill alarm for 6:20 a.m. My husband’s alarm goes off at 6:30 and he has strict instructions to immediately check my pill box to make sure I took it. I’ll then stay in bed, dozing, till 7:30.

I don’t remember why I wasn’t doing that timing all along – I think there was a period of time when I was going into the office very early or getting up at the crack of dawn for road trips and decided it was easier to just get this pill thing over with in the middle of the night. It worked until it didn’t work anymore.

Hope you’re hanging in there with your symptoms and side affects….. we are truly warriors in this battle.
Sue

[snelsen]

#1183345

Hi Raspberry and Sue!
Here is my experience, not at all my advice….

Well, I am NOT saying I am doing it correctly, but i am doing this relatively consistently.
I wrestled with the same questions. So I decided to try be consistent, and honor my foibles at the same time.

I get up around 7, take my pills, Synthroid and all the other ones, in my case some cardiac meds and Arimidex (hx a fairly advanced breast cancer, Stage 3B, 14 years ago) THEN I march right out to the kitchen, make coffee, and enjoy it. The time varies between 15-30 minutes between the two things. I don’t eat right then because I am not hungry when I first get up. Gotta have coffee. Sometimes with milk, sometimes black.

I do not have to bolt out of the house to go to work now, for I am retired.

I suppose I could take it before I went to bed, too. I’m pretty much done eating after 7.

My levels have not been fluctuating. No explanation for that.

Shirley

[SueAndHerZoo]

#1183346

Hi Shirley – thanks for sharing your experience!

I think you are on the right track with going for “consistency” because as long as we are absorbing the same amount each day, THAT is what the end goal is. I have often wondered if I could take my Levo with my other daily meds but figured I needed to keep it several hours away from them, so haven’t risked it.

If I had the same morning routine 7 days a week then I could probably make this a lot easier on myself, but weekends and weekday are drastically different, and lots of workdays are inconsistent, too.

The 6:20 a.m. alarm worked for me this morning and my husband was all over me like a hawk when he heard it go off. : Guess he doesn’t want to deal with the “PMS on steroids” that I go through when my levels fluctuate.

Nice to hear from you two….. and Happy New Year!
Sue

[flora]

#1183347

Hi Ladies,

I’ll add a Happy New Year to you, too! May this be the year of steady levels and sweet spot doses, at last! I’m in the ATD camp of “when levels fluctuate, I feel it” – even with pretty small fluctuations, and even if still within (or really near) the normal ranges – talk about being one sensitive hot house flower!
We’ll get it right yet, Girls!

Flora

[SueAndHerZoo]

#1183348

Hi Flora – nice to hear from you!

Sensitive Hot House Flowers….. I like it! Maybe we should form a club and have t-shirts printed.
Sue

[snelsen]

#1183349

Sue, I can’t find any serious drug interactions for Synthroid. And I am sure you have checked this out with the meds you take…….? So maybe this is your answer. Check it out, then,,,,,,,forgetaboutit! And take’em all at once?
Shirley

[joy123]

#1183350

Hi Sue
I have a very small (pretty) dish beside my bed and put my pills in there before I go to bed, because I`m `that` age I wake in the night and I take my meds then, usually 3am-ish. I find I`m automatically waking that time every night now.

But saying that, I have a friend who`s been using levothyroxine for years and she takes her meds with her breakfast and with the other meds she needs and she`s perfectly alright and so are her blood results.
Joy x

[SueAndHerZoo]

#1183351

Thanks for the feedback, Ladies. Right now setting my alarm 10 minutes before my husband’s alarm is working so I am going to stick with that for a while, but soon I think I may start going into the office earlier (and leaving earlier) so then I’ll have to re-adjust the time again.

I’m still nervous about taking all my meds with my levo – it just seems like some of the tiniest, most-innocent looking things can affect the Levo’s absorption (calcium, fiber, etc.) so I don’t want to risk it. I don’t have a problem taking my other meds with my morning coffee… it’s the darned levo that needs to have that hour afterwards.

I guess it really does boil down to just doing the SAME thing everyday, and then the body adjusts.

Sue

[Raspberry]

#1183352

Hi again Sue, good to hear the morning time is working and your husband is great backup. Yep Sensitive Hothouse Flowers here!

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