Thyroid medication absorption and food products

This explanation is for those of you that must take thyroid medication prescribed by your doctor. You will note that there are often labels attached to your prescription bottle asking you to avoid taking your medication with calcium products or soy products. The main reason it is recommended to separate your medication ingestion with time is due to medication absorption. Clinical research has found that levothyroxine activity will be better absorbed if it is taken in the morning and calcium taken at least four hours later.

Soy products are better consumed more than three hours after taking thyroid medication. This includes products with soybean oil, energy bars with soy protein, power packed protein drinks that use soy as their protein source and any other soy based products. Reading food labels becomes so important to get the most out of taking this medication.

Caffeine products such as a cup of coffee or an energy drink with caffeine also have been shown to interfere with  thyroid medication absorption.  It is more difficult to take this medication to get the proper dose absorption than you might think.  It takes planning and diligence to get the medication dosage taken in the morning before breakfast. One doctor actually suggested that if I woke up in the middle of the night or early in the morning, that I might want to keep the medication on my nightstand with water so I could take it then and avoid the absorption problems. I have chosen to be very careful with what I eat for breakfast, and wait until lunch for a cup of coffee or a glass of milk.

Let me know how you have solved this challenge when taking thyroid medication.

Thyroid disease-medication absorption

Thyroid Joy is a new way to think about thyroid disease. Having thyroid disease can be a slight bump in the road or a difficult challenge to daily living. With the thought of joy combined with thyroid disease you can learn to start to focus on what you can do instead of what your disease limits you to doing.
Learning all the ways to optimize the actual absorption of thyroid medication is a most important first step.
Strictly adhering to what the prescription reads and what is printed on the label of the thyroid medication bottle is the best way to start to manage this disease. Read the extra stickers on the bottle closely.
Read the insert that is included with the medication if you have not done so already. Ask your pharmacist to explain anything you do not understand.
There are rules to taking thyroid medication that need to be followed in order for the medication to work properly.

Learning to live joyfully with thyroid disease

Living with thyroid disease can be easier for some people than others.
Many people take their medication as directed by their doctor and do not really think much more about it.
Other people have their thyroid disease on their mind on a regular basis because they have challenges that never seem to get resolved.
Some people continually try to change their lifestyle with whatever they can do for themselves to optimize their health in spite of their diagnosed thyroid disease. They do this with the best clinically supported information available.
A select group of people with thyroid disease try everything they read about, experimenting with new ideas on how to enhance their health.

I fall into the group of people that are joyfully changing our lifestyle through clinically supported studies to enhance our life instead of letting thyroid disease negatively rule our life.