Ellen I take Synthroid but my doseage is 88 mcg.

Believe it or not, I'm down from .137 to .50!
Apparently as our estrogen drops, so does our need for replacement--or something to that effect. Symptomatically, I had a high pulse rate. It would settle down after we cut the dose and then after awhile--months-- it would start racing again. My thyroid is big, I have quite a large nodule too. The higher dose was to keep the growth in check, so I'm holding my breath that it doesn't grow again.

I also take Synthroid. I have been on the .50 dosage for over 8 years now. I think my doctor does not want to try higher than that because of my MVP. Anything that increases my heart rate is a no no, but I still have most of the same symptoms I had before I started on Synthroid. I'm lucky not to have an enlarged thyroid. My husband, on the other hand, does have an enlarged thyroid, but his hormone levels are fine!

Joanne

I have taken Synthroid for years since I had Graves Disease (currently 88 mcg). I wanted to mention one caution to those of you who take it. Calcium interferes significantly with its absorbtion into the body. So when you take it in the morning, a calcium tablet or latte in the hour or two following the synthroid can lower the the amount of hormone available for your body to use.

I take Levoxyl .112 mcgs, but cannot take Synthroid for some reason. My body responds as if I'm not taking anything at all. Darn!

I've been on .112 for about 2 years but have been having heart palps for some while now. I went to a new endo a couple of weeks ago who did a huge lab workup on me and I follow up next week. Should be inneresting!

My thyroid was removed in '79. I've been on Synthroid .50 for decades. Thanks for the reminder...it's time I head on over to the lab for my semi-annual blood work. Wow, this year flew past! Seems like I just went & that was in mid-June.

/tricia

I take 75 mcgs daily. Fortunately I get it through my health insurance, so it's not expensive for me.

It's better if someone else gets your extra supply who would have to pay more, but if you don't get a response, let me know.

I appreciate the responses, but this is a drug of exact dosage. If it's not YOUR dosage it's worthless to you or might cause you harm. I want to give it away, but only to a person who takes exactly that dose.

Yeah, it's not my dosage, and not even half my dosage so it wouldn't work, darn it!
I think also synthyroid interferes with calcium absorption too, something my doctor did NOT tell me and I found out reading a women's magazine that had been left in a laundromat! After I had been on the drug for five years. Anyway, now I take the synthyroid in the morning and calcium at night.
I didn't know about the estrogen part. Maybe that explains why my dosage is now down. Fascinating.

My doctor told me what Ruthanna said. Calcium will interfere with the absorbtion of the Synthroid. I've never heard that Synthroid interferes with the absorbtion of calcium. Either way, I guess it is best to wait an hour or two between Synthroid and anything with calcium. I take my pill in the morning as soon as I wake up and wait at least an hour to eat breakfast.

When I first started on Synthroid my dosage was .25 and then after 3 months my doctor switched me to my current dose of .50 When she switched me she told me to get rid of the .25 pills and start on the .50 pills right away. She said that the two smaller pills, although the same amount as the one larger pill, would not absorb the same. I felt like I was throwing money away!

Joanne

I'm not saying she's wrong, but I would have asked to see some documentation on that!

Hey Laurie!
I was hoping that one of these would be your dose so I could save you a few bucks!
As to the topic above, one thing that my doc has always specified was that he wanted the brand name and not the generic. There's too much play in the dosage allowed with them and he was worried that I wouldn't get my full dose. There may be something there.
Currently, per his instructions, I'm splitting (not so perfectly) a .100mcg pill in half. I guess I should get a script for that directly, but he's not sure that dose will not decrease when my blood is tested soon!

I've been told that my offering to do this is illegal. While I know that it's been done here before, I don't want to break any laws or add grief to my life, so I'm withdrawing my offer.

However, I do value the exchange of knowledge that occurs when we discuss common life issues away from the cooking side. I hope that will continue.

My pharmacist told me to always take the synthyroid on an empty stomach and wait an hour before eating so I take mine the same as Joanne - as soon as I wake up and wait an hour to eat.

I have the same problem. Somehow I always discover that I need a higher dose shortly after refilling a prescription for Synthyroid. Mine is the generic and the cost isn't that much more than the $10 copay, but I'm not sure what is considered acceptable as a way to dispose of the old pills.

I don't want to dump the old pills down the toilet and I'm not sure about putting them in the trash because of concerns about the unused drugs getting into the water supply.

I have read that the effect can vary from brand to brand and dose to dose enough that one shouldn't take two pills that add up to the same as ones current dose.

Does anyone know the acceptable way to dispose of unused and unusable drugs?

Good question! Here's a link that I found. I'm going to return the unused samples to my doc next month. The open bottle of 90 I guess I'll add some water, seal it up and deposit it in the trash. What a waste!

Here is a link that might be useful: Drug disposal

When I need to dispose of old medicines I mix them in with the litter after I clean my rabbit's cage and then throw them in the trash. Right now what I need to figure out is how to dispose of an old smoke detector. Anyone know?

Joanne

To slightly highjack this thread, I've read (I think in the Tightwad Gazette, an old money saving newsletter from back in the 1980's) that a way to save money on some prescriptions is to ask your doctor to prescribe a dose twice as strong as what you're supposed to take, and direct to take half a pill. This won't work for all medications, but it will work for some. Doses that are twice as strong are not twice as expensive, they're usually just a little more, so you end up saving a lot of money doing that.

Sally

I'm on Levoxyl (generic version) .75. Thanks for the info regarding how your body changes with aging, and why I could go back down to .50 some day.

As for the calcium - my doctor AND my pharmacist both told me to take the Levoxyl on an empty stomach, such as first thing in the morning. With the morning coffee is fine. THEN wait about 4 hours to take anything heavy in calcium and/or iron such as multi-vitamins, Tums/Rolaids, iron supplements, etc. These things interfere with the absorption of the Levoxyl/Synthroid (not vice versa).

I've always dumped old meds down the toilet. Guess not, eh???

DonnaR/CA