These medications may interact and cause very harmful effects. Consult your healthcare professional (e.g., doctor or pharmacist) for more in formation. These medications may cause some risk when taken together. Consult your healthcare professional (e.g., doctor or pharmacist) for more in formation.Appointments at Mayo Clinic Mayo Clinic offers appointments in Arizona, Florida and Minnesota and at Mayo Clinic Health System locations. Can calcium supplements interfere with hypothyroidism treatment? Answers from Todd B. Nippoldt, M.D.Calcium supplements — or antacids containing calcium — can interfere with the absorption of levothyroxine (Synthroid, Unithroid, others), a synthetic form of thyroid hormone. This interference happens chiefly if you take levothyroxine and calcium supplements at or near the same time. You can avoid this problem with the following steps: Don't take calcium supplements or antacids at the same time you take levothyroxine. Take any products containing calcium at least four hours before or after taking levothyroxine.
Other supplements — especially those containing iron — also can interfere with absorption of levothyroxine, as can certain foods and medications. If your doctor prescribes levothyroxine, be sure to tell him or her about all the other drugs and supplements you're taking. Todd B. Nippoldt, M.D. Surks MI. Drug interactions with thyroid hormones. Accessed July 16, 2014.North Chicago, Ill.: AbbVie Inc.; See more Expert Answers Mayo Clinic does not endorse companies or products. Advertising revenue supports our not-for-profit mission. Check out these best-sellers and special offers on books and newsletters from Mayo Clinic. The Mayo Clinic Diet OnlineThe Mayo Clinic CookbookMayo Clinic on Alzheimer's DiseaseControlling High Blood PressureMayo Clinic on Digestive Health Other Topics in Patient Care & Health Info Diseases and Conditions A-Z Tests and Procedures A-Z Drugs and Supplements A-Z Patient and Visitor GuideYou probably have heard about the importance of vitamin D and why experts are starting to recommend that we get more of this vitamin.
In particular, testing for and supplementing with vitamin D have been increasingly recommended for thyroid, autoimmune, and obesity patients.But what's the thinking behind these recommendations?I had a chance to have a brief Q&A with Richard Shames, MD—who is a practicing physician, author of a number of popular books on thyroid disease, and a thyroid coach—on the topic of why he considers vitamin D so crucial for thyroid patients. 1. Why do you feel vitamin D is so important for people with thyroid conditions?Richard Shames, MD: This particular vitamin is so crucial to thyroid function that its status has now been elevated by researchers to co-hormone. We now know that the variability of thyroid to work or not work in your body is dependent upon the presence of vitamin D, making it not just of benefit, but absolutely essential.2. Where does vitamin D fit, in terms of the other nutrients that can be useful for thyroid health, for example, selenium, copper, and zinc, and issues like avoiding too much soy, and balancing iodine intake?
Richard Shames, MD: Last month I was coaching a very careful and conscientious low thyroid patient. She was taking optimal amounts of the minerals just mentioned; and in addition, was taking herbal medicines to promote her thyroid health, as well as the prohormone pregnenolone (to increase the availability of cortisol). Moreover, she was also taking prescription thyroid medicine, consisting of a T4 / T3 combination, with a small amount of natural desiccated thyroid for completeness.Even with all of this effort, she was not getting good results in terms of symptom relief. After checking her vitamin D level, I found it to be in the low-normal range, and we boosted it up to mid-to-high normal range. Only then did she begin to do well.Richard Shames, MD: Thyroid treatment isn't optimal—and may not work—if you do not have adequate vitamin D for the crucial final metabolic step, which takes place at the site where thyroid hormone actually works. This happens inside the nucleus of the cell.
Vitamin D needs to be present at sufficient levels in the cell in order for the thyroid hormone to actually affect that cell. That is why vitamin D is so crucial.4. Do we get enough vitamin D from sunshine or multivitamins, or do we need to supplement?Richard Shames, MD: These days people are using sunblocks, and staying inside working at their computers much more frequently. Therefore, we are getting less vitamin D from the sun. In addition, multivitamins typically have about 400 IU of Vitamin D, which was the RDA standard from research done in the 1940s and 1950s. Today, this research is being questioned, with many researchers now recommending a minimum of 1000-2000 IU daily, an amount that exceeds most multivitamins. In the case above, for example, my patient needed 4000 IU daily to achieve her good results.5. How can vitamin D be tested?Richard Shames, MD: I believe that a blood test for vitamin D is essential for anyone dealing with hypothyroidism. The typical normal range for vitamin D levels is from around 30 to 100.
Keep in mind that just being in the low end of normal range will not do an adequate job for someone with an underactive thyroid. Thyroid patients need to be "replete"—and that means a level of at least 50-60 level, or greater.6. If you are low or low-normal, is there a particular type of vitamin D you recommend?Richard Shames, MD: Make sure it is vitamin D3. I usually recommend that my patients take at least 2,000 IU per day for maintenance, 4,000 per day if they are at the lowest end of the low-normal range, and 6,000 per day if their tests showed vitamin D levels below normal. I typically recommend patients supplement for two to three months, and then get retested to monitor improvement. I usually have patients who were low or borderline move to the 2,000 IU maintenance dose when blood levels have reached 50 to 60 or better. Can I take multivitamins and milk with Synthroid? Can I take Armour Thyroid or Idoral instead of Synthroid?< 123 4 567 > 1,557 posts, read 2,337,828 times
11 posts, read 12,561 times 14,899 posts, read 19,540,898 times 16,756 posts, read 20,258,452 times 2,391 posts, read 3,291,808 times Originally Posted by veggienut Its heredity or auto immune disorder. The cause of auto immune disorder is undetermined. 221 posts, read 669,871 times I was diagnosed after having blood work taken. I went to the doctor because of not feeling well. I was extremely tired, even after a full 8-9 hours of sleep each night. I could doze off at the breakfast table! I also was gaining weight despite exercising and not changing any of my eating habits. Also, unknown to me that it was a symptom of being hypothroid, my hair started to turn gray. I don't mean all of it all at once, but prematurely for my family. They started me on synthroid back then (14 years ago) and I began to be able to "read" my body signals and know when it was "off" and my meds needed adjusting. I typically see my doctor every 6 months for bloodwork, to check my levels and make any necessary dose adjustments.
I had switched to Armour Thyroid after doing some research, but when the manufacturer changed the formula a few years ago I noticed it didn't work as well for me. So my doctor switched me to Nature-Throid with an iodine supplement and bingo! that was the magic potion for my body. My weight is under control and I feel human. While I don't have bountiful amounts of energy all the time I feel better than I do when I'm under medicated. If you're over medicated you'll know it by certain symptoms. For me it's excessive hair loss and an abnormal heart rythmn, so being over medicated can be pretty dangerous. My Mother didn't get diagnosed till she was in her 80's, up until then she wasn't hypothyroid, so not sure about the hereditary thing for me. As far as I know I was the first in my family to be diagnosed. Of course some people can live their whole lives with it because many doctors go solely by bloodwork instead of looking at the symptoms the person is having. They refuse to prescribe meds for it.