hypothyroid folks: timing of taking thyroid medication & late-night effort

[Catrin]

hmmmm, I've been taking this for decades and have never been able to "tell" when it "kicks in". I don't have a thyroid at all. Has your levels been tested recently? Just curious about this. I can tell a gradual difference if I forget to take it for a couple of days which DOES happen, but I've not experienced anything more noticeable than that. Of course all of our bodies are different!

[antimony]

Well, it could be psychosomatic, since I can't exactly hide the fact that I've taken it from myself. My levels were checked a few months ago, so I think they're still fine, and I still feel like they're fine.

[Catrin]

Well, it could be psychosomatic, since I can't exactly hide the fact that I've taken it from myself. My levels were checked a few months ago, so I think they're still fine, and I still feel like they're fine.

All that counts is they get checked occasionally It is certainly possible that you can tell something, all of our bodies are different. Just because I've never noticed it doesn't mean that you can't. It will be interesting to see what other feedback you get. To my mind keeping a consistent schedule is the best choice where thyroid medication is concerned.

I wouldn't try to chop it up and take smaller doses throughout the day. Sometimes when I forget to take it in the morning I will take it that evening when I get home, and then just return to my usual schedule the next day. You could always do that if this is a concern.

[antimony]

All that counts is they get checked occasionally It is certainly possible that you can tell something, all of our bodies are different. Just because I've never noticed it doesn't mean that you can't. It will be interesting to see what other feedback you get. To my mind keeping a consistent schedule is the best choice where thyroid medication is concerned.

I wouldn't try to chop it up and take smaller doses throughout the day. Sometimes when I forget to take it in the morning I will take it that evening when I get home, and then just return to my usual schedule the next day. You could always do that if this is a concern.

Yeah, I know it usually is best to be consistent, but 24hour+ events aren't really usual circumstances, either. I'm pretty sensitive to temperature, which is how I usually feel it kick in (and possibly why I wasn't diagnosed for a long time -- I am absolutely never cold, and had just thought I'd gotten somewhat more adult and able to be less whiny in the heat as I got older -- nope, turns out with my thyroid levels correct anything over 80 still makes me miserable).

[maillotpois]

I've done a number of 20- 24hr + events (400 - 600k brevets, double centuries that take too long, etc.). To be honest, sometimes I just forget to take the thyroid and I figure for a day it won't mess things up too badly. And it doesn't. I might throw in an extra 1/2 pill the next day if I miss a dose. I've been on this so long that I will self-adjust the dose within a slight window to account for where my weight it, etc.

My last 600k, I think I just put it in the saddle bag with the extra shorts I was going to change into after the sleep stop. I take mine at night, so it is a lot more of a cr@pshoot as to whether I will be able to take it or remember when I'm finishing an event at midnight or 2 am.

[Triskeliongirl]

The half life of T4 (which is what I think you are taking since you said levothyroxine) is 5-7 days. That means that as long as you take it at ~ the same time daily, there should always be a similar constant amount of it in your bloodstream. You should not notice it 'wearing off'. T3 (cytomel) is a little different, its half life is only a day, and I do find if I take it too late in the day I will have trouble sleeping. So I take both my T4 and T3 first thing every morning, and have even energy throughout the day.

http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/819692-overview

[indysteel]

The half life of T4 (which is what I think you are taking since you said levothyroxine) is 5-7 days. That means that as long as you take it at ~ the same time daily, there should always be a similar constant amount of it in your bloodstream. You should not notice it 'wearing off'. T3 (cytomel) is a little different, its half life is only a day, and I do find if I take it too late in the day I will have trouble sleeping. So I take both my T4 and T3 first thing every morning, and have even energy throughout the day.

http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/819692-overview

Do you think it's possible that the OP's sense of the levothyroxine wearing off is a sign that she could benefit from T3 replacement as well? I'm hyper, not hypo, so I'm not as well versed in hypothyroidism, but from what I've read, some docs are better at others at detecting and treating T4 to T3 conversion problems.

To the OP, when you doc check your thyroid levels, does she/he look at both Free T4 and Free T3 or does she/he look only at TSH? To get a complete picture, I'd make sure you get your Frees checked. If T3 is low relative to T4, I'd discuss T3 replacement therapies with the doctor.

[antimony]

The half life of T4 (which is what I think you are taking since you said levothyroxine) is 5-7 days. That means that as long as you take it at ~ the same time daily, there should always be a similar constant amount of it in your bloodstream. You should not notice it 'wearing off'. T3 (cytomel) is a little different, its half life is only a day, and I do find if I take it too late in the day I will have trouble sleeping. So I take both my T4 and T3 first thing every morning, and have even energy throughout the day.

Yeah, it's just T4. Huh. I really feel like I can feel it, but I guess it's likely psychosomatic. It may just be another case of where I'd forgotten what normal-me felt like -- this went undiagnosed for quite a while and I just thought that was what turning 30 was supposed to feel like. Or some sort of mild idiosyncratic reaction; my dad swears that as a kid he and his brothers could tell if my grandmother didn't take hers in the morning, and she was (and is) on T4. The crashing at 11pm I can't do much about except try to plow through lots of high-protein food around then, which seems to help; unfortunately that works better for non-athletic all-night efforts than it would on a brevet.

(The trigger for asking is that I'm doing a 200K that starts at 10pm the weekend after next, and I'd like to start doing longer brevets, though that won't happen until next spring as the 300-400Ks around here are all done for the year.)