How should I take my thyroid medication? I helped answer that reader's question last year. Well, new research backs up my response. As someone who takes levothyroxine, I found this new research comforting. You can take thyroid medication in the evening instead of the morning. Most folks are taught to take their thyroid medication in the morning on an empty stomach and to wait at least one hour to eat after taking their thyroid medication. That means breakfast has to wait.
A new prospective randomized crossover trial in the Archives of Internal Medicine (Arch Intern Med 2010;170:1996-2003 ) suggests taking levothyroxine or Synthroid on an empty stomach at night is just fine and free thyroxine levels actually increase with this practice. And patients don't have to wait for breakfast.
As someone who has taken levothyroxine every morning now for 2 1/2 years, I'm thinking about switching to the night time dosing, so I too can return to enjoying the free doctor's lounge granola and blueberrries and milk I used to devour every morning during my morning checkout rounds years ago.
Perhaps night time levothyroxine dosing might even improve patient expectations and satisfaction surveys if I'm not stopping to have a 10:30 lunch instead of doing my hospital discharge summary.
On second thought, I don't think it would make any difference.
