How to Take Levothyroxine

Video Transcript

"My name is Christine Marquette and I am a registered dietitian with the Austin Regional Clinic and I'm going to talk to you about how to take Levothyroxine. Levothyroxine is a synthetic hormone that is used to treat people with hypothyroidism. The best way to take this medication is 30 minutes before eating. You also want to make sure that you don't take any other medications with it. There are several different medications that can actually inhibit this particular hormone so you want to make sure you don't take any other medications with it. Another thing that you want to be cautious with is calcium supplements. Calcium supplements can also interfere with this medication so if you have to take calcium make sure you take it at least four hours after you have taken your Levothyroxine. You don't want to do anything that is going to inhibit the absorption of this particular medication. Another thing to keep in mind is that if you are new to taking this particular drug you are going to have to see your doctor on a very frequent basis at least initially typically at least every six to eight weeks at which time your doctor will do a blood draw and he will actually check your TSH, that is basically Thyroid Stimulating Hormone and he will use that particular blood test to determine whether or not the dosage that you are on of Levothyroxine is appropriate. You may need to adjust it up or down based on your TSH so again in taking Levothyroxine you need to make sure you take it on an empty stomach 30 minutes before meals, no other mediations, no other supplements, check back with your doctor regularly to make sure that you are taking the appropriate dose."