Tag Archive for: underactive thyroid

Food-Medication Interactions

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One of the questions I got after Saturday’s Memo was about how to take thyroid medication to maximize effectiveness. It was of those smack-your -forehead moments—how could I forget that? This week’s Memos will cover food interactions with the three most common medications. Your physician and pharmacist should handle the medication-to-medication interactions; I’ll stick to food, including supplements. Let’s begin with synthetic or natural thyroid medications.

In order to maximize absorption of thyroid medication, take it on an empty stomach, preferably in the morning. Wait about an hour before eating.

If you take a multimineral with calcium and iron or a stand-alone calcium supplement, wait at least four hours before you take it. The range of medication loss is 25% to 35% when taken with calcium. But even more important is to be consistent in when you take your medications, when you eat, and when you take your supplements.

Next I’ll cover blood thinners.

The next Insider Conference Call is Thursday might. If you want to attend as well as listen to prior Conference Calls, sign-up as an Insider before then.

What are you prepared to do today?

Dr. Chet

 

Do You Have an Underactive Thyroid?

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The weather in Grand Rapids has taken a turn to winter: from 61 degrees on Tuesday to freezing today. It’s bone chilling with winds at 20 mph and can leave you feeling cold most of the day. But what if you were cold most of the time regardless of the outdoor temperature? That’s just one of the symptoms of an underactive thyroid, also called hypothyroid.

Before I met with a potential coaching client to discuss his nutrition and training, I asked him when he had his last physical and how his health has been. One of the things he mentioned was feeling more fatigued than he had in the past and that it took longer to recover. Fatigue and feeling tired are also symptoms of an underactive thyroid. Those symptoms aren’t always present, and there are other explanations for those symptoms, but hypothyroid is a possibility. Here are some of the other symptoms of an underactive thyroid:

  • Trouble sleeping
  • Difficulty concentrating
  • Weight gain
  • Dry skin and hair
  • Depression, as I mentioned Tuesday
  • For women: frequent, heavy periods
  • Muscle fatigue and painful joints

There could be other explanations, but it’s a place to begin and it’s often part of a routine blood test. Schedule an appointment and have your thyroid levels checked. If your thyroid is underactive, the question I asked Tuesday applies: should you take the medication or are there alternatives? I’ll get into that on Saturday.

What are you prepared to do today?

Dr. Chet