Discussions that mention levothyroxine

Christine- I am hypothyroid(hashi's) and it was my endo who told me to take ferrous sulfate based on my ferritin level. And, yes my tsh went up and then she raised my levothyroxine. But, her attitude is the ferritin has to go up.

I don't know how you can raise your ferritin without this happening. Are you thinking it is only the ferrous sulfate that will have this effect on the tsh and not the other forms of iron???

Sounds like it is the iron that is tearing you up . Not a flu - but only time will tell. I think this is why I am somewhat pushed into a corner on the slow fe-because it is gentle. So, at least I can do this , and if I have to up the levothyroxine for the period I am on the slow fe well it seems better to me than having the extreme digestive discomfort. Then when I don't have to supplement any longer, watch the tsh with testing and lower the levothyroxine. What do you think? Please tell me if you see a fallacy in this approach.

Christine-Thank you for the response. I am sorry to hear what you have been through with thyroid cancer. I understand your trying to keep your tsh under control.

I am really confused about slow release iron and how it affects the levothyroxine. It seems to me that it would have less effect on the thyroid med if taken 4 hours after it and then it slowly releases further away from the time of taking the thyroid med. Yet you are saying that slow release would have more of a negative effect because it releases slowly. How would that be more negative?

I am really puzzled because my endo said she did not think it was the iron that raised my tsh. Yet, based on the steadiness of the tsh prior to the iron, then one month after the slow fe it jumped from 1.5 to 4.3. It seems connected to me. I wonder if she was just at the end of our appointment and didn't want to get into anything else. From what I read iron can interact with the levo.

So I am trying to balance getting the ferritin up, not disturbing my digestive system too much and not messing up the tsh.

Did you hear from a dr. the slow release is more problematic with the synthroid? You also stated there may be an absorption problem with slow fe in some people. That's not great to hear.

Perhaps I should just try the regular release and see if I can deal with it. What do you think?