Thyroid

I did in fact talk to my doctor last night, and he seemed to be in agreement that the endocrinologist needed to go. He of course didn't say that, but was okay with taking back over on my thyroid care... now that we know that there isn't anything more complicated going on in there.

He left me some samples of medicine to try for the first 6 weeks, and then I'll have my blood tested again. We'll see if we need to tweak the dosage at that point... but Dr. W is so great about that. Through the years - I've gotten countless prescriptions filled, only to be taken off the medication before I even complete the first few pills. His philosophy about that is that there isn't any need to pay for it until you know that it's the right thing for you...

There are a couple of interesting things I learned about thyroid meds from Dr. W:

1) You really must take the name brand of these pills for any consistency in the medication. He says that when companies buy generic drugs - they might buy from China this month, Canada next month, and Argentina the next... and since it's a hormone drug... it's absolutely crutial that the meds be consistent.

2) Calcium and Iron supplements cause you to not absorb the medication correctly... so I need to make sure that there is at least a 3 hour window between taking the thyroid pill and taking anything else.

3) Thyroid pills need to be taken at the same time everyday - just like the birth control pill... again because of the nature of it being a hormone supplemental drug... so I'm working this out, and think that I'll be taking the thyroid medicine first thing in the morning... then taking some of my vitamins at the office and some at night. (The idea is breaking up the vitamins into a couple of different dosages is easier for my new digestive system to absorb)

4) Break the pill in half... that will increase the surface area to break down, which will hopefully help my body absorb more of the medication before it passes through the system.