Nurses With Hypothyroidism

[TheCommuter]

Here's a brief history on me. I was diagnosed with Graves Disease (hyperthyroidism) in 1998 at the age of 17. In 2005, at age 24, I decided to have radioiodine ablation to slow down my thyroid. It worked within 2 months, and I am now slightly hypothyroid. I take Synthroid daily.

How do those of you with hypothyroidism maintain energy for work or school and manage to have regular sleep cycles? Thanks in advance for any replies that might be received.

[Retired R.N.]

I also have hypothyroidism. Fortunately, it is not severe, and can be controlled easily with Synthroid. I had the same problem with insurance company refusing to pay for Synthroid so they switched me to the generic. When I went back to my doctor and told her what had happened she was more than happy to write me a prescription for Synthroid and, at my request, she added the words, "Dispense as written in original unopened container from factory." Naturally, the insurance company would not stand for that, because it comes in bottles of 100 tablets, and they want me to have only 30 tablets at a time. Based on the sad experiences I have had, I would much rather pay for the drug myself than have the pharmacy slip me a generic or sugar pills substitute.

The nasty little secret about generic levothyroxine is that different brands are not the same as each other, and there is no really good way to get it regulated for your body if you don't get the same drug each time. As I see it, life is too short to let some insurance company make me miserable!

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

I took generic Levothyroxine for 8 months and my levels were never regulated. The generic stuff did nothing to touch my blood levels.

I switched to a brand name formulation called Eltroxin and it affected my levels within 4 weeks.

[tntrn, ASN, RN]

I've been taking Synthroid for Hashimoto's now about 5 years. I get mine from mail-in pharmacy that our insurance contracts with. Always I get 3 months at a time. And so far they haven't tried to get me to try anything else, although with my DH's Prevacid, they have and he'll have to try something else next time around on that before they'll let him go back to Prevacid, if Dr. insists. Our doc knows the doc in charge of that pharmacy, so if push comes to shove, I think we'll get what we want.

I take my Synthroid on an empty stomach at night. So many of you do it in the am, but when I get up, I immediately have my mocha, so no empty stomach is available. I have no problem taking it at night.