Treating low thyroid activity and treating or suppressing different types of goiters. It is also used with surgery and other medicines for managing certain types of thyroid cancer.
Levothyroxine is a thyroid hormone. Thyroid hormones are produced and released by the thyroid gland and regulate the body's metabolism. When the thyroid gland is underactive (hypothyroidism) it does not produce enough thyroid hormone and metabolism slows.
Do NOT use Levothyroxine if:
you are allergic to any ingredient in Levothyroxine
you have a history of heart attack, chest pain (angina), adrenal gland problems, or elevated thyroid hormone levels that have not been treated
Contact your doctor or health care provider right away if any of these apply to you.
Before using Levothyroxine :
Some medical conditions may interact with Levothyroxine. Tell your doctor or pharmacist if you have any medical conditions, especially if any of the following apply to you:
if you are pregnant, planning to become pregnant, or are breast-feeding
if you are taking any prescription or nonprescription medicine, herbal preparation, or dietary supplement
if you have allergies to medicines, foods, or other substances
if you have heart problems, high blood pressure, blood clotting problems, diabetes, bone loss (osteoporosis), digestion or nutrient absorption problems, infertility problems, pituitary gland problems, high thyroid levels, or other thyroid problems
If you have just had or are scheduled for surgery
Some MEDICINES MAY INTERACT with Levothyroxine. Tell your health care provider if you are taking any other medicines, especially any of the following:
Aluminum salts (eg, antacids), aminoquinolones (eg, chloroquine), amiodarone, HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors (eg, simvastatin), iron salts (eg, ferrous sulfate), raloxifene, rifampin, sertraline, or sucralfate because they may decrease Levothyroxine 's effectiveness
HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors (eg, simvastatin) or tricyclic antidepressants (eg, amitriptyline) because side effects such as nervousness, fast heart rate, or irregular heartbeat may occur
Anticoagulants (eg, warfarin) or ketamine because their actions and the risk of their side effects may be increased by Levothyroxine
Beta-blockers (eg, metoprolol) or digitalis glycosides (eg, digoxin) because their effectiveness may be decreased by Levothyroxine
This may not be a complete list of all interactions that may occur. Ask your health care provider if Levothyroxine may interact with other medicines that you take. Check with your health care provider before you start, stop, or change the dose of any medicine.
How to use Levothyroxine :
Use Levothyroxine as directed by your doctor. Check the label on the medicine for exact dosing instructions.
Take Levothyroxine on an empty stomach at least 1 hour before or 2 to 3 hours after eating. It is recommended that you take your dose 1 hour before breakfast unless otherwise directed by your doctor.
Take Levothyroxine with a full glass of water (8 oz/240 mL).
Notify your health care provider if you eat foods that contain soybean flour (infant formula), cottonseed meal, walnuts, or dietary fiber. These foods decrease the absorption of Levothyroxine. Your doctor may need to change your dose of Levothyroxine.
Take Levothyroxine 4 hours apart from calcium supplements, iron, antacids (those containing aluminum, calcium, or magnesium), simethicone, cholestyramine, colestipol, sucralfate, or sodium polystyrene sulfonate. These medicines may decrease the absorption of Levothyroxine into your
bloodstream.
Levothyroxine works best if it is taken at the same time each day.
It may take several weeks (4 to 6 weeks) before you notice an improvement in your symptoms.
Levothyroxine will usually have to be taken for life, except in the cases of temporary low thyroid activity associated with thyroid inflammation and in patients who are taking Levothyroxine on a trial basis.
For children or patients who cannot swallow whole tablets: Crush the tablet and mix in 1 or 2 teaspoons (5 or 10 mL) of water, and give using a spoon or dropper as soon as possible after preparation. Do not store the mixture for later use. Do not mix crushed tablets in soybean infant formula. Consult your
pharmacist for more information.
If you miss a dose of Levothyroxine and you are taking it regularly, take it as soon as possible. If several hours have passed or if it is nearing time for the next dose, do not double the dose to catch up, unless advised by your health care provider. Do not take 2 doses at once.
Ask your health care provider any questions you may have about how to use Levothyroxine.
Important safety information:
Levothyroxine may rapidly swell and disintegrate resulting in choking, gagging, the tablet getting stuck in your throat, or difficulty swallowing. It is very important that you take the tablet with a full glass of water. Most of these problems disappeared when levothyroxine tablets were taken with
water.
Tell your doctor or dentist that you take Levothyroxine before you receive any medical or dental care, emergency care, or surgery.
If you are taking blood thinners at the same time as Levothyroxine , lab tests will be required to adjust the blood thinners.
Diabetes patients - Levothyroxine may affect your blood sugar. Check blood sugar levels closely. Ask your doctor before you change the dose of your diabetes medicine.
Lab tests will be required to monitor therapy. Be sure to keep appointments.
Use Levothyroxine with caution in the ELDERLY; they may be more sensitive to its effects.
Levothyroxine should be used with caution in CHILDREN; overuse may reduce the child's final adult height.
PREGNANCY and BREAST-FEEDING: It is not known if Levothyroxine can cause harm to the fetus. If you become pregnant, contact your doctor. You will need to discuss the benefits and risks of using Levothyroxine while you are pregnant. Levothyroxine is found in breast milk. If you are or will be
breast-feeding while you use Levothyroxine , check with your doctor.
Discuss any possible risks to your baby.
Possible side effects of Levothyroxine :
All medicines may cause side effects, but many people have no, or minor, side effects. Check with your doctor if any of these most COMMON side effects persist or become bothersome:
Seek medical attention right away if any of these SEVERE side effects occur:
Severe allergic reactions (rash; hives; itching; difficulty breathing; tightness in the chest; swelling of the mouth, face, lips, or tongue); changes in appetite; changes in menstrual periods; chest pain; difficulty breathing; excessive sweating; fast heartbeat; fever; headache; hives or skin rash; hyperactivity; inability to handle warm or hot room/weather conditions;
irregular heartbeat; irritability; leg cramps; nervousness; pounding in the
chest; seizures; shortness of breath; tremors; weight gain or weight loss.
What is the shelf life of the pills?
The expiry date is mentioned on each blister. It is different for different batches. The shelf life is 2 years from the date of manufacture and would differ from batch to batch depending on when they were manufactured.
You guys were superb and true to your word, happy to be a reference for you any time
and thank you
- David
Why do doctors in the USA get away with being so unethical and denying women informed consent?
By tying birth control to pap smears? There is no medical reason for a pap smear to be required before getting birth control. All that's needed to safely prescribe birth control pills is a check of the circulatory system (blood pressure and heart) and a medical history.
That's not saying pap smears aren't helpful for some women, but why don't women have the right to choose their own healthcare plans like men do? We are just told and coerced into doing "what's best for us." If a woman wants to have pap smears every three or five years instead of annually that shouldn't mean a doctor can hold her birth control prescription hostage. If a woman wants to get a birth control prescription from her family doctor and go to a gyno a few months later for a pap smear, that should be her prerogative. Women should have the right to make an informed choice and accept the risks and benefits of that choice. Men aren't coerced into getting prostate exams (a MUCH more common cancer than cervical btw) in order to get viagra or condoms.
Not to mention in most other countries these "well woman" exams are not even recommended at all. Finland has the lowest rates of cervical cancer in the world and they don't start paps until age 30 and every 5 years.
megan, it doesn't matter if it's in the woman's best interest. The point is that it's for HER to decide when, where and IF she has one. A prostate exam is in the man's best interest but he is always given the option and not witheld services or treated like a naughty child for not having one.
And you're clearly deceived if you think a pap smear has one thing to do with safety of birth control. A pap smear is a cancer test, period. It has nothing to do with birth control safely. This question is not about me anyway, this is about the sorry way women are treated.
megan you just aren't getting the point. It's great if a woman goes in for regular paps and they can be useful, but there is no reason for it to be tied to birth control! That "policy" is just a paternalistic attitude on part of the doctors. A woman can get birth control on one visit and come back later for a pap smear, there's no reason it should have to go hand in hand.
When they withhold your birth control, yes they are pretty much forcing you, and for no medical necessary reason. Because it's either have the pap right then, or not get pills and probably get pregnant. And once again you just really don't understand that it's about the difference between how men and women are treated, not about whether the exam is important or not because I agree with you pap smears are helpful. But it's not right to take away informed consent just by virtue of someone being female.
about longer hair growth?
I am 33 years old male. I am suffering from androgenic alopecia, i am using minoxidil and finasteride even my hair not growing properly. It is very short and i would like to my hair to grow long. Any body please suggest me how to grow hair healthy and long. please please please..........
How long do I wait after drinking vodka before I can take tramadol ?
I want to drink vodka but I take tramadol if I'm going to stop taking tramadol tommorow morning and not have them untill after I drink in aprox 45 hours time how long do I wait before I can take my 50 my tablet
JUST TRYING TO FINISH MY OTHER.?
Well my question got put in Earth Day and I don't know how to move it. My previous question was in Diabetic? MY CONCLUSION IS: MY DOG TOOK DEREMAXX AT 0630 and then became disoriented and ate the poo which in effect had NOTHING TO DO WITH THESE LIFE THREATENING SEIZURES. SHE WOULD BE LETHARGIC, DISORIENTED, LISTLESS, CATATONIC, NO EATING,I WAS JUST TRYING TO FIND OUT IF DIABETIC INSULIN CAT POO COULD BE TOXIC SO I WOULD KNOW HOW TO TREAT HER FOR WHAT I ORIGINALLY THOUGHT WAS SEVERE HYPOGLYCEMIA OR ADESONIAN CRISIS. Please be careful with DEREMAXX. It helped my dog for months but then something went WRO G OR TOXIC OR SOMETHING AND I KEPT DIGGING TO FIGURE IT OUT. I think I came just shy of killing my dog because it didn't seem there was any answer for these episodes until I read a blog about DEREMAXX. So I stopped the DEREMAXX 8 Days ago and there has been NO SEIZURE/HYPOGLYCEMIC/ADESONIAN EPISODES AND I WASN'T TROLLING (whatever that is) and LASTLY MY DOG HASN'T MESSES WITH THE CATBOX EITHER BECAUSE WE HAVE BLOCKED HER FROM GETTING TO IT ESPECIALLY IN THE NIGHT. Conclusion DEREMAXX: CAUTION. Now I just give my dog Tramadol and DASEQUIN and she is happier than she has been in months. Thank you!
Problems with tramadol hcl 50mg?
I got prescribed this for middle ear infections in both my ears a few days ago and now I'm feeling really weird. Like...I'm laying in my bed about to fall asleep and it feels like everything is jumping. And my heart feels like it's racing really fast. I don't know if this is supposed to happen or what. But it's really freaking me out and I don't want to go to sleep. Anyone ever experienced this before with this medicine? What do I do to make it stop? I'm not gonna take these pills anymore. I'll just deal with the pain. But idk what to do. Please help me.
medication jumble.... too many combinations?
I'm usually on Prozac for depression, birth control (irrelevant), Buspar for anxiety, weening off xanax (4mg) (doc said to take a little buspar and ease it in as im easing off xanax), cyclobenzaprine for tmj pain and tramadol (100mg) for tmj pain. This is a lot and I don't know if they are a doctor or not but is this a lot?
What are the side affects of ( ETODOLAC ) 500mg blue tablet?
What are the side affects of ( ETODOLAC ) 500mg blue tablet?
And what are the side affects of one ( 500mg ETODOLAC & five 50mg TRAMADOL )
I took 5 tramadol and 1 etodolac only because i have a very high tollerance to pain pills and it made me feel really loopy for almost 12 hours now, is that normal?
If anyone has any thoughts or more information about these two pill being taken together or seperate please feel free to add on,
Thanks
Prescribed Ultram and Tramadol at the same time?
Today my doctor gave me 2 prescriptions for pain medications 1 was Ultram, and the other was Tramadol. He said I could take these together. I looked up both and they seem to be the same thing. I also read that they can cause seizures if you take too much. Im not sure whether or not to trust my doctor on this one. Does anyone know anything about these medications or have any advice on what I should do?
has anyone tried pink viagra for women?
If anyone has or you know someone who did, did it work? Im considering ordering it online since the FDA has not approved it but I want to make sure Im not buying some useless pill.
Voting Question: What medications should I avoid touching in the pharmacy if I'm pregnant?
I'm a pharmacy tech, and I'm 15 weeks pregnant. I was just told by the pharmacist yesterday that there are a few medications I should avoid touching. She only named Methotrexate, Avodart, and Finasteride. She couldn't remember what else. I can't find a list anywhere online, can someone please help?