Comment
Author: Admin | 2025-04-28
When your thyroid gland fails to make enough thyroid hormone. The thyroid gland and the hormones it produces help control body temperature and metabolism and can affect other systems in the body, too. If you have hypothyroidism, you will need to take a thyroid hormone replacement therapy for the rest of your life.The effectiveness of levothyroxine is evaluated by monitoring your symptoms and by measuring the amount of T4 and another hormone called thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) in the blood. Your dose of levothyroxine may need to be adjusted in response to this monitoring.It may take 4 to 6 weeks to see the full effect of a given dose of levothyroxine on symptoms and thyroid hormone levels. When levothyroxine is first started, the blood tests may be needed more often, about every 8 weeks. Once you are on a stable dose of levothyroxine, blood tests may only need to be done once or twice a year.If a switch in levothyroxine products is necessary (for example, due to a drug shortage), the ATA guidelines recommend rechecking thyroid hormone levels once the full effect of the drug is expected. This would generally be in 4 to 6 weeks after starting the new product. ReferencesU.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Levoxyl. Last updated December 2018. Available at: https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/drugsatfda_docs/label/2018/021301s038lbl.pdf. [Accessed September 8, 2021].U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Synthroid. Last updated July 2020. Available at: https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/drugsatfda_docs/label/2020/021402s034lbl.pdf. [Accessed August 28, 2021].American Association of Clinical Endocrinology (AACE). Hypothyroidism. Available at: https://www.aace.com/disease-and-conditions/thyroid/what-hypothyroidism. [Accessed August 27, 2021].U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Therapeutic equivalence. Last updated November 14, 2017. Available at: https://www.fda.gov/drugs/drug-approvals-and-databases/drugsfda-glossary-terms#T. [Accessed September 17, 2021].American Thyroid Association (ATA). Guidelines for the Treatment of Hypothyroidism. Thyroid 24(12): 1670-1751, 2014. https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/pdf/10.1089/thy.2014.0028. Read next Does levothyroxine cause hair loss? Yes, levothyroxine, the main treatment for a sluggish thyroid gland, may cause hair loss in addition to other side effects. You may experience partial hair loss in the first few months of treatment, but this often resolves and goes back to normal in a short time. Continue reading How long after taking levothyroxine can you drink milk? You should avoid drinking
Add Comment