The doctor says...

[annathepiper]

... that in her opinion, no, four days on a slightly different schedule of taking my synthroid wouldn't make a difference. I can accept her reasoning from a medical standpoint since that jibes with other info I've got. But it is nevertheless interesting to me to consider that I am still expecting (reduced) effects similar to what I had yesterday. It does still make me wonder whether my system just has a little bit of wiggle room processing the synthroid. Or whether the walking I do in the mornings during the work week might also be a factor, on top of an earlier getting up time.

It will be interesting to see if this happens again next time I'm on an extended vacation/weekend schedule. (Which, unless something wacky happens before then, ought to be Worldcon in September.) It's the tester in me... see if I can repro the behavior. ;)

Comments

[ceallaighgirl.livejournal.com]

Let's turn you into a science experiment!

1. So what you need to do is first change nothing, except taking your medicine later.

2. Go back to normal for awhile.

3. Change nothing except how much exericise you get.

4. Go back to normal for awhile.

5. Change both at the same time.

Take note of all the differences! That would be fascinating.

[annathepiper]

Hrmm. HRMRmRmmm. Interesting thoughts indeed. I may have to try to commence this experiment in a few more weeks--I don't want to immediately, just to let things stabilize again assuming that they did in fact get nudged a little while I was at the con. :) I can easily carry my little bottle of synthroid in my backpack and take it when I get to work, which would be about the equivalent of when I get up on the weekends.

Tweaking the amount of my morning exercise is a bit tougher. Checking the Metro bus planner, I see I could knock some of my morning mileage off the count, but the tradeoff there seems to be sitting around for 10-15 minutes in between busses, which would annoy me. Driving to work is just right out. I'll have to think about this part.

[ceallaighgirl.livejournal.com]

Yes, the first one would be much easier.

Exercise is a little more tricky. You could wait until you have a longer vacation, and just be sure to take your synthroid at the regular early time. Personally, I'd love sitting around 15 minutes between buses. That's an extra 15 minutes to get some reading in! :-)

Definitely wait between each experiment to be fully back to normal before moving on to the next, or else it might skew the results.

[annathepiper]

I don't know... if I know I need to get somewhere by a given time frame, I somehow feel better if I'm actually moving towards that destination. So I either need to be on the bus or else I need to be walking. More importantly, I have a bit of guilt niggling at me that says, "well heck, it's only about a mile, you can walk that, and you need the exercise, so move it!" :)

(And heck, I read when I'm walking anyway, just have to multitask enough to make sure I stop at corners and don't bump into anyone.)

I think the longer vacation option is probably the better route to take for this. So we'll see what happens when I go to Worldcon!

[firni.livejournal.com]

The pharmacist told me once that even missing one dose wouldn't result in any huge changes, because the thyroid meds have such a long half-life.

[annathepiper]

I've been told similar things, yeah...

Though I've also noticed that the two times I've missed a dose, when I wound up taking the missed dose in the evening instead of the morning and then took my next morning dose as per usual, I spent the rest of the subsequent day very wired. Similar to how I was feeling yesterday.

[firni.livejournal.com]

Yeah, if you're that far past a missed dose, I'd think it would behoove you to just skip it until the next day's dose. At least, that's what I was told.

[annathepiper]

Yeah, and to not stack the dosages. That's the part that makes me scratch my head, still, since I've also been told that you could do something like take a whole week's worth of synthroid and be good for the week. That seems weird to me, given how jittery I got even on two days' doses stacked up.

[firni.livejournal.com]

Everybody's different! I react in a totally freaky way to some medications; in many cases, the drug reacts in the opposite way it's supposed to. Go figure. BIZARRO FIRNI

[annathepiper]

*snicker* Yeah well. At this point I guess I get to figure out how to tweak this thing to make it work best for me.

Whether or not I am a mutant I will leave as an exercise to the reader.

[peregrine-ek.livejournal.com]

And as a follow-up to my previous comment, if you are feeling too wired, then you definitely need less medication.

[annathepiper]

Here's the thing... it's not constant. It starts somewhere in the morning and lasts till about mid-afternoon; by the time I get home in the evening, the feeling has passed. And yesterday's experience was less intense than Monday's, which makes me surmise that it's some sort of adjustment thing going on. I've had similar levels of "adjustment" going on each time I've adjusted my dosage.

And aside from that, mentally speaking, I've been fabulous--this current dosage has been excellent for my writing productivity, and at least according to my levels, I'm exactly where I need to be.

It'll be fun to see how the season change affects this, too. It is starting to warm up around here and stay warmer, so that too may be a factor.

[peregrine-ek.livejournal.com]

If you do a lot of exercise, there could be more T4 > T3 conversion going on, so you need less medication. Is there anything different you are doing on the days you feel jittery?

Also, the time of day you take your medication and what you take it with also is a factor. In trying to remember what I did when I was on Levoxyl, I had to avoid certain supplements in the morning because they interfered with absorption.

Here is an article that might help:

http://www.thyroid-info.com/articles/tsh-fluctuating.htm

[annathepiper]

Well, as I posted in my original post at the top of the thread... I've just come back from a four-day vacation in which I was on a 'weekend' schedule. Which means I get up between 9:30 and 10am, which means I take my synthroid around then too. But Monday and yesterday, I've been back on my 'work' schedule, which means I get up at 7:30, so that's when I take my synthroid. Also, on my work days, I walk in the mornings, so there's more exercise going on there.

Since I've been on this dosage (all throughout this year so far, pretty much), usually the jitteries don't happen to me unless I try to stack doses because I missed one. I had them for a few days initially after going up to this dose, but mostly I've been fine.

Except this week, coming back from the con. Which is what made me wonder whether four days on 'weekend' schedule could actually make a difference. :)

[annathepiper]

And thank you for the link, also!

[peregrine-ek.livejournal.com]

Does your doctor adjust your dose seasonally? Because I believe you need higher dosages in the winter. My doctor used to tweak my dosage in October and April.

[annathepiper]

She hasn't yet adjusted my dosage based on season, no... we've only just as of the last few months figured out the 150mcg level. I have my next appointment with her in July; it'll be interesting to see what my levels are then.