I recently started taking levothyroxine for Hashimoto’s, and the drug interactions state that it can affect insulin. My endo prescribed it but never said a word about that. Does anyone have experience with this? Has it made you need more insulin, less, no affect? My numbers have been harder to control than usual this week, and I wonder if it’s the drug. (I’m type 1 if it matters).
I’ve been taking levothyroxine for Hashimoto’s for about 3 years. My endo never said a word about that to me either, but in my experience, it didn’t effect my insulin dosing at all. Good luck!
Isn’t levothyroxine a generic form of synthroid? I have Hashimotos, a type 1 and take synthroid and was not told about it effecting insulin. But it has never seemed to be a problem.
I have been on levothyroxine and insulin for a number of years now and have never experienced any interactions. Also my Endo perscribed it to me and never said a word about the two effecting each other. I will say when they finally killed my thyroid and i went on the medication it made a drastic change in my BG control. But I attributed that more to the overactive thyroid being gone, not the levothyroxine. Give it a little time you may have to make some slight adjustments. But you’ll figure it out!!
I have had T-1 for 12 years and Hashimoto’s for about 6 years before that and I have never had a problem with my BS due to the levothyroxine. You might want to check w/your endo just to be safe. I have never heard about any interaction between the 2 drugs.
It doesn’t seem to effect everyone the same - I seem to be pretty sensitive to the effects of thyroid replacement… for me it definitely DOES cause an increase in insulin needs, and in fact I take more than twice as much insulin now than before I ever had a thyroid problem… if I stop taking my meds and I go back to being hypo, my insulin requirements also drop… so that’s a pretty clear correlation for me. My synthroid dosage has bounced around a lot over the past few years, which may be why I notice it more than someone who had been on a steady dose over that time… I’ve been on anything from 125mcg to 175mcg and various combinations over the last couple of years… I don’t seem to stay steady on any of them for very long.
There is a new thyroid medication out called Tirosint which I am going to be asking to try when I see my endo next - apparently most people need much less of this medication to regulate their thyroid levels, plus it has no dyes or fillers… all of which sound like sound reasons for me to try it.
There have been several discussions about this on the hypothyroid diabetics group.
Thyroid supplementation increased my insulin needs. Every time my thyroid dose increased, my insulin doses went up also. I believe there was a discussion about this on the hypothyroid group & others had the same experience. My endo never mentioned this either.
When I started on synthroid my insulin needs went up just a teensy little bit but enough to be measured. Overall my insulin needs went up by like 10%.
That was 26, 27 years ago now.
I suspect if you bump up your basal a little bit things will come back into whack.
Tim.
Great, thanks guys! I don’t know if it’s exactly a drug interaction, or just stopping being hypothyroid, but it definitely seems like I need a lot more insulin. (I think from a 1:15 carb ratio to maybe 1:10?) I’m glad to hear that others experienced something similar, and I’ll poke around on the hypo board.