Levothyroxine

Sufferers of an underactive thyroid may not notice straight away, as symptoms rarely present themselves immediately. However, in the long term, hypothyroidism can lead to weight gain, tiredness and depression.

Taking Levothyroxine increases the level of thyroxine hormones in your body, which prevents the symptoms of an underactive thyroid.

Levothyroxine Interactions:

Antidiabetics:

Levothyroxine can reduce the hypoglycemic efficacy of antidiabetics. Therefore, in diabetic patients, blood glucose levels should be regularly monitored, especially when starting replacement therapy with thyroid hormone, adjusting the dose of the antidiabetic if necessary.

Coumarin derivatives:

Thyroid hormones can enhance the action of concomitantly administered anticoagulants since levothyroxine displaces anticoagulants from their binding to plasma proteins. Therefore, regular monitoring of coagulation is necessary in case of concomitant treatment, adjusting, if necessary, the dosage of the anticoagulant (dose reduction).

Ion exchange resins:

Ion exchange resins such as cholestyramine, colestipol, sevelamer, calcium salts, and sodium salts of polystyrene sulfonic acid inhibit the absorption of levothyroxine. Therefore, these drugs should not be administered until at least 4-5 hours have elapsed since the administration of Levothyroxine.