Digestive difficulties — are they caused by low thyroid?

One of the things I normally tell men who are dealing with rockiness problems and other health issues is…

…how helpful taking thyroid supplements can be for both rockiness and overall health.

I’ve seen great results with both desiccated thyroid and non-OTC thyroid in small quantities.

Some people take thyroid for reasons like this, and others take it because they have a condition called hypothyroid or low thyroid.

Regardless of my advice, there are a lot of people on thyroid treatments. And they can be very helpful.

But there is something that most people who are on thyroid treatments don’t know.

And that is that popular PPI (proton pump inhibitors) make thyroid treatments MUCH less effective.

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These are substances like Prilosec, and they are extremely popular.

What Is Levothyroxine?

The thyroid treatment in question here is called Levothyroxine. It’s used to treat low thyroid (hypothyroidism).

Levothyroxine is used to treat hypothyroidism (condition where the thyroid gland does not produce enough thyroid hormone). It is also used with surgery and radioactive iodine therapy to treat thyroid cancer. Levothyroxine is in a class of medications called hormones. It works by replacing thyroid hormone that is normally produced by the body.

While this is the substance being studied, my guess is that other thyroid treatments interact with proton pump inhibitors in much the same way.

What is a proton pump inhibitor?

There are many proton pump inhibitors on the market.

They are used to treat acid reflux and come in the brand names: Prilosec, Prilosec OTC, Zegerid, Prevacid, Protonix, Aciphex, Nexium, and Dexilant.

Many people take PPIs for gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). By lowering stomach acid levels, they reduce acid reflux into the esophagus and the resulting heartburn symptoms.

Now, I don’t like proton pump inhibitors for many reasons — including the fact that lowering stomach acid production is a bad idea.

There are better ways to deal with GERD and acid reflux (see below)…

But that’s not what this article is about. This article is about how proton pump inhibitors make thyroid treatments less effective.

Proton pump inhibitors can make thyroid treatments much less effective.

If you are taking these two substances together (thyroid treatments and proton pump inhibitors), then you need to watch out.

The PPIs reduce the effectiveness of the thyroid treatments.

They make the thyroid treatments not work as well, which often results in increased strength for the thyroid treatments even when it’s not particularly needed.

The co-‘use’ of levothyroxine and potentially interacting ‘substances’ results in an increased use of levothyroxine. Clinicians should carefully consider adjusting levothyroxine therapy in presence of concomitant ‘substances,’ such as proton-pump inhibitors, which may reduce levothyroxine bioavailability.

Substance interactions happen ALL THE TIME, and it’s not easy to know which substances are causing the problem

That’s because often the problems arrive gradually instead of right away.

If you notice new problems when you add a substance, consider working with your doctor to see if you are experiencing a negative interaction.

Sometimes interactions are surprising and you may have to advocate for yourself and keep pushing until you get answers.

Doctors are great, but they don’t know everything and they are especially bad at figuring out negative interactions, so you need to be paying attention to these for yourself.

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