Your doctor may then adjust your dosage based on your thyroid hormone levels, as well as other factors. Synthroid is approved to treat a type of thyroid cancer. The drug does this by suppressing decreasing levels of thyroid stimulating hormone TSH. Your doctor will adjust your dosage as needed during treatment, depending on your TSH levels.
Synthroid is meant to be used as a long-term treatment. Below is a dosage chart for using Synthroid to treat hypothyroidism in children.
For example, the typical Synthroid dosage for a 5-year-old who weighs 25 kg about 55 lb would be mcg to mcg per day. There is a dosage calculator for Synthroid, which is for use by doctors and other healthcare professionals.
A dosage calculator can be helpful because thyroid hormone drugs such as Synthroid require careful monitoring and precise dosages. A dosage calculator helps make sure that the dose your doctor prescribes is safe for you.
If you have questions about how your Synthroid dosage will be calculated, talk with your doctor or pharmacist. This is because if your dosage is lowered, your body may no longer get enough thyroid hormone to help prevent or relieve your symptoms. If you have other questions about Synthroid dose adjustments and side effects, talk with your doctor or pharmacist. Synthroid is a synthetic artificial thyroid hormone.
Your body also naturally makes thyroid hormones. For this reason, Synthroid overdose can cause the same symptoms as hyperthyroidism high thyroid hormone levels. Another option is to call the American Association of Poison Control Centers at or use its online tool. If you have severe symptoms, immediately call or your local emergency number, or go to the nearest emergency room.
If your Synthroid dosage needs to be adjusted, your doctor will likely adjust it in amounts of For people with newly diagnosed hypothyroidism, dosage adjustments will likely happen every 4 to 6 weeks. This is the amount of time it can take the drug to have its full effects for treating hypothyroidism. Your doctor may continue to adjust your Synthroid dosage until your thyroid hormone levels are in a normal range. Synthroid is approved to treat a type of thyroid cancer in certain situations.
They may adjust your Synthroid dosage depending on these levels. Typically, the goal of treatment is for TSH levels to be below 0. Synthroid should be taken on an empty stomach, once daily. Specifically, it should be taken 30 minutes to 1 hour before or after eating.
But your doctor may also discuss how to take Synthroid at night. In some cases, your body can absorb the drug better if you take Synthroid at night.
For more information about drug interactions with Synthroid, refer to this article. They can recommend the best time for you to take your next dose. Missing a dose of Synthroid could cause your thyroid hormone levels to decrease. This could lead to side effects.
This can include setting an alarm or timer on your phone or downloading a reminder app. The thyroid also makes the hormone triiodothyronine, known as T3 because it has three iodine molecules, but in smaller amounts, explains Cathy Doria-Medina, MD , an endocrinologist with HealthCare Partners Medical Group in Torrance, California.
The pituitary gland at the base of the brain controls hormone production in your body. It makes thyroid-stimulating hormone TSH , which tells the thyroid gland how much T4 and T3 to produce. The TSH level in your blood reveals how much T4 your pituitary gland is asking your thyroid gland to make. If your TSH levels are abnormally high, it could mean you have an underactive thyroid, or hypothyroidism.
Doria-Medina explains. A normal range for TSH in most laboratories is 0. Your doctor may also order a T4 test. Screening for thyroid disease. Ann Intern Med. The aging thyroid. Increased prevalence of elevated serum thyrotropin levels in the elderly. Hueston WJ. Inflammatory thyroid disorders. Otolaryngol Clin North Am. Hay ID. Thyroiditis: a clinical update. Mayo Clin Proc. A disease with many faces. Postgrad Med. Bioequivalence of generic and brand-name levothyroxine products in the treatment of hypothyroidism.
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Endocr Rev. Guide to clinical and preventive services: report of the U. Preventive Services Task Force. Helfand M, Redfern CC. Clinical guideline, part 2. Screening for thyroid disease: an update. American College of Physicians. Guest editor of the series is William J. This content is owned by the AAFP. A person viewing it online may make one printout of the material and may use that printout only for his or her personal, non-commercial reference. This material may not otherwise be downloaded, copied, printed, stored, transmitted or reproduced in any medium, whether now known or later invented, except as authorized in writing by the AAFP.
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