Just because they tell to you doesn't mean you have to

Taking synthetic thyroid hormone pills are a pain in the neck (literally). Its only a little pill but it comes with all kinds of rules.

• You have to take it one hour before eating or four hours after eating.
• You have to wait at least four hours before taking vitamins, minerals - especially calcium
• You need to take it by itself basically.
• The pills are sensitive to heat so you shouldn't have them shipped to you in summer.

You also can't switch from brand to brand or even to generic. Some people do not respond well to different brands. There are all kinds of issues here. You can read about them here if you really want.

Thirty years ago when I started taking synthetic thyroid, they didn't tell us all these things because they didn't know. Now they keep adding more and more restrictions.

My bottle comes labeled with all of this:

• Take this medicine on an empty stomach. Preferably 1/2 to 1 hour before breakfast.
• Take this medicine with a full glass of water
• Take this medication at least four hours before taking antacids, iron, or vitamin/mineral supplements.
• Take or use this medicine exactly as directed. Do not skip doses or discontinue unless directed by your doctor. Take or use this medicine exactly as directed. Do not skip doses or discontinue unless directed by your doctor. (This last one is written twice in tiny, tiny print. They could have written it once in bigger type.)

I have never understood the full glass of water business for any pills. What are we going to choke? I guess someone probably has so the lawyers got hold of it and said to drink a whole glass of water so I should temper my sarcasm. But it is a little, teeny, tiny pill.

I take my pill (or half pill - my dosage is a full pill every day except Mondays and Fridays where I take half a pill) first thing in the morning and wait an hour before I eat anything. I do have my coffee with it but that's it. (You get big points in the world of synthetic thyroid hormones just for consistency and taking your pill the same way every day.) I take the rest of my giant pile of pills at the end of the day except the one in the middle of the day that I always forget.

But...

I have a friend who doesn't have a thyroid either and she takes all her pills - synthetic thyroid, vitamins and prescriptions -  together during the day when ever she remembers. And she is just fine.

So just because they tell me to, doesn't mean I have to.