HYPO: Does Caffeine and Alcohol effect the Thyroid? What about T3 production?

HYPO: Does Caffeine and Alcohol effect the Thyroid for us Hypo's? What about T3 production (conversion from T4)?

For me it's 1-2 10oz cups a day of coffee, and beer or wine on the weekends (2 glasses each day).

[AR-10]

Caffeine is not bad, as long as you keep it away from your thyroid med (wait for an hour). You can cheat on coffee intake close to your thyroid medication, but it may alter your dosage slightly. It will affect the absorbtion of the T4 med to some degree if you drink your coffee right away. Some people wait for an hour, some people want their cup-o-joe!

How you take your T4 med is important. Doing it consistantly every day is the key. If you can't wait an hour after taking your thyroid med, wait a half hour, or don't wait at all. But do it the same every day.

Getting as close to the same rate of absorbtion each day as possible is the main thing.

Alcohol doesn't affect anything, although your tolerance for alcohol may dip a bit. You may be a cheap date these days.
:o)

[kitty9309]

The only connection I have been able to find between alcohol and thyoid disease is in alcoholism.


" Decreased free thyroid hormone levels may be a result of heavy alcohol consumption or a trait marker of alcoholism, especially in high-aggressive, early-onset and family history-negative patients. "

http://alcalc.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/41/5/515

Otherwise, unless someone drinks enough to damage the liver, there is no reason why you can't drink. Much of the t4 to t3 conversion takes place in the liver.

[Katatak]

I want to comment on this...

If you have no thyroid function at all and are on full replacement hormones you may want to consult with your Endo/Internal Med doctor before you decide to drink alcohol.  It is my experience that not long after I had my thyroid ablated with I131 and on Synthroid that after a few drinks (nothing strong) it made my blood pressure drop out because my body could no longer break down the alcohol and since my body couldn't produce the hormones it needed (remember Synthroid is a synthetic hormone) the only thing my body knew to do was shut down from trying to overprocess the alcohol.  I wound up with a huge gash on my head when my lights went out and I hit a chair.  I was not and have never been a "drinker" it was a special occassion that I even had a few.  I stopped with even the occassional drink after that happened...it just wasn't worth it.

There was a story about it years after it happened to me, and it ran on tv...some cops show where they found a man in a bathroom sick as a dog in a bar and acting all strange and out of his wits...come to find out he was on Synthroid and his blood pressure did the same as mine...so something to really think about...is it really worth it trouble?

Kat

[stella5349]

Recently I read an article about drinking coffee and taking thyroid medication. The study suggested that is wasn't a good idea to do that - but it suggested not to task the med along with coffee.

On the other hand Kitty may have more information on this - but I found if I drink - about six hours later I feel hyper.

I think it may be the conversion from the alcohol into sugar and possibly not mixing well with my T3/T4 combo meds/

I enjoy my martini's and can really stuff them down if I allow myself too - but after a few episodes the next day of feeling - not hung over - but very hyper with palps - I told myself to slow it down a bit.

[clayplayllc]

I have found that I was not able to drink certain alcohol with the synthroid medications, I myself had a few incidents where I couldnt remember after about 3 glasses of wine or martinis, and I too would feel really sick the following day -not hung over. I have done some Experimenting with different alcohols to see what my body and mind can handle with this disease. I have found a couple of dark beers suit me fine, but champagne seems to be the drink of choice with no crazy side effects. I feel the best thing is to experiment with your body and see what agrees with you when it comes to change with the thyroid condition.
Lina A.