The thyroid is a butterfly-shaped gland nestling at the front base of your neck. It’s small, but has an incredible effect on your systemic health. It’s responsible for enabling various different bodily functions. As such, it’s important, if you have a thyroid condition, to know how long you can go without thyroid medication.

Thyroid medication

There are different thyroid medications depending on whether you have hyperthyroidism or hypothyroidism. We have explained before how you can tell if you may have a thyroid problem.

Most frequently, when people are talking about thyroid medication, they are talking about replacement thyroid hormones because their thyroid doesn’t produce enough (hypothyroidism). There are different types of thyroid medication for hypothyroidism. At International Pharmacy we stock a range of natural thyroid medications which provide both T3 and T4 hormones, as well as the synthetic and commonly prescribed levothyroxine.

If you have hypothyroidism and go without your medication for too long, you may experience symptoms including:

• Fatigue and weakness
• Muscle aches and generalised stiffness and pain
• Weight gain
• Puffiness
• Cold sensitivity
• Dry skin
• Hair loss
• Constipation
• Hoarseness
• Raised cholesterol
• Menstrual problems, including menorrhagia
• Bradycardia (slow heart rate)
• Low mood and depression
• Cognitive problems and poor memory

With hypothyroidism, your body, for whatever reason, isn’t producing enough of the thyroid hormones. Thyroid medications replace these. All thyroid medications for hypothyroidism, whether natural or synthetic, replace the amount of T4 hormone circulating – this is the active thyroid hormone. It may do this by providing T3 (as with synthetic medications) under the premise that the body will convert this to T4, or it may work by delivering T4 and T3 directly.

What happens if you don’t take your thyroid medication?

In reality, with thyroid problems, effects are not usually felt immediately. However, the processes and bodily functions which rely on thyroid hormones will be struggling and soon the symptoms of hypothyroidism will return. Whilst the odd missed dose is unlikely to be problematic, going without your medication for a prolonged period will be troublesome. The effects can be severe and even life-threatening.

If you stop your thyroid medication, you will most likely firstly experience rising fatigue, lethargy, weakness and low mood. As time goes on without the medication, these symptoms get worse, as do others from the list above. Importantly, the thyroid has a systemic purpose and without continuing to take your medication, it may also impact on other conditions you have and worsen your symptoms of them e.g. type 2 diabetes.

It’s also shocking but important to realise that if you have moderate or severe hypothyroidism then stopping your medication puts you at risk of life-threatening complications, such as myxoedema crisis. This leads to whole-body swelling along with skin thickening. You may also experience difficulties breathing, shock, confusion, low sodium, hypothermia and even seizures and coma.

Not taking your thyroid medication for an extended period has also been correlated with increased risk of thyroid cancer.

How long can you go without thyroid medication?

Many people will go for many years without taking thyroid medication before they are diagnosed with hypothyroidism. This can lead you to think it’s safe to go without your thyroid medication for extended periods of time. We strongly urge you to continue taking your thyroid medication as prescribed by your healthcare provider.

Even if you are not overtly experiencing symptoms of hypothyroidism, your entire health system will not be functioning well and optimally and problems are simply a matter of time, and may be serious.

To help understand, it can be useful to look at the example of levothyroxine. This has a half-life of around a week. This is how long it takes for half of the medication to have left your system. This means it takes quite a long time, around a month or more, for your body to be entirely devoid of levothyroxine.  You may experience symptoms quite quickly therefore, or it may take a little longer to present.

As such, it is so important that you follow the prescribed plan with your thyroid medication and discuss any changes with your doctor.

In some countries you may feel that you aren’t being prescribed the thyroid medication that you want, for example, if you are prescribed synthetic T3 medication when you would rather use natural thyroid treatments. However, it is still advisable that you discuss making changes with your doctor so that they can advise you and monitor your symptoms and overall health.

This is especially true as it can sometimes take a little while to find the optimal thyroid medication dose for you. With response to changing it taking some time, it makes sense to identify your optimal dose and stick with it. You should take your optimal dose daily and try to stick to one brand.

Always have the thyroid medication you need

Ensuring you always have a supply of your thyroid medication is essential to your health and wellbeing. At International Pharmacy we have a range of thyroid medications so that you can be sure you’ve always got what you need.