It seems there is a possibility that proton pump inhibitors may decrease conversion of T4 to T3 in people taking thyroid replacement. Since this is a conversion thing, I don't think it will effect you if you are on cytomel. Proton Pump Inhibitors(PPI's) are Prilosec, Nexium and Aciphex are some of names you might be most familiar with. I didn't find anything regarding thyroid function on the drug sites or medicine.net, but when I searched specifically for "thyroid function and..." or "synthroid and.." I found some interesting articles - here is one http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17669709

Another common class of ulcer treatment meds are the H2 Antagonists - drugs like Tagamet, Pepcid, and Zantac. I didn't find anything specific - but unless trials are done with people who are taking replacement therapy.....

There is another drug, Carafate. It's kind of a spackle for your ulcer. I was told you could wait 2hrs after taking your synthroid by both the pharmacist and a FP doc. Did my own research and found that you need to separate Carafate from Synthroid for 8 hours. So I called my endo's office and asked, but didn't mention what I had found, and sure enough they call me back and say I'm not going to be able to take that 4x/ day, and that I should keep it 8 hours from my synthroid. I opted not to take it. I did try it - hoping it would help even if I took it once a day - it made me so intensely nauseous, that I would rather have the stomach pain. Nice that one of the most common side effects of an ulcer med is nausea and vomiting....

If you have to have meds for ulcer treatment, keep an eye on how you feel, you might need to have your thyroid levels checked more frequently, and you would really want a FT4 (as well as FT3 if you can convince your doc to order it).

If any of you have had any experiences with any of these drugs, either positive or negative, please share.

Thanks,

Cheryl