My thoughts on the original article are: it is promising data, but unfortunately, may not relate to your situation. With such a small sample size (12 subjects), it is not generalizable to the general public, and not applicable at face value to your daughter's unique situation (without speaking to an Endocrinologist). This is not to say that the results are faulty or that your daughter taking her medicine at night vs. morning is not something for you and her doctor to consider...but I wonder why there has not been another study to replicate these very interesting findings after 3.5 years? Perhaps there has been attempts at replicating the study, but the results were inconclusive?
The study does have a person with whom you can correspond with (email below).
Correspondence: Arie Berghout, Medisch Centrum Rijnmond Zuid, Locatie Clara, Olympiaweg 350, 3078 HT Rotterdam. Tel./Fax: +31102911911; E-mail: [email protected]. I would be interested in learning if his team has replicated this study (and it is unpublished), or if he is aware of any other researcher's findings on this topic.
I would also ask your endocrinologist, as s/he would likely subscribe to this medical journal, and would be aware of recent findings.
Either way, I can see your motivation to have your daughter take the medicine at night, based on these clinical findings...and I would just confirm that these findings are still accurate, have not been re-evaluated and/or dismissed. Lastly, you may not find a clinical study that relates specifically to your daughter's circumstances, as many of these clinical studies will not include "subjects" who are on other medications, are within a certain age, have other medical conditions, etc.
And, as always, the medical community at its best does not know YOUR daughter as well as YOU do. If you are observing marked improvements with changing the timing of her medicine, please take copious notes as to the differences you observe, and let your doctor know that you are going against "medical advice" and giving her the medication at night. This will help your daughter with her care...and her doctor's may even begin to see benefit in this new regimen.
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It is great to hear back from you.
Regarding your question, asking for my thoughts on the resources you provided, I wanted to let you know that my professional advice is not as a medical doctor, but as a Health Educator. Therefore, I can speak to the credibility and reliability of journal articles regarding the research methodology used, and subsequent limitations, but not regarding the specific medical findings.
1. About.com is a helpful site for health information as a starting place, and to verify such information, it is important to go to the original source...which will always be the medical journal (in this case, journal of Clinical Endocrinology). The AARDA, unfortunately, referenced the same about.com article which I found very strange.
2. The original article can be located at: Nienke, Bolk, et al. (2006). Effects of evening vs morning thyroxine ingestion on serum thyroid hormone profiles in hypothyroid patients. Clinical Endocrinology. Volume 66 Issue 1, Pages 43 - 48. Published Online: 19 Oct 2006, accessed online: 11 October 2009.
My thoughts on the original article are: it is promising data, but unfortunately, may not relate to your situation. With such a small sample size (12 subjects), it is not generalizable to the general public, and not applicable at face value to your daughter's unique situation (without speaking to an Endocrinologist). This is not to say that the results are faulty or that your daughter taking her medicine at night vs. morning is not something for you and her doctor to consider...but I wonder why there has not been another study to replicate these very interesting findings after 3.5 years? Perhaps there has been attempts at replicating the study, but the results were inconclusive?
The study does have a person with whom you can correspond with (email below).
Correspondence: Arie Berghout, Medisch Centrum Rijnmond Zuid, Locatie Clara, Olympiaweg 350, 3078 HT Rotterdam. Tel./Fax: +31102911911; E-mail: [email protected]. I would be interested in learning if his team has replicated this study (and it is unpublished), or if he is aware of any other researcher's findings on this topic.
I would also ask your endocrinologist, as s/he would likely subscribe to this medical journal, and would be aware of recent findings.
Either way, I can see your motivation to have your daughter take the medicine at night, based on these clinical findings...and I would just confirm that these findings are still accurate, have not been re-evaluated and/or dismissed. Lastly, you may not find a clinical study that relates specifically to your daughter's circumstances, as many of these clinical studies will not include "subjects" who are on other medications, are within a certain age, have other medical conditions, etc.
And, as always, the medical community at its best does not know YOUR daughter as well as YOU do. If you are observing marked improvements with changing the timing of her medicine, please take copious notes as to the differences you observe, and let your doctor know that you are going against "medical advice" and giving her the medication at night. This will help your daughter with her care...and her doctor's may even begin to see benefit in this new regimen.
Does this help??
October 11, 2009 - 3:23pmThis Comment
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