title: [Acute poisoning with levothyroxine in own experience].
abstract: Exposure to thyroid products is common, but acute poisonings in adults are rare. Most cases of severe toxicity are related to prolonged, repeated exposure (either inadvertent or deliberate abuse). There are a few reports of toxicity in children following large (greater than 10 mg) single ingestions. Expect significant toxicity in children and adults who have ingested more than 2 to 4 mg of levothyroxine. However, in comorbid elderly patients, the threshold may be lower. In this paper we present acute overdose of levothyroxine in nine adult patients (aged 21-44 years; mean--30.5 years); ingested doses were from 1.2 mg to 15 mg (mean--6.5 mg). Only in three cases (ingested doses were 5.6; 8.0 and 15 mg) minor and mild clinical symptoms were observed and pharmacological treatment was necessary. No severe symptoms were observed in our group. Asymptomatic clinical course in patients who ingested more than 3 mg of levothyroxine probably was related to coingestion of benzodiazepins, beta-blockers, ACE inhibitors and ethanol. Serum free triiodothyronine (T3) level of 20 pg/ml (normal, 4.1 pg/ml) was reported following an overdose of 15 mg levothyroxine in day five. Normalization was observed in day eleven.
authors.forename: Monika
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sułek
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Groszek
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D000328:Adult; D004347:Drug Interactions; D062787:Drug Overdose / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000209:etiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D013974:Thyroxine / Q000506:poisoning*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D013974:Thyroxine