Weight gain

[Ophelia1]

I'd really welcome some advice. I'm 58, female and post menopausal. After several years of symptoms, including exhaustion, cognitive issues, joint pain, numbness tingling, raynauds, stomach pain, chronic constipation etc etc, I was finally found last year to have lowish ANA 1/80 and positive rnp antibodies. I had also been found to have low C3 and C4, low vitamin D, plus neutropenia and I have chronic oral thrush. During the past few years I've also been found to have various gastro issues, such as colon polyps, diverticulosis, small hiatus hernia and gastritis. I'm gluten free now and on a low dairy diet. I'm on no pharma treatment other than Vitamin D daily and Cocodamol when joints are really painful during flares. I've given Hydroxychloroquine several tries but it disagrees with me. I was also diagnosed with anaemia this year and had an iron infusion, which has brought iron levels up. In fact my ferritin had been low for years and GP had been prescribing courses of oral iron for years too, which did nothing much for me, but masked the low iron by making my iron levels seem acceptable. Also, this year, I was found to have H Pylori - I think I'd probably had it for years and this was probably why oral iron had such negligible effect. My concern currently relates to weight gain. During the past three years I've gained three stones in weight and am now 11 stones. No matter what I do, I cannot shift this weight. I cannot help but feel that this weight gain must be related to thyroid. My TSH and T4 were all in the 'normal range' so GP and Endocrinologist would not treat. I took matters into my own hands and purchased T3 and T4 on the internet. I experimented a bit and am currently taking 100mcg of T4 daily. To my delight, I found that the joint pains, raynauds, chronic constipation and most importantly of all the brain fog / cognitive issues disappeared immediately. I am now able to think clearly and find that my flares are less appalling. However, the weight refuses to shift. Can anyone provide any pointers? Many thanks in advance.

[Roarah]

Honestly the only thing that really works for weight loss and then maintaining my weight post 40 for me is simply to eat less and move more. Building back muscles with weights also helps burn fat more efficiently when at rest.

To keep my snacking down I only eat between the hours of 10 am to 6pm. And to keep my exercise regimen consistent I employ a positive mantra while I am exercising. I often repeat in my head while doing cardio “ the more I move, the less I will weigh”.

Were you prescribed T4 or are you using a OTC supplement? If just a supplement eating foods rich in zinc works even better than the untested non regulated nor approved internet supplements which are often from China and contain high levels of actual thyroid hormones, carcinogens and leads. Dosing is dangerous and can often lead to thyroiditis. . Fish, kelp and nuts are great foods for naturally upping T4.

Good luck.

[PMRpro]

On the PMRGCAuk forum many of us have had great success with weight loss even while taking prednisolone at fairly high doses by cutting carbs - drastically. We don't recommend or use keto but cutting processed carbs and added sugar and limiting fruit and root veg we do well. You don't have the pred problem but it may be one approach to try. At least one lady has used the diabetic dietary approach many GP practices use in the pre-diabetes groups - she lost 2st over a summer - it too is relatively low carb and obviously works!! Maybe your GP could refer you to a group?

[Ophelia1 in reply to PMRpro]

Hi PMRpro - Thanks for this. I do eat gluten free bread, gluten free pasta, rice and potatoes, plus oranges and blueberries and a variety of other fruits and veg, however, in all truth, I don't eat huge amounts of them. I would have to admit though that my diet is largely composed of carbs - Breakfast: porridge - Lunch: cup of soup and a couple of slices of bread - Dinner: varies from dal, potato curry, always home made, or cheese on toast, baked potato etc. I'd find it difficult to know how to replace the carbs with nutritious foods. Is there a book you'd advise, or a particular diet?

[PMRpro in reply to Ophelia1]

The gluten-free products MAY be part of the problem - they are incredibly calorie and carb dense.

My particular favourite is this site:

dietdoctor.com/low-carb/foods

and there are lots of recipes and ideas for changing your diet to low carb all over the internet - no charge!! It isn;t a "diet" in the usual sense, it is a changing how you cook and eat to reduce the carbs. I still make sauces but using cream or yoghurt. For example, if I make a cauliflower cheese the sauce is an egg beaten into whole milk Greek yoghurt and some cheese. I use the same topping for lasagne - but instead of pasta I use slice grilled courgettes. I make moussaka with slice grilled aubergines and mince - and the yoghurt topping. You can do it using non-dairy yogs providing you can eat eggs and no doubt there is a vegan answer somewhere!!

[ferhana in reply to PMRpro]

Thank you! I didnt realize gluten free bread and pasta was so dense in calories! I'm gluten free but try to make home made flat breads (because i prefer the taste!). I use a variety of flours such as sorghum, millet, ragi etc

[PMRpro in reply to ferhana]

I have a friend in Germany who was diagnosed as coeliac in his late 50s - and they make their own bread which is quite acceptable using different flours like you but that is very common in Germany anyway. But when I lived in the UK and couldn't eat ordinary wheat without getting a rash that was VERY like dematitis herpetiformis I used gluten-free stuff. Not a problem here as I can eat other grains like spelt and kamut (not a gluten problem, it's the wheat starch as I discovered when I reacted to Juvela's washed wheat starch gluten-free stuff!!!) I doubt homemade gluten-free is anything like as bad as the commercial stuff - they add lord knows what to it to make it taste better! I think gluten-free Jaffa cakes are better than ordinary ones

[Lily77]

In my experience the type of complex, low gluten carbohydrate eaten is important.

[Sashappy]

Speak to your thyroid consultant about your weight issues. Mine prescribed slimming tablets some years ago. I cannot remember the name of them now only that they were blue in colour and worked.