advice please in help to lose weight, under active and only recently diagnosed, put on over three stone in a few months , gaining on 50mg

[lola1956]

[shaws Administrator]

Weight gain is a clinical symptoms of hypothyroidism, and usually it will reduce when on optimum medication.

50mcg is a starting dose but some doctors believe that keeping us within a 'reference range' is the right thing. They take no notice of clinical symptoms (don't appear to know them) and treat with some other medication except an increase in thyroid hormones

Normally you have a blood test and an increase in meds about every 4 to 6 weeks until you feel well and symptoms resolve.

If you haven't had a recent blood test, ask for one and get a print-out from the surgery (you are entitled) complete with the ranges, so that someone can comment upon them. You have to end up knowing more than many doctors about how best to get your health back to near normal.

You have to have enough levothyroxine (T4 - inactive hormone) to convert to sufficient T3 (liothyronine - active hormone) which every single cell in our body needs in order for our metabolism to work and for us to feel well. Everybody's needs are different so are our individual doses of thyroid gland hormones.

[lola1956 in reply to shaws]

i read somewhere that if i lived on 600 calories a day that i could at least lose a couple of stone, would that damage the medication?

[Ansteynomad in reply to lola1956]

600 calories a day would damage you! Please don't even contemplate this!

I started on 75mcg levo on 10 June. After six weeks I went up to 100mcg and I've been on that dose now for five weeks.

Previously, while on T3 only, not properly dosed by an endo who didn't know what he was doing, I had put on 3 stone in two years and had been told by a hospital dietitian that my metabolism was running too slow for me ever to lose any weight! Certainly it seemed clear that nothing worked at that point, calorie counting, 5:2 diet, nothing.

Since starting the levo and being a bit more careful about what I eat, that's all, I have lost 12 lbs. It's a slow process, about a pound a week on average, but finally I feel I am getting there.

I see my GP next week and will be asking for another increase as I still have hypO signs and symptoms. The theory is that we need on average 1.6mcg of levo per kilo of body weight, which would put me at about 112mcg, which is beginning to feel about right.

The biggest cause of continued problems on levo is not taking enough. As the earlier poster says, 50mcg is a starter dose. You probably need an increase before things start to right themselves.

Good luck!

[lola1956 in reply to Ansteynomad]

thing is i am gaining every day just eating normal healthy meals

[Ansteynomad in reply to lola1956]

I was too and I had great difficulty getting this over to the NHS. I was sent for dietary advice because I was gaining steadily, but the dietitian I saw conceded that there was nothing wrong with my diet. I was getting my five a day, I was doing my 10,000 steps, my portion sizes were fine and yet the weight just kept going on, from a 10/12 to a 16/18 in two years. Only someone who has been through this knows how upsetting it is. I’m with you. I know how bad this feels.

I know now that the endo I was seeing hadn’t a clue and I was actually either under-medicated on T3 only or it was for some reason ineffective. I now feel that I am close to a proper replacement dose of levo and as I say, I am watching what I eat (and have swapped my pints of shandy at 200 calories for gin and slimline at 56 calories and ice cream for vanilla yoghurt for example) and the weight is coming off.

Let’s have a look at your results and see where you are. My guess is that you are still under-medicated.

[lola1956 in reply to Ansteynomad]

i get my results on wednesday hopefully, i will ask for print out for all blood tests then post on site, thankyou,i am just feeling so low with it all and it seems a battle to get any where, i cant think clearly enough to even talk properly to my doctor and seem to be dismissed by him all the time as a fat middle aged depressed woman,

[Fruitandnutcase in reply to lola1956]

I know visiting the doctor can be really frustrating. this time last year a female doctor looked at me like i was nuts and said I was 'needing a holiday' a few months later I was on my knees with Graves, thank goodness the next doctor I saw wasn't as dismissive. I now just what you mean that you cant face the battle. it just makes you feel you want to crumble doesn't it.

Can you take someone in with you when you go fir your consultation? Also write a list if questions you want answered and go through them one at a time - just tell him you have a list because you can't remember things without it.

Have you tried cutting out carbohydrates? I lose weight much more easily if I cut out bread, I have one slice of lovely wholemeal every day sometimes two, I don't take butter or spread very often and I never took milk / dairy stuff because I don't like it. If I keep off the bread, cakes and biscuits etc i tend to lose weight. Same if I avoid fizzy - even diet drinks. Unfortunately I'm having problems kicking my Cadbury's Fruit and Nut habit, I keep telling myself fruit and nut doesn't count as part of my five a day but some days I am pretty weak.

Liz x

[lola1956 in reply to Fruitandnutcase]

i am on 600 calories now started 2 days ago as cant stand not being able to walk, my knees hurt so much im in constant pain,

[Jillymo]

Lola 600cals is to low if your feeling lathargic now think how not eating correctly is going to make you feel.

Now your like myself a middle aged woman, at our age our bodys naturaly slow down hence the term middle age spread......on top of that we have the thyroid issues.

Your concentration should be not so much on the wieght gain but feeling better in yourself.....once you feel a little better then you can tackle the wieght.

I was a good looker with a nice figure & turned many a mans head in my time.......my looks now are the least of my worries I just wont to be able to function so I can get through my day.

If & when we get a bit of energy back then we can fight the wieght.....we can have a contest to see who looses the most........

I'm off to have my egg & bacon ! Ok you win. Jillymo x

[penny]

Hi lola

my experience is that you will not be able to lose weight until you are optimally medicated.

Before diagnosis I put on 3 stones over a number of years and could not shift any even with dieting. When I was diagnosed and took NDT I lost 1 stone in a month. Unfortunately the medical profession messed up and I had to take a low dose of T4 - I put on 21lbs in 6 weeks. Even on a high dose of T3 I could not lose weight with 'conventional' diets; I did not put on any weight either, thankfully.

I now take only T3 as I can no longer tolerate T4. Even so, when I was taking some of the 'dodgy' batch of T3 I could not lose any weight on my diet. I was on the 5:2 diet at the time and my weight loss stopped when my T3 medication was too low. As soon as I had a new batch of T3 my weight loss continued as normal.

I have lost 24lbs on the 5:2 diet, the only diet which has worked for me. However, I stress that this is only possible because my dosage of T3 is correct for me.

You will only put a lot of strain on your body if you try and diet when your thyroid hormone levels are defficient.

This is my experience, for what it is worth.

Good luck.

[lolajone in reply to penny]

Hi penny can I ask what dose of t3 you are on? I'm on t3 only on 90mcg at moment it's not making any difference with weight or horrendous swollen legs and ankles. 100 is the max gp will prescribe. Am fed up I'd pinned my hopes on the t3 working

[tegz in reply to lolajone]

Bear in mind that T3 is about 5X more potent than T4 -so is quite a high dose at 90.

I'm 100Kg and if I need T3 [eventually] would be more than happy to start on 10 or even less!

I can't see it being easy, as many don't do T3 without an Endo setting the treatment up.

Fluid retention may be due to something else- but from what I've seen on here, both T4 and T3 can be great or the opposite when it comes to personal reactions to the meds..NDT seems to work sometimes, in the 'bad' cases.

[lola1956]

i am not trying to lose weight to look better, i want to be able to walk again as the weight gain has given me swollen ankles and legs and i have osteoathritus and my knees are very painful and swollen now as well

[penny]

Hi lola

apologies for the delay in replying - Ioverlooked this message.

I currently take 120mcg of T3. This is quite a high dose but not unusual, indeed some on this site take more per day. From time to time I monitor my blood pressure, pulse and temperature just to make sure that I am not over-dosing; although my best measurement is how I feel.

My GP(s) are not particularly happy about my taking T3, let alone what they think may be a fatal dose. (They are not very clued up on T3.) To keep them happy I have taken in my records of bp, pulse, etc., and also given one a copy of Dr Peatfield's book, also copies of some posts by the late, great Dr John Lowe. I have also had a dexa scan to show that my bones are not crumbling and will shortly have an ecg to confirm that my heart is working.

Mostly GPs are scared even more witless by the fear of being sued if they deviate from standard nhs practice.

If you read Dr John Lowe's comments on the internet he talks of some people having tissual resistance to T3 and those people, me included, need to have a supraphysiological dose - that is, more than the body would normally make with a healthy system. Bodies change, however, so one has to be aware of any subtle differences and also monitor temperature, bp and pulse.

Knowledge is power, so do read up all you can on T3. You might like to look at Paul Robinson's book on T3 and his dosing methods.

Usually GPs start people on T4, which is ok for some but aren't that keen on prescribing T3. I started on NDT, which was fine until I was forced by a worldwide shortage of NDT to take T4 - I haven't been the same since; I was so ill. Now I have developed a resistance to conversion and any T4 makes me very unwell, therefore I take T3 only. My TSH is very suppressed as is my T4, as one would expect.

Why has your GP prescribed T3? What did you try before this?