Help! Weight Gain.

[JKN7]

I have been told I have an under active Thyroid and I am having another test next week because the Dr said the level is not high enough to go on medicine. My doctor is aware of my symptoms: 1st 5lb weight gain since September and tiredness. I have also just been diagnosed with Polycystic Ovaries which also has a side affect of weight gain. Over the last six months I really have put on weight, my body shape has changed and I have huge stretchmarks on my stomach (never had this) and all the doctor says is that I need to exercise and change my diet. Is there anything anyone can suggest to me in order to help with weight loss? I've changed my diet and joint the gym but is there anything else? Thank you.

[Marz]

healthunlocked.com/search/p...

These are some of the other posts that have been mentioned connected to PCOS. Sorry I do not know about the condition well enough to comment....except that I have read here many times that it is connected to LOW thyroid hormones.

Could you post your Thyroid results with ranges and someone will comment. I would also ask to have your Thyroid anti-bodies tested - anti-TPO and Anti-Tg along with B12 - Ferritin - Folate - Iron - VitD.

Hope you soon feel better and well done you for changing your diet and joining the gym - don't overdo it

[JKN7 in reply to Marz]

Thank you for your response! My doctor did not even tell me that that the two are connected! Will post results when I get them.

[Marz in reply to JKN7]

You will find there are lots of things your GP will not know about. They cannot know about everything. So its best to read up on the link I posted and learn for yourself. It is the only way to find wellness - and just keep reading and learning..... this site is a good place for information.

[Jackie]

Hi Make sure you have a test for tSH, T4 and Free T3 and vit D. Use on line if GP will not. I use Blue Horizon, there is a finger prick test so all DIY. There is a reduction quote TUK 10

Jackie

[JKN7 in reply to Jackie]

Thank you! I had a hormone test in December which confirmed my vitamin D is low so not sure if I have been tested for the other stuff you suggested! I will get a copy of my results and check, if not I will buy the test myself. My doctor is quite reluctant to do anything so I am so glad I came across this site!

[Jackie in reply to JKN7]

Hi There are other test too but D in particular is hormonal and strongly affects the thyroid.

Jackie

[Glynisrose]

So you have been diagnosed but not given any medication? Thats as bad as no diagnosis!! If you exercise you deplete your T3 which is the active hormone you need in ALL your cells so do be careful. As for weight gain it goes with the territory sorry.

[JKN7 in reply to Glynisrose]

Thank you for your response! Well the doctor said he is going to do another test next week for subclinical hypothyroidism but it is not bad enough for me to go medication. Having Polycystic Ovaries too I am completely exhausted all the time and had put on so much weight! All he said is that I need to sort out my diet and exercise. I will of course do this but I did expect some medication given that both have side affects of weight gain.

[greygoose in reply to JKN7]

Your doctor is wrong, wrong, wrong! It has nothing to do with your diet, it is because you are hypo, therefore your metabolism is very low. The worst thing you can do is go on a low calorie diet. That will just make you more hypo. Of course, if you are eating a lot of sugar and processed foods, cutting them out will be better for you, but whatever you do, don't cut your fats. You need fats to make hormones, and as you are already hormonally challanged, you need all the fat you can get! Eating fat does not make you fat!

As for the gym, as Glynisrose has said, exercising will use up your T3, and as you obviously don't have enough to begin with (otherwise you wouldn't be putting on weight) exercising is just going to make you worse.

Gentle walking, perhaps swimming, plenty of good protein, fresh fruit and veg, and fat, some carbs - and don't skimp on the salt, the adrenals need it. Lots of water, all this will help your general health, but the only thing that is going to make you lose weight is getting your T3 level up to optimal. Your doctor is also wrong to say you aren't bad enough to be treated - why wait until you can't get out of bed? That is just sadistic! It's not your thyroid that isn't bad enough, it's the guide lines that are just plain stupid! Make a nuisance of yourself with your doctor, insisting on treatment (with a smile, of course) until he gives you the hormone replacement you need, just to get rid of you! lol

Hugs, Grey

[JKN7 in reply to greygoose]

Thank you so much for your response! Do you know if there are any vitamins or anything I can take to help my hormone levels? I use to take Agnus Castus when I first came off the contraceptive pill just to make sure everything was balanced, I wonder if I should start taking that again to get the T3 level up.

[greygoose in reply to JKN7]

I'm not an expert, but I doubt Agnus Castus is going to have any effect on your thyroid. Save your money for something more important.

The things that are essential are vit D, vit B12, folate, iron, ferritin and magnesium. Has your doctor tested any of these? If not, ask him to do so. You could supplement vit B12 yourself (but not before getting it tested or you'll skew the results) because you can't over-dose on B vits because they are water-soluable. But remember to take a B complex with it because the Bs all work together.

The rest should be tested first, and results for all of them should be over mid-range - bottom range is not good enough, despite what your doctor might say.

If you are going to supplement folate, make sure it is natural and not the synthetic folic acid.

Plus you need lots and lots of vitamin C, for all sorts of reasons. Adrenals need it, for one thing, and healthy adrenals are needed to utilise thyroid hormone. Vit C doesn't need to be tested, just take it.

It's also good to know why you are hypo. It could be autoimmune - you need antibody tests to know that. It could be iodine deficiency - ask for an iodine test. But don't ever supplement iodine without getting your iodine and selenium tested first because it could do more harm than good if you aren't deficient.

[shaws Administrator]

Try to have your appointment as early as possible as that's when the TSH is highest (it varies throughout the day and GPs are apt to only diagnose by this test).

Unexplained weight gain is one of the common clinical symptoms. He is wrong to tell you to diet and exercise. What he has to do, first and foremost, is to medicate you properly as with hypo everything has slowed down, heart rate, temp etc. our body is struggling, so he has to bring back your metabolism to normal before you can exercise.

T3 is the active hormone (most important hormone) we need to function and exercising reduces it so you have to get onto a decent dose of thyroid hormones T4 (which should converts to sufficient T3). Some find their weight reduces when on optimum medication or they can then diet.

I don't have a link but this is essential information for you and your GP:-

Multiple Ovarian Cysts as

a Major Symptom of Hypothyroidism

The case I describe below is of importance to women with polycystic ovaries. If

they have evidence, such as a high TSH, that conventional clinicians accept as evidence of hypothyroidism, they may fair well. But the TSH is not a valid gauge of a woman's tissue thyroid status. Because of this, she may fair best by adopting self-directed care. At any rate, for women with ovarian cysts, this case is one of extreme importance.

In 2008, doctors at the gynecology department in Gunma, Japan reported the case

of a 21-year-old women with primary hypothyroidism. Her doctor referred her to the

gynecology department because she had abdominal pain and her abdomen was distended up to the level of her navel.

At the gynecology clinic she underwent an abdominal ultrasound and CT scan. These imaging procedures showed multiple cysts on both her right and her left ovary.

The woman's cholesterol level and liver function were increased. She also had a

high level of the muscle enzyme (creatine phosphokinase) that's often high in hypothyroidism. Blood testing also showed that the woman had primary hypothyroidism from autoimmune thyroiditis.

It is noteworthy that the young woman's ovarian cysts completely disappeared soon

after she began thyroid hormone therapy. Other researchers have reported girls with primary hypothyroidism whose main health problems were ovarian cysts or precocious puberty. But this appears to be the first case in which a young adult female had ovarian cysts that resulted from autoimmune-induced hypothyroidism.

The researchers cautioned clinicians: "To avoid inadvertent surgery to remove an ovarian tumor, it is essential that a patient with multiple ovarian cysts and hypothyroidism be properly managed, as the simple replacement of a thyroid hormone could resolvethe ovarian cysts."[1]

Reference:

1. Kubota, K., Itho, M., Kishi, H., et al.: Primary hypothyroidism presenting as

multiple ovarian cysts in an adult woman: a case report. Gynecol. Endocrinol.,

24(10):586-589, 2008.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Give your GP a copy of the above.

[JKN7]

Thank you for your response! Well the doctor said he is going to do another test next week for subclinical hypothyroidism but it is not bad enough for me to go medication. Having Polycystic Ovaries too I am completely exhausted all the time and had put on so much weight! All he said is that I need to sort out my diet and exercise. I will of course do this but I did expect some medication given that both have side affects of weight gain.

[faith63 in reply to JKN7]

Did you not read Shaws response to you? The weight and female problems will clear up only with optimal thyroid hormone replacement and not supplements, diet and exercise.

[Glynisrose]

Dieting and exercise will not work unless you are on the right meds. Exercise depletes T3 which is the active hormone needed by every cell in the body. Go by how you feel not test results as they are mis-leading at best! You are a person not a set of numbers!!

[JKN7 in reply to Glynisrose]

Thank you. Something I probably should of added is that I was on the contraceptive pill up until August 2014. I then started taking Agnus Castus (vitex) to balance my hormones so I do wonder if this is still in my system, hence the results not really showing that I need the medication the doctor would normally prescribed.

[Jazzw]

I'm afraid your doctor is one of many who rigidly stick to lab references instead of looking at the patient. If you want to make yourself feel awful really quickly, go on a low calorie diet and go for a 30 minute run every day...

I am of course being facetious, forgive me. You aren't exercising now because your body knows, even if your doctor doesn't, that it would make you feel very poorly and I bet you aren't even overeating.

See if you can get him to test your thyroid antibodies. If they're present, it's likely you have something called Hashimoto's, and there is evidence to suggest that treating with levothyroxine is beneficial, even if your results come back in normal range, albeit at the wrong end of the range.

Secondly, as others have suggested, see if you can get your blood test as early in the day as possible. I read somewhere the other day that a broken night's sleep can result in your TSH reading higher, so if you get desperate, set an alarm for the middle of the night...

I know it sounds a joke, but I am so weary of reading posts like yours where someone clearly needs medication but is being denied of the opportunity to be well. Hope you get better treatment soon x

[JKN7 in reply to Jazzw]

Thank you for your response! on my doctors appointment is just reads "Subclinical Hypothyroidism" and "Thyroid Peroxidase Abs". Not sure if that will show my antibodies.. sorry I am clueless about all of this.

My test is in the morning too, I have terrible sleeps anyway so hopefully that will help lol.

I had been taking Agnus Castus and only stopped one month ago, do you think that has made an impact on my levels? x

[faith63]

You will not be able to lose weight until you are on thyroid medication. I worked out 7 days a week, watched my diet and gained 30lbs in 3 mos.

[JKN7 in reply to faith63]

Thanks for replying. My TSH was 6.1 in December so I have another test this week so will speak with the doctor regarding medicine.

[faith63 in reply to JKN7]

if the doctor doesn't help you , you may have to self medicate or remain ill.