hello !

[cumbrianflyer]

my name is dan and im a 45 years young man taking levothyroxine (200mg daily) for the past 4 and a bit years.could any of you lovely people tell me if taking it makes you retain water/weight ? i have totally changed my diet from lots of junk processed sugary tosh to only eating fresh chicken organic fruits and veg ect and drink plenty of water and green tea,whilst i feel much better having lost 24 kgs in 3 months i still look a bit bloated round the middle am i doing ok or am i missing something ? many thanks in advance

[Fruitandnutcase]

Hi Dan, I only took Levo ad part of block and replace fir Graves' disease and as I had lost masses of weight when I was hyper I put it on again once I got back to 'normal' so it probably wasn't anything to do with the Levo.

Have you thought of trying a GF diet? From what people on here have said in the past that seems to give quite good results.

I've been totally GF since September after I acquired yet another autoimmune condition and decided I had to take drastic measures.

You have made quite a lot of dietary changes already so going GF probably wouldn't be that difficult for you. I know I feel better and the bloated middle seems to have disappeared. I've not lost much weight but I'm taking steroids at the moment and according to a friend if I had carried on eating as I used to then I would definitely have gained weight because of them so being GF can probably take the credit for not gaining.

I signed up to a uk coeliac organisation - they send you an amazing manual filled with foods you can buy, but basically if you cook from scratch you have no problems with 'normal' foods, you just have to think about how you are going to thicken sauces etc.

You do need to read labels very carefully and although you can buy GF snack foods - junk food is junk food whether it is GF junk food or otherwise and I've found I no longer snack at all which is why my friend said it's probably the steroids stopping me losing masses of weight - I certainly ought to be losing considering what I don't eat these days - to be honest I ought to be fading away - I haven't had a single bar of chocolate since September!

Good luck, I think you have done amazingly well to have lost that amount of weight already, I just think weight is really difficult to deal with when you have thyroid problems - they totally mess up your metabolism.

I'm sure people who are hypo will come along soon with suggestions.

[cumbrianflyer in reply to Fruitandnutcase]

thankyou very much ! i will have a look at this "gf diet" immediately thankyou so much for being so helpful

[judburke in reply to cumbrianflyer]

Well done on losing the weight! Do you have any symptoms of Coeliac? Bloating can be one of them. Have a look at Coeliac UK for info. If there is a possibility then they recommend not going gluten free until you have had the blood tests.

Some hypos have coeliac too as they are both autoimmune issues.

[humanbean in reply to cumbrianflyer]

"GF" = gluten free

Just in case it isn't obvious...

[shaws Administrator]

Welcome to our forum Dan

The answer to your query is 'yes' if the doctor doesn't give your sufficient levothyroxine for you to have a low or very low TSH. Some doctors believe as long as the TSH is anywhere 'in range' you've got sufficient hormones. Untrue.

If you can get a copy of your blood test results with the ranges and post on a new question if you don't have them to hand and members will respond. You should also have had your Vitamin B12, Vit D, iron, ferritin and folate tested.

When your blood tests are due have the earliest appointment, fast and leave about 24 hours between your last dose of hormones and the blood test. Take levo afterwards. This helps to keep your TSH at higher level which might mean the difference between the GP adjusting levo or not. They should not do so unless the patient has symptoms of overstimulation.

web.archive.org/web/2010032...

thyroiduk.org.uk/tuk/thyroi...

The fact you have lost 24kg so would appear to be on a dose of levo which has raised your metabolism as many members go on a diet and find it extremely difficult to lose weight.

Weight gain is one of the commonest questions we have on the forum.

[cumbrianflyer in reply to shaws]

thankyou very much very helpful

[thyr01d]

Losing 24 kg in 3 months looks brilliant to me, CONGRATULATIONS, and weight loss slows down as we approach our ideal weight.

As for the water retention, I don't know but did notice something about this when reading up on Manganese which linked to hypernatrenia (may have mis-spelt that), you might find an answer there.

[cumbrianflyer in reply to thyr01d]

why thankyou for your kind words i"ll get my bum in gear and check that out !

[jacrjacr]

for me water retention in legs and mid section is huge also and so I have changed from t4 to ndt. I found out that I was not converting the t4 to t3 so I had low normal test results.......which is bad......and it also can be caused by other

low hormones too ....

[greygoose]

Being bloated around the middle can be a sign of low cortisol. Might be an idea to get that checked.

Don't over-do the green tea. It has rather a high level of fluoride, and also has goitrogenic properties. Neither of these will be a problem if you have no thyroid, but if you still rely on your thyroid for some of your hormone, it could have an effect on your iodine up-take. I know it's thought of as a health food, but it does have its down-side, too.