Levothyroxine

[Suz21]

I was put on 25 mg then 50 mg and now I'm on 75 mg iv bean on these for 4 months and in that time I have put on 5kg I only have 2 slices of brown bread at 6 am then a fruit salad with a zero fat green yogart at 10 .30 and my tea around 4.30 and maybe a banana or some slices off ham rolled up with some baby tomatos if I am hungry . So can you pleas help me as to why I am gaining waght . I did not drink much over Christmas or eat any sweets 😈

[phoenix23002]

Good grief. If that is all you really eat, your body thinks it is starving to death and is hanging onto every calorie for dear life. Plus, except for your yogurt and the ham sporadically, you aren't getting a lot of protein and little, if any, fat. Good fat doesn't effect your insulin levels and makes us feel satisfied.

Protein (and fat) helps to 'buffer' carbohydrates and keeps our blood sugar from spiking. When our blood sugar is high, our body goes into 4-alarm fire mode and ignores everything else until it gets that high blood sugar down and taken care of.

Our brains are the biggest consumers of glucose and needs to be 'fed' about every 45 minutes. When our blood sugar is high, the body tells the brain.. 'sorry, I am busy' and our brain then tells us to go get something to eat... now !!! That is why sometimes, you will have eaten a huge meal but an hour or two later, you find yourself in front of the open fridge, looking for something to eat. Crazy... but that is how it works.

Now... if you have kept your blood sugar down and the brain calls for 'food', the body tells the brain... "left hip (or right thigh.. fat stores), help yourself".

A better breakfast would be 1 - 2 boiled/poached eggs, 1/2 slice of bread with some real butter or ghee or coconut oil on it and even with a little jam. The yogurt WITH FAT is good for a mid-morning (as well as a bedtime) snack. Lunch... add some of those ham slices (about 2- 3 ozs) with that fruit salad. If you add some pecans, walnuts or almonds with the fruit salad, that will give you your fat. Dinner... your ham slices or some turkey slices with the tomatoes, some grapes and/or a salad sounds good and use real dressing with some real fat in it. If you don't like dressing, a slice of cheddar cheese will probably take care of your fat. If you can eat/drink dairy, 2% milk is a perfect stand-alone snack anytime... perfectly balanced with protein, fat and carbs.

A perfect way to break the 'starvation mode' of your body is to eat a little bit ever few hours, again, made up of protein, fat and carbs.

[Baggiebod in reply to phoenix23002]

I totally empathise with the 'eating very little and gaining weight' issue as I am exactly the same. Hypothyroidism is horrible for this! I am relatively new to this and I am just beginning to understand this complicated health issue, but have picked up some excellent information from this wonderful website. When it comes to nutrition and diet for the hypo or hashi sufferer it seems to be completely different from the regular overweight person. I have gleaned that your vitamin and mineral levels play an important role in being able to lose weight - for one thing if some are not optimal, then the medication is not absorbed properly and if the meds are not fully absorbed then your metabolism remains low and losing weight is almost impossible. Fats are not the enemy we are often lead to believe, and although many people who are not Hypo or Hashi sufferers are now advised against cutting out certain food groups such as Carbs, it is often beneficial for Hashi sufferers to go Gluten Free as the gluten can trigger problems. Hopefully another experienced and knowledgeable member like Phoenix (above) can give you further advice. I have found a lovely lady called Greygoose to be excellent in giving advice on this forum.

[Sueirving]

I think you will find a lot of people share the same problem and hopefully you will get the right dosage soon and be a lucky one and fill great and back to normal. However a lot of us are fighting a battle every day with one thing or another.

Did hear some where that bananas are not good for certain people with an under active thyroid but don't quote me until researched that. Have you joined any fb groups I can recommend under active thyroid group that has the purple writing I will put up the link in bit. That is of course u use Facebook.

[Sueirving]

facebook.com/Thyroid-UK-103...

[Sueirving]

thyroiduk.org.uk/tuk/treatm...

Good site for info 😀

[eeng]

Can you post your latest thyroid results (with the ranges in brackets)? Your doctor may be keeping you under medicated.

[Suz21]

Iv had 3 blood tests in total 2 wear under and the 3rd he said was fine no action required. They have never told me the results as such . And I am new to all this I was going to stop taking them until I came across your guys. Just can't cope with the weight gain .

[Pmb57 in reply to Suz21]

In the UK by law, if you ask for a copy of your blood test results your surgery has to comply. My surgery just prints me off a copy for free but I think (not 100% about this) some surgeries may make a charge.

[Marz in reply to Suz21]

Suz21 - thyroiduk.org.uk/tuk/NHS_In...

Information about obtaining your results in the above link

[greygoose]

Suz, you are gaining weight whilst eating nothing because it's nothing to do with what you're eating. It's to do with having low thyroid hormone and, probably, low nutrients - well, they're bound to be low with the small amount you're eating, even if you weren't hypo.

And, in fact, low calorie diets like that can make things worse. Because you need those calories to be able to convert the T4 you are taking (Levo), a storage hormone, into the active hormone, T3. And, if you continue to eat low calorie, you could permenantly affect your ability to convert. It's dangerous.

Eating fat does not make you fat. That's another piece of nonsense that the medical fraternity are still unaware of. The body needs fat. And when you eat low-fat - or no-fat - processed foods, they make up for the lack of fat - i.e. lack of taste - by adding a lot of sugar and chemicals. Not good at all!

What you need to do is optimise your T3, but I bet your doctor doesn't even test it, does he. It would be a really good idea - and an investment in your health - if you can get it done privately, to give us an idea what is going on. It could be that you can't convert the T4 into T3, but to know that, we would need to see an FT4 and FT3 done at the same time.

So, go back to your doctor and ask him to test your...

TSH

FT4

FT3

(These three are normal thyroid tests)

TPOab

TgAB

(These are antibodies to see if you have Hashi's)

vit D

vit B12

folat

iron

ferritin

zinc

(vitamins and minerals that need to be optimal for you to be able to convert and absorb the thyroid hormone)

He might not agree to do them all, but get what you can.

When you go for you next test, make the appointment early in the morning - before 9 o'clock, but 8 o'clock if you can. Don't eat or drink anything but water - and do drink a normal amount of water, because you Don't want to be dehydrated. And leave 24 hours between your last dose of Levo and the test.

Then, when you see your doctor to talk about the tests, ask him for a print-out. Get into the habit of doing that, because it is the first step towards wellness!

Take care.