Hi All
Does anyone know the mechanics of weight loss on NDT. I am a white male, height 6.2 (186cm) and was 16st (100kg) at Dec 15 on 125mcg Lavo . Been on NDT/gluten free/dairy free since Jan 16 and am now 13st (85kg). What / why does NDT do this and will it stop. I really dont want to get any lighter.
James
All thyroid hormone replacement works by speeding up your metabolism. If you were hypothyroid that needed to happen for the salmon your overall health. But going GF and DF can also cause weight-loss. The answer is to eat more!(how I would love someone to tell me that!)
Do you have recent blood results? It would be good to check you are not over medicated. And how do you feel in yourself?
Agree you need to know all the other things like how are symptoms - old ones resolved and new ones not appearing - to start to get a picture of whether you have the right dose.
If you are GF, DF then what have you replaced those things with? eg are you covering your salalds and veg in olive oil or coconut oil? Are you getting fats from avos and nuts and seeds (as long as you tolerate those?). Are you replacing breads and pastas with things like plenty of veg, beans and legumes if they suit you, or other carby type foods such as rice, root veggies and sweet potatoes?
Not sure where you are at with this so hope I havent been too patronising.
Paleo is a good thing to look at, if you havent already. Some people like the Bulletproof exec (Dave Asprey) and Fat Burning Man - Abel James has a good podcast. These are guys who are maintaining a heavy weight on their higher fat style of eating. Possibly you know all this already. Doest suit everyone, some people need carbs.
PS, you dont give much info so just saying - is there any chance of diabetes? And you dont have diarhea or any other digestive issues? Take care 
Hi Ruthi. Feeling great 95% of time. Completely GF but when I accidentally get a slight bit (cross contamination) I feel like rubbish for a day. (head ache, yuck tongue, lips). Currently working on getting Folate, B12, and Iron up. They we all bottom of normal range. Since starting project fix vitamins - I have been able to double my NDT and feel I can still go higher (slowly slowly). My Temp is still a little low 36.0 on average. But much better than my temps last year 34C. The only concern I have is my white blood cells were very low prior to starting vitamin project. Having more blood tests at the moment.
I asked about weight because it is obviously an issue for those on NDT. StopThyroidMadness has before and after section with photos and nearly all lost a heap of weight.
james,
Lol ... you have the exact opposite problem of most on this forum ! ! .. I would say it more likely to be the T3 responsible for weight loss than the NDT.
Weight loss could be indicative of too much meds and you switched and added more. Have you tested T3 levels to see where you are at ? ?
Re previous post : Levothyroxin alone doesn't work for many but also other thyroids meds may only work well with optimal nutrients, iron and low thyroid antibodies.
Go slow raising NDT because it can be intolerant of cortisol issues. When cortisol levels are low, it is usual for DHEA-s to raise. Taking Vit C and eating well together with optimising nutrients will help adrenals.
Have you had Vit D tested ? What about thyroid antibodies ? ?
[..low iron ..] ? ? ...Have you had an iron panel done because your ferritin is high and could be indicative of inflammation caused by elevated antibodies.
A low WBC is common in autoimmune disease and shows a low immune system.
If you post all med doses and any test results complete with brackets (numbers in brackets) members will comment.
Hi Radd
I started on NDT Jan 2016 but kept going toxic at about half to one grain perday. I ended up at half a grain in a bottle of water and sipping through the day and returning (TSH 6.5, T3 4.3, T4 12, RT3 245) on blood work. Doing this I was able to get a fairly steady temp of 35-36C and feeling good. However my latest bloods 30.06.16 gave me a scare because my kidney function, chloride and white blood cell count were trending down, while my glucose was trending up.
I knew I needed to get more NDT or Levo into me but could not take it without feeling very poorly. Then I did two things so it's hard to know which is helping the most.
1. read up on vitamin D, B and Iron on this forum and STTM.
When I looked at my numbers while they were within range they were bottom percentiles.
B12 <327> range 170-900
Folate <30> range 7-360
D3 unknown - paid for and took blood test last Friday
D2 Unknown
Iron <18.7> range 5-30
Transferrin <2.7> range 2.0-3.2
Saturation% <28> range 10-45
Ferritin <314> range 30-300 (Inflammation - had it for at least 3 years)
Testosterone <9> range 8-38
DHEA-S <23> range .07-9.4
IgA (Coeliac) <2.9> down from 67 in Jan - GF -fixed something
Anti-thyrogobulin Ab <306> range <116.
2. Found slow release NDT, it's magic stuff, started a week and half ago, could immediately tolerate 1 grain , added extra .1 grains each day. Today I took 1grain at 7am and 1grain at 4pm. Did 1km in the pool for lunch and 40 minutes of weights after dinner. No hyper symptoms yet. Heart rate and temp perfect.
I really want to know how to get my Adrenals and Ferritin sorted out. Look at the crazy DHEA-S and Ferritin and almost invisible Testosterone.
Also has anyone manged to get their Anti-thyrogobulin (thyroid antibodies) down with - diet , drugs, hook worms (sites.google.com/site/bbwor... ?
Daily Vit Supplement
Magnesium (Meta Mag) range of Magnesium's 500-750mg each
B12 1000mg methylcobalamin
B12 injection every month
B (multi B)
D3 Cholecalciferol 1000ug every 2nd-3rd day until I get blood tests back, this I will increase if necessary
Many thanks
James
I wish I could lose weight on NDT. Have been on 1 1/2 grains plus 50mcg levo for 3 months now after being on 125mcg levo for years. I haven't lost anything but I haven't put any on either which is good I suppose but I really need to lose two stone which is just not happening. Can anybody help?
Weight gain without dietary changes is the commonest symptom of being hypo. So it's not surprising that STTM before and after pictures show weight loss.
If a person is otherwise healthy, and has the optimal amount of thyroid hormone in their system their weight should remain healthy. So James, if you feel good as long as you are not glutened then you should check your bloods to make sure you are on the right dose, and if you are, then you just need to eat more.
Tyna, what are your latest blood results? The most likely explanation is that you are under medicated.
Hi there
First re losing weight
I'm on 1.5 grains ndt (higher in winter) and lost around a stone on it. However I plateau'd out. My endo had been suggesting I have a course of metformin to sort out my insulin resistance and I've been taking it since Feb and have lost half a stone so this might be worth looking at.
Re the inability to keep weight on; I can see you're titrating using temp but it might be worth doing some bloods to check levels of ft3, ft3 and tsh as weight loss is a hyper symptom so it's possible that you're over medicated.
Good luck
Haha - same story, almost the same stats as you (age 50 white male) . So I had/have a cooked breakfast daily, 3 eggs, bacon, bag of baby silver-beet, sun dried tomatoes, and a few chunks of cheese all cooked into a omelet, mega soy coffee. Lunch is a full plate of dinner from the previous night, steak, chops, fish potatoes, rice, curry, veggies etc an another mega soy coffee. Dinner is the same again. Dessert is half a block of lindt cooking chocolate or ice cream. Even on this rich diet I went down from 104kg to 83kg. Then I found Testosterone supplements, they are prescribed by my GP and I get a blood test from time to time . I now swing from 87-90kg and completely changed shape, feel better, found my internal navigational compass, lost almost all my anxieties, better organized, less breathless walking stairs, heal better, swim better, can weight training daily instead every few days, old injures don't ache as much, hair grows like crazy, nails and skin are tougher, can hold my bladder overnight, wife happier, sleep 100% better etc etc. But understand once you start on Testosterone supplements you do it for life, your testis stop making it all together.
James
I can not loose weight I'm so confused about everything I am on 125 levo after full thyroid removal feel awful bad pins needles in my hands arms daily worn out
Now arthritis in my knees was so fit and healthy before
What is NDT ?
Hi Rita. Natural Desiccated Thyroid. It's ground up freeze dried pig thyroid. I get mine from chemist on a script. I suffered weight gain and tingling in my hands and feet (neuropathy, or loss of nerve function) and it got worse the more levo I took. Yet I had a bad TSH (7-10). It took me a year to work out NDT. But now I'm pretty happy. I have some joint pain I'm working through it at the moment and don't have the answers yet. I think mine is more tendons than joints and may be to do with eating way too much Baby Spinach (high-oxalate) since going gluten free.
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