Can't lose weight since being on thyroxine

Sorry to post again about this but is weight gain common on thyroxine?

I have battled for thyroxine for a long time. I became ill last summer with chronic fatigue and over the winter i was terribly unwell. My tsh kept rising but as it was under 10 my GP wouldn't treat it. In May TSH hit 9.28, FT4 was 15.7 and GP finally agreed I was right and put me on 25mg for 2 months. I had a re test last month and it showed my TSH had come down to 6.8 and FT4 was 17. My GP was very happy and wanted to up it to 50mg but after talking we agreed to try 25mg for another 2 months then re test. I don't want to try a higher dose if FT4 is rising and he agreed if FT4 got too high i could have some hyper type symptoms and having an anxiety disorder I don't need any anxiety being added in the mix. I am only 5ft tall and never need high doses of any drug fortunately. So I am due a retest in about 3 weeks.

It is helping, my crashes are alot less often. My energy can still be a bit low at times but daily I see improvements. At one point I could do nothing but rest, everything was a huge effort where as now I can clean, cook, short trips out but exercise is a HUGE no. At the weekend I got down about my weight so I went outside and did a walking workout for 20 minutes, well Monday and Tuesday I was so ill with a bad headache, low energy and felt very sick. I was in bed all day Monday, first time in a while. So maybe exercise is still something I need to avoid other than restorative yoga which I do a few times a week.

The reason I am down is I was always tiny, I am 5ft tall and all my life I was no more than 6 stone 6lbs. Way too slim I know. At one point i went under 6 stone. So around 80lbs. Then 4 years ago my brother attacked me and I had ptsd and anxiety. I was put on medication to help me sleep and calm my anxiety. The drug I take is small dose but causes weight gain and I gained about 30lbs, which were much needed but I was sitting happy at about 113lbs. Even all over the winter inactive I gained nothing. I went on thyroxine in May and I have gained 8lbs. I can't lose it no matter how clean I eat, I eat very well being a veggie on a low fat diet. I want to exercise but I can't even lose it eating clean. How does thyroxine cause weight gain? I am now sitting at 121lbs and feel so unhappy. I am still within the health weight range but feel I look big and I am frustrated there is nothing I can do as I need the thyroxine. My only other way is to come off the meds for my anxiety as they caused the bulk of the weight gain long before thyroxine but I also need them right now as being chronically ill has flared the anxiety back up and they help me sleep and eat.

I worry I look big and I have a real body image problem as I am so used to being so very thin. My husband tells me i look good but I feel large at 8 stone 11lbs.

Sorry to post again. Will the thyroxine always make me gain weight or should things get better?

[SeasideSusie Remembering]

Hidden When you are on your optimal dose of thyroid meds, your weight should normalise. It may help with your anxiety too (but I can't guarantee that )

You aren't yet on a high enough dose. Your results were FT4: 17.53 (12-22) and TSH: 6.99 (0.27-4.2). There is plenty of room for your FT4 to rise and stay within range and your TSH is still well over range at 6.8.

Why not do as suggested in your last thread, ie instead of increasing to 50mcg, half a 25mcg tablet and take 37.5mcg daily, or alternate 50mcg one day/25mcg the next to average 37.5. This small increase should help and hopefully not cause you any further anxiety.