Bloating

[Rolo36]

Has anyone experienced extreme bloating since taking levothyroxine and if so does anyone have any solutions please please help. I've been on levothyroxine for over a year and have been bloated ever since

[NatChap]

Do you take magnesium? i found that that helped enormously, it also aids absorption of levo. I take solgar magnesium citrate.

[Rolo36 in reply to NatChap]

Hello, I've just started taking magnesium tablets as I heard this may help but so far nothing's changed. How long does it take to have some effect?

[NatChap in reply to Rolo36]

I can't remember to be honest..I've been taking for well over a year. Probably a couple of weeks. I remember that I had tried allsorts..peppermint, ibs relief medications, digestive enzymes and nothing helped until I tried magnesium.

[Rolo36 in reply to NatChap]

That's exactly the same for me, I've tried so many things but nothing has worked in the slightest. Thank you for your relpy, I will order some

[Rolo36 in reply to NatChap]

Just reading your profile, please tell me what NDT is? And how do you control your ibs? My doctor says I've got ibs but nothing has helped it. I only suffer with a really badly bloated stomach, no other symptoms and have only had this since taking levothyroxine. Is it just the magnesium I need to take?

[shaws Administrator in reply to Rolo36]

Rolo36, there is more than 300+ clinical symptoms of hypothyroidism. Hypo means slow and it also affects our digestion by being too slow and not providing sufficient acid in our stomachs to dissolve food and we then get problems. I'll give you a link and some members take a good Apple Cider Vinegar in water or juice with meals (you only need a large spoonful and it can be an acquired taste. Or you can take Betaine with pepsin tablets with each meal. Excerpt:

The gut-bacteria-thyroid connection

One little known role of the gut bacteria is to assist in converting inactive T4 into the active form of thyroid hormone, T3. About 20 percent of T4 is converted to T3 in the GI tract, in the forms of T3 sulfate (T3S) and triidothyroacetic acid (T3AC). The conversion of T3S and T3AC into active T3 requires an enzyme called intestinal sulfatase.

Where does intestinal sulfatase come from? You guessed it: healthy gut bacteria. Intestinal dysbiosis, an imbalance between pathogenic and beneficial bacteria in the gut, significantly reduces the conversion of T3S and T3AC to T3. This is one reason why people with poor gut function may have thyroid symptoms but normal lab results.

chriskresser.com/the-thyroi...

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

[Rolo36 in reply to shaws]

Thank you but it doesn't make much sense to me. I eat healthily and I don't have any issues going to the toilet, I'm just bloated all the time. The reason I had the thyroid test was because I was loosing lots of weight without any lifestyle or diet changes. I weigh 6st 4lbs so doctor said I could have an over active thyroid but it came back as under active. Surely it's the levothyroxine tablets that have caused this bloating as I never had it before taking these?

[shaws Administrator in reply to Rolo36]

It could be that levothyroxine isn't doing its job by converting to T3. T3 is the active hormone required in all of our receptor cells and T4 (levo) is inactive and its job is to convert to T3. That's all I can think at present.

Ask your doctor to test your Free T4 and Free T3 and I'll give you a link and cursor down the page for FT3. i.e. bloating isn't the same as weight gain.

thyroiduk.org.uk/tuk/testin...

web.archive.org/web/2010103...

[Rolo36 in reply to shaws]

Thank you for your help. To be honest I felt al lot better before I started taking levothyroxine, ever since I've taken it I have terrible migraines, bloated stomach and my periods are virtually non existent. Just feel like coming off it to go back to the old me. Doctor has said to come off it but then I worry I need it. Just don't know what to do for the best

[Angelic69 in reply to Rolo36]

Do you have back pain

[shaws Administrator]

Bloating/swelling is a clinical symptom of hypo and it could mean you aren't on a sufficient dose of hormones.

Request a new blood test if you've not had a recent one and ask the doctor for a Full Thyroid Function test and tell him you shouldn't have bloating as an optimum of hormones would reduce this. TSH, T4, T3, Free T4 and Free T3. He probably wont but if you can afford it you can have them privately from a recommended lab.

The test should be the earliest and fasting although you can drink water. Allow about 24 hours between your last dose and the test and take it afterwards. Also do you take levo everyday first thing on an empty stomach with one full glass of water and wait about an hour before eating? If you've not had a recent B12, Vit D, iron, ferritin and folate ask for these too.

Get a print-out of the results with the ranges and post for comments. Many doctors only look at the TSH result and adjust dose of hormones unnecessarily some times.

By following the procedure above, i.e. early and fasting the TSH is highest then. We should have a TSH of 1 or lower - not somewhere in the range as many wrongly believe.

[puncturedbicycle]

Not sure if by 'bloating' you mean wind, slow digestion or fluid retention, but I had the latter on levo alone and it didn't resolve (even when all my bloods looked ideal to my eye) until I added t3. Within a very short time it just went. I had a big barrel-shaped stomach (I cringe to see my wedding photos) and everything was puffed up full of fluid - arms, hands, legs, ankles, feet, face, everything. I was also still constipated, which must be related. Within days of taking 10mcg t3 both bloating and constipation resolved.

[Rolo36 in reply to puncturedbicycle]

Hello, thanks for the reply. It's literally my stomach, it just completely expands and I look pregnant. I hate it so much. I'm am new to all of this. Please explain what T3 is? Is it another tablet to take as well as the levothyroxine?

[NatChap in reply to Rolo36]

Ndt is natural dessicated thyroid. If you go the thyroid UK website and Stop The Thyroid Madness website there is lots of information on the different kinds of thyroid meds x

[Rolo36 in reply to NatChap]

So if I did NDT I could stop the levothyroxine? What do you take for your thyroid? X

[NatChap in reply to Rolo36]

Yes ndt is just another thyroid replacement but many people including myself find they do better on it due to it containing both t4 and crucially t3. However it is nigh on impossible to get it prescribed so we generally have to buy it ourselves, often from abroad and self medicate.

[puncturedbicycle in reply to Rolo36]

Rolo36 t3 is the thyroid hormone that your levo (t4) should be converted into. Levo is just a storage hormone and over time is coverted to t3 but some people don't convert and for whatever reason some people have no problem converting on paper but symptoms linger. You can add some t3 to your t4 and see if it helps. It is in theory prescription-only and hard to get from doctors but there are ways and means.

[Rolo36 in reply to puncturedbicycle]

Thank you. What do you reccomend taking? Levothyroxine or NDT?

[Rolo36]

Thank you for your reply, please tell me what NDT is?

[jacrjacr]

the pregnant bloat...surely happened to me on t4 only....and weight gain....i had been on compounded t3t 4 and 2 years on synthroid i gained two sizes and look pregnant bloated short ....uggggghhhh....so i have just went on ndt too too...the first thing i noticed as slight less bloated look in legs, face, and stomach not as far out there but i have a ways to go...but still it is hopefully going to get better and better...but i have foot pain that i didnt have on t4 so i am so ready to be off this merry go round....i am on 1.5 nature throid and was on 100 t4

[NatChap in reply to jacrjacr]

Don't try and compare your ndt dose to your levo one. I was on 125 levo (the max my gp would prescribe) but I am currently on 3 grains ndt and may have to increase further.

[jacrjacr in reply to NatChap]

thank you for your reply...that is good to know..!!!!!

do you separate it into two doses..which one do you take.....i am on nature throid.....but wondering if wp thyroid w less fillers is the way to go?bec of foot pain

[NatChap in reply to jacrjacr]

I am also on nature-throid. Can't imagine the foot pain is caused by that to be honest. I take half on waking and half at lunchtime x

[Rolo36 in reply to NatChap]

How do you get nature throid? Through your doctor?

[jacrjacr in reply to Rolo36]

that is where i get it ...dr...

[Rolo36 in reply to jacrjacr]

Okay, every time I have asked my doctor is there anything else I can take other than levothyroxine he says no. So frustrating!!

[jacrjacr in reply to NatChap]

thanks

[jacrjacr in reply to NatChap]

i like taking it twice in morning like that too ...easier to regulate vitamins and food etc.....glad to know you are successful doing that

[puncturedbicycle in reply to jacrjacr]

jacrjacr do you know what your b12 is like? When mine is low my feet ache. Also d deficiency can cause pain (for me it's my hands but can cause foot pain too).

[jacrjacr in reply to puncturedbicycle]

that is interesting...i was taking 5000 and it was high on test so i stopped 3 week b4 feet started to hurt....may try adding and see if that stops it...THANKS......

[puncturedbicycle in reply to jacrjacr]

Is that b12 you mean or d? From what I read you can't OD on b12 so even if you're a little high or in top of range, better to just adjust a little bit (take 3000 instead). If d is high you need to reduce, but unless you were really too high I wouldn't stop entirely. Most of us struggle w d.

[jacrjacr in reply to puncturedbicycle]

yes that was b12 and you are right i shouldnt have stopped taking it...good advice....

should have just lowered it

[puncturedbicycle in reply to jacrjacr]

Only because it can be so awkward to get the levels up. Sometimes you get that odd panic from the doctor when you're over the range - 'Stop taking everything!' etc - but often all you need is a little tweak.

[jacrjacr in reply to puncturedbicycle]

VERY GOOD POINT!!!!

[Angelic69]

Think its caused by low testosterone and diet. Keep away from carb rich diet, try protein rich diet with plenty of seeds look for foods that enhance testosterone. Have you noticed any muscle changes or fatty deposits.

[jacrjacr in reply to Angelic69]

yes i have low normal testosterone and low normal dhea

and it started as soon as i changed to ndt so i wonder if undermedicate so i a going to take 2 grains for a week b4 dr appt next week to see if that makes a difference.......thanks for your input..

[Rolo36]

I've been tested for it and it all came back fine. I've only been bloated since taking levothyroxine so I want to try something else. Will the doctor prescribe WP Throiyd or do you get it yourself? And if so where from? I'm desperate to try something other than levo but the doctor keeps telling me there's nothing else to have