help with weight.

[katbar]

Hi, my daughter has been recently diagnosed with under active which has been missed, she has also had a alergic reaction which put her in hospital, and high doses of steriod, Doctors maintained she would loose the weight after stopping the meds, that has not happened weight is increasing she is very unhappy about it as prior to her health issues she lost 3 stone, all gone back on now, she has only been on levo 50 mg for a short while, we are seeing the Doctor today any advice on what we should ask to help stopping gaining weight, she is considering the Cambridge diet as this worked before but I am concerned this diet is not the way to go just now. Any advice please.

[SeasideSusie Remembering]

katbar Weight loss is unlikely to happen until she is optimally medicated thyroid-wise. Reaching the correct dose takes time, unfortunately.

What should be happening is 6-8 weeks after her diagnosis and starting Levo, she should be re-tested. A dose increase of 25mcg should be given (if indicated) then another re-test 6-8 weeks later and another another increase, etc, until symptoms abate.

The aim of a treated hypo patient is generally for TSH to be 1 or below or wherever it is needed for FT4 and FT3 to be in the upper part of their respective reference ranges. Most doctors dose by TSH alone which is wrong. They say that a suppressed or below range TSH means you are overmedicated, again that is wrong. If FT3 is over range then that means overmedicated, but FT3 generally doesn't get tested.

When your daughter has her blood drawn for thyroid tests, she should book the very first appointment of the morning, fast overnight (water only) and leave off Levo for 24 hours (take after blood draw). This gives the highest possible TSH which is what is needed for a dose increase or to avoid a reduction in dose.

So her aim should now be to get optimally medicated and try not to worry about her weight just now, hopefully once on the correct dose the weight will start to reduce gradually and she can maybe help it then with sensible eating, including good fats into her diet such as butter, coconut oil, etc, no low fat stuff.