I am extremely swollen and feeling like a balloon. I. have dents after pressing for few seconds and It hurts to touch, especially lower back, bum, belly and thoughts 😔
I had my Levo reduced last December (150 to 125) and it put me at the bottom of the range for both T4 and T3. BUT since I was taking Levo before my tests (was unaware not to do that) in reality I was probably under-range.
Since that time the weight gain has been mad. First I noticed my face being puffy. Then clothes started to feel tighter. Soon after brain fog and fatigue hit me. Along the way I also ended up in hospital, nearly lost my job and got depressed- nothing was giving me joy, I couldn’t even bother to chat to my boyfriend or friends, it felt like so much effort to speak to anyone.
I am on a mend now, moved to NDT, currently week two - 1.5 grain. I also take Vit D, Zinc, Selenium, B Complex.
The weight gain is what really really upsets me... I literally don’t fit in any of my clothes. I used to be size 10 and today I couldn’t squeeze into size 14. So 3 dress sizes up in half a year.
Is it water? I struggle to believe it would only be water... Historically I am a big water retention sufferer and any sodium makes me puff. It’s so unfair I want to cry 😢
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AnnaSo
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I’m a Hashimoto sufferer, diagnosed in 2006. Below are my most recent results on 150 Levo which I know were way too low, especially T3. This was first test I took without meds in the morning. For 10 years I used to take my meds then test and my T4 was always inflated and T3 low leading me to think I had conversion issue.
Since, I increased to 186 for 6 weeks with no effect on symptoms then switched to NDT and slowly feeling better. Felt that adding VitD 7,000U last week helped a lot.
Have you retested now that you've been on NDT for a few weeks? It will be interesting to see what your levels are like now.
Your Vit D should now be at a fairly decent level if you've been taking 7000iu daily since that test. I would repeat the test and make sure you stay within the recommended range of 100-150nmol/L (according to the Vit D Council, the Vit D Society and Grassroots Health).
Do you know about D3's important cofactors needed when taking D3 as recommended by the Vit D Council -
D3 aids absorption of calcium from food and K2-MK7 directs the calcium to bones and teeth where it is needed and away from arteries and soft tissues where it can be deposited and cause problems such as hardening of the arteries, kidney stones, etc.
D3 and K2 are fat soluble so should be taken with the fattiest meal of the day, D3 four hours away from thyroid meds.
Magnesium helps D3 to work. We need Magnesium so that the body utilises D3, it's required to convert Vit D into it's active form. So it's important we ensure we take magnesium when supplementing with D3.
Magnesium comes in different forms, check to see which would suit you best and as it's calming it's best taken in the evening, four hours away from thyroid meds
As you have Hashi's, for best absorption an oral spray is recommended eg BetterYou who do a D3 spray and also do a D3/K2 combined spray.
B12 could be better - according to an extract from the book, "Could it be B12?" by Sally M. Pacholok:
"We believe that the 'normal' serum B12 threshold needs to be raised from 200 pg/ml to at least 450 pg/ml because deficiencies begin to appear in the cerebrospinal fluid below 550".
"For brain and nervous system health and prevention of disease in older adults, serum B12 levels should be maintained near or above 1000 pg/ml."
You could use a sublingual methylcobalamin lozenge 1000mcg daily.
Folate needs to be at least half way through it's range. I would make an effort to take your Thorne Basic B daily - by doing that I raised mine from bottom of range to top of range in 2.5 months by taking 1 daily, I now take a few a week to maintain my level.
You might want to retest zinc at some point as you are supplementing, I believe it should be half way through range and balanced with copper.
Now you've had IVs for ferritin, are you maintaining your level by eating liver and other iron rich foods regularly? Ferritin should be half way through range.
I am planning to retest next week. I’m also curious what the test will show. I always have the nutrients done together with Thyroid panel. I’m in Australia and have private health insurance that covers all the costs so may as well make some use of it ☺️ hope D3 is better! But I could tell the difference in how I feel almost immediately!
I do know about cofactors and I’m taking with K7 and Magnesium 😊 sorry forgot to mention.
I’m not great with Ferritin to be honest, I am vegan so don’t eat liver (although did for a while after IV as my health was in shambles at the time and I would have done about anything to feel better). I might consider eating it once a week if the levels dropped since. I know it works for many that way 😊
Do you think my deficiencies could have something to do with my swelling Susie?
Do you think my deficiencies could have something to do with my swelling Susie?
I'm not sure. I would have thought more to do with the hypothyroidism.
I got my low ferritin up by eating liver. I got lazy and wasn't doing as much cooking so liver went by the wayside and my levels dropped. I raised again with liver, but haven;t had it for some time. I am currently using megafood.com/vitamins-suppl... and buy it from Amazon here in the UK. It has helped raised my ferritin and keeping it stable now with 1 tablet a week. This might be suitable for you as a Vegan so maybe worth a try.
Thank you for the recommendation. It’s funny to see it has beetroot as an ingredient. I was born and raised in Poland and my grandma always said to eat beetroot for blood. My Indian friend told me the other day that in India they say the same for pomegranate. Interesting how they both red ☺️ I believe in grandmas wisdom.
We had bone broth on the menu almost every day too. Lots of fermented veggies, kefir, sourdough bread was the only one available. Now I see all these items in stores at a very expensive price whilst in Poland they cost pennies. It’s a shame we became a society where a big Mac costs less than a cucumber (case in Australia).
I'm glad to hear you are on the mend with NDT. I'm on my 6th week of NDT, on 1 grain, & my body likes it. I feel there is light at the end of the tunnel.
Like you, I can't stand the weight. It upsets me the most when mid cycle & during my cycle, I balloon with water retention & I can feel my bra digging in & rising up & I feel like a fat blob!.....Arghhh! At least I have my 'fat day clothes' to disguise it all.
Other than that it seems to be coming off but very slowly, so will have to sit tight for now whilst I increase my dose.
As Seaside Susie points out, post your results & members can help out & point you in the right direction.
Oh Paula! I feel the same! 😊 It’s only been two weeks for me but I can tell the difference already, let’s hope it stays this way 😊 which NDT are you on? Have you moved from Levo?
Like yourself I turn into balloon mid-cycle onwards. My breast also become so tender it’s so awful 😭
Yes, I knew about that test and it’s certainly the case for me- I can’t pinch my skin on arms or tights, even calves on bad day. Do you think the weight gain could be due to mucus attracting excess water. My skin is weird to touch, not like a normal person (I did test on boyfriend). It’s hard, painful to touch, purple-ish in colour, pressing even for second leaves white mark for good couple seconds, everything leave imprints, underwear, tights, even if I lean on a pillow for a minute my arms would be covered in lines.
I feel so chunky, I really hope it’s not fat but how could all these kilograms be mucin? Or is it mucin + water you recon? I believe I’ve read mucin attracts water.
It's mucin + water. 1 litre of water weighs 1 kilo. So, yes, it very well could be the water causing the extra kilos. It could also be causing the hard 'skin', the indents and the white marks. They are symptoms of water-retention.
😫how do I make this water go away greygoose, I tried everything. Duretics, parsley, dandelion, B6 - it won’t budge. Is it a matter of being optimally medicated, which I haven’t been for years. I don’t even know how I managed to loose weight previously to get down to size 10 (from size 18 when Hashimoto first made me put on weight) with so little T3 over the years. Looks like my luck run out.
Ah, that is the question! I wish I knew the answer. Sometimes it just goes when you're optimally medicated, but sometimes it just comes back again, for no apparent reason. Being optimally medicated is part of it, but there are other factors I know nothing about.
On having read some old posts on mucin a couple of people reported that being on NDT had helped reduce it. So fingers crossed, in time, it'll help us too.
I looked at greygoose YouTube video as I'd not come across mucin, did the pinch test & alas I have it too. Keep taking the tablets as they say 🙂
I’ve read NAC might be helpful, I’m ordering today but it’s a long shot. It’s doesn’t work for all and takes long time to make difference too. Have you ever tried low sodium diet? It helps with my water retention but all else gets worse as adrenals need salt. Catch 22. You just can’t win 😐
I recognise the acronym so will check it out & I've never heard of a low sodium diet but like you understand that adrenals need salt. Thanks for the heads up 😀will investigate.
“In summary, N-acetylcysteine is a precursor to glutathione, and thus can help support the detoxification pathways. In addition, NAC can chelate certain heavy metals such as mercury and arsenic, it reduces inflammation and oxidative stress, disrupts biofilm, can lower homocysteine levels, and also has anti-obesity effects. As for the dosage you should take, I usually recommend 600 to 1,800 mg/day to my patients.”
Thank you for explaining, that was very kind of you. Mercury bit caught my eye as I have a filling over which I tossed & turned about whether or not to remove it. Biofilm, never heard of that either. That's the great thing about this forum there are sooooo... many things you get to find out about. Thanks again 😀 And your right, sometimes you have to give things a go, that's the only way of knowing.
Holy moly this is exactly me. I can't do the skin-pinchy thing, I gained a stone in a month when this all first started, then another stone in another month and that's where I've stuck. I'm so depressed. Saw a new NHS endo a few weeks ago and he's testing for pituitary disease but he *doesn't think I've got it* and said he's not sure he can do anything about the weight, adding, "You're not overweight, are you?" Um, yes.
I'm miserable, cold, exhausted (I have a toddler but even so), feel bloated all the time and can't believe I've already spent 7 years trying to get someone to help me. I got a quote from a functional medicine practitioner but it's £140 a month for 6 months' treatment.
I sympathise with you totally, I'm so sad all the time and just want to be me again.
Sorry to hear you’re also a sufferer 😥 do you have a diagnosed thyroid condition?
I had Hashimotos diagnosed 10 years ago. However I have been under medicated for all these years leaving me with a range of awful hypo symptoms despite medicating. This was as I was taking my meds before all bloods as no one ever told me not to. Because of that my results of T4 were inflated stopping me from reaching the right dose.
Like you I also suffered from bloating, food intolerances, fatigue, cold intolerance (live in Australia and still cold). I blame thyroid for all of these. With the belly, I could have bought a house by now with the money I spent trying to figure why I’m constantly bloated. The rest I just got used to over the time. Weird purple ish skin and water retention was bothering me for years too but could never resolve it despite trying duretics, herbs etc.
The whole skin thing got so much worse when my dose was lowered by my endo who said my symptoms were because I have too much T4. I so wish I didn’t listen!!! As you I gained a stone in a month and then another! I’m so chubby now I hate it. I was size 10 max 12 now I just bought size 16 dress 😭 all happened so quick and there was no stopping.
I am now self medicating as lost all trust in doctors. I lucky persuaded my GP to prescribe NDT so I’m on it now and feeling better but the skin thing and extra weight still here as of now- been only two weeks so probably have to give it time.
Let me know more details about you and I’ll try to help! 🙂 I’d be cautious with functional medicine, naturopaths etc. I spent probably around 2,000 dollars on them by now. None of the cured or helped me that’s for sure if not made me worse. Once I paid 400 dollars for consult and walked out in tears as she was useless. No idea why I even paid. I ended up educating myself, bought tons of books, read blogs, STTM website and also seek help on here. This is a very supportive community and it’s comforting to speak to people who go through the same.
Wow that is expensive. Sorry, I thought I'd replied. I've been studying and reading for years and think I might have to try ndt again. Doctors in the UK generally won't prescribe it. Waiting for pituitary tests but endo has already said he doesn't think I have a pituitary problem and he's not sure he can help with my symptoms. What's the point of him then? I'm on 150mcg levo and it's like I don't take anything. I can't lose weight, I'm tired, low temperature, cold ALL THE TIME, dry skin, sluggish digestion etc. My husband had his thyroid zapped with radiation and has now been made hypo, but if his dose is increased he immediately gets palpitations etc. I could take a bucket load (I once experimented with taking 200mcg for a few days and nothing at all happened) but it makes no difference. I'm really depressed about it as it's been 7 years now.
No worries 🙂 I was exactly the same and also on 150 ☺️ have you ever had antibodies tested? Hashi rules out? I could tell a dose increase on Levo, I went to 186 for 6 weeks as my frees were to low and first days I. Could feel my chest being uncomfortable. Since hypo symptoms never went away I went onto NDT but it’s proving a slow process and I made a mistake too, took to many tablets one day by mistake which set me back 😐
I completely get the depressed feeling, I just wish it all just went away, the fatigue in particular. It’s hard isn’t it, to keep on trying whilst you running out of options...
Have you had all the vitamins etc tested too Kitty?
Hi I had the antibodies tested years ago and they said negative so never tested again. Never had vitamins tested so I take a load of vitamins I researched myself. I've just taken a risk and bought Thyrogold online. We'll see.
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