Juice plus diet with under active thyroid??

[thompsond29]

Hi there, anyone got any advice about losing weight with under active thyroid? Someone suggested juice plus diet but not sure if that’s safe or recommended! My weight has ballooned in the last year, I need to do something

[humanbean]

Have you considered eating a low carb or ketogenic diet?

dietdoctor.com/

Or a Paleo/Primal diet?

marksdailyapple.com/

They have the advantage of allowing people to eat real food and no starvation or odd eating habits are required for either.

Both websites have articles on the thyroid that are worth reading.

[thompsond29 in reply to humanbean]

Thankyou

[SeasideSusie Remembering]

thompsond29

When we are hypothyroid and find it difficult to lose weight, we need to see if we are optimally medicated. Testing TSH, FT4 and FT3 all at the same time will tell us that. Low T3 causes symptoms and makes weight loss difficult, and if that is the case then no diet is going to be effective in the long term.

If you post your latest results, with reference ranges, we can comment further.

For a full picture it's best to test

TSH

FT4

FT3

Thyroid antibodies

Vit D

B12

Folate

Ferritin

[thompsond29 in reply to SeasideSusie]

Thankyou I’m due for my yearly thyroid check on 14th May so hopefully will know better then

[SeasideSusie Remembering in reply to thompsond29]

When booking thyroid tests, we advise:

* Book the first appointment of the morning. This is because TSH is highest early morning and lowers throughout the day. If we are looking for a diagnosis of hypothyroidism, or looking for an increase in dose or to avoid a reduction then we need TSH to be as high as possible.

* Fast overnight - have your evening meal/supper as normal the night before but delay breakfast on the day of the test and drink water only until after the blood draw. Eating may lower TSH, caffeine containing drinks affect TSH.

* If taking thyroid hormone replacement, leave off Levo for 24 hours before blood draw, if taking NDT or T3 then leave that off for 8-12 hours. Take your thyroid meds after the blood draw. Taking your dose too close to the blood draw will give false high results, leaving any longer gap will give false low results.

* If you take Biotin or a B Complex containing Biotin (B7), leave this off for 7 days before any blood test. This is because if Biotin is used in the testing procedure it will give false results (Medichecks definitely use Biotin, they have confirmed this and the amount of time to leave the supplement off).

These are patient to patient tips which we don't discuss with doctors or phlebotomists.

[SlowDragon Administrator]

You need to be on correct level of Levothyroxine

Are you still only on 75mcg Levothyroxine?

This is low dose and you are likely under medicated

For full Thyroid evaluation you need TSH, FT4 and FT3 plus both TPO and TG thyroid antibodies tested. Also extremely important to test vitamin D, folate, ferritin and B12

Low vitamin levels are extremely common, especially if Thyroid antibodies are raised

Recommended on here that all thyroid blood tests should ideally be done as early as possible in morning and fasting. This gives highest TSH, lowest FT4 and most consistent results. (Patient to patient tip, best not mentioned to GP or phlebotomist)

Last Levothyroxine dose should be 24 hours prior to test, (taking delayed dose immediately after blood draw).

Is this how you do your tests?

Private tests are available. Thousands on here forced to do this as NHS often refuses to test FT3 or antibodies or all vitamins

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

Medichecks Thyroid plus ultra vitamin or Blue Horizon Thyroid plus eleven are the most popular choice. DIY finger prick test or option to pay extra for private blood draw. Both companies often have special offers, Medichecks usually have offers on Thursdays, Blue Horizon its more random

Medichecks currently have an offer on until end of May - 20% off

thyroiduk.org.uk/index.html

If antibodies are high this is Hashimoto's, (also known by medics here in UK more commonly as autoimmune thyroid disease).

About 90% of all hypothyroidism in Uk is due to Hashimoto's.

Low vitamins are especially common with Hashimoto's. Food intolerances are very common too, especially gluten. So it's important to get TPO and TG thyroid antibodies tested at least once .

Link about thyroid blood tests

thyroiduk.org/tuk/testing/t...

Link about antibodies and Hashimoto's

thyroiduk.org.uk/tuk/about_...

thyroiduk.org.uk/tuk/about_...

List of hypothyroid symptoms

thyroiduk.org.uk/tuk/about_...

NHS guidelines on Levothyroxine including that most patients need somewhere between 100mcg and 200mcg Levothyroxine. p

Also what foods to avoid (note recommended to avoid calcium rich foods at least four hours away from Levo)

nhs.uk/medicines/levothyrox...

The aim of Levothyroxine is to increase the dose slowly in 25mcg steps upwards until TSH is under 2 (many need TSH under one) and FT4 in top third of range and FT3 at least half way in range

All four vitamins need to be regularly tested and frequently need supplementing to maintain optimal levels

NICE guidelines

cks.nice.org.uk/hypothyroid...

The initial recommended dose is:

For most people: 50–100 micrograms once daily, preferably taken at least 30 minutes before breakfast, caffeine-containing liquids (such as coffee or tea), or other drugs.

This should be adjusted in increments of 25–50 micrograms every 3–4 weeks according to response.

The usual maintenance dose is 100–200 micrograms once daily.

Add any blood test recent results and ranges if you have them

You are legally entitled to printed copies of your blood test results and ranges.

UK GP practices are supposed to offer online access for blood test results. Ring and ask if this is available and apply to do so if possible, if it is you may need "enhanced access" to see blood results.

In reality many GP surgeries do not have blood test results online yet

Alternatively ring receptionist and request printed copies of results. Allow couple of days and then go and pick up.

[thompsond29]

I’m on 150mg per day

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to thompsond29]

Try to get vitamin levels tested as well as FT4 and FT3

NHS rarely tests FT3

You may need to get private testing, like thousands of others on here

Poor conversion of FT4 to FT3 is common especially if vitamins are low and/or you have Hashimoto's

Remember to stop any supplements with any B vitamins in a week before all blood tests

Biotin in B vitamins can falsely affect test results

Iron supplements should stop a week before too