About 6 months ago my medication was raised from 100mcg to 125mcg and I have gained weight. My diet is pretty good and nothing has changed apart from my weight gain other than that I feel better. My aim is to get optimal and lose weight. I am feeling so frustrated with the lack of help from Gp who says I need to lose a bit of weight but is only fixated on my TSH and nothing else.
Here are my recent test results:
TSH 0.13 miu/L
Free T4 12.6 pmol/L
Ferritin 121 ug/L
Vit D 125 nmol/L
B 12 763 ng/L
Folate 18.9 ug/L
HDL cholesterol 1.6 mmol/L
Cholesterol 6.0 mmol/L
Yet again no Free T3 test as Gp won’t do it so will have to get tested again. So frustrated.
If I could understand why I’m gaining weight and what I can do to help myself would be so helpful because my Gp is no help at all.
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Recommended on here that all thyroid blood tests should ideally be done as early as possible in morning and before eating or drinking anything other than water .
Last dose of Levothyroxine 24 hours prior to blood test. (taking delayed dose immediately after blood draw).
This gives highest TSH, lowest FT4 and most consistent results. (Patient to patient tip, best not mentioned to GP or phlebotomist)
If you have an underactive thyroid (hypothyroidism), treatment may be delayed until this problem is treated. This is because having an underactive thyroid can lead to an increased cholesterol level, and treating hypothyroidism may cause your cholesterol level to decrease, without the need for statins. Statins are also more likely to cause muscle damage in people with an underactive thyroid.
Back in the day we were told never to trust the TSH as it doesn’t work for everyone! Some bodies when they realise that thyroid medication is coming from else where shut down their own production! Ok this probably doesn’t happen for many but it still makes me shudder then I see some only get a TSH reading and it’s often impossible to get a FT3 reading of the active hormone!
Have you had your blood sugar and insulin levels checked? I struggled for years even on NDT, and then it was discovered I had insulin resistance. Only when I got that under control was I able to lose weight. It seems insulin resistance is common in hypothyroid people since all the endocrine glands interact and imbalance in one will have a knock on effect on other hormones as well.
High insulin levels will make weight loss impossible as insulin is a fat storing hormone.
I used Berberine with great success. There are many supplements that can help, like gymnema sylvestre, ivy gourd, bitter melon, alpha lipoid acid, chromium, and Ceylon Cinnamon...I chose Berberine because studies had shown it to be as effective as prescription drug Metformin.
I have read medical opinions that with a low carb lifestyle our bodies, when in a healthy state, may require less FT3 to function normally.
But for those of us already on thyroid treatment our aim is to adjust our medication to get our levels to what is optimal for us as an individual, it's what makes us feel well that matters.
Short transcript re thyroid and low carb available here, by Dr Sarah Hallberg:
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Never delay seeking advice or dialling emergency services because of something that you have read on HealthUnlocked.
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