Weight gain after medication raise

[5219]

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.

[SlowDragon Administrator]

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)

Is this how you do your tests?

What's the range on FT4 ?

12.6 looks like might be low in range

FT4 should be in top third of range

Is cholesterol high in range?

Should drop when Thyroid is correctly treated

[5219 in reply to SlowDragon]

Yes that’s what I do when I have my tests. The FT4 range is 9.0- 19.0

The range for HDL cholesterol is 0.9- 1.8

Think my cholesterol is a bit high as I think it should be below 5.

Do you think there is scope for another Levothyroxine raise?

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to 5219]

Yes

FT4 is only 36% through range

Helpful calculator for working out % through range

chorobytarczycy.eu/kalkulator

But GP will only be looking at low TSH

But TSH is often suppressed on Levothyroxine

Obviously you always need FT3 tested at same time as TSH and FT4

Https://nhs.uk/conditions/statins/c...

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.

[silverfox7]

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!

[Hidden]

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.

[5219 in reply to Hidden]

No I haven’t recently. Probably should get it checked out then.

Thank you

[debsmitch60 in reply to Hidden]

Can I ask how insulin resistance is treated please?

[Hidden in reply to debsmitch60]

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.

[debsmitch60 in reply to Hidden]

Thank-you so much for our reply and information. I haven't been tested but if I thought I may have it, would it be still OK to take the Berberine?

[Hidden in reply to debsmitch60]

Yes, that should not be a problem.

[debsmitch60 in reply to Hidden]

Thank-you so much Cat.

[Lesleyg13 in reply to debsmitch60]

Best way to treat insulin resistance is low carb diet, see dietdoctor.com website.

dietdoctor.com/health/insul...

[Margareta3 in reply to Lesleyg13]

However, low carb diet makes FT3 to go very low! It happened with me.

[Lesleyg13]

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:

dietdoctor.com/low-carb-bad...

[5219 in reply to Lesleyg13]

Thank you all for your help