Weight loss

[Pig4u]

Has anyone answers for losing weight with underactive thyroid ? I do not eat anything sweet on the whole and stick to a regime of 1500 calories and even less daily . I exercise garden ( hard ! ) and lift weights and use an exercise bike

[SeasideSusie Remembering]

Pig4u

Weight loss is not easy unless you are optimally medicated with a good level of FT3, it's low T3 that causes symptoms and makes weight loss difficult. Also, hard exercise can deplete our T3 so it's best to just do gentle exercise until you know you have optimal levels.

Do you have any current test results you can post, with their reference ranges so that we can help? Ideally you need:

TSH

FT4

FT3

Thyroid antibodies

and because we need optimal nutrient levels for thyroid hormone to work properly and good conversion of T4 to T3 the following also need testing:

Vit D

B12

Folate

Ferritin

Chances are you wont get them all done with your GP, in which case you may wish to do a private test with one of our recommended labs, which hundreds of us here do. If so, then the recommended test bundle is

Medichecks Thyroid Plus ULTRAVIT medichecks.com/thyroid-func... (use THYROIDUK for 10% discount for any test not on special offer)

or

Blue Horizon Thyroid PREMIUM GOLD bluehorizonbloodtests.co.uk...

[SlowDragon Administrator]

Previous post shows you are under medicated and TSH of 10 ...on 75mcg levothyroxine

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

First step is to get FULL thyroid and vitamin testing

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 you have autoimmune thyroid disease (Hashimoto's) diagnosed by raised Thyroid antibodies

Ask GP to test vitamin levels (and thyroid antibodies if not been tested yet)

You may need to get full Thyroid testing privately as NHS refuses to test TG antibodies if TPO antibodies are negative

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?

Private tests are available as NHS currently rarely tests Ft3 or thyroid antibodies or all relevant vitamins

List of private testing options

thyroiduk.org/getting-a-dia...

Medichecks Thyroid plus ultra vitamin

medichecks.com/products/thy...

Medichecks often have special offers, if order on Thursdays

Thriva Thyroid plus vitamins

thriva.co/tests/thyroid-test

Blue Horizon Thyroid Premium Gold includes vitamins

bluehorizonbloodtests.co.uk...

Low vitamin levels are EXTREMELY common when under medicated, or especially with autoimmune thyroid disease

What vitamin supplements are you currently taking?

Many people find Levothyroxine brands are not interchangeable.

Once you find a brand that suits you, best to make sure to only get that one at each prescription.

Watch out for brand change when dose is increased or at repeat prescription.

Many patients do NOT get on well with Teva brand of Levothyroxine. Teva contains mannitol as a filler, which seems to be possible cause of problems. Teva is the only brand that makes 75mcg tablet. So if avoiding Teva for 75mcg dose ask for 25mcg to add to 50mcg or just extra 50mcg tablets to cut in half

Teva and Aristo are the only lactose free tablets

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

Teva poll

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

No other medication or supplements at same as Levothyroxine, leave at least 2 hour gap.

Some like iron, calcium, magnesium, HRT, omeprazole or vitamin D should be four hours away

(Time gap doesn't apply to Vitamin D mouth spray)

Come back with new post once you get results

[shaws Administrator]

Unexplained weight gain when hypothyroid cannot be resolved as most doctors are unaware that hypothyroidism is the cause - probably due to being on an insufficient dose of thyroid hormones and they rarely check the Free T4 or Free T3 . If our T3 is low, our metabolism isn't raised sufficiently and weight can be gained.

stopthethyroidmadness.com/h...

If your TSH was 10 - you're on an insufficient dose as the aim is a TSH of 1 or lower. Unfortunately few doctors are aware of this simple reason as they seem to assume if the TSH is 'somewhere in the range' that we're on a sufficient dose.

The aim is a TSH of 1 or lower and a Free T4 and Free T3 in the upper part of the ranges.

stopthethyroidmadness.com/h...

[SlowDragon Administrator]

Also ....guidelines by weight might help push for dose increase

Even if we don’t start on full replacement dose, most people need to increase dose slowly upwards in 25mcg steps (retesting 6-8 weeks after each increase) until on full replacement dose

NICE guidelines on full replacement dose

nice.org.uk/guidance/ng145/...

1.3.6

Consider starting levothyroxine at a dosage of 1.6 micrograms per kilogram of body weight per day (rounded to the nearest 25 micrograms) for adults under 65 with primary hypothyroidism and no history of cardiovascular disease.

gp-update.co.uk/Latest-Upda...

BMJ also clear on dose required

bmj.com/content/368/bmj.m41

bestpractice.bmj.com/topics...