I am 35 years old and about 5 stone overweight. I was diagnosed Hypothyroid and Coeliac Disease 10 years ago and have had a constant battle with my weight ever since
My question is, has anyone else successfully lost weight with hypothyroidism and if so do you have any advice or tips please
Thank you
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Loopy1985
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My question is, has anyone else successfully lost weight with hypothyroidism and if so do you have any advice or tips please
Weight loss is more likely to be possible when we are optimally medicated and have a good level of FT3. It's low T3 that causes symptoms and makes weight loss difficult.
Do you have your current test results? If you can post them, along with their reference ranges (very important to have the ranges as they vary from lab to lab), we can see if you are optimally medicated. For a full picture we need:
TSH
FT4
FT3
Thyroid antibodies
and because we need optimal nutrient levels for any thyroid hormone to work properly we also need to test
Vit D
B12
Folate
Ferritin
Post any results that you have, and if you don't have all these tests then maybe you could ask your GP to do them (he probably can't get FT3 done, maybe not antibodies, and probably will refuse Vit D), then we have recommended private labs who do home fingerprick tests or venous blood draw at extra cost.
As someone with coeliac and Hashimoto’s low vitamin levels are especially likely
What vitamin supplements are you currently taking
Presumably you have vitamin levels tested at least annually
How much levothyroxine are you currently taking?
Do you always get same brand of levothyroxine?
Low vitamin levels frequently results in poor conversion of Ft4 to Ft3
Absolutely essential to get FULL Thyroid testing
First thing is, do you have any actual blood test results? if not will need to get hold of copies. You are legally entitled to printed copies of your blood test results and ranges.
The best way to get access to current and historic blood test results is to register for online access to your medical record and blood test results
UK GP practices are supposed to offer everyone 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.
Important to see exactly what has been tested and equally important what hasn’t been tested yet
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
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
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