Weight gain and major depression: I recently had... - Thyroid UK

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Weight gain and major depression

Desperate-Suzi profile image
15 Replies

I recently had a thyroid test and my t4 was under. The Gp increased my Levo to 150. I am a mess and have been for years now - I am taking quetiapine and sertraline for the depression but not feeling well and my body has ballooned up I am 3 stone overweight despite following a strict healthy diet and forcing myself to exercise and yoga. I do however find it really difficult to exercise and it drains me. You’ll see from my previous posts I have had private blood testing and take the appropriate vitamins as recommended on here. I am speaking with my psychiatrist on Tuesday and want to ask for t3. He has mentioned it previously but said he didn’t want it to interfere with my thyroxine. I am at the end of this awful road I have been like this for 6 years and tried every antidepressant you can think of . This combo prevents me from being bed ridden but I have no real life.

If my psych won’t give me t3 would I be able to get some info about sourcing it privately from any of you guys.

Many thanks I’m so desperate I hate all this fat I was always a size 10/12 I’m now more like 16/18 and I feel so unhappy xx😟

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Desperate-Suzi profile image
Desperate-Suzi
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15 Replies
Lalatoot profile image
Lalatoot

It isn't fat. It is fluid. It builds up when we are undermedicated.

We also need to eat calories. A restrictive diet reduces conversion from t4 to t3.

Desperate-Suzi profile image
Desperate-Suzi in reply toLalatoot

Thankyou for responding lalafoot. It really does feel like water my stomach reminds me of when I was pregnant just blown up. I’ll look again at my diet thankyou. Do you think I would benefit from t3?

Lalatoot profile image
Lalatoot in reply toDesperate-Suzi

To know if you would benefit from t3 you would need to post thyroid blood results tsh, ft4 and Ft3. Only by looking at them can you judge.

T3 is not a quick or easy fix. It will have taken me a year of combo to adjust my doses to find the optimal levels of ft4 and Ft3. I would advise anyone to ensure they have tried levo thoroughly first and had their ft4 high in range and tsh lower than 1 before looking at t3.

Desperate-Suzi profile image
Desperate-Suzi in reply toLalatoot

Thankyou that’s very useful information

Lalatoot profile image
Lalatoot in reply toDesperate-Suzi

Also you need to know that ssri drugs such as sertraline and citalopram affect the absorption of thyroid medication. This means that if you take this medication you may need a slightly higher dose of levo than you would otherwise.

This is because of the changes ssri meds make to gut function.

SlowDragon profile image
SlowDragonAdministrator

Do you still have high prolactin...have you seen any endocrinologist re this?

Previous post shows you were on Metavive....presumably now back on just levothyroxine?

Do you always get same brand of levothyroxine

You need to get recent FULL thyroid and vitamin testing

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/when also on T3 or NDT or Metavive make sure to take last half or third of daily dose 8-12 hours prior to test, even if this means adjusting time or splitting of dose day before test

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 vitamins including folate (private blood draw required)

medichecks.com/products/thy...

Thriva Thyroid plus antibodies and vitamins By DIY fingerpick test

thriva.co/tests/thyroid-test

Blue Horizon Thyroid Premium Gold includes antibodies, cortisol and vitamins by DIY fingerprick test

bluehorizonbloodtests.co.uk...

If you can get GP to test vitamins and antibodies then cheapest option for just TSH, FT4 and FT3

£29 (via NHS private service ) and 10% off if go on thyroid uk for code

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

monitormyhealth.org.uk/thyr...

Medichecks - JUST vitamin testing including folate - DIY finger prick test

medichecks.com/products/nut...

Medichecks often have special offers, if order on Thursdays

List of hypothyroid symptoms

thyroiduk.org/signs-symptom...

Email Dionne at Thyroid UK for list of recommend thyroid specialist endocrinologists...NHS and Private

tukadmin@thyroiduk.org

Desperate-Suzi profile image
Desperate-Suzi

Thankyou for this information I stopped taking the metavive as I didn’t feel any better but probs didn’t give it time ...

I’ll look into some more private testing and get my recent tests from my GP

Desperate-Suzi profile image
Desperate-Suzi

Slow dragon I don’t have high prolactin anymore it went down when I stopped taking snri effexor. The endo I saw said she thought this had caused the high prolactin levels.

I’ve just looked at my recent thyroid results and are as follows :

Serum Tsh 1.71(0.2-4.2)

Serum free t4 10.1 (11-23)

Below low ref limit

All other tests he did were satisfactory.

SlowDragon profile image
SlowDragonAdministrator in reply toDesperate-Suzi

Ft4 is below range ...was dose increased by 25mcg after this result?

Bloods should be retested 6-8 weeks after each dose change

Aiming for Ft4 at least 60%-75% through range.....ideally Ft3 will be similar....frequently Ft3 is too low

Good vitamin levels help improve conversion of Ft4 to ft3

Please add any vitamin results and ranges if you have any

Desperate-Suzi profile image
Desperate-Suzi in reply toSlowDragon

Hi slow dragon thankyou for your reply

He increased my dose by 25mcg but said nothing of repeating the test. I don’t have any recent vitamin results but am hoping to get some done if my psychiatrist recommends it tomorrow when I talk to him and ask again about t3.

SlowDragon profile image
SlowDragonAdministrator in reply toDesperate-Suzi

Organise retesting thyroid levels in 6-8 weeks

ALWAYS get thyroid tested as early as possible in morning before eating or drinking anything other than water and last dose levothyroxine 24 hours before test

Push for vitamin testing NOW ....or test privately

Batty1 profile image
Batty1 in reply toDesperate-Suzi

I took Cymbalta a while back and this absolutely destroyed my thyroid levels even though I never took them anywhere near my thyroid meds.... I can relate to the weight gain its a horrible monster.

Kisca profile image
Kisca

Hello Suzi....sorry to hear your so unwell at the moment X

I'm on venlafaxine and feel terrible....I see you've been on that....would you mind me asking why you come off it....xx

Desperate-Suzi profile image
Desperate-Suzi in reply toKisca

Hi Kiska I came off it as my prolactin levels soared and I was refd to an endocrinologist who told me that venlafaxine was the reason behind that . Thankyou for your kind words it might be worth seeing a Pvte psychiatrist if your feeling so unwell and they might change your meds until they find something that works for you xx

humanbean profile image
humanbean

If you have never had an iron panel done you can order one from Medichecks :

medichecks.com/iron-tests/i...

You can get 10% off Medichecks tests with the discount code on this link :

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

Sometimes Medichecks cut the cost of an individual test for a short time - Thursdays is a good day to check. You can't combine special offers.

Personal anecdote : I have suffered from low iron all my life. I started learning about iron and ferritin in my 50s and started treating myself. I discovered that improving my iron and ferritin until I got them as close to optimal as possible eliminated my anxiety and reduced my depression.

You might find this video of interest :

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

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