Lived with hypothyroidism for a few years now, generally all in balance take the tablets and forget as everything back to normal.
2yrs back started cycling regularly 3 times a week C19 and lockdown this summer pushed the exercise up and a regular annual blood test in September showed thyroxine toxicity (and being honest I had also noticed some symptoms)
So Dr and I cut back by 25mg.
Again all ok until dark nights and bad weather reduced exercise opportunities, and I am now getting under active symptoms. That is exercise is throwing my levels out.
Any one else had this issue and any tips of dealing with fluctuating balance?
(no more cycling in the cold and rain is not the answer!)
Sort fo imagine next summer will be the same as I do more and need to reduce my dose again until winter...?
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Gc888
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I’ll be interested in the replies. I have Hashimotos and I started running in April. Running is going ok (am on my way to 10k, and at the moment run 2x5k and one 8k per week). But I did wonder about changing intake of T3 and T4. At the moment I stayed the same, but I just don’t know what running does to the thyroid with our conditions.
As you, I will not stop running, as I feel the best I have for a long time. And I still have difficulties loosing weight so I def do not want to stop T3.
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
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)
Is this how you do your tests?
Private tests are available as NHS currently rarely tests Ft3 or thyroid antibodies or all relevant vitamins
I'm not an expert on this but I read somewhere online that you may have to raise the levo in the winter time. Perhaps exercise stimulates more more T4 or more T4/T3 conversion? I'll have an alright active Summer but come Fall and Winter I start dragging. I don't see any reason why thyroid patients shouldn't be able to adjust on their own.
But exercise is something different. So one thing I don’t know is:
- Does exercise put a further burden on the thyroid as it’s trying to draw more energy (which would point to a need to increase the need for T3/4 intake)
Or
- Does exercise somehow lift the metabolism naturally (which would point towards needing less T3/4 intake)
Gc888‘s experience seems to indicate the latter.
But I do realise other complicating issues, e.g. the state of your thyroid, wether you have antibodies (Hashimotos) or the state of your adrenals.
For hypothyroid sufferers this would be good to know.
See attached article - looks like you are correct - my current thoughts
Knowing thyroxine stays in the body for a long time (the reason why we don't take a tablet in the morning and one at night) and we 'supplement' rather than 'dose' the effects of different extended levels of exercise will be apparent i.e. summer v winter
The study found indicate exercise raises levels - what is does not say if intensity of exercise varies levels more stimulus = more thyroxine
Logic says it would & it would explain my own experience.
(however finding the answer that fits a question is not good science!)
I think if your not exhausted (abnormal exhaustion) or starting to experience abnormal amount of body break down your exercise isn’t affecting your thyroid function.
This is a very interesting topic. I feel so much better for exercise (I have a spin bike) but am careful not to over exert myself, as over exercising in the past has made Hashimotos symptoms worse.
Either you will have to take more in winter and less in summer like many other people or you will have to exercise the whole year round ☺. And as for the GP you dont need to tell her. Just reduce the dose yourself for the few summer months. And then go back to the usual dose in winter.
Interesting! But as you say, it really does not go into detail and treats all exercise and all hypo conditions the same.
Some of the readings I have come across, but I am unable to give the references now, and I’m putting it here for discussion as I’m not sure I understand and thus be able to accurately phrase the implications:
Types of exercise:
- Strenuous exercise or HIIT I have read that it tends to be problematic for hypos, I think because it puts pressure on the adrenals?
- low heart rate activity ( staying within a particular zone) I have read tends to be ok, like you can do with jogging, cycling etc
(I use Japanese jogging technique, which is slow running, but over longer distances/durations. I now regularly run 90 min at a time, and as mentioned never felt better)
Type of hypo condition:
- I think the type of hypo condition you have must affect how your body copes with stress.
- So having no thyroid function, or having some natural thyroid function or having Hashis with antibodies where the body attacks it’s own hormones/thyroid (?): I think this must result in different ways the body reacts to stress resulting from exercise.
- And: Hashis thyroid levels fluctuate so much that I was afraid to upset this delicate hormone balance by introducing exercise, but it’s been great so far. Fingers crossed.
That's interesting re:Hiit training. I just read about the benifits of a 20min cardio HIIT/10min muscle building program in 'The Thyroid Solution' by Ridha Arem. I'm not ready to start this kind of thing at the moment, quite happy with my daily qigong, but I do want to get back to some kind of level of fitness and loose a bit of this weight gain eventually... I
Ahh, does that book suggest the opposite then, that HIIT is preferred way of exercising for hypos? It might be another issue that all hypothyroid conditions are thrown into one bag, but from what I read they work all very differently.
I can recommend to give slow running a try. I started at the beginning of the year with Couch to 5k (also supported by a HU forum) and that has been brilliant!
Wow! I don’t have a fitness watch so I just run slow... 😂😂 but it’s really good for you to be able to track impact of training on symptoms. (I might use that to justify getting a Garmin watch for running 😄✔️)💪🏃🏻♀️🚴♀️
OK, so I've re-read the chapter in The Thyroid Solution. Hiit for all thyroid patients...But get levels right first, then work up to it. OK if your a bit hypo but not at all if your Hyper.
Build up to the 20/10 over 6 weeks...Starting with areobic exersize for 3 days a week. 30 mins (5-10mins streaching before and after). Gradually increasing to six days a week adding in muscle workouts 3 days a week.
Also reccomends a heat stress test prior to getting started if over 40 or any history of heart disease.
The Author Ridha Arem says The Protein Boost Diet has all the details. Note, I have not read this, nor followed the advice... I'm just passing on what I have been reading lately!
Rereading all comments here, it might indicate that just Hashimotos sufferers have difficulties with coping with HIIT. (Possibly because a heightening of metabolism possibly heightens amounts of antibodies? ) Just my theory, but might have a search for articles around that.
On level of exercise this was 1 regular, minimum of 40 min every other day, at MHR for 10% of the time. V same time but probably around 60% of MHR (I cant see where I am going in the dark!)
I think tattybogle posted a link to an article about exercise and T3. From memory, it concludes that the more strenuous the exercise the more T3 you need...
I think that from what I have read now - Exercise increases thyroxine production & the only way to find out if you are under or over in the short term is to go on how you are feeling.
Regular say monthly testing via NHS is not an option Private possible but a royal pain and expensive.
As thyroxine stays in the body for some time this is always going to be an inexact science (where you find out if you guessed right around 14 days later)
Resting heart rate may be useful - yes 60bpm may mean you are low or just healthy
But over a 30 day period levels of 'health' should not change as much as indicated by toxicity.
Though the sceptic in me suggests a timed sudoko would make an equally robust indicator!
Perhaps just being aware that it dose effect, of how your feeling and making small changes is the solution?
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