Uncaring medical professionals

[redmall]

Having been told by an endocrinologist, that my best option was RAI I submitted myself to it. Not knowing it would lead to obesity, for which I can get no help. One nurse practitioner suggested that I eat less, she was unaware that I eat the bare minimum. This is awful, as I have arthritis throughout my body, most of which is Ade worse due to my weight, yet medical professionals just don't seem to care, in any way shape or form. I now feel, they will only do what is absolutely necessary.

[Lalatoot]

Redmall if you are undermedicated then a lot of the weight gain is likely to be fluid A restrictive diet can make the situation worse. We need calories to convert the t4 in the levothyroxine into the t3 that our body uses. If you don't eat enough your are making your system run inefficiently.

It could be that you are not on the correct dose of levothyroxine. To comment we would need you to share thyroid blood test results.

Vitamin levels need to be optimal too so it might be a good idea to get them checked.

There is help on here if you provide those basic results.

[SlowDragon Administrator]

How much levothyroxine are you currently taking

Do you always get same brand levothyroxine at each prescription

Many people find different brands are not interchangeable

Always take levothyroxine on empty stomach and then nothing apart from water for at least an hour after

What vitamin supplements are you currently taking

Please add most recent thyroid and vitamin results

For full Thyroid evaluation you need TSH, FT4 and FT3 tested.

Also EXTREMELY important to test vitamin D, folate, ferritin and B12 at least once year

Low vitamin levels are extremely common, especially if under medicated or poor conversion of Ft4 to Ft3

Dieting can make conversion of Ft4 to Ft3 worse

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 all relevant vitamins

List of private testing options

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

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

Medichecks Thyroid plus antibodies and vitamins

medichecks.com/products/adv...

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

bluehorizonbloodtests.co.uk...

Thriva Thyroid plus antibodies and vitamins By DIY fingerpick test

thriva.co/tests/thyroid-test

How much do you weigh in kilo

Guidelines on dose by weight is approx 1.6mcg levothyroxine per kilo of your weight

[Fruitandnutcase]

Can’t add anything to what has already been said but I agree with you and really feel for you in your situation. Trouble with doctors is that (in my opinion) they are all only interested in ‘their’ part of your body and don’t look any further. Endocrinologists seem to be very keen to have you having RAI - that gets you off their books and inti the hands of your GP who may or may not be able to help you.Once you have found out your thyroid and vitamin levels etc you will have more of an idea of where to start and you will get lots of good support fr9m the people on here.

If you are overweight ask your GP to refer you to a plan called Second Nature, it is all about healthy eating plus exercise and general wellbeing. I was referred because my blood sugar was high in the pre diabetic range and I had put 9n a lot of weight over the most recent lock down. It is an amazing supportive and life changing course - it won’t do anything directly for your thyroid problems but it might help you to feel better while you try and get your thyroid sorted out.

Good luck with it all, you have come to the right place for help.

[pennyannie]

Hello Redmall :

I too had RAI treatment for Graves Disease back inn 2005 and experienced weight gain and a lot of other health issues which are detailed on my profile page, should you care to look.

In short, I was left disappointed and disillusioned with/by the NHS and in desperation purchased a little laptop, found Elaine Moore's website, purchased her first book entitled Graves Disease - A Practical Guide, and found this forum and started to turn things around for myself in around 2015.

We do need to see a full thyroid blood panel as otherwise it's all a guess which doesn't really help anyone and if your doctor can't run these tests there are private companies some of whom can arrange for a nurse home visit to draw your blood.

You can find details of these companies and everything else " thyroid" on the on Thyroid UK website who are the charity who support this forum.

Once with the results and ranges, start a new post and you will receive considered opinion as to how you too can get better thyroid health, as we are a patient to patient forum, and been there ourselves and just remember not to take your thyroid medication on the day of the blood test, and fast overnight just taking water, having arranged an early as possible morning appointment for the blood draw.

[Batty1]

I talk about this very thing all the time about doctors always assuming your sitting around eating 24/7 and this is the cause of your weight gain and doesn’t matter that your thyroid-less, menopausal doesn’t matter its you your not doing enough and eating too much because your labs look “perfect” ….. I have also been on the other side very thin super fit and always on the go and every time I had joint pains (I have psoriatic arthritis) it’s because I exercise too much and don’t take enough rest days and need to eat a little more.

Doctors know nothing about weight issues and they know even less about hormones and they are trained to blame the patients no matter if your fat or skinny… Sad.

[May72]

I feel for you. I had RAI in 1991 - I wish I had never had it they don't tell you that it makes you go underactive. I played a lot of sport and went to the gym regularly but my weight just kept creeping up. I must admit it is demoralizing, because even reaching 80 I eat very healthily, okay, we all have the odd glitches, but thank goodness my Dr understands. Also, I still have to take thyroxin which I didn't think was necessary after having RAI treatment as the specialist did say to me due to my busy lifestyle I would be tablet free. Hey ho, having a thyroid problem is no fun. Take care.😂