Hypothyroidism

[Marianina]

I have been taking Synthroid since 2008. I am still gaining and losing weight. Can't stabilize my weight. Can it be from Hypothyroidism.

[SlowDragon Administrator]

Welcome to the forum

Do you have any recent thyroid and vitamin test results and ranges you can add

How much synthroid (levothyroxine) are you currently taking

Do you 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

Do you know if cause of your hypothyroidism is autoimmune thyroid disease also called Hashimoto’s disease diagnosed by high thyroid antibodies (or by ultrasound scan of thyroid)

Bloods should be retested 6-8 weeks after each dose change or brand change in levothyroxine

For full Thyroid evaluation you need TSH, FT4 and FT3 plus both TPO and TG thyroid antibodies tested.

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

Low vitamin levels are extremely common, especially with autoimmune thyroid disease (Hashimoto’s or Ord’s thyroiditis)

Low vitamin levels common as we get older too

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 and last dose levothyroxine 24 hours before test

This gives highest TSH, lowest FT4 and most consistent results. (Patient to patient tip)

[pennyannie]

Hello Marianne and welcome to the forum :

It might well be but we do need more information to work from before we can offer constructive suggestions and solutions and in order to do that we do need to see some blood test results and ranges so we can base answers on facts rather than guesses.

We all start of here posting a full thyroid blood panel to include TSH, T3, T4, antibodies. inflammation and ferritin, folate, B12 and vitamin D :

In brief T4 - Synthroid is a storage hormone that needs to be converted by your body into T3 which is the active hormone that the body runs on and your body may struggle to convert the T4 into T3 for various reasons, the main ones being, by low vitamins and minerals, inflammation, any physiologic stress ( emotional or physical ), depression, dieting and ageing.

Since the body runs on T3 and not T4 the relationship between these two vital hormones needs to be balanced so you have enough T4 to convert to T3 throughout a 24 hour cycle and aren't left dealing with the disabling symptoms - weight gain being just one of the many health issues associated with hypothyroidism.

[Ibis]

I lose weight when I eat more. I do not find that synthesis affects weight gain. I check my levels every 6 months.