A new blog post by Tania S Smith at Thyroid Patients Canada - which I think might be of considerable interest.
My body composition before and during thyroid therapy
By thyroidpatientsca on December 17, 2021 • ( 0 )
This post is a brief outline of my physical “Thyroid Therapy Transformation,” a glimpse into my personal life and how symptoms and body composition changed in response to changes in thyroid therapy and diet.
You can see my favorite colors are pinks and blues. And it also shows many hairstyle transformations, ha ha!
This post will be supplemented later with more detail on my laboratory results in the latter phases of therapy.
The main points are that
Therapy changes might not change your body as much as you want it to.
My body composition not only reflects thyroid hormone levels, but diet composition (change of eating habits).
Thanks for posting as 'unexplained weight gain' is a common query and the person cannot understand why. as their food intake wasn't changed after being diagnosed and given levo. They may also have trialled dieting which didn't seem to make any difference in weight as their metabolism was probably too low..
The pictures give a true history by photo over 7 years and the 'winner' seems to be T3 in this case.
This information will boost those on the forum who complain about 'unexplained' weight gain and probably told off by the doctor for eating the "wrong foods" when a prescription forT4/T3 or T3 alone may resolve their weight gain. Getting T3 prescribed is another difficult step for many hypo patients.
Thanks for this - I used to be a ‘lat’ but over the years 30’s and 40’s slowly the weight crept on. Was finally diagnosed summer ‘21 but I understand, looking back at my patient access, things were going wrong for at least 10 years. Only one thing on my records was not related to hypothyroidism. Hindsight! I’ve lost a bit of weight and gone GF, but still a way to go . Only on Levothyroxine, but currently feeling better than I have in years. Now focusing on getting my fitness back which ‘fell off a cliff’ when I was put on and left on 25 µg of levothyroxine for 6 months😱. This gives me hope! Slow gains!
By the way initial diagnosis by a guest and fellow hypo! I had to initiate diagnosis by a doctor.
That is a v low dose. I recall reading that minimal doses act as an irritant, think it was 60mcg minimum recommended. Dont take my word but recommend reading up/ taking info to next appt.
Hi joydotOh don’t worry this is historical - I’m on 150 µg of levothyroxine now.
But I can confirm being on 25 µg when you are 5 foot 8 and 15 stone makes you a very poorly bunny.
Shocking to think that the GPs are so ignorant they don’t realise they’re NOT SUPPOSED to be topping you up, they are supposed to be getting you onto a full replacement dose. I had to fight for every dose increased by the way.
I am not one for backing down and I also get my ducks in a row, so I was able to talk on a level with them and show them that actually I had acquired enough knowledge to know more than they did. I can also confirm they don’t like that, but tough they leave you with no choice. 🙄
my saviour was a gp in nz whose son was born without thyroid gland. intensive care did every test possible but thyroid panel (yes, really, that disdainful). at 3 weeks as babe was going for final crash his gp mate flew over from SA & asked if they'd done thyroid panel - blank looks all round. after that he'd had 8 years to learn everything. he instantly pegged my autoimmune (not hypo). he guessed right dose looking at me. one of the many wise comments he made as i prepared to move was THEY WILL TRY BUT DONT LET ANYONE REDUCE YOUR DOSAGE AS YOU AGE. why do they do it? why do they hop up patients on opioids but lowly thyroid medication is a drama too far??? as i pointed out to gp recently if a diabetic put on 100lb fluid in 2 months they'd be all over the place freaking out, but a thyroid patient oh no, all good... and all these endos destroying our lives are diabetes 'specialists' because its a money train.
Yet another shocking example of general gross negligence. Close shave! Lucky to have been saved by a competent (rare as a unicorn) Doctor.
So agree with you! I’ve not even bothered with an endo directly- though the local one did advise my assigned GP she had been using the wrong range when “interpreting my results” (reading off the lab sheet). 😂
I’m reading regularly- other peoples lived experience, scientific papers anything I can get my hands on when I have spare time to read. Sometimes a well written abstract is enough, sometimes I go into the body of text if available for more detail. I’m hoping once hubby and I sell our business I will have more time to study.
Here is how woeful the situation is - I was still hypo, but just about functioning and was still able to read enough to bat around the general issues with GPs (spoke to a different one for each dose increase). It took about 6 weeks- from a standing start in an unfamiliar subject…….. that was not 6 weeks solid- 6 weeks in my spare time. I still know so little! but what does that mean with regards the knowledge of the GPs I have encountered?😱
At one point I had it - was 250 lbs with fluid (normally 140). Thought I was swallowing bugs in night. I’d wake multiple times every night - had no idea it was so serious as good didn’t blink when I mentioned it. Have had a few episodes I know of recently - warned gp as I was swelling that it would start again. This time I have the heart/ breathing issue as well. And pandemic. These “professionals” don’t blink - somehow don’t take it in. Or there isn’t enough money involved.
At 250lb I had bc treatment - dosage based on weight. Oncologist was horrified - said they nearly killed me. For chemo rounds 2-6 they reduced chemicals to 60%. I explained how I’d been taken off thyroid meds & onc was furious - hand delivered letter to endo (clinic in same hospital). 2 months later still nothing so he went back - letter was in his correspondence in tray.
People really don’t understand the level of contempt & disinterest trained medics have for thyroid patients.
O my God! Im sorry that you had to endure such negligence. Such appalling treatment from those that have taken an oath. I complained about sleep issues for over a decade but nobody thought to test me for sleep apnea because I didnt fit the typical appearance. The day I got my results I just burst into tears. Not because i was diagnosed with apnea but it validated the symptoms that i had been experiencing for so many years.
Sorry to hear that you have battled cancer and I pray that your overall health improves.
10years! Outrageous! The lynchpin to any health issues I’ve had is nhs. Outside of the nhs I’ve been perfect. The gps in nz who took me off thyroid meds - guess where they were from/ trained?
Nothing at all...lol..Unfortunately for me I'm non compliant. I tried cpap but couldn't tolerate it. At the moment I'm trying to work on the congestion in my nose so that I can try the nasal cushion instead of a full mask. I recently learnt about a new product that has been fda approved called exciteosa but I'm still waiting on more data to consider taking the plunge. I've thought of getting a mandibular advancement device from a dentist but havent taken the plunge on it yet. Ive tried a cheaper more affordable device called a tongue stabilizer that actually has some really good studies on it. Its effective but the issue is that it's to big for my small mouth and you need to be able to breathe through your nose. Still debating if I should fork out $100 to try the smallest size.
Also hoping if my thyroid becomes optimized that it will reduce the apnea since there is a correlation between the two.
I don't know what to say, I'd like to help but am only on NDT 1.5 grains.no experience of anything else as nhs won't give me anything at all due to rigid protocols .I get NDT from America "off the books" it's Armour. What else do you want to know?
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