Having been diagnosed with hypothyroidism back in 2002 and been put on Levothyroxine at varying doses due to increased and decreased TSH levels,I now find myself on 100mcg and losing weight at an alarming rate. I recently saw the practice nurse at my surgery, who couldn't even be bothered to put me on the scales to weigh me and just put on record that I weighed 60kg without actually weighing me. I was weighed on 7th January whilst in hospital and I weighed 55.2kg and I have lost more weight since then, but as I have no scales at home so have no idea what I currently weigh but wouldn't be surprised if I weigh 50kg or less. My question is, is it possible for Hashimotos thyroiditis to make the body go from hypothyroid to hyperthyroidism or it it more likely to be some other much more serious condition like cancer, that's causing the weight loss. Any thoughts or advice would be much appreciated.
Rapid weight loss. : Having been diagnosed with... - Thyroid UK
Rapid weight loss.
Have you noticed any change in heart rate or body temperature? Are your hands shaky? Ie signs of over medication…
I have a high heart rate over 80 normally and am on Propranolol to counteract that, which it occurs to me, may be hiding any hyperthyroidism, and as I suffer from anxiety, it would be difficult to tell if I'm more nervous than normal, but I don't think so but will check my temperature as I do normally feel cold, which is a typical hypo symptom.
I have had periods when my thyroid is being attacked where my heart rate increases substantially and I feel warmer, and during these times I have to reduce my meds. I’ve not lost weight though, but everyone is different.I’d really suggest you seek medical advice as they’ll be able rule out worrying possibilities.
Doctor is halving my dose of levo by having me take 100mcg every other day instead of every day, says a small decrease won't have much of an affect and any effect will take much longer to show and I can't continue losing weight at the the current rate, so need to find out what's going on and quickly.
Don't forget Propranolol stops some T4 to T3 conversion.
Yes, I am aware of this but unfortunately my heartrate is over 100 without it and that's not good for the heart but it may be masking some hyper symptoms, checked my temperature last night and was 37.4 which is a degree or so higher than my normal, but is 36.4 this morning which is about normal, will chart it in the next 2 weeks and see what changes. Still worried about constipation as have suffered with that for 52 years since age of 8. My plan is if I don't go for 2 days to take movicol in evening of second day if haven't been by then, it's not ideal, but having had an anal fissure and the pain was,excruciating I want to try and avoid that at all costs.
Have you ever tried digestive enzymes along with probiotics? My doctor suggested them to me and when I added goat kefir to the mix it helped move things along in my tract.
Hope they pinpoint the source of your weightloss
hi Sobs1962. Since we know your TSH is low and your fT4 is high. and you are loosing weight, and have tachycardia ... then perhaps the sensible thing to do is to just try a slightly lower dose (87.5mcg ?) for a coupe of months and see if the weight loss stops .
I remember you were worried about constipation, so didn't like the idea of reducing ... but you won't know unless you try.
It is always a good idea to take unexplained weight loss seriously and inform the GP.. they have a 2 week cancer pathway for anything that concerns them ..i've been down this path a few times for investigations .. had a CT scan with Contrast dye ,and an endoscopy, and a colonoscopy , and a ultrasound of the kidneys ...all rather worrying and unpleasant for me , and no doubt extremely expensive for the NHS .... and the outcome ? .. nothing at all wrong with me apart from being on slightly too high a dose of Levo. Reduced from 150 mcg to 125mcg ..all sorts of pains and weird symptoms went away and my weigh loss stopped .
They're not going down the slight decrease route unfortunately, they're cutting my dose in half by taking100mcg every other day,so in effect, halving my dose, to see if that slows down my metabolism for the next 2 weeks and if weight loss continues then further investigation will ensue.
Yes, it is possible. That's what Hashi's does, it swings between hypo and false 'hyper'. 
Thanks have spoken to a doctor now and he suspect,I may be overmedicated and has told me to start taking 100mcg every second day,which will half the dose to 50mcg over 7 days and keep it like that for the next 2 weeks, when I have a phone consultation with another doctor from the practice. I'm not entirely happy about that and worry how much more hypo I might become,however as I'm losing weight extremely rapidly, they need to find out if it's my thyroid and have said that if I'm still losingweight in 2 weeks time, then they need to do further investigation to find out the cause. The doctor suspects my thyroid as,my last T4 result was 21.4(10.0-20.0) and was over the last few times it's been tested and my TSH was 0.03 on the last test and has been very low for over a year now. Still worried about getting severely constipated though but my magnesium powder supplement has,been kee.keeping me regular, but don't suppose it would be too bad if I had to take laxatives regularly if it's necessary.
If only they would test the damned FT3! Why don't they realise that testing that can answer a lot of their questions, and they won't have to guess anymore. So stupid.
Completely, agree I think it'll take someone to die or nearly die before they get that message, it's ludicrous.
If doctors did as greygoose suggests above in testing the FT3 it might relieve many patients of their disabling symptoms.
When our dose isn't improving our health, the GPs just don't understand how bad we, the patient, feels with awful symptoms.
Rather than taking a laxative I take Bimuno which is a high fibre prebiotic. So, as well as getting things moving it’s helping my microbiome. Also, I drink lots of water rather than my preferred tea and coffee to get things moving. But everybody is different. I hope halving the Levo helps. I know how horrid a fast heart rate feels. I certainly wish my thyroid would conk out completely instead of occasionally deciding to go mad! 🤞🏻
I would see if I could find another doctor to do a wellness check. They should weigh you then.
The nurse was supposed to weigh me when I saw her last month, but just didn't bother and just put down on my record I was 60kg which is what my weight was a year ago,seems they can't even do the most basic tasks right, all the staff in my practice are the same,they do the absolute minimum it takes to do their jobs and nothing more, you never feel welcome there,like you're just there wasting their time. Planning to switch to another practice soon, I want to feel like they actually care.
I dont blame you for switching. Wow can't even weigh you. That is lazy if you ask me. That's the first place they take me when i.have an appointment. To the scale. Hope you can find a place that cares for you and do their job like they're hired to do. Good luck!!
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