Hot flashed & wright gain

[Kam091]

I’ve been on levothyroxine since January 2022. Ever since my symptoms started I have suffered from extreme hot flashes & sweating multiple time’s per hour daily, I’ve not had any respite for nearly 3 years. It’s got so bad that I no longer leave my house because of how bad the hot flashes are. This has caused me to develop skin irritabilities due to the amount that I sweat daily, I’m constantly asking my GP for help but because my blood tests come back normal he doesn’t know what else to do. I’ve always struggled to gain weight until my symtoms started and this has resulted in me gaining a lot of weight going from 8 stone to 13/12 stone. I just can’t loose the weight no matter what I do, I’m more a less starving myself now and sometimes I’ll loose a few pounds but it quickly goes back up, because I’m nearly starving myself it’s effecting my blood sugar levels & that’s making me feel funny. These 2 symptoms are dictating my life and quite frankly making me miserable to the point it’s having a detrimental effect on my mental health. I’m really hoping that someone hear can help me, has anyone got any positive advice?

[Fruitandnutcase]

You are far too young to be feeling like this especially as it is having such a horrible effect on you. I’m not surprised you are feeling miserable.

When your GP says your blood tests are ‘normal’ he probably means they are within the ‘lab range’ which quite frankly is so huge it is difficult not to fit in there somewhere but as you are feeling terrible I’d say your levels are not optimal for you. Do you have a copy of your results along with their ranges that you could post? What tests has your GP done?

How much levo are you taking?

As for starving yourself that is the last thing you want to be doing. You need to get yourself onto a good balanced diet - something like the Mediterranean diet with lots of healthy fats, veg, fish etc with lots of water to drink but please don’t starve yourself as you are finding out it doesn’t work and you feel awful. bbcgoodfood.com/howto/guide...

You could always try a gluten free diet. Your doctor could arrange tests for you but even if you are not coeliac you could still try cutting out gluten anyway.

If you can afford it you could have some private blood tests - I use a Medichecks test that covers the full thyroid plus vitamins, minerals, inflammation and antibiotics. I use their gone fingerprick but you can arrange with them to have a normal blood draw.

Look at the diet ideas and find something tasty and healthy to eat from now on. I’m sure other people will come along with more advice. Good luck though.

[greygoose]

Hi Kam091, welcome to the forum.

By starving yourself you are making yourself more hypo. You need food - and thus calories - to be able to convert T4 (levo) to the active thyroid hormone, T3. It's low T3 that causes symptoms like weight-gain.

And as it's low T3 that is causing the weight-gain, dieting is not going to reverse it. It has very little to do with your diet, it's to do with lowered metabolism and water-retention. And the only way to counter-act that is to optimise your FT3. However, doctors know absolutely nothing about T3, and it's not even tested for - which just goes to show you how ludicrous and illogical thyroid treatment is these days!

I expect your doctor is just testing TSH, isn't he? And if that comes back anywhere within the range, he thinks it's 'normal' and there is no problem. But, to be perfectly frank, GPs don't have a clue about thyroid. They don't understand what TSH is or what it does, even. And most of them don't even know that T3 exists - or if they do they think it's 'dangerous'! lol

So, what you need is private testing:

TSH

FT4

FT3

TPO antibodies

Tg antibodies

vit D

vit B12

folate

ferritin.

Testing the nutrients is essential - especially as you have been starving yourself! - because hypos often have low stomach acid and therefore difficulty in digesting food and absorbing nutrients. And low nutrien levels not only cause symptoms themselves, but also mean that your body cannot use the hormone you're giving it. But, doctors know nothing about nutrients. So, if you can, the best thing you can do is get private testing to see exactly what is going on with your body. Details of private testing here:

thyroiduk.org/testing/priva...

[GC1906]

You are not alone. Im only on 50mg and the symptoms you describe are so familiar. The hot sweats especially. They're awful and embarrassing. Ive gained 4st i was 8 st too. And again im embarrassed. I was given a fasting blood test last weekend. My Thyroid was borderline! What does that mean for me? All these symptoms and a diagnosis that makes zero sense. Its similar to being premenopausal. But im not. And my throat swells. People comment. And at times I can't swallow water. Do you get these too? X

[birkie]

Hi kam091❤️

I've done many experiments coming of the thyroid medication both T4, T3 to see if the side effects go, and apart from a weird buzzing sensation down my legs in to my ankles all other symptoms go.. Gastric ones, headache, sweating, palpitations, metalic taste in my mouth, tremors.

Everytime I go back on the thyroid medication, be it T4 or T3 (although t4 is the worst for me) I develop these side effects again, one being the sweating 🥵... I'm only on 12.5mg but I know the more I increase the worst the side effects will become.

I've been on T4 for 6 days now and my gastric issues are slowly returning, the headaches are back, sitting with a real stinker at the mo with a slight tremor 😡.. But the one that bugs me is the sweating🤷.... Why!!! why am I sweating like I did when I was hyper (graves) ... It can't be that im over medicating myself on 12.5..🤷 But it feels like I'm hyper!!.

I also itch and scratch, and have what I call bubbles underneath my skin on T4, it's very itchy and annoying and worse when sweating, it also feels like salt when it drys🤷.

I hate this drug and to be honest feel better of it... 😔