struggles

[stichangel]

it took a while to be diagnosed with underactive thyroid and i have struggled with my weight ever since and its painful i hate it , nothing i do shifts the weight is there anyone out there that can advise

[SlowDragon Administrator]

welcome to the forum

How much levothyroxine are you taking and how long on this dose

Can you add your most recent thyroid and vitamin results

Presumably you have autoimmune thyroid disease

Which brand of levothyroxine are you taking Your hypothyroidism

Do you always get same brand at each prescription

What vitamin supplements are you taking

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 tested

Also both TPO and TG thyroid antibodies tested at least once to confirm your hypothyroidism is autoimmune

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

Are you on gluten free and/or dairy free diet

Recommended that all thyroid blood tests early morning, ideally just before 9am, only drink water between waking and test and last dose levothyroxine 24 hours before test

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

Private tests are available as NHS currently rarely tests Ft3 or all relevant vitamins

Post all about what time of day to test

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

Testing options and includes money off codes for private testing

thyroiduk.org/testing/

Medichecks Thyroid plus BOTH TPO and TG antibodies and vitamins

medichecks.com/products/adv...

Blue Horizon Thyroid Premium Gold includes BOTH TPO and TG antibodies, cortisol and vitamins

bluehorizonbloodtests.co.uk...

Medichecks and BH also offer private blood draw at clinic near you, or private nurse to your own home…..for an extra fee

Only do private testing early Monday or Tuesday morning.

Tips on how to do DIY finger prick test

support.medichecks.com/hc/e...

If you normally take levothyroxine at bedtime/in night ...adjust timings as follows prior to blood test

If testing Monday morning, delay Saturday evening dose levothyroxine until Sunday morning. Delay Sunday evening dose levothyroxine until after blood test on Monday morning. Take Monday evening dose levothyroxine as per normal

Monitor My Health (NHS private test service) offer thyroid and vitamin testing, plus cholesterol and HBA1C for £65

(Doesn’t include thyroid antibodies)

monitormyhealth.org.uk/full...

10% off code here

thyroiduk.org/testing/priva...

IMPORTANT......If you are taking vitamin B complex, or any supplements containing biotin, remember to stop these 3-5 days before ALL BLOOD TESTS , as biotin can falsely affect test results

endocrinenews.endocrine.org...

In days before blood test, when you stop vitamin B complex, you might want to consider taking a separate folate supplement (eg Jarrow methyl folate 400mcg) and continue separate B12 if last test result serum B12 was below 500 or active B12 (private test) under 70

[greygoose]

Best advice I can give you is: do nothing. Because nothing is going to help until you are optimally replaced with thyroid hormone, and things like low-calorie diets and intense exercise can just make things worse.

Your weight gain is nothing that you have done, it's part of the disease. And stressing about it won't make it go away. We just have to be patient. How much levo are you taking? When did you last have a blood test? Do you have the results? If so, post them here and let's have a look. It can be very difficult to get doctors to treat us adequately because they know so little about thyroid. We, therefore have to learn as much as we can about our disease and advocate for ourselves. We're here to help you do that. Welcome to the forum.

[Buddy195 Administrator]

Welcome to the forum stichangel,

So we can offer better advice, can you tell us more about your thyroid condition, eg when you were diagnosed, ongoing symptoms, current medication & dosage, plus blood test results (with ranges in brackets) for:

TSH

FT3

FT4

Plus any antibody and key vitamin tests (ferritin, folate, vitamins D and B12)

If your GP is unable to complete all the above (eg if TSH is within range, some surgeries may not be able to access FT4 and FT3 tests), you could look to do this privately, as many forum members do, for a better picture of your thyroid health:

thyroiduk.org/help-and-supp...

It is so important to get thyroid medication and key vitamins optimal- I would focus on achieving this rather than dieting. Please remember when GPs say normal/ within range, this may not be the same as OPTIMAL where you feel most well.

[Rapunzel]

🤗 It's [****], isn't it? I hated it too, and it's affirming to hear someone else ticked off about it. I put on 4st, all of which because I was inadequately treated on T4 momotherapy by a total [****] GP. I've lost 2st over the past 2 years and have actually reduced my Thyroid-S during the same period.

Until you have your vitamins and minerals all in a row, keep plodding on. When you are optimally medicated/supplemented you can lose weight. But it's hard and slow.

Best wishes to you in the ongoing stuggle. This is the place to find your mojo 😘

* removed by admin