underactive thyroid and weight management

[thereinmadnesslies]

If you have an underactive thyroid, how difficult do you find it to stay a healthy weight / lose weight?

I was diagnosed with an underactive thyroid in Sept, and it's looking like hashimotos. My numpty GP started me on 25mcg, but I got referred to a consultant and my levels are still high but coming down slowly on 100mcg. My worst blood test was TSH 8.83, thyroid antibodies 650, my most recent TSH was 6.6.

I've put on loads of weight in the last year, from 10.5 stone to nearly 12st (at 5ft 5 tall). I'm veggie and dairy-free, but I get massive sugar cravings and feel hungry all the time.

I want to start exercising again but I still feel wiped out.

So any suggestions / hope that the weight will start falling off when I reach the right level of meds. Thanks

I am not going to cheer you up I'm afraid. I have an underactive thyroid and was dignosed 10 years ago. I am on 150mcg one day and 175mcg the next. I am still totally wiped out all the time and the weight is still piling on. I have to go for another blood test soon but it seems such a waste of time as I never seem to feel any better.

I shall be watching this thread with great interest as its probably just me and I might pick up some helpful hints

I've been recently diagnosed, on 50mcg. I'm now 2 stone heavier and despite low cal diet and exercise I just can't lose weight. It's very sad. I'm afraid I can't advise but I did listen to s good doc on BBC radio 4 who suggested cutting out carbs, he explained the science but I'm on my phone and too tired to relay. Personally I love my carbs too much.

Am still stubbornly 2 stone overweight and have been since my thyroid started packing in. I haven't tried doing masses of exercise since I've been on thyroxine as have been pregnant and had a small baby and a broken ankle in that time (3 years) but can attest that it is perfectly possible to walk/run 4-5 hours a day, eat a slightly less than normal number of calories and still gain weight when hypothyroid but untreated.

I would have had to be on starvation diet (less than 1000kcals/day) to lose the weight that was piling on during that time despite walking fast for the best part of the whole day (was only way to keep warm). I gained a stone in about a month when my thyroid first started packing in and despite eating little, the weight kept piling on steadily over the following years. I'm still not convinced that I'm on the right dose (GP has me on 50mcg, I'm actually taking 75 but I'm constantly freezing and goose-pimply again and will have to go back soon for another blood test.)

Thanks for your responses but I'm so not hearing what I want to hear - I was so hoping that by some magic the weight will drop off once the meds are at the correct level

Do you find you crave sugar and carbs, especially when tired and cold ??

Yes, I crave them, and it leads into a downward spiral. I've found that dropping carbs helped, but not immensely. I've also found that year by year I'm getting less and less resistant to the cold.

I'm overweight, but I eat way too much and don't exercise enough. I don't think it's down to my underactive thyroid (4 years diagnosed), although it might have contributed in the first place. I feel fine, not wiped out. No I don't crave carbs or sugar. I did before I was diagnosed.

Not sure if you've other issues with your gp, but it's quite normal, in fact good practice to start you on 25mcg and step up gradually. Not good to go straight to high doses, harder to find right level if you do that. I started with TSH over 14, was brought down to about 1 by 100mcg. Has been creeping up over the last few years to about 4 last year, which is a bit borderline, imo (not my gp's!). I'm due to retest about now, which will be interesting.

Why were you referred to consultant(if you don't mind me asking)? I've never seen anyone other than my GP.

I still remember the day I took my first 25mcg, was like a huge weight lifted from my soul!

I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism about 18 months ago. I think my TSH was 29 (but my memory is crap).
I'm currently on 125mcg, but it will probably be increased on my next blood test.

I have an extremely physical job; and before my thyroid packed in, I could easily lose 1lb a day. Now, I don't lose any weight, and if I'm on leave from work, putting on weight is a doddle.

I will add that because of a different health problem I have to follow an ultra low fat diet, and it differs when I'm working and when I'm not.

I love sugar (and caffeine) btw, and I'm always cold.

Snap I was referred to a consultant because I have private medical insurance via my employer, and the GP admitted that she had no idea what the high antibody reading meant or what to do about it. I'm lucky, the consultant has been helpful whereas one of the GPs I saw told me to google for information.
In an ideal world a GP should be able to help, but the GP practice I attend was judged to be the worse in the hcp area and it is impossible to see the same GP twice. I'm cross with them because they fobbed me off for ages saying that I should feel tired with young children, heavy extended periods are normal for mothers, two week wait for a GP to interpret blood test results... I basically wasted six months of feeling awful trying to get help from the GP

Sorry OP. I too will not tell you what you want to hear. I have been on the same low carb, gluten free diet for two years, and have been doing the same amount of exercise (basically walking 3 miles a day). In that time my weight has fallen from 10st to 9st and then risen again to 11 st, without me doing anything different.

When I told a consultant this, he told me to take more exercise. I told him that I walk 17 miles a week to and from work and asked how much more I needed to do. He couldn't answer me.

I know I could stand another increase in meds but my consultant won't give me one, so I'm stuck.

Considering this is such a common condition, the level of knowledge and understanding amongst most GPs and, worryingly, the consultants I have seen, is appallingly low. If you can, get on some of the UK thyroid forums and educate yourself. I think it's our only hope.

D

I was diagnosed with graves in 1990, had a sub-total thyroidectomy in 1991 because was getting married and wanted to start a family and refused radio-iodine treatment and to continue on the carbimazole. Have been underactive since the op and treated with 100mcg ever since having an annual blood test. My weight was perfectly stable until I was about 47 (peri-menopause) then found it much harder to keep off and having to succumbed to HRT increasingly so. Have put on a stone+ in the last couple of years but I don't think that's due to my thyroid, more lack of exercise, too many hours at a desk, and a love of good food and wine.

Good luck op.

This won't help you op as you are a veggie but I gained 2 stones over time. An on 150mcg thyroxine.
Last October I started the most brutal Dukan diet along with forcing myself off the sofa every day for a 20 min slow walk.
I am 30lb lighter now. I cut out all sugar and booze - the first few days were HELL but I adjusted and it worked. Good luck
Ps I also did a month of WW and lost nothing!

Try and get them to check your free t3 as well as TSh and T4 levels... I have a problem higher up the chain that causes thyroid problems, but on levothyroxine could bung on 4 lbs in 3 days unless I stuck to a 1000 calorie a day diet. On T3 as well I can lose weight, grow nails, feel warm - it is worth looking up if you are pronounced well but still feel rubbish.

OP - I see. My surgery is pretty good, to be fair. My only complaint was that as it was identified that I had antibodies 10 years earlier, I should have been checked during and after each pregnancy. But I'd moved twice and your records don't follow in entirety. At least you know the consultant should know what they're about.