Under active thyroid diagnosis

[pointyshoes]

Just been diagnosed with under active thyroid. Main symptom was huge weight gain (I'm early 50s). On a low dose at the moment, but was wondering whether anyone has any advice/hints/useful info/what to expect etc, or just personal experiences. I don't know much about it at all although I have looked at thyroid charity websites.Thanks

I'm 24 and was diagnosed (only borderline) age 20. I found my weight did drop a bit after starting Levothyroxine 50mg and also the tiredness improved.

My mum also has it, was only diagnosed in her 40s but probably had it years before then, and it improved her symptoms too. I think Levothyroxine is a fairly harmless medication. I took it during my entire pregnancy, increased to 75mg as it's very important for baby's development, and my blood levels were brilliant throughout.

You also get free prescriptions for everything, even unrelated stuff, so that's a silver lining I guess...!

The downside I've found is having various minor health issues for no apparent reason, and when you look it up online, you find out there's a link to underactive thyroid... So I believe it has affected my health just a little.

Overall, unless it's untreated, I wouldn't say its much to worry about. Now you're diagnosed and taking the treatment, it will be preventing all sorts of potential health issues you might have otherwise ended up with in the future.

You should start to feel the benefit after a couple of weeks, but it may be gradual, your body has a lot of repair work to do, so it may not be obvious until you realise that you are able to do something which would have been hard for you before.

Don't expect it to be a magic instant cure, especially for the extra weight, you may still struggle a little until you get your dosage right.

Don't accept 'good enough' - if you still feel unwell when your levels are apparently normal, ask for exact figures and lab ranges to check if you are at the high end of normal or the low end of normal in case there's room for improvement.

You may also benefit from some vitamin supplements etc

I hope you start to feel better, it is such an insidious condition, people don't understand how debilitating it can be, so take it easy, make sure you put yourself first and don't be afraid to ask for help, have a nap or do whatever it takes (lower your standards for housework etc!) until you feel more energetic.

Thanks ladies. This is just the sort of stuff I wanted to know. My main problem is the weight gain. I'm not expecting the weight to disappear overnight but am hoping to feel a bit more "in control". I do a lot of sport and exercise and eat reasonably well so the massive weight gain was very depressing.

I'm sure if you're generally fit and active you will have no trouble getting back to a weight you are happy with. I was always quite sedentary but at my thyroid low point I couldn't even walk 100 yards as the pain was too much. Now I eat what I like so I'm still a bit overweight, but I can happily run 5k and I'm sure if I took it seriously I could easily lose another stone and add a few more k.

penelopegarciascrazyhair I perked up when I saw your above post. I have hasimotos and am yet to start treatment due to struggling adrenals. However my pain (especially feet) is chronic and I struggle to walk somedays. It's really encouraging to hear you say you can actually move! How long after you started treatment did your pain subside?

Sorry to hijack your thread OP

I started to feel more human after just a couple of weeks of taking thyroxine and probably back to normal after 6 months or so (difficult to say, as mine failed just after having dc1, so my perception of how I should feel was a bit skewed due to having a whole new person to look after!).

My dosage was adjusted a few times (I felt ok but blood tests showed I was a bit overactive taking 150, so went down to 125 for a couple of years. Weight has been up and down a bit, but when I eat less and do more I don't have any trouble losing weight.

I now take 100 most days, add in 25 when I feel a bit sluggish and for the most part I feel perfectly normal (well, as much as any single mum of 3 DCs can feel normal!)

I recently diagnosed myself with B12 deficiency, which felt quite similar but with added numbness in my extremities (face, limbs and 'other areas'!) but with a course of injections the numbness was thankfully reversed before it caused any permanent nerve damage and now I take some vitamin supplements as a precaution rather than rely on my GP to order tests and recommend more injections.

It's wise to read up on the other things that can occur when you have an auto immune condition like Hashimotos. The B12 thing has always been at the back of my mind as a possibility, i don't know why, so when it happened I was almost prepared for it. My GP was quite dismissive when I mentioned it, but did the test anyway and she was annoyed surprised when it came back as low! She would never have thought to test for it, given my symptoms - she wanted to send me to a gynae specialist for the numbness down there, so it is a good idea to educate yourself a little, try not to scare yourself with the possibilities but be aware.

There may still be other little niggles sometimes, I don't deal well with stress and get very tired if I overdo things, but on the whole, I don't think I suffer with tiredness any more than most busy mums. I'm lucky to work pt and have a wonderful supportive dp who takes good care of me and brilliant DCs who are understanding when I'm a bit pooped and just want to lounge on the sofa for a while, but there isn't really anything to show that I have this condition, other than the little tablet every morning.

Itwillbebetter - no worries about the "hijack", its all interesting for me and nice to hear that taking the tablets can kick in quite quickly. This is what is so good about Mumsnet, just finding out little things that can make all the difference. I'm feeling so much more positive now, previously I was a bit "oh now what's wrong" as I've had a tough 18 months healthwise.