Hypothyroid and the menopause.Is the weight here to stay?

[duffaho]

I am so depressed at how much weight I have put on.Most of it is round my middle and nothing seems to shift it.

I have a sedentary job which is quite stressful .I am wiped out at the end of the day so exercise after work is not happening. When I do some exercise by way of gardening etc I often feel depleted and need to sit and rest until I feel okay again.
Plus ,I broke my ankle last year and have a whole lot of other aches and pains because of that to add to the mix.

Earlier this year I had that horrible stomach virus that lasted for weeks. Although I are litte for quite some time I lost no weight at all by the time I was better.

Can anyone offer a crumb of advice?

Hi duffaho, have you said all this to gp?

Are you sure you are on the right dose of thyroxine? Ie could your levels be improved? You could outright ask gp this.

But might be an idea to ask if there's any other issue going on such as anaemia or more specifically ferritin, vit d issue, b12 or anything else.

It might also be worth asking re bones etc as thyroid issues can sometimes predispose to osteo issues.

Basically I don't think it's a bad thing to ask gp if anything could be improved on top of trying to do a bit of exercise etc. But you usually can't do easily this if there's a thyroid or other issue going on.

And find out results too. It's probably wise to take extra vit d anyway, but if deficient you may need prescription amounts.

Yeah. Ive said all if this to the Gp and had no change to the dose for about a year or more. Im on 75 mcg .

I didnt know I could ask for my results. I have no idea what they are or what they should be. I have tried to take in information about t3 and t4 but since I dont know what levels I have it doesn't sink in.

I do take a multi vitamin tablet but its a normal supermarket effort So maybe not as effective as it could be?

I've gone from 25mcg of thyroxine to 175mcg over ten years and it's made naff all difference to my weight

My consultants advice is to eat 800 calories per day

Sorry.

And if you are Vit D deficient order a really high dose one online. You'd need about 12 of the ones you get in Boots to get a big amount (been reading lots of recommendations for dosage online)

Are you taking your thyroxine properly? On an empty stomach, without food that contains calcium. It stops the thyroxine being absorbed apparently.

The Dr didn't tell me that, a friend of mine did. Apologies if you already know it.

Do you take multi vit at same time?

Sorry toddler here so post more later x

Oops for x!

Have you tried giving up gluten? Hypothyroid people do better when gf (me included).

Thank you all for replying.No apologies needed for giving advice .
As it turns out I am taking the tablets in the right way.I was in hospital for a week last year and had my medication regime assessed by the ward sister so following her recommendation .Before that I was a bit more haphazard.
I didn't know about either gluten or vitamin c so will look into how I can change my diet as I do eat a lot of bread.I'm not sure about mega doses of vitamin c though. Don't we just excrete levels above a certain intake?

I do take the multivitamin at the same time. Should I change this do you think?

There is o way that 75mcg of levothyroxine is a full replacement dose. You are likely to be very under-medicated and from what you are saying your adrenals may be compromised as well.

If your thyroid disease is auto-immune, you should be gluten free.

Acting on the advice given earlier I have managed to get in to see my GP and asked him about my results etc.He was very understanding and straightaway ordered a full 'tiredness' bloodtest that includes everything mentioned above.I am to go back next week for a further chat.I was impressed that not only did I get in to see him today but also sent straight for the blood test and another appointment was agreed with me all at the same visit.Plus I also managed to sign up for online booking which will help greatly in the future.
Unfortunately I was outside before I realised I still didn't have the results of the last test I had. We looked at the screen then I asked about something else which diverted us from the matter in hand.I can't see it being a problem next time.

How do I know if its autoimmune?

That's good news.

You'd have antibodies, but tbh, I think it's probably a given unless you've had a part of your thyroid removed or damaged by surgery?

Basically hypothyroidism in the uk is mainly autoimmune (antibodies attack thyroid), other causes are surgery linked, iodine deficiency (unlikely here) and very rarely a pituitary problem. Or you are born without one. I think there can be a viral link too but it might be also linked to the autoimmune bit (not sure on this) As the treatment is effectively the same they don't often test for antibodies unless the thyroid levels have been hovering at borderline - as antibodies would indicate that it's going to deteriorate. If not I'm guessing it might high light another issue in a borderline case.

But you're diagnosed hypo so probably do have antibodies, and it's worth being aware that sometimes autoimmune issues go hand in hand eg pernicious anaemia (auto immune issue where you can't absorb b12)

So really good to get a full blood test screen, you could try cutting out gluten; my mil was told she was not coeliac but was gluten intolerant and quite unwell (though had had lots of weight loss and pale stools).

I'm hashimotos I guess as antibodies; but 100% well IF Tsh kept around 1 or just below, and recently, if ferritin very good. And vit d and b12, as I had all these tests. Gluten makes no difference (sugar does though), but that's just me. I also had Addisons test, muscle enzyme tests, esr the works - it literally boiled down to correct thyroxine dose and boosting iron, and I was really quite unwell until this was corrected.

I agree 75 mg doesn't seem much. With no thyroid (harder to know if it's all been destroyed yet) it's weight linked. However for post menopausal women they do keep thyroxine a little lower due to osteo issues.

The Tsh range is 0.3 to about 4.5; you should be aiming for the lower end. Most people only feel well below 2. It's not nice guidelines as yet here for general hypo, but it IS the nice guideline if you're trying to conceive; it states Tsh should be below 2 or 2.5 to conceive.

In order to fine tune Tsh it's possible to take a 25 every other day; I take 125/150 alternate days. 125 is too low, 150 too high. It's worth remembering this if gp suggests raising then wants to lower.

Keeping medication lower and TSH higher is more likely to cause heart or bone issues than dosing properly.

However, many GPs are still peddling this line to the detriment of their patients.

Interesting reading CLARELLA +MRSTWEEDIE.

I have noticed that I feel lots better when I keep sugar to a low level. Unfortunately I forget about this and go back to my old sweet toothed ways -feel rubbish -stop sugar-feel better cycle. I hadnt realised it might be part of the thyroid problem too.

Also I have 50mcg losartan for high blood pressure which I take religiously. When my blood pressure was checked it was 168/ 102 and rechecked at 175/ 98 . I have now got 5mg Amlopodine to add to the medication list. Again , I didnt know how the thyroid affects the heart and the gp seemed unconcerned.