Thyroid - weight gain

[SuperFlyHigh]

I have a treated thyroid condition (underactive) not sure what my levels are and going to get them checked next month.

On 125mg of Levothyroxine but have put on about a stone in weight since this time last year with eating almost same/exercise the same.

I have heard better results are with taking Armour (natural thyroid) hard to get this prescribed unless GP doesn't accept responsibility for side effects (named patient?).

Question - should I try diet/exercise for a period before trying Armour and if so how long? I almost just need to look at food and the weight goes on and hard to lose.

Also how long between tests, the test on 200 then the test on 175?

Do you feel symptomatic?

6 weeks between tests. I've got a lot of hair loss. And anxiety. I did feel better when dose lowered. But it's hard as now I'm on high doses of vitamin D

Ok, you could actually wait at 175 and see how things go with the vitamin D and iron etc. The hair loss could be due to those.

It's not going to hurt to take an extra 25 once or twice a week (it would be good to know what the results were at 200) but in some ways I'd be tempted to carry on as you are for the time being for a good few months - perhaps 4-6, then see how iron, vit d and thyroid is, but most importantly, how you feel. Try gentle exercise too, with a view to building up gradually. If thyroid is still 1.2 and you still feel rubbish, try an extra 25 twice a week.

I was on too much and the first time it was great. Second time it was horrendous. I do think I was thinking I needed more thyroxine when actually it was iron etc that was the issue.

My other indicator is poo - if too constipated and I'm eating yogurt and probiotics and veg etc, I'm not on enough . (The problem there was the iron made me very loose!)

Were your bowels loose at 200? Were you having issues sleeping / managing on 5 hours? I find if I'm managing in 5-6 hours it's too much. If I'm ok at 7-8 (and able to sleep 7-8) then I'm at a good dose.

But really, it's important to notice the symptoms in yourself, and make judgements as everyone is different. I don't put on weight when underactive; I loose it as I loose muscle mass and am naturally skinny.

Ideally judgements should be made after 3 plus months too; 6 weeks can still be too soon to judge for thyroid and the other things.

Thanks so much ViOLETsunflowr I've never got so much help from someone and you don't even know me! I wouldn't even know how much iron I need. I'm thinking I should take my results into a local health food shop. He does some consultations. I tried ringing the surgery but I was 11th in the queue! So I'll try back again this afternoon

The thing is that the iron thing is difficult to tackle via GP.

You could try asking to try prescribed iron tablets for a short while in order to see if symptoms of tiredness improve. If you get the printout from the GP, the range is officially over 70 is 'normal.' It's just that most people are ok till they get to 5. The upper range is something like 200 (im not sure about this but much higher than 20.)

Personally I'd speak to GP first.

Look at non-anaemic iron deficiency :

http://patient.info/doctor/non-anaemic-iron-deficiency

And look at this as an example for ref ranges- note borderline numbers:

https://www.southtees.nhs.uk/services/pathology/tests/ferritin/

If your ferritin is 20 I think you could argue the case to raise it up with prescribed iron.

I'd say that you want to make sure it's not an issue as you have symptoms.

I help as I had to battle myself just passing on the info.

This is an interesting view on t4 and t4+t3. There are recognised moves towards allowing patients to use combo therapy but trials mostly show t4 to be the best option. - however, it repeatedly mentions "optimising treatment" with t4 and also "Exclusion of other diagnoses is a sensible starting point"

(The endo is well recognised and I know patient if his who really rated him)

If you don't get a sensible helpful GP, try printing these out things out. Raising your iron is NOT an issue. Then optimising t4 for you is sensible.

The hardest thing is that it needs lots of time - you must be patient to allow things to rise and settle and your body to readjust.

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3821462/

There are a very few people who DO need t3 as they're unable to convert t4-t3 effectively but this all needs sorting out first before looking at that.

Wow this is amazing info! I've always had bowel issues. I did wonder if it is IBS. When kids are asleep I will be looking at this thanks so much

MoonStar - I have had intermittent bowel issues too, so will read the info.

I agree - thank you so much VIOLET - I think doctors themselves are misinformed to a degree, I got told my iron levels were low (due to thyroid) and to take iron tablets. I feel ok but not fabulous by any means.