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Thyroid isn't easily medicated for some patients. Every case is different. Some have great success from the start, others have to go through a long, drawn-out process of trying different formulations at varying dosages, testing every few months, changing dosage, testing, changing med, testing. And in the meantime, they're still struggling with sometimes miserable symptoms. Thyroid is a very tricky ailment to treat. There are women in my town who have been through that whole painstaking process and finally gave up, going to Europe to see a renowned doc there, and get the formulation he offers. Some people have to go to extreme lengths to resolve their thyroid problem.
You are not kidding! Ugggh!
I opted to take the armour. We are going to try it even though there is a pork allergy. That particular allergy won't kill me if I ingest it...so this Saturday I'm changing meds. I'm crossing my fingers this works! It would be lovely have eyebrows and eyelashes that don't have bald patches. A better memory would be great too! I'm tired of writing every damned thing down in a notepad.
I think it's odd that fat people come to the conclusion that anyone who isn't fat shoves their fingers down their throats but apparently every fat person has a medical issue that causes their obesity
It could never be the obesity causing the illnesses
Do explain how you think being overweight (I was 20 pounds overweight when I first started complaining about being terribly tired and muscle fatigue) caused me to become hypothyroid. I'm sure my doctor would like to hear this too.
I opted to take the armour. We are going to try it even though there is a pork allergy. That particular allergy won't kill me if I ingest it...so this Saturday I'm changing meds. I'm crossing my fingers this works! It would be lovely have eyebrows and eyelashes that don't have bald patches. A better memory would be great too! I'm tired of writing every damned thing down in a notepad.
Health food stores sell a thyroid product that's based on cow thyroid. If you have trouble with the armour, you might see what your local health store has to offer.
Health food stores sell a thyroid product that's based on cow thyroid. If you have trouble with the armour, you might see what your local health store has to offer.
Thank you for the suggestion. Cow/beef is the other allergy I have. It's worse than the pig/pork.
I was always pretty "normal" weight. I got pregnant and found out I had gall bladder issues. I had severe pain throughout my pregnancy and toward the end of my pregnancy, even water would cause horrible pain for hours. I only gained about 10 pounds while pregnant. I worried that my child would be underweight, but he was just fine. A month after giving birth, I had emergency gall bladder removal in the middle of the night. It was the big, open incision surgery where they cut right under your ribcage, so it was pretty uncomfortable.
Almost exactly a month after that, I fell down a flight of stairs while carrying my one month old child. I ended up tearing all the tendons in my leg, the ankle bone was on the outside of my body and required extensive orthopedic surgery (plates, screws, the whole shebang.) I was 21 years old and using a walker to transport myself since my incision from my gall bladder removal wasn't fully healed and crutches would have done damage.
During this time, my husband's employer required us to move to Oklahoma. I was in the midst of post partum depression, post-surgical depression, still unable to walk, and not in a great frame of mind, obviously.
We moved to Oklahoma... where I knew no one. I was ridiculously depressed and did nothing but take care of my child, sleep, and eat. I didn't know I was in post partum depression at the time, but I realize it now. From depression and lack of exercise I gained a lot of weight. Of course I did. I mean, how could I not? I didn't care about anything other than my husband and child, I couldn't even as much as walk.
We moved out of Oklahoma, I had physical therapy and learned to walk again... and then I was determined to get the weight off. However, it wouldn't budge. I walked as much as my recuperating ankle could manage. I tried so hard. And it was so disheartening to not be able to do it.
Fast forward to my 30s. I was so scared of becoming diabetic that I underwent Lap Band surgery. Immediately after coming out of recovery, I knew something was horribly wrong. The surgeon had damaged my diaphragm and placed the band incorrectly. He was a monster and instead of actually helping me, he shoved an naso-gastric tube up my nose without lubrication, ripping my nostril open. He kept me an "extra" night at the hospital when I went into shock. The next day, however, he was tired of dealing with me. He sent me home... I don't remember anything about it. I don't remember anything but severe, crippling pain for the first week. I had blinding referred left shoulder pain which made it almost impossible to breathe. I complained over and over and the surgeon's advice to me was, "Get a hobby." I found a new surgeon. He was appalled at the condition of my guts. My stomach had twisted into a Figure 8 and I was just about a day from dying. My intestines were kinked and I was full of toxins. He did emergency surgery that day. I still had severe pain due to the amount of damage done.
I had the band taken out TWO years after having it put in. I couldn't eat solid foods EVER. It was strictly liquids and even that was iffy sometimes. There were days I spent throwing up every 5 minutes, literally. I had petechiae in my eye from the force of vomiting. I chipped my tooth once when I passed out from being malnourished and anemic. My health deteriorated to the point where I could barely stand most days. BUT I was a size 8, which was pretty damned skinny for me. I'm 5'9. Everyone kept telling me I was "too thin!" That was what kept me from having the band out earlier. "I'll get fat again!" Finally, the day I could no longer lift my head up off the bed and my young son was begging me not to DIE, I decided that I didn't care if I got fat again. I couldn't make my family suffer alongside me any longer. I regret that I ever made them suffer in the first place.
I kept the weight off for years. I went to the gym every day. Even when my ankle was killing me and I felt like I was going to puke, I still worked out. Sometimes I went twice a day, even. Then I had a partial hysterectomy. And I had to take prednisone for a long period of time due to some complications (which had to do with all the adhesions from my multiple abdominal surgeries.) The doc told me that weight gain was a side effect. I said, "Do I HAVE to take them? I don't want to gain weight." And he said, "Well, you really DO have to take them if you'd like to remain living." So, I took the pills for months. And I regained weight. Because, hey, that's what the pills do.
Now I am struggling once again to lose weight. It has nothing to do with my thyroid at all. I've been checked for that. Why did I bother telling my whole story to a bunch of strangers on the internet? Because it's way too easy to sit back and judge others when you don't have the first idea of what anyone's been through in life. Maybe before being judgmental, you ask yourself what a person might have gone through to bring them to the point they're at today. Most people don't "choose" to be overweight. I've been through enough in this lifetime that if I am unable to lose weight again, I'll accept it. I refuse to spend the rest of my time on earth caring about what other people might think of me based on weight. It doesn't have any bearing on how nice, intelligent, or kind anyone is. But I can tell you that people who judge others based on appearance alone are in for a very rude awakening. You think you're immune. You're not.
Problem is that endocrinologists know next to nothing, they don't even know if subclinical hyperthiroidism could be the cause, or the right figure for medication.
Thyroids is a catch-up term for many cases, since endocrinologist ignore most of the causes of obesity.
Problem is that endocrinologists know next to nothing, they don't even know if subclinical hyperthiroidism could be the cause, or the right figure for medication.
Thyroids is a catch-up term for many cases, since endocrinologist ignore most of the causes of obesity.
And neither do you.
They know that HYPERthryroidism isn't the cause of weight gain. That would be HYPOthyroidism. HYPERthyroidism is an overactive thyroid. It's the opposite of what we're talking about here and a very dangerous condition to have. One of my dd's friend's mother died of it a couple of years back. Thyroid storms are nasty business. But hey, she was super skinny so I'm sure you'd approve.
There really are conditions that cause weight gain and hypothyroidism is one of them. No it doesn't cause weight gain for everyone. Just like any other condition, some people get some symptoms and others get others. Weight gain however is very common as hypothyroidism slows your metabolism. They know that symptoms can kick in before they can diagnose with a blood test. If you read my earlier post you'd know they recently changed the normal range for TSH (the most common test used to diagnose thyroid issues) but your TSH can be normal and you can still be hypothyroid. They need to check your T3 and T4 because another form of hypothyroisim is the inability to convert T4 to T3. Most people will have one type or the other but some have both so even when stable on medication (test wise) they still have issues. Read the stories here. There are several people who are here. If the changes I'm making now don't work, I'll be asking my doctor for a full panel in November (My next scheduled titration) to make sure I don't have a T3/T4 imbalance. I know I'm feeling better but I don't know if it will help with weight loss but feeling better is a start. I'd really like to grow my hair and eyebrows back but that will probably take a medication switch. We'll see. It takes about 3 months to see the impact of a change for me.
Last edited by Ivorytickler; 09-10-2014 at 03:55 AM..
Medical issues should be proved through tests, not stuff you hear on TV or the internet. So linking thyroid to weight gain is OK, but linking weight gain to thyroid is not always correct.
Here is my advice for overweight people who suspect thyroid issues. Go get your thyroid tested once, put yourself in a good workout routine for a couple months, and check out your thyroid levels after the workout period. If its still high, then consider medications.
If you doubt something, then get it tested or discuss it with your doctor at the minimum.
It certainly does. My sister had to have her thyroid removed due to thyroid cancer and, believe it or not, she forgets to take her medication all the time and it doesn't bother her. I know I missed my pill within an hour of missing it...
Logically, you would think my sister would be the one who was hyper sensitive to dosing and has the weight problem but it's me. She doesn't even have a thyroid so she can't compensate on days when her metabolism needs to run higher. Logically, this is backwards, but it is what it is. Now I can lose weight by taking extra of my medication or on Atkins but my doctor says both are unhealthy. You have to have a strong liver and kidneys to do Atkins.
If I'm not mistaken, Synthroid has about a week long life cycle in the body, so missing one dose per week probably won't make that much of a difference in your TSH levels. I'm not sure how anyone can forget to take their medicine. I have been taking it for several years now, and I think there has been 2 or 3 days where I honestly couldn't remember if I took it, so I didn't.
Quote:
Originally Posted by *Sixy*
I'm guessing you take meds and are pretty stable? When I'm stable I can lose weight pretty easily (with effort, but I see results). Getting stable is another headache though. Right now I'm not.
I live a pretty healthy lifestyle. I run daily (or almost daily) and do strength training a few times a week. I don't eat anything made from pig or cow with the exception of dairy every so often (a serving of greek yogurt or hard cheese). I haven't had soda in years and I don't eat processed food or "crap snacks".
I would like to lose about 10-15lbs (I'm in a healthy range but I'm not happy with my weight). It's been damn near impossible and I've given up for now. I changed doctors and have gone through all the labs and imaging again. I'm waiting on the lab results and a consult with a dietitian.
You sound a lot like me. I run, I don't eat sugary stuff, I don't drink any sodas, and I try to avoid processed "crap snacks" that have more ingredients than I can count. My weight fluctuates a couple of pounds each week depending on how disciplined I've been at mealtime, but it's always in a range I'm happy with.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jade408
And i eat like you do and have lots of difficultly losing weight. I can't eat any treats during the day. Or more than two serving of starches a day or i gain weight. Lucky you that's all it takes.
I mostly drink water and tea. A few days a week i drink an unsweetened latte. 2-3 times a month i have 1-2 alcoholic drinks. There really isn't anything i can cut. I do not eat large portions.
I didn't see anything about exercising in your post.
If I'm not mistaken, Synthroid has about a week long life cycle in the body, so missing one dose per week probably won't make that much of a difference in your TSH levels. I'm not sure how anyone can forget to take their medicine. I have been taking it for several years now, and I think there has been 2 or 3 days where I honestly couldn't remember if I took it, so I didn't.
....
I really think it's different for different people. I know within two hours that I forgot to take my Synthroid. The first sign is a headache then I'm dragging the rest of the day. I try very hard not to forget. For me, a day off of Synthroid and I feel like I did before I started taking it but it takes a week to get back to feeling normal after I miss a dose. My sister bounces right back from a missed dose. So did my MIL until she turned about 80 then she became like me. Very sensitive to even minor changes.
For me one of the most bizarre things is I appear to gain weight with exercise not lose it. My doctor says it's muscle but you'd think I'd lose some fat. I don't appear to get the residual metabolism boost most people get with exercise. I burn only the calories I burn during the exercise and I'm pretty sure I burn less than the calorie counters say I do. I'm very tired after a work out. It takes me a couple of hours to recover. If I work out in the morning, I have to make it a short work out or I risk tiring myself out. A short work out (20 minutes on a bike or elliptical) will wake me up. My normal full work out tires me out (10 minutes on an elliptical, 20-30 minutes of strength training, 10 minutes of abs, and 20-30 minutes on an elliptical or arc trainer (more on days when I do less strength)). One thing I'm going to try...if I can ever drag my butt out of bed early enough to do it is working out six days a week and making it shorter work outs. I'm thinking I could do a 10 minute warm up, 10-15 minutes of strength, then 10-15 minutes of cardio every day instead of the longer work out 4 times a week (I alternate upper and lower now so I'd have to divide up muscle groups). I did a little research and it appears that a longer work out can result in the liver producing something (I think it was a stress hormone) that breaks down T3 whereas shorter ones cause you to make T3. I'm guessing my work outs are too long and I'm breaking down T3. So I'm going for shorter work outs. If a shorter work out causes you to make T3 I'm thinking I need to work out every day in the morning. We'll see how it works....IF I ever manage to drag my butt out of bed to get to the gym in time to get to work by 7:00. This would be so much easier to try during the summer. I wish I'd made this discovery in June instead of September.
I would so love to be normal. This is the second physical trainer I've worked and she's baffled by my gaining 5 pounds in the first 6 weeks I was working out. The first time I had a trainer, I simply didn't lose for 3 months and then only lost a few pounds over the next three after an adjustment to my diet. I was smaller though. I traded a muscle for fat that time.
Last edited by Ivorytickler; 09-14-2014 at 06:52 AM..
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