New Hypothyroid Diagnosis

MommaGemz

After a sudden weight gain, I started back on MFP in December. However, my previous methods of tracking and exercise just weren't working. On Monday I saw my GP and had the annual blood panel run. My GP called me back that afternoon and told me my thyroid was barely functioning - let's start on some meds. This was a complete surprise, but did explain much of the way I had been feeling and my difficulty losing weight. I'm in my 40s with two young kids and fatigue/brain fog/weight gain just seemed to be part of "being a parent." Now I know differently. I'm excited to start feeling better.

Now, I know that those with hypothyroidism tend to retain alot of water. I'm on 100mcg of levothyroxine and am doing my best to drink alot of water and eat a low sodium diet. Luckily, I have been shedding the water and feel much less bloated. I have about 50lbs to lose, but now I feel like I have the knowledge, medication, and tools to truly help me reach this goal.

Any hypothyroid ladies out there who would like to be friends? I know I'll have questions along this journey and would love to have a support circle.

SafariGalNYC

Hi

Also hypothyroid here.. (for years) … I follow a low glycemic diet (mostly Mediterranean) in addition to Synthroid.

Lymphedema also runs in my family so I am particularly a-tuned to water weight issues.

AnnPT77

I'm severely hypothyroid, but have been properly medicated for a long time now. (I'm also kind of a sub-par MFP friend - more of a Community forum gal - but I do accept friend requests and answer questions there if anyone asks on my page or by DM.)

It would be reasonable to expect it to take some time to dial in your appropriate dosage of thyroid meds (and maybe type of meds). Overmedicating is dangerous and unpleasant, so they usually start us at a low dose, wait a few weeks, re-test, and adjust gradually. Different people respond differently to different doses, so this gradual adjustment approach is typical.
p
There's a good thread here about hypothyroidism and weight management, written by a guy who's a scientist in the field, himself hypothyroid (I think his thyroid gland was surgically removed IIRC), who lost weight via calorie counting. It's solid scientific information, which can be tough to find on the web where so many sites are trying to sell us miracle cures. It's here:

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10767046/hypothyroidism-and-weight-management

If it matters, I'm female; ovo-lacto vegetarian (have been for 48+ years so that's unrelated to either hypothyroidism or weight loss); age 67; active; eating pretty balanced macros without much in the way of food restrictions or style, other than liking lots of fruits and veggies and having that no meat/fish habit; and in weight maintenance for around 7 years now after losing from class 1 obese to a healthy weight back in 2016-16.

If your experience with hypothyroidism is like mine, you can look forward to a gradual series of improvements in functioning and quality of life, some of which you may not even anticipate up front.

Here's hoping it's pretty fast progress, in your case!

yirara

Hi there, I'm also hypo. I have hashimoto. Having this had no influence on my weight loss. Yeah, feeling *kitten* because your thyroid doesn't produce the hormones most parts of your body need is not great. You move less to preserve energy, are more hungry, possibly fidget less and burn even less energy, stop exercising, feel down, etc. But the good thing is that if you get over all those things weight loss is possible like for everyone else. Having the right amount of hormones is important though. I'm surprised your doctor put you on 100mcg immediately. Normally you'd start on a very low dose, test bloods after 6 weeks and increase the dosage until you feel good and your bloods are well within range. Normally, fT3 and fT4 should be within the upper part of the normal range, and TSH low enough. But the most important thing, the one doctors mostly ignore is how you feel. With the right dosage you can feel totally normal, energetic, happy.

I hope you're getting there

MommaGemz

@SafariGalNYC Lowering the water retention has already made me feel so much better. It's amazing how much we can hold onto

@AnnPT77 Thank you for the link to that thread - it was very helpful! It was useful to have that member debunk alot of the information I've been seeing that was raising red flags for me (ie. the Thyroid diets and supplements). We've started on the dosage and testing cycle, so we'll see how that goes

@yirara My TSH and T4 were way out of range (TSH = 34), so that might be the reason for that dosage. She said she would have started higher but was being more conservative. And the pharmacist said it was a middle-of-the road dosage. I'm hoping we won't have to do too many adjustments, but I'm determined to be patient with the lengthy process.

AnnPT77

MommaGemz wrote: »

@SafariGalNYC Lowering the water retention has already made me feel so much better. It's amazing how much we can hold onto

@AnnPT77 Thank you for the link to that thread - it was very helpful! It was useful to have that member debunk alot of the information I've been seeing that was raising red flags for me (ie. the Thyroid diets and supplements). We've started on the dosage and testing cycle, so we'll see how that goes

@yirara My TSH and T4 were way out of range (TSH = 34), so that might be the reason for that dosage. She said she would have started higher but was being more conservative. And the pharmacist said it was a middle-of-the road dosage. I'm hoping we won't have to do too many adjustments, but I'm determined to be patient with the lengthy process.

That seems like a reasonable supposition. I assume she gave you information about symptoms of hyperthyroidism to look out for, since that would be the symptom set you'd see if your dose were a bit too high?

MommaGemz

AnnPT77 wrote: »

I assume she gave you information about symptoms of hyperthyroidism to look out for, since that would be the symptom set you'd see if your dose were a bit too high?

Yes, absolutely, and the pharmacist too. They were both very clear.

yirara

MommaGemz wrote: »

AnnPT77 wrote: »

I assume she gave you information about symptoms of hyperthyroidism to look out for, since that would be the symptom set you'd see if your dose were a bit too high?

Yes, absolutely, and the pharmacist too. They were both very clear.

Cool! Sounds good! One of the interesting symptoms I get when hyper is that I suddenly jump up from my desk at random times, look around me in bewilderment, and then start to clean my flat

The annoyance with hashimoto is that your thyroids doesn't produce enough hormones, but suddenly some tissue bites the dust and releases a pile of hormones for 1-2 weeks, basically bringing you into hyper, and then it's back to hypo. This is normal. Being hyper for a few days just happens. This was also the reason why it took me so long to get diagnosed: one bloodtest was far too low, and then all was fine again, third one hypo again, and then fine again. Another thing that might happen every now and then: you forget you've taken your meds already and then take a double dose. For me, this also means cleaning time Btw, I hate cleaning with a passion.

MommaGemz

@yirara I hate cleaning time as well so that might be a welcome side-effect for me

It doesn't appear I have Hashimoto's. I'm so sorry you have to go through that roller coaster of hormone levels

gbgirl323

Same story! I work out 6 days a week. I track my calories and couldn’t lose weight. Found out I have hashimotos and I’m always dealing with floating. Love to be friends

Kn4everyoung1

Hypothyroidism seems to be a common trait amongst overweight women.I have been on Synthroid for years.Interesting.

AnnPT77

Kn4everyoung1 wrote: »

Hypothyroidism seems to be a common trait amongst overweight women.I have been on Synthroid for years.Interesting.

It's common among women as we age, certainly . . . as is being overweight. Personally, I wasn't surprised to be diagnosed as hypothyroid, because my father had been hypothyroid.

Later, I learned that hypothyroidism is also more common among those who have had breast cancer, and I was diagnosed not long after breast cancer treatment, when I couldn't figure out why I suddenly stopped making progress is recovering from treatment (in terms of fatigue, body aches, brain fog). Breast cancer is more common among people who are overweight or obese. Men can get breast cancer, but it's more common by far among women than men.

Pregnancy is associated with thyroid dysfunction, and there's seemingly some increased likelihood of becoming overweight after childbirth (though I managed to become obese without ever becoming pregnant).

There are some hints in research that obesity increases risk of autoimmune conditions. Women are more likely to experience autoimmune conditions. Hashimoto's hypothyroidism - the most common type of hypothyroidism - is an autoimmune condition.

There are a lot of intersecting issues here, seems a little hard to sort out the relationships.

yirara

Ann already mentioned that women are more likely to get an autoimmune condition. Hashimotos is difficult to diagnose at times as the antibodies go away once the thyroid is totally wrecked. I read numbers of 5-10% of women being diagnosed with thyroid conditions, with likely the same number being undiagnosed, often because bias towards not taking female health seriously. That's huge! Just based on statistics, if 40% of a population is obese, 30% overweight and another 10% severely obese (US) then yeah, chances are high that someone not at normal weight being hypo is higher than someone with normal weight. There also seems to be a correlation between high weight and systematic inflammation, and an increased risk in autoimmune disorders.

On the other hand, at least in the US ethnicity can be correlated to weight, but those with the highest weight seem to have the lowest number of hypothyroidism. Is that because of specific genetic markers or because health care is so much worse for those or their complaints are taken less seriously? I tried to find some hypo numbers for countries with fairly low weight people vs the US, but as long as we don't know cause and effect it's a bit pointless. I'm also wasting time here because I should be cleaning.

keeingcalm65

Hi hypo as well , lots of the same experiences as most but a trick I learned for getting moving is to just give it ten minutes. Try walking or what ever exercise you choose but just give it ten minutes on those days you think you can’t, if it’s too tough stop but chances are you’ll be able to continue

MommaGemz

So far so good with my new meds. I do seem to have some heartburn and occasional light headaches but I don't know if it's related. I'm intentionally going to bed a little earlier - that plus the meds seems to really help with the fatigue.

I have adopted the "take the meds when I get up to pee in the middle of the night" approach and it seems to work. At least I get my coffee first thing in the morning then.

titus2cat

I had a thyroid storm in 2000. I was given radioactive iodine therapy to destroy my thyroid. After that, I spent six years as a slug on the couch while my endocrinologist kept trying me on synthetic hormones. Synthroid, levothyroxine, levoxyl, levothyroid….nothing helped me to FEEL better although my numbers looked better on paper. Finally, she put me on a natural hormone supplement, Armour Thyroid and I was a new person. My body handled the natural hormones much better than the synthetic ones. So if you don’t start feeling better after a reasonable amount of time, you may want to request a new medication. I think my story is not an uncommon one.

spiriteagle99

Like you, I was in my 40s and seemed unable to lose weight. I was gaining even with an active lifestyle and decent diet. I told my doctor and was told, "What do you expect, you're over 40." A year later I told a nurse practitioner the same thing and she responded that it was just middle age. Finally I told my gynecologist and he asked, "Do you have any family history of low thyroid?" Well yes, my mother was on thyroid medication for years. So he got me tested and, lo and behold, I had an underactive thyroid too. Once on meds, I was able to lose weight. Unfortunately, I went up and down 30-40 lbs. several times over the next 10 years before I finally got serious about learning to maintain a stable weight, but the initial weight loss was no harder than it had been when I was younger.

MommaGemz

@spiriteagle99 That's really encouraging that weight management went back to normal for you after the medication. I also gained alot of weight this year even while I was more active than I've been in ages and felt I had a reasonable diet. My diagnosis was different though. It came out of the blue during annual blood tests.I hadn't put my symptoms together, but now it hindsight it all makes sense.

@titus2cat Luckily, I'm feeling better already, so levo might just work out for me. But it's good to know there are alternatives!