Hypothyroidism?

lois1585

Last fall I put on approximately 20 pounds, which is a lot for me, from September to December. I let my weight gain go until after the holidays. I have been working out and eating clean and less for over a month now. I haven't lost an inch or a pound. I'm always tired. Quite literally, I could nap for several hours a day if I had the opportunity. It was mentioned to me that I should get my thyroid checked.

I've always been athletic...I ran track and played soccer in high school, and continue to play in the summers with a pick up league. I'm running 3 days a week using the C25K app to help me train for a 5k. I see a personal trainer 2 days a week and I'm working out at the gym on my own as well. I'm doing everythign right, even better than last year when I was at my fittest. I should be dropping inches and/or pounds...right?!

What led any of you, who do have a thyroid issue, to be checked?

sarabellaefc

Are you having any other side effects? Tiredness, brittle hair and nails, forgetfulness, dry skin, menstrual irregularities? I pretty much had to have all of these present before my doctor would consider medicating me.

LKArgh

Being always tired is reason enough to get your thyroid checked.

sillyvalentine

It doesn't cost anything to find out. Go get it checked!

RachSuzanne

I agree with aggelikik. You do not need more reason. Hypothyroid is very common in women and even just a tiny bit off can really throw your system. I was diagnosed at 22 and all I said to my doctor was "Something isn't right. I just feel like crap." They took blood and two days later I was on Levothyroxin. If you are Hypothyroid, it is SO easy to fix. It just takes a little time to get the hormone replacement dose correct, but if that is what's up, you will feel immediately better.

RozayJones

I was always small 100lbs - 110lbs. Gained 15lbs quickly - went to the doc, my levels were off and I was put on thyroid medication but from there I had many more symptoms. Rapid heart rate, hair falling out, tired, my periods were all of the place, anxiety, my memory is out of the window.....get checked if you are questioning it. If there is something wrong they will monitor you and give you what your body needs. Do not be like others, I my self was hospitalized twice before getting down to the bottom of it.

PinkyFett

I kept gaining and gaining and couldn't sleep, I was depressed, diagnosed as bipolar and I knew that wasn't right.

I was just fed up after about 5 years of gaining and misdiagnoses. I went in and demanded that something be done to help me lose weight. They ran the labwork.

Come to find out, my thyroid was off for YEARS before going in that day. The doctor that ordered the labwork then was not my primary and never told my primary, so I was never on meds. My TSH back then was 38. When I went in demanding to be checked, 216.

I've been diagnosed now for 2 1/2 years and I'm still struggling to lose weight, but have recently changed meds and it seems to be helping with the insomnia at least.

SoDamnHungry

Get it checked. Even though I managed to lose weight, I was tired and felt like crap. It was a relief to find out my problem could be easily fixed and I wasn't just tired and depressed for no reason.

ETA: Nothing led me to have it checked. I had no clue. My OBGYN just wanted to do bloodwork since I hadn't had it done for awhile. Lucky me!

amymutz

I had all the regular symptoms as well: 2:00pm crash, hair loss, weight gain, inability to focus and a sense of feeling just not normal. It ended up I had hypothyroidism and Vit D deficiency. The two are a terrible combination to have because it kicks you totally off mentally and physically. I have now been regulated for almost two years and feel great. Advice: go to an endocrinologist to have a full evaluation, don't let a general practitioner regulate your thyroid instability.

stantona81

Family affair. It runs in mine. I've never had a reason to check it out.. but my brother did, and my mother has thyroid issues. I'll get there one day... maybe. When I do I'll check it out. Like previous posts, I'd check it out... just to be safe.

lois1585

My nails aren't brittle and my hair falling out isn't bad...the typical for a girl with curly hair...I shed. I had the "winter blues" pretty bad this winter, but I'm usually over it by now. And I'm not. I'm very intuitive to my body and when somethings wrong. Something is wrong.

I guess I'm concerned that if it isn't my thyroid...what then? Where do I go from there?

kah68

Ditto here, I just felt like crap for a long-time - tired all the time, hair falling out, anxiety, forgetfulness, trouble concentrating, tinnitis, and was cold all the time. Doc started me on Armour Thyroid, I was like a new person after about a month of adjusting meds.

WBB55

Where do I go from there?

how many calories do you burn on average?
how many calories per day do you eat on average?
how many hours per night do you sleep?
how much water per day do you drink?
how many weeks have you been following the above regimine?
what was your starting weight when you started the above regimine?
what was your body fat% or measurements when you started the above regimine?
what is your weight now? bf%? measurements%

What I'm getting at, is there's lots of reasons you might not be losing as fast as you want. That being said, no reason to not get your bloodwork done. You can find out all kinds of things with some simple lab work.

kckBxer396

I gained 60 pounds in under 2 years, hair was falling out everywhere, and oh geez was I tired. Not just tired,but fall asleep when I sat down, literally couldn't hold my eyes open...tired and disoriented. I was using tons of lotion, I'm pretty sure dry skin is a symptom. My joints and neck hurt often and were really stiff. I've had issues with my blood sugar for 13 years, so I kept writing the symptoms off. Eventually, while having my a1c updated, my doctor decided to check my thyroid as well. Sure enough, my thyroid wasn't functioning properly. Fortunately, my problem isn't severe and is easily pinpointed. Lower carbs and more exercise have helped my numbers a lot.

kerry981

I was diagnosed a few years ago. I was always tired, very dry skin, thinning hair, very hard to lose weight, brittle nails... you name it. Worst of all, it changed my temperament. I got angry at the slightest things and couldn't control my outbursts, which was unlike me. Previous doctor wouldn't listen to me so I switched. My current doctor tested my thyroid on the first visit. Within a week, I was on meds and my mood had stabilized within a month. It's a ***** having to get your blood tested every 3-6 months to get your dosage right but it's worth it.

RozayJones

My nails aren't brittle and my hair falling out isn't bad...the typical for a girl with curly hair...I shed. I had the "winter blues" pretty bad this winter, but I'm usually over it by now. And I'm not. I'm very intuitive to my body and when somethings wrong. Something is wrong.

I guess I'm concerned that if it isn't my thyroid...what then? Where do I go from there?

If you are concerned then the best thing to do it get checked out! You deserve to know what is going on with your body,

Hlschrock1212

If you have blood work, I highly recommend having your vitamin D checked! If you are real low on D and become a bit resistant, you could be tired from that! I suffer from hypothyroidism and finally stabilized that with the tight levels and supplement, I take Armour brand, naturally derived from a pig. I could no absorb, convert the synthetic brands and finally figured it out be ordering a holistic integrated doctor sells out Michigan, USA. He pointed out situations that comfirmed what I felt was my synthetic medicine was not working and I was getting some benefits but not the most important ones! Like lack of T3/4 conversion to cells. I spoke to my doctor about Armour and she wrote my prescripts to get it and 3 months later I could not believe how my hair was growing back around my temples and I felt sharper in the head too! my D was low, real low at blood work check up, I felt tired, Then I got a 5000 IU one time a day from Costco, I feel 1000 times better! My doctor got me on 10000 IU for while and when check level I stated on the the over the counter!

I recommend you get your D levels and Iodine levels check! Cheers H

Justwatchmerun

My only symptom was rapid weight gain and tiredness, nothing else, so it's always worth checking even if you don't have much in the way of symptoms

starrylioness

Hair falling out, fatigue, weight gain and I already had menstrual problems because of my PCOS but I'm sure it made it worse. I take Levothyroxine now and that helps a lot.

JLHNU212

I was checked by my infertility OBGYN, becuase I had crazy cycles and was tired all the time. Just go visit your doctor and tell them how you have been feeling and they will be able to come up with next steps with you... So I say to go and talk to your doctor! I hope things get better for you and you figure out what is going on!

leaner426

It took six years to get mine diagnosed properly. There are a number of symptoms you can find on-line: fuzzy thinking, low energy, weight gain. One quick test you can give yourself is to take your basal body temperature right when you wake up. Put the thermometer under your armpit to take your temperature. If your body temperature is in the 96-97 degree range there's a good chance you have hypothyroidism.

If you think you have it go to an endocrinologist because the standard thyroid test does not accurately test for autoimmune based hypothyroidism (Hashimoto's syndrome.) Standard test measures the T4 (hormone) coming out of your thyroid. With autoimmune hypothyroidism your body attacks the T4 before your body can absorb it into your cells and convert it to T3 which is what gives you energy.

There are other things it could be. What you are describing sounds like what I experienced when I tried to train for a half marathon. After seven weeks of training with no measurable improvement I went to my doctor and found out my allergy medicine (Zyrtec) was the most debilitating of the non-drowsey formulas. She put me on Allegra because it is a larger molecule that is not absorbed into the bloodstream. My one mile time immediately (two days later) improved by two minutes. See a doctor, it definitely sounds like something may be up.

bethannhayes13

I just got my blood drawn today to check for this. In addition to the fatigue, low mood, insomnia, low basal body temperature, inability to lose weight and difficulty maintaining current weight, I also discovered that I was not ovulating which is also linked to hypothyroidism. I am a personal trainer and I will tell you that sometimes in the beginning of a program the weight and inches do not come off as noticeably as we would like. Even though you are experiencing all of these symptoms, keep up the hard work. You are developing a routine and healthy lifestyle that will continue throughout your life, with or without your current symptoms. You may want to consider getting the lab work done, at least to have some peace about whether or not the thyroid is under active.

lois1585

I have an appointment with my family doc tomorrow. I think that's a good place to start. If need be, they can later refer me to an endocronologist (sp) if there are any type of issues.

Upon recommendation, I'll also have my iron and VitD checked.

LFDBabs

I had all the regular symptoms as well: 2:00pm crash, hair loss, weight gain, inability to focus and a sense of feeling just not normal. It ended up I had hypothyroidism and Vit D deficiency. The two are a terrible combination to have because it kicks you totally off mentally and physically. I have now been regulated for almost two years and feel great. Advice: go to an endocrinologist to have a full evaluation, don't let a general practitioner regulate your thyroid instability.

^^This^^ was me too. Hypothyroid dx was 20 years ago. Hashimoto's was dx about 6 years ago when I went to a endocrinologist after just feeling that something was still off and no one was doing anything beyond TSH blood work. Vitamin D (severely deficient) was dx about 6 months ago when I changed doctors. Now that I am on a rapid repletion dose of Vitamin D and my Synthroid is "DAW" and dosage was upped significantly by the endo doc, I am feeling much better, but it is STILL a struggle to lose weight. But I continue to fight the battle of the bulge

lois1585

Thanks everyone for sharing your stories. I was hesitant about posting, b/c I'm not lazy, I've stayed very consistent with working out and staying active and eating right for the last several years. I'm comforted that I'm not the only one out there

jchrisman717

It never hurts to be tested - I always thought mine was thyroid too because my sister had a problem. Mine always came back fine. What I did have was iron deficiency. I was on prescription iron pills for about a year and I couldn't beleieve what a difference it made. There are many other things that can lead to being tired, being tired can lead to many other things. So don't count on it being a thyroid issue, but do get everything checked out. It could be something as simple as low iron.

Also, I found a holostic chiropractor who did wonders with getting my back to feeling healthy again, naturally without any prescription meds.

lois1585

Update: My blood work came back today and it was normal. I'm so frustrated and discouraged. Do I just accept that or do I get a 2nd opinion?

amymutz

It's only what you don't know that can't hurt you. Sounds like vit D deficiency or your thyroid. Go got the Doctor and get on the road to feeling good again. Don't be afraid of going to the Dr., it can be the best move you make.

Graelwyn75

The overwhelming tiredness. I was getting panic attacks as well, and when I walked around, felt as if I was going to sink through the floor, such was the overwhelming fatigue. I had also gained weight, though I did not end up overweight, in spite of not eating healthy at all, or exercising. But I reached my heaviest weight, regardless. But mainly, yes, it was the fatigue. The feeling I could just slip into a coma.
It has not affected my capacity to lose weight, however, since being put on levothyroxine years ago.

onelov3

While it was my mother and not myself who was afflicted with hypothyroidism, I can tell you she did have brittle hair/fingernails, was tired often, and was cold constantly. She was actually checked by her doctor after she had lost a fair amount of weight, on a protein-only eating plan (which is odd that she lost weight, but it was just how it worked out for her). She put the weight back on as her thyroid issues got worse, even while she was on medication. Now she's dealing with Hashimoto's (an autoimmune disorder) in relation to hypothyroidism.

Even if you suspect you have thyroid issues, get checked. It's better to face the problem head on then let it fester and get worse.

editorgrrl

MFP has a Hypothyroidism and Hyperthyroidism group: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/forums/show/770-hypothyroidism-and-hyperthyroidism