Anyone with thyroid issues?

debycoles

Hi, I'm Deby and I was diagnosed with Graves Disease in June 2012, an overactive thyroid and was put on meds. My weight has been stable for 20 years and the overactive thyroid never made me lose weight.

But as soon as I went on the meds to correct it and slow my metabolism, I started to gain really quickly and despite my best efforts, after just 6 months I'm already 16 lbs heavier. I had a festive season of - "No thanks I'm watching my weight" and still gained. I'm frantic with concern about what the future holds if I continue to gain weight at this rate.

However, I do suspect that I was eating more calories than I should before and now I need to really cut that back hard. I do like a couple of cookies with my cappuccino ! My goal here says I need just 1200 a day to lose 1 lb a week - really - that's an awfully small amount of food when you put it out on the table for the day.

I think I'm going to struggle - both with my slow metabolism and with the change in lifestyle and attitude - I just hate salad and love carbs!

Anyone out there in a similar situation with thyroid problems making weight difficult to manage?
Good luck to all.

lorcart

Yep! There's a whole group dedicated to thyroid issues. Come join us!
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/forums/show/770-hypothyroidism-and-hyperthyroidism

shirleygirl910

I was diagnosed with Graves also. They ended up killing my thyroid. I now have to take meds the rest of my life.

No matter what, we all have some kind of health problems we deal with. Start by measuring and logging anything that passes your lips. Read labels so that you learn what a serving size is, not to limit yourself but to give yourself an idea of how much you eat. 1200 cal is common on MFP, but if you really want to be healthy and you incorporate exercise you will want to eat more. I'm 5'8" walk 40 min each day and go to the gym 3 times a week for 2 hours. I eat between 1800 and 1900 cal and am told I need more. I've gone from 314 to 200 lbs.

It's all a journey. You have to find out how your body works.

cuterbee

I had Grave's as well. I actually gained weight (but of course! Story of my life). They took half of it out, now I'm thyroid normal, or so they say...have no energy, but levels look OK. Maybe it's just getting used to not being supercharged all the time.

debycoles

Thanks for sharing - I can see some great weight loss and inspiring stories there - thanks for that. It's good to know I am not alone with this problem. I'm off to check out that group.

islandmonkey

I had Grave's as well. I actually gained weight (but of course! Story of my life). They took half of it out, now I'm thyroid normal, or so they say...have no energy, but levels look OK. Maybe it's just getting used to not being supercharged all the time.

Are you taking any thyroid meds? It seems common that doctors "assume" the other half will take over and resume normal function, but in practice that rarely happens.

What levels are they testing? Just TSH, or also testing free T3 and free T4? And are your levels just "ok", or are they "optimal"? BIG difference between the two.

If you have no energy it means you aren't taking enough meds, or aren't on the right meds, or maybe need additional tests of Vit D, iron, ferritin, etc. (all involved in either tghyroid hormone conversion or in thyroid hormone expression)

islandmonkey

Hi, I'm Deby and I was diagnosed with Graves Disease in June 2012, an overactive thyroid and was put on meds. My weight has been stable for 20 years and the overactive thyroid never made me lose weight.

It's actually quite common to even gain weight while hyperthyroid!

But as soon as I went on the meds to correct it and slow my metabolism

What meds are you on? PTU, or methimazole/tapazole? I'm guessing the methimazole - I went hypothyroid after just 4 weeks on this.

What labs are they running to test your thyroid function? Just TSH, or also testing free T3 and free T4?

DebraYvonne

yep I had Hashimoto's (autoimmune) and mine was extremely low but hitting 40 really did make everything slower! I have to work so much harder to lose but I am determined in 2013 to make it happen.

CarolynB38

Have you had your thyroid tested recently? Drugs like carbamazole to treat overactive thyroid can result in your thyroid becoming underactive. If this has happened to you, it would explain why you are still gaining weight. It may be that you now need to take thyroxine. I would really advise getting your thyroid tested again, preferably free T4 and T3, not just TSH.

Deficiencies in any of the following can affect how well the cells in your body use thyroid hormones so it may be worth getting them checked too; serum iron, ferritin, vitamin B12, folate and vitamin D. The results really need to be well within range, preferably the upper half of the range for the first 4 tests.

I hope that helps give you a few ideas of what might help. I hope you get to the bottom of it soon so you can get the right treatment. It is very frustrating when you eat healthily at a deficit and still gain weight.

All the best

Carolyn x

Naszreen

Hi my name is Nasreen I've recently joined this site and find it very interested I feel I'm not alone with the struggles of life, weight and thyroids problems but l'm lucky that I'm not on any form of medication. I am 50 and i just take iodine and L-Arginine. Iodine is available from a good pharmacy may have to order it and L-Arginine from GNC. Look into it and see the benefits. Hope this helps.

islandmonkey

Hi my name is Nasreen I've recently joined this site and find it very interested I feel I'm not alone with the struggles of life, weight and thyroids problems but l'm lucky that I'm not on any form of medication. I am 50 and i just take iodine and L-Arginine. Iodine is available from a good pharmacy may have to order it and L-Arginine from GNC. Look into it and see the benefits. Hope this helps.

Just a note of caution that iodine supplements are only beneficial when the cause of hypothyroid is due to iodine deficiency. As well, the original poster was diagnosed with HYPERthyroid - therefore it's actually advised to avoid iodine. (Iodine is used in the creation of thyroid hormone).

There's actually evidence that supplementing with iodine when your iodine levels are sufficient or excessive can actually worsen hypothyroid.