I have lost nearly 50lbs with untreated hypothyroidism

Elafacwen

Background: 22 year old 5'8" female, down 47lbs since November, looking to loose another 50.
I had blood work done today and my TSH levels came back at 18.6. My doctor has put me on 50mg of Levothyroxin, which I will begin taking tomorrow morning.
If my TSH levels were that high, why did I lose that much weight? I have browsed various forums, and many people report weight GAIN with this medication, and I am starting to worry about taking it. Did my weight loss cause the increased TSH levels? Will I quit losing weight if I take the meds?
AHhh!

bjshields

I'm hypo as well, and I'm floored you were able to lose weight. Stopthethyroidmadness.com helped me a lot. Best of luck to you!

Francl27

You should probably call your doctor and ask him. Good luck!

JessicaN1979

Most people who are hypothyroid will gain weight (not lose very easily) and taking that medication will certainly not make you gain weight, it should actually help you lose weight more quickly. I am surprised you have had the results you have with weight loss. If you were hyperthyroid and then put on a medication, that might cause weight gain or at least a stall in weight loss.

artex1024

I'm hypo as well but I was on Armor Thyroid. I didn't gain weight from my meds, but I didn't lose any either. Since I quit taking them and just started focusing on eating clean and exercising a lot, I've lost 25 lbs. your thyroid controls a lot more than just your metabolism, so if you're experiencing other symptoms that need treatment, such as the mood disorders, you should take the meds. If you're just concerned about your metabolic rate and you're obviously having success without medication, then I don't see a reason to take it.

Ploogy

I think you mean untreated hyperthyroidism.

JaceyMarieS

I struggled for a year to get doctors to take my complaints seriously because all insisted I could not be having thyroid issues since I was not struggling to lose weight. Finally diagnosed with Hashimoto's in January. I've also had to have a sonogram and uptake/scan and will be meeting with the endo again next month to discuss treatment as he wanted to wait to see the results of the scan before medicating.

tatd_820

Weight loss does not affect your thyroid. It is something you either have or don't have. Diet and getting healthy will not help prevent the need for meds. I've been on 75-175mcg for the last 10 or more years. Please have it checked every 6 months from here on out. Almost every recheck, mine has to be altered.

50kgRussianBallerina

If the hypothyroidism is caused by Hashimoto's (the autoimmune form of hypothyroidism), it could explain the weight loss. Hashimoto's, it being an autoimmune disease, can often result in fluctuating levels - which can end up leaving you hypothyroid at some times and HYPERthyroid at others, at least in the earlier stages of disease. Eventually the thyroid tissue will 'eat itself' out and 'die' and you will be hypothyroid plain and simple.

Also, I have heard that sometimes people LOSE instead of gain with hypothyroidism, but more often you will gain weight. I don't know if the reason for some people's loss is different than what I wrote above.

But we don't know if you have Hashimoto's (it is the most common form of hypothyroidism, though), so you should ask your doctor. Were you tested for antibodies?

I lost 30 lbs very quickly from mid-September to mid-November while taking 50 mcg Synthroid. It seemed to be working well because I felt excellent and was finally able to lose weight (a little too much weight - I could have and should have been eating a few hundred more calories per day)! Toward the end of November I started feeling off again and by January I was so ill that my hair was falling out, my skin was pale and painfully dry, every joint in muscle was in pain, I was severely depressed, I had ZERO energy to speak of (sleeping 13 hours a day and unable to do much more than lay around the rest of the day), I couldn't focus or think clearly, was very confused, scared, and emotional, and over the course of two months I had gained 50 LBS!!! I was also severely deficient in vitamin D. Needless to say I was very sick and I had to go home from my ballet school in Russia because I was too ill to wait it out until the summer break. Now I'm a lot better but still not 100%. My point in sharing this was to say that hypothyroidism deals with a lot more than just weight, and it can feel unpredictable and out of your control at times. But maybe it will be different for you - it's different for everyone, really! It will probably take some time until you settle on the right dose and combination of meds, and even then you may find what worked for you some time ago is no longer appropriate at another point in time. I myself am no longer on Synthroid. I am taking 10 mcg Cytomel, 150 mg Bupropion HCL XL, and high-dose vit D. I still feels my Cytomel needs to be increased but my endocrinologist has been doing it only 5 mcg at a time. We may have to add the Synthroid back in to the mix in the future.

You'll get it all straightened out, but you have to be patient! The biggest lesson I have learned from all this is to be patient (I'm still learning how to do that!) I know now that I have an illness and I need to let my body heal. You can't let it blow you down, but you HAVE to get well again before you tackle the world! ;-) I don't know if you're struggling with as many physical symptoms as me - I hope not - but it does get muuuuch better with the proper treatment. Good luck! Keep us updated.

50kgRussianBallerina

Oh, by the way, did your doctor test any actual Thyroid hormones? Or just TSH?

You need to know at least Free T4 and Total T3. Checking Total T4 and Free T3 also will provide an even clearer picture of what is going on. And the thyroid antibodies, to check for Hasimoto's.

The biggest reason I ask is there is some chance you don't have hypothyroidism in the most 'traditional' sense of it...
50 lbs is a LOT to lose. I don't know what and how much you were eating and exercising. Starvation can cause hypothyroidism (T3 levels fall, so TSH increases) - but starvation has a broad spectrum and even undereating can lead to this happening. Any chance this is what's happened?

In the end we don't know. You probably don't know. And there's a decent chance your doctor doesn't even know [the cause, the perfect treatment for you, so on and so forth]. Trial and error...

action_figure

I think you mean untreated hyperthyroidism.

Nope. TSH is thyroid stimulating hormone, it's elevated because her body was trying to force her thyroid to make more thyroid hormone. She has hypothyroidism.

mattashbrock

The people that gain weight after being put on thyroid medications are usually the people who had an over active thyroid (hyperthyroidism). In these individuals we will either destroy the thyroid with radiation or with medication or remove the thyroid gland. After the thyroid gland has been removed/destroyed the pt now is hypothyroid(since they do not have a thyroid gland anymore) and so levothyroxine is started. These Patients were most likely able to consume greater than average calories while being hyperthyroid and now that they have normal thyroid levels they gain weight because they are still consuming the same calories. For you, if you were hypo to begin with, i would not expect weight gain.

Elafacwen

I had free T4 tested as well, which came back as .83. The nurse told me this was normal, however, I will not have access to the rest of the results until I get them them in the mail. I had WBC and kidney function tested as well. I have an ultrasound on my thyroid on Friday because it is enlarged.

I will admit that I have been under eating most days of the week. Some days I will only consume 800 calories because I am simply not hungry, and I usually stay below 1200, except for Friday, Saturday, and sometimes Sunday, where I hit around 1500-2000+

They currently have me on 50mcg of Levothyroxin until June where they will re-run the blood work. I had many symptoms pointing towards hypo, some of which started in high school but regressed a couple of years ago, only to blow back up in the past 6 months, around the time I started losing weight.