Help from Low Thyroid and Auto Immune Disease

Nickstery
Nickstery Posts: 324 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hello all,

My GF has a failing Thyroid and Auto Immune Disease that makes it really hard for her to loose weight but really easy to gain weight.

Does anyone know of a routine or specific diet plan that would work best for someone that has these issues?

She doesn't really eat much and seems to gain weight really easily... she has never been overweight before until this happened where her thyroid instead of being hyper is now slow if that makes sense?

Any help or thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

Replies

  • Akimajuktuq
    Akimajuktuq Posts: 3,037 Member
    Do research. There are ways to eat that will dramatically reduce, or even eliminate, auto-immune disorders. And I have experienced it first-hand. I don't know a lot about thyroid disorders, but basing one's diet on whole, healthy food likely can't hurt.
  • aedavidson79
    aedavidson79 Posts: 11 Member
    Hi, I also have an underactive thyroid. Through my primary care doc I am prescribed Synthroid that replaced the hormone level that my thyroid lacks to produce. Once my medication was balanced out, it became easier to not gain weight and I had more energy for exercise. I’m wondering if your GF need to see her doc to get her meds adjusted. Once mine where right it made all the difference. Best of luck!
  • beachpoodles
    beachpoodles Posts: 30 Member
    A couple questions. Does your GF have graves disease? This is an auto immune disease that will NOT ever go away but can be treated with radiation/surgery or medication. What do you mean failing?

    Without seeing a doctor and getting on medication or having the issue monitored it will only get worse..... as well lead into other health related issue.
  • beckajw
    beckajw Posts: 1,728 Member
    There are a lot of autoimmune diseases (whether she needs a special diet will depend on the disease). The fact taht her thyroid used to be over active and is now under active sounds like Graves disease. Getting on the right medication and the right dosage helps. However, with an under active thyroid, even with the right meds, it's difficult. BUT it is NOT impossible. I was able to lose weight, just counting calories. No special diet required. I need fewer calories than others who are my height/weight and weight loss was slow. But, it still happened.
  • beachpoodles
    beachpoodles Posts: 30 Member
    Agree - I have had graves for 20 years. I was lucky not to have major weight gain until a few years ago. I went and had my dose safely increased while being checked for other factors that could be affected. Graves disease after many years has other affects to your health, the best thing I can say is research foods and affects of the disease as well take the meds in the morning on an empty stomach with NO other meds for 2 hours before and after. I have lost 38lbs...just by sticking to my fitness pal calorie deficit.
  • mandipandi75
    mandipandi75 Posts: 6,035 Member
    She needs to have that discussion with her doctor. If she has a thyroid condition, she may need medication. It wouldn't hurt either way if she ate healthy and kept an eye on her calorie intake.
  • DouMc
    DouMc Posts: 1,689 Member
    I also have an Auto Immune Disease (Addisson's Disease) and have been told that I have slightly low Thyroid but not enough to cause a problem at this point. When I was diagnosed with Addisson's I put on a ton of weight mainly due to the medication giving me a huge appetite and having no energy to do exercise. About a month ago I decided that enough was enough and went on a 500 calorie a day deficit plus exercising at least a little bit every day and I have been slowly but steadily dropping the weight. Hope this helps!
  • Heather1899
    Heather1899 Posts: 179 Member
    I have Hashimotos Disease. I think it means that my body thinks my thyroid is a bad thing/intruder and is trying to kill it off to protect my body...which until that is done it slows my thyroid. I am on meds and because my thyroid is being killed off my doctor said my levels need to be checked regularly to make sure I am taking the correct dosage of meds. I only get mine checked once a year though.
    Weight loss wise...I was losing weight when diagnosed. I had gone from like 312 to 220ish and was then diagnosed with this. Since then I am now 190. It is slower, but I am smaller so I think it works that way.
    Foodwise and exercise I don't do anything special. Just make sure your meds are correct for your levels.
  • Nickstery
    Nickstery Posts: 324 Member
    I can't remember the exact details but I will ask her I think she had Hashimotos Disease that then turned into Graves disease... but I'm not 100% sure and could have the backwards... but what the last poster said about it trying to kill off the thyroid is what is happening.... She is on synthroid and on medication for auto-immune disease as well.

    I feel bad for her because she tries to do things but gets discouraged when she doesn't see results..... I think being on here would help her a great deal to see other support!
  • islandmonkey
    islandmonkey Posts: 546 Member
    I can't remember the exact details but I will ask her I think she had Hashimotos Disease that then turned into Graves disease... but I'm not 100% sure and could have the backwards... but what the last poster said about it trying to kill off the thyroid is what is happening.... She is on synthroid and on medication for auto-immune disease as well.

    I feel bad for her because she tries to do things but gets discouraged when she doesn't see results..... I think being on here would help her a great deal to see other support!


    If she tested positive for antibodies then she likely has both Graves and Hashi's, which isn't as uncommon as some people think.

    There is no "medication for autoimmune disease" - are you saying she's on methimazole or another anti-thyroid med, along with the synthroid?


    Many/most doctors aren't up to speed on proper thyroid management.
    1. Make sure they are testing both her free T3 and free T4, and not just her TSH. TSH is not a thyroid hormone, but tends to be the go-to test because that's all that was previously available.
    2. Make sure she knows the difference between "normal" free T3 and free T4 results, and OPTIMAL results. "Within normal range" is not optimal. Optimal is having free T4 about mid-range and free T3 in the top 1/3 of the range her lab uses.
    3. She's on a T4 only med, so REALLY needs that free T3 tested. If her body can't convert the T4 into T3 she'll still feel like crap and will technically still be hypo.
    4. She should research natural/dessicated thyroid meds and consider switching to something like Armour or Nature Thyroid. These contain not only T3 *and* T4, but that T4 is bioidentical to her body's thyroid hormone (the synthetic one in Synthroid can be difficult to convert because it's not bioidentical).
    5. She should get her Vit D, iron, ferritin, and B12 levels tested. All of these are either used in hormone conversion, or in T3 expression. Most north americans are seriously Vit D deficient (I take 4000 IUI of D3 daily).

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