Gaining weight - hypothyroidism? What to expect?

wookiemouse
wookiemouse Posts: 290 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I'm waiting on a call back from an endocrinologist (fingers crossed, this is #4, no one is accepting new patients!). I have gained 12 lbs in the past month, despite keeping my calories between 1600-1800, eating clean and working out daily (I did miss Christmas day, but that was it). I increased my exercise 3 weeks ago from 30-45 mins/day to 1-1.5 hrs/day and continue to gain approximately 2 lbs a week. This has been coming on slowly - at first I couldn't lose weight (which is why I shifted to eating clean in March), nothing I tried worked. Now the scale is moving in the opposite direction! Something is seriously wrong here. The only other symptom I have is fatigue (no matter how much I sleep, I always want to crawl into bed) and both my mother and maternal grandmother died from hypothyroidism (grandmother was in her 40s, my mom was 60 - I'm 38). So I'm suspecting hypothyrodism. I haven't had my bloodwork checked in 5 years, at that time it was within normal range.

If this IS hypothyrodism, what can I expect? I know about the daily pill, but I've also heard it's tricky to get the dosage right. How is this going to impact my daily life and my workouts? I'd love to hear experiences from anyone who has been recently diagnosed, what you went through symptom-wise and how you felt those first few weeks after starting meds, OR anyone who has had symptoms like mine and it turns out it was something else.

Replies

  • Poetry_In_Pics
    Poetry_In_Pics Posts: 149
    Hi there!

    As long as you're seeing a specialist, you should feel noticeable improvements in how you feel within 6-8 weeks. Getting the correct dosage of medication can be tricky at first, but once you're stable you should remain that way for the most part... I've been on the same dosage since I've been seeing my specialist and haven't had any problems.

    I'm not a doctor by any means, but your symptoms do sound like those of hypothyroidism... just before I was diagnosed I was, like yourself, active and eating salads... but no matter what I did, the scale just kept moving up! It took me a long time to be correctly diagnosed (my husband was in the Army at the time & so there weren't any specialists in the military field). You're taking care of your body early and that's a great thing!! **Keeping my fingers crossed with you** !!! :smile:
  • tineya
    tineya Posts: 1
    I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism in October. They will start you on the lowest dosage and keep checking your levels every 2 months or so to see if you need to be increased. I can honestly say that I feel no different but I have 2 small children to keep up with so they increase my level of tiredness. I was just increased this week as my levels that were normal increased greatly. My husband insists he can tell a difference in me. I just started an exercise and healthy eating routine last week. Good luck!
  • LaurnWhit
    LaurnWhit Posts: 261 Member
    Bump!
  • Lroppolo
    Lroppolo Posts: 14 Member
    Hi! I've been struggling with this disease for the past 13 years. It took me a while to be diagnosed and in that time I had gained 40lbs. Once I got medicated, the scale didn't move, however I finally found a good/progressive doctor who said that I was being severely under-medicated for years, thus not being able to shed the weight. I was able to lose about 30 lbs 2 years ago, but then my thyroid took a crap and I started growing a goiter and I gained the weight back. She upped my dose and I feel great. I just started back on here to try to lose the weight I gained back.

    My tips for you are to make sure you are getting the correct treatment for your doctor; a doctor who will take into account how you are feeling. The numbers on the page from your test results don't always equate with being medicated enough.

    Second, make sure they test your TSH, T3, T4 and reverse T3. Some doctors go by the TSH number alone and for many, that number is normal or borderline, but the person still has thyroid disease and can be "sub-clinical".

    Third, make sure the doctor checks your Vitamin D levels. There is a correlation between low D and thyroid disease.

    Fourth, it is also common to have food intollerances, so you might want to monitor what you are eating and how you feel afterward.

    And finally, I found that moderate exercise is better than killing yourself every day. Too much exercise can place stress on your adrenals and actually cause you to have a hypo flare. When I lost the weight, I was working out 3 days per week doing circuit training for 35 to 40 minutes. That seemed to work the best. When I upped my workouts to 5 days a week for 60 to 70 minutes at the gym, I started feeling bad and threw myself into a hypo state unknowingly.

    This is all just from my experience, but hope it helps you!
  • lectriceye
    lectriceye Posts: 24 Member
    It's nothing too bad really, just a daily pill and frequent blood tests. You get used to it, and you will be so glad to have it regulated! I feel so much better, I really don't know how I was functioning before. It's still going to be more challenging to lose/keep weight off than if you didn't have Hypothyroidism, but not impossible.

    Also what I didn't know before was some foods you shouldn't eat a lot of with hypothyroidism. Kale is one of them, and soy too I believe. I still sometimes will have them but you have to limit the amount I guess. I honestly didn't know that for a few years though and was still just fine. Only a hiccup with the generic meds.

    Good luck!
  • lives21
    lives21 Posts: 78 Member
    Lots of women in my family have problems with their thyroid (and at least a couple have hypothyroidism). From what I've heard the dosage can be tricky and can unfortunately take years to get right. But my family doesn't (or didn't) have the best eating and fitness habits, which I think can be a reason as to why it took so long to get right. With your clean eating, I think it will help immensely since there's less processed/ packaged food with hidden sugars, salts and chemicals. What I have seen is that a switch to eating healthy and adding exercise has helped a lot, plus their attitudes are so much more positive and better overall. I think just getting everything figured out and dosages adjusted will take off a lot of stress and frustration which will all help with weight loss. I just got tested last month and my results were negative, but I wasn't regulating my eating so weight gain wasn't so unexplained. My advice is to just stay positive until you get the results, and remember knowing is better than not knowing. Good luck!
  • Camille0502
    Camille0502 Posts: 311 Member
    No experience with hypothyroidism - but I hope you feel better soon!
  • Sheilagh85
    Sheilagh85 Posts: 33 Member
    I was diagnosed a couple of years ago...not by my doctor but by a naturopath. She did a series of blood tests for T3, T4, TSH etc. and discovered the problem. After a couple of months we found the right balance and the weight started dropping off. It does take a few months for the body to adjust but once you get on the medication you shouldn't gain any more weight, but it does take a bit longer to lose it at first.
  • doubleduofa
    doubleduofa Posts: 284 Member
    It took me a long time to be diagnosed (and I got mono just as I started meds - YAY!), but you can expect playing around with meds, blood tests every few weeks, and maybe gaining a bit more weight before you start to feel "normal" again. I have to take my pill at the same time everyday or else my symptoms return...it's strange.

    I try to stay away from anything soy (except when I got for sushi, then I might have miso soup or edamame, but whole soy is better - processed soy is bad). I eat raw spinach and kale because I like them - not sure if it is hurting me, but I enjoy a good green smoothie.

    I've been on meds for about 3 1/2 years and I've gone up and down in weight. I've yet to find the right balance I guess because I've never gotten to the point where the weight falls off. Carbs are not great for me, but eliminating the processed crap and substituting SOME whole grains has been good as I've had no more big swollen feet by the end of the day. Sugar and white bread = major water retention for me. I do put coconut sugar and fruit in my greek yogurt (how do people eat it without it? :-P) and eat dark chocolate, but that's my limit for sweets really...besides fruit. I will probably add some more things in after I lose more weight, but after maintaining for 9 months with no loss, I don't see that happening anytime soon. I do give myself kudos for maintaining though...it isn't easy, especially when you've yo-yoed your whole life.

    I take a magnesium supplement to help things "move," so to speak. I also take a myriad of other vitamins (such as, but not limited to, fish oil, vitamin D, zinc, and selenium) which are highly recommended for people who are hypothyroid (and have other autoimmune issues).

    Good luck!
  • ScientistRuns
    ScientistRuns Posts: 6 Member
    Hi, I was diagnosed with hypothryoidism four years ago. I went to the doctor because of extreme fatigue/depression, and found out my TSH was in the 50s and I had goiters on my neck. I started feeling better within 4 weeks of starting daily medication, and I can say that the diganosis changed my life. Daily synthroid made me feel 80% better, and I worked with a naturopath for the remaining 20%.

    Good luck! By the way, I am 30 years old, and I am fine now.
  • LBNOakland
    LBNOakland Posts: 379 Member
    bump
  • asharkin
    asharkin Posts: 30 Member
    I've had hypothyroidism for 16 years...I have never heard of anyone dying from it... is that from not being treated? Just curious. Find a Dr who will go by your symptoms as well as numbers... I'm trying to regulate my numbers and the Dr keeps lowering my dose. I'm so tiredand cold and irritable. I hit a certain weight and get stuck... it definitely makes it a challenge to lose weight. But it is possible you just have to work at it. :) good luck!
  • oDapho
    oDapho Posts: 50
    I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism when I was 16- I'm 19 now. Once I started taking medication, my weight slowly reduced. Without trying, over a year or so, I lost about 20 pounds of my extra weight. It's trial and error as far as the medication goes, and you'll have to regularly get your blood drawn and tested, but it's not scary and will likely improve your life greatly as far as energy levels and weight goes.
  • demartin74
    demartin74 Posts: 6 Member
    I was diagnosed at age 18 and am 38. When my mother brought me into the Dr. I could basically fall asleep anywhere. If I wasn't talking I was sleeping. I was treated for Hypothoroidism and it was a simple pill and over the years the dose has gone up. I decided to hit a Naturopath and she changed me to the natural version and I tried that for a bit and ended up going back to an Endocrinologist and they put me back on the L-thyroxine (or it's name brand as prescribed, but generic as it was filled). I went back to the Dr because I too was tired, but not really gaining weight due to anything, but my own hand to mouth activity, so didn't coorelate them. I was then sent to a sleep Dr. and was diagnosed with Sleep Apnea. If you don't sleep well and your thyroid is nutso, you can be a double whammy tired. At the moment I am treated with a pill and have been tested for Vit D and it was low and Dr. put me on a regimen of that to get it up and I would say - my diet, sleep and most importantly exercise would need to be the balance for energy in the day.

    I am currently tired from the weight loss mode, but will probably bump back up when I am not reducing my caloric intake to 1200 a day. I am also finding if I don't have enough water I am tired too... it is the body's go juice... and makes everything function. Kinda like the oil in a car. :-)

    Best of luck to you and last thing I would recommend. If you get an appointment, request that they have the blood draw prior to the appointment, so you can have an educated meeting with the Dr. to discuss your results vs. paying for an appt, then getting a blood draw, nurse calling in orders and telling you to come back in 2 months and not having the ability to talk to the Dr. about what your taking and why.

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