I have Hasimoto's, and Synthroid had no effect on my weight loss. I lost way slower than most MFPers, but I lost. I did it by eating at a deficit.

Take Synthroid on an empty stomach w/ a full glass of water. Do not eat or drink anything but water for an hour. Wait an additional 3 hours before taking any vitamins or minerals, especially calcium.

Hello! Its good to know that I am not alone in dealing with hypothyroidism. I was diagnosed a little over a year ago, and I was on levothyroxin 75mcg for a while until I moved. Since then I have been dealing with the symptoms I had prior to being on the medication. For me, it's the constant mood changes/swings, inability to maintain a healthy weight, bloating, irregular periods, chronic dry skin/dermatitis, and hair loss. It turns out that nearly my entire paternal family has undiagnosed hypothyroidism. That explained a LOT. Haha!

I read that certain foods can affect the thyroid too, so I steer clear of as many simple sugars as possible, and keep my caffeine levels lower than i used to. Education is important, I think, when it comes to caring for your health.

I have a wedding to go to this winter, at which I am the MOH, so losing weight is not an option. I also want to look good in a bikini.

Let's keep it going!
Good luck!!

Wow! Thanks for posting - this is so encouraging.

I have been on Armour thyroid for the past few months but with each dosage increase, my free T3 and free T4 would decline (not improve). My free T4 is now 0.71 (not even in the range) and my free T3 is 2.0 (bottom of the range). My TSH has been consistently "normal" which made it hard for me to get treatment to begin with (antibodies are also negative).

At my last exam my dr said I'm not responding to the Armour and switched me to Levothyroxine (Synthroid) and Cytomel.

My question for you - how much Cytomel are you taking, and how long before you started to notice results? My primary symptoms are extreme fatigue, unexplained weight gain and sensitivity to cold (temperatures of 94-96 typically).

Thanks for any advice you might have & congrats!!

violetsc7 wrote: »

Hi,

Just wanted to post a quick update:

I had an ultrasound of my thyroid in August. In the ultrasound my thyroid was in shambles. You couldn’t detect where the muscles and my thyroid stopped and began. Your thyroid should be very visible in the scan, almost bright in comparison to your muscles and larynx. This indicated that my antibodies were attacking my thyroid. My endo then diagnosed me with Hashimoto’s. I found this interesting because in all my blood work for antibodies it always came back normal. At this appointment I told him that I wanted to stop taking Synthroid. I had found over the year that this drug exacerbated my symptoms of weight gain, hair loss and puffy face/edema. He finally agreed to prescribe me Cytomel with the Synthroid. I tossed out the Synthroid and am taking ERFA Thyroid instead with the Cytomel. He also suggested I take the vitamin Selenium 200 mcg once a day.

Here’s how I’ve been taking my medication daily for the last 3 months:

First thing when I wake up I take Cytomel by chewing it
At lunch I take ERFA Thyroid by chewing it
At dinner I take Cytomel by chewing it
At bedtime I take my ERFA Thyroid by chewing it and swallow the Selenium with a glass of warm water

I have had the best results so far by doing this. My weight has gone down ( in 2 months I lost 15 lbs and its melting like butter), my hair and eyebrows have started to grow back and the puffy face/ double chin and neck swelling has gone way. The only time I notice the puffy/swelling anymore is if it’s that time of the month, I’ve just been on a plane for over an hour or I’ve had red wine/beer. I’ve also cut out weight training and cardio for more relaxing workouts like yoga. The best thing I can do for my condition is to RELAX. It really helps with keeping my symptoms from flaring. I’ve also been trying to cut out as much Gluten as I can. I’ve been reading a lot of posts from people saying they have found it helps also.

My symptoms had changed who I was so much I didn’t even realize it till they started to go away. I have finally started to feel like my old self again. I have been motivated to do things as simple as chores around the house and errands. I use to feel so tired when I’d get home or just blah. I’ve also wanted to start shopping again and putting makeup on/doing my hair. Having these symptoms had brought me to a point where I felt like no matter what I did I just didn’t feel as pretty as I use to be. I can now look in the mirror and see my old self again.


Here are some great sites I have found to be helpful:

http://www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/

http://hypothyroidmom.com/

http://www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/hypothyroid-photos-before-after/

Hurray for finding a doctor who listens to you—that's a huge NSV (non-scale victory).

The moral of your story: Do not give up!

Doesn't that website- "stop the thyroid madness" seem sort of like its promoting Armour like they're paid to do it? It seems kind of fishy.

Perhaps, STTM may look as if it is paid to promote natural thyroid products. It is out there to help people with thyroid issues find the right answer for them when many of us know we are under medicated, still not feeling normal. They are about helping you discover what is right for you, no one else. What works for one, probably is only part of the answer for another.

The reason many find the natural helpful is that it is balanced t3 to t4 and has the disregarded one and twos present too, (doctors have not found their uses yet, if they are looking). The natural replicates what we should be providing for ourselves given that from birth we have had a well balanced diet for our personal needs and "all our personal stars are aligned". Until chemists made the synthetic forms the only treatment was the natural and then only by the improvement of symptoms. Trial and error.

Some of us may have access to brilliant endocrinologist but other of us don't. My local NHS senior endo told me my low temperature is not relevant he sees so many people in a day with that issues and they are well. How many of us know this problem. I have no respect for this man who expected to stamp my forehead giving not additional information about my diagnosis, like I do actually have antibodies. I am only the patient, this should not be of interest to me. Wanting to make the best of my life< I needed to know and discovered this from a haematologist. Exclamation.

Recently I have been thrown back on what I know about my personal health problems. Its confirmed by a professor in immunology, I'm salicylate sensitive reacting to toxicity from foods the same as if it were aspirin, from birth or at least in very early childhood. Not many doctors know these symptoms let alone care. (Can come into asthma, IBS, PCOS and more). My Immunologist did say, this sensitivity is at the edge of science. My thyroid problem serves to restrict further the rate I can eliminate toxins from my body. It's only in the last two weeks I have discovered salicylate sensitivity increases the need for oxygen and as it is removed from the body it produces bilrubin which is yet another way t4's are unable to become t3. In proper scientific papers.

I have presented with thyroid symptoms for my sons life time and was never taken seriously even with the absence of eyebrows being dark haired. Test when given are always right. I heard an interview with the person who started the work looking into testing for hypothyroidism, even he said, he does not think they are accurate enough and are not being used in the way he had anticipated. The numbers we are all held up against are potentially flawed because when the blood tests were done the known thyroid status of the donations were not recorded leaving open to interpretation the outcome. I believe it to say this population displayed that range of numbers, not that these people were free of problematic thyroid problem interference, it only says, at this time that was how it was. How can this information found in so many different places be an adequate benchmark for treatment.

I suggest you read and read again as much as you can about your personal symptoms. Try your national thyroid support site, the Canadian, US and Australian ones are brilliant, take what information is appropriate to you and if you can thank the powers that be if you are in the US, Australia and Canada you are that they permit supplementing with t3 as a matter of course where necessary, unlike here in Europe where a special case needs to be made because t4 is the only treatment needed! they say because everyone is capable of facilitating the transfer. NOT. Please pardon my venting my feelings. No two persons experience of Thyroid problems are the same. Increasingly often I have read those with Hashimoto's thyroiditis do better on both t3 and 4.

Borrowed quote, hope everyone's, "personal stars come into alignment" soon.