Does this sound like hypothyroid or am I just looking for excuse?
Replies
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nvsmomketo wrote: »Get tested. Hair doesn't thin for no reason. Get the TSH, free T3 and free T4 (both free's should be in the 50-75% range of your lab's normal limit - for most people).
Good luck.
this
not necessarily...hair can thin due to a few reasons like poor nutrition...not just thyroid issues.
still needs to be looked at / excluded0 -
Could be hypothyroid, could be something else. Need a doctor to figure it out. Make sure they run a full panel and not just TSH.
I'm always surprised by how different my experience has been than others. I had bigger thyroid issues than most, though. Once all my thyroid stuff got fixed, I began to lose weight. That hadn't been possible before. I lose slowly, but steadily. It's such a huge and happy thing for me!
Losing weight isn't the only thing that improved, though. So many things improved that even if I weren't able to lose weight, I'd still have the surgery all over again.
My eyebrows came back a little. My hair has not. I still hold out teeny-tiny hope there, but in my heart, I know my hair is gone for good. Boo-Hoo, woe is me. That's a vanity issue, though, and doesn't have any effect on my life, which got better.
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I am 26, have a healthy thyroid, and I eat (usually) well. My hair, every 6 months or so, will fall out for no reason. (In BIG chunks leaving bald spots.) I've been told it's Alopecia.
I've had my thyroid checked and everything else. My hair just doesn't like my head for some reason.0 -
nvsmomketo wrote: »Get tested. Hair doesn't thin for no reason. Get the TSH, free T3 and free T4 (both free's should be in the 50-75% range of your lab's normal limit - for most people).
Good luck.
this
not necessarily...hair can thin due to a few reasons like poor nutrition...not just thyroid issues.
still needs to be looked at / excluded
not really...as I said she described me 2 years ago...my first thought was no thyroid it was I am over weight and need to get off my lazy *kitten* and lose it before I break...
Logging needs to be brought under control before a doctor is seen.
I too lost hair/eyebrows post child birth..not enough protein will cause it too and looking at the diary it's can be sparse a lot.0 -
nvsmomketo wrote: »Get tested. Hair doesn't thin for no reason. Get the TSH, free T3 and free T4 (both free's should be in the 50-75% range of your lab's normal limit - for most people).
Good luck.
this
not necessarily...hair can thin due to a few reasons like poor nutrition...not just thyroid issues.
still needs to be looked at / excluded
not really...as I said she described me 2 years ago...my first thought was no thyroid it was I am over weight and need to get off my lazy *kitten* and lose it before I break...
Logging needs to be brought under control before a doctor is seen.
it's good you're able to diagnose people over the internet.
she needs to have her health looked after, in addition to dealing with whatever goals she's got re weight.0 -
nvsmomketo wrote: »Get tested. Hair doesn't thin for no reason. Get the TSH, free T3 and free T4 (both free's should be in the 50-75% range of your lab's normal limit - for most people).
Good luck.
this
not necessarily...hair can thin due to a few reasons like poor nutrition...not just thyroid issues.
still needs to be looked at / excluded
not really...as I said she described me 2 years ago...my first thought was no thyroid it was I am over weight and need to get off my lazy *kitten* and lose it before I break...
Logging needs to be brought under control before a doctor is seen.
it's good you're able to diagnose people over the internet.
she needs to have her health looked after, in addition to dealing with whatever goals she's got re weight.
The OP said she had blood work done before and it was fine...so why is that the first thing to get checked now?0 -
nvsmomketo wrote: »Get tested. Hair doesn't thin for no reason. Get the TSH, free T3 and free T4 (both free's should be in the 50-75% range of your lab's normal limit - for most people).
Good luck.
this
not necessarily...hair can thin due to a few reasons like poor nutrition...not just thyroid issues.
still needs to be looked at / excluded
not really...as I said she described me 2 years ago...my first thought was no thyroid it was I am over weight and need to get off my lazy *kitten* and lose it before I break...
Logging needs to be brought under control before a doctor is seen.
it's good you're able to diagnose people over the internet.
she needs to have her health looked after, in addition to dealing with whatever goals she's got re weight.
The OP said she had blood work done before and it was fine...so why is that the first thing to get checked now?
The standard thyroid test is crap.0 -
Get a hormone panel - relatively cheap and fully covered by nearly all insurance plans. Ensure your TSH is between 0.3 - 3.0 and pay attention to your T4, T3, and RT3 results.
When TSH is overstimulated this may cause an increase in cellular absorption, where people will gain ~10 lbs or so, but this is water weight.
No harm in getting yourself tested as your hormones are constantly changing and competing with one another. Note that when you gain weight this may cause an imbalance by itself.0 -
Losing your eyebrows is a very common indication of some kind of thyroid issue. Please get re-tested..... Hypo-thyroidism is a silent pandemic and many physicians do not understand it - how to diagnose OR how to treat it. Please educate yourself about the tests (TSH is not helpful. You would need T4, T3, Free T4, Free T3, and Reverse T3 and also look into testing your adrenal glands. There are some excellent websites - although some of them can be a little shrill and are biased in favor of certain medications. A good place to start is with the work of Mary Shomon, who has a site called Stop The Thyroid Madness. Please feel free to inbox me. Hope you feel better.0
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Thanks everyone. I totally understand the folks who question the food logging, but I joined MFP years ago and do have a very good grip on logging. Yes a few days have been skipped. However, there are times when I have seriously been too busy to get to logging. Quick add is sometimes required when I can't find the food I"m looking for fast enough (I work FT and don't always have time to look up every item I eat, even though I may know it's calorie content). If days are skipped more likely than not, I'm eating basically the same foods day in/week in and day out/week out.
I'm not against getting a new food scale, and I will admit when I got my first one I was surprised at what I thought I was eating vs what I actually was eating. So I do get why people harp on that. However, even if I add 250 calories to each day that I logged (which I highly doubt I overate that much vs logged EVERY day) I still should be seeing some loss. ANd that is where I am questioning things.
I should have a yearly physical coming up soon anyway, so I'm going to request some additional testing.
I wish I could someone express this in words...my body is not acting the same as it did a few years ago. My weight would have dropped previously following the same regiman I am doing now. So I'm really trying to see if it's just age creeping up on me or something more, and hoping some folks here might recognize this and say:
1. Nope on thyroid..just age catching up to you and you need to decrease calories OR
2. Definitely sounds like exactly what happened to me....get some tests done.0 -
I joined MFP years ago and do have a very good grip on logging.
My body is not acting the same as it did a few years ago. My weight would have dropped previously following the same regiman I am doing now.
So I'm really trying to see if it's just age creeping up on me or something more, and hoping some folks here might recognize this and say:
1. Nope on thyroid..just age catching up to you and you need to decrease calories OR
2. Definitely sounds like exactly what happened to me....get some tests done.
First of all, they're not mutually exclusive. Get your thyroid checked and tighten up your logging. The smaller you get, the smaller the margin of error. So you need to log everything you eat & drink even more accurately & even more honestly.
Everybody's different, so it takes a whole lot of trial & error to find what works for you. And what works for each of us changes over time. If what you're doing right now is not working, try something else.0 -
nvsmomketo wrote: »Get tested. Hair doesn't thin for no reason. Get the TSH, free T3 and free T4 (both free's should be in the 50-75% range of your lab's normal limit - for most people).
Good luck.
this
not necessarily...hair can thin due to a few reasons like poor nutrition...not just thyroid issues.
still needs to be looked at / excluded
not really...as I said she described me 2 years ago...my first thought was no thyroid it was I am over weight and need to get off my lazy *kitten* and lose it before I break...
Logging needs to be brought under control before a doctor is seen.
it's good you're able to diagnose people over the internet.
she needs to have her health looked after, in addition to dealing with whatever goals she's got re weight.
The OP said she had blood work done before and it was fine...so why is that the first thing to get checked now?
The standard thyroid test is crap.
No, it's not.
It doesn't tell many people what they insist they want to hear - but that is not even remotely the same as being "crap".
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...which I highly doubt I overate that much vs logged EVERY day) I still should be seeing some loss. ANd that is where I am questioning things.
You're eating too much, and you don't know how much too much because your logging is broken.
That's your starting point - anything else is a distraction and will delay real progress.
Good luck!
:drinker:0 -
Thyroid AND adrenal tests, please! I was always scoffing at those who "blamed" their weight gain on "hormones." But what happened to me? After being 100-104 lbs (5 ft 1) for most of my adult life, working out heavy since my 20's (I am now 58), all of a sudden, I began to slow down around 2 yrs ago. It got so bad that by last November, I could barely move. I began to overeat. I gained at least 15 lbs. I was diagnosed as hypo-thyroid, but still had symptoms no matter what happened with the medicine. I would start to feel better, work out lightly, and then end up with vicious fibromyalgia.
I didn't get the correct diagnosis until just about a month ago when my functional medicine doctor tested my adrenal glands. Now this all makes sense. Low cortisol levels along with hypothyroidism can bring your metabolism to a crawl AND leave you hungry and fatigued. Since EATING can marginally raise your metabolism, your poor little body urges you to head to the fridge and chow down..... Eating helps wake you up.
Sound familiar?
I am winking at you with my half an eyebrow....
I will NEVER be judgmental about the efforts of others to lose weight. I have learned my lesson, and I think I am now a much kinder person. So, it hasn't been all bad.
But.
Please, as I said above, educate yourself and insist on the correct tests. If everything checks out, then at least you know exactly what you need to do. 0 -
From what I have read, eat to perform takes at least 6 months to see results and is for a specific goal(gaining muscle, losing fat, maintaining cross fit performance). Once you've been on it for a while and built some muscle they then start your wave method fat burning. If this isn't your specific goal then maybe a different method would work better anyway.
Have you calculated your lean body mass? Maybe you just carry a lot of muscle from doing cross fit? Do you notice a difference in your body composition?0 -
My advice as a hypothyroid person is to make sure you know what the numbers are (TSH, Free T3 and Free T4). Don't let them tell you you're "normal" and send you on your way. Some doctors/labs are still using outdated information when it comes to classifying people as hypothyroid. They tell people they're fine when they're not.
And just because you're in the normal range, doesn't mean that's were you need to be. It's about quality of life, not just a number in a range--that's why it's a range. Be assertive and your own best advocate. Ask for a referral to an endocrinologist if needed. It's your life and your health.0 -
It kind of is the same. You cannot use TSH to diagnose. At the very least, you need a thyroid panel.nvsmomketo wrote: »Get tested. Hair doesn't thin for no reason. Get the TSH, free T3 and free T4 (both free's should be in the 50-75% range of your lab's normal limit - for most people).
Good luck.
this
not necessarily...hair can thin due to a few reasons like poor nutrition...not just thyroid issues.
still needs to be looked at / excluded
not really...as I said she described me 2 years ago...my first thought was no thyroid it was I am over weight and need to get off my lazy *kitten* and lose it before I break...
Logging needs to be brought under control before a doctor is seen.
it's good you're able to diagnose people over the internet.
she needs to have her health looked after, in addition to dealing with whatever goals she's got re weight.
The OP said she had blood work done before and it was fine...so why is that the first thing to get checked now?
The standard thyroid test is crap.
No, it's not.
It doesn't tell many people what they insist they want to hear - but that is not even remotely the same as being "crap".
TSH can come back normal even if the person has a serious thyroid problem.
This is why it's best to see an endocrinologist if you think you might have a thyroid problem. Endos would never run TSH and call it a day. Some doctors still do that.
There are other things that cause hair to fall out, though. Nobody knows what the OP's problem is. If the OP is smart, they will get someone who is qualified to figure it out on the job. Can't be done online.
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So I'm really trying to see if it's just age creeping up on me or something more, and hoping some folks here might recognize this and say:
1. Nope on thyroid..just age catching up to you and you need to decrease calories OR
2. Definitely sounds like exactly what happened to me....get some tests done.
The metabolism decreasing with age is a myth, it does to a minuscule degree; however irrelevant for weight gain and nothing that would show up on a macro scale. The greater impact is decreasing muscle mass, still very small, but will have impact over time.
You are reporting symptoms of hypothryroidism; however will need medical diagnostic verification.0 -
nvsmomketo wrote: »Get tested. Hair doesn't thin for no reason. Get the TSH, free T3 and free T4 (both free's should be in the 50-75% range of your lab's normal limit - for most people).
Good luck.
this
not necessarily...hair can thin due to a few reasons like poor nutrition...not just thyroid issues.
Exactly. You need a reason, and hypothyroidism is a common one, but yes there other conditions that cause hair loss.0 -
nvsmomketo wrote: »Get tested. Hair doesn't thin for no reason. Get the TSH, free T3 and free T4 (both free's should be in the 50-75% range of your lab's normal limit - for most people).
Good luck.
this
not necessarily...hair can thin due to a few reasons like poor nutrition...not just thyroid issues.
still needs to be looked at / excluded
not really...as I said she described me 2 years ago...my first thought was no thyroid it was I am over weight and need to get off my lazy *kitten* and lose it before I break...
Logging needs to be brought under control before a doctor is seen.
it's good you're able to diagnose people over the internet.
she needs to have her health looked after, in addition to dealing with whatever goals she's got re weight.
The OP said she had blood work done before and it was fine...so why is that the first thing to get checked now?
The standard thyroid test is crap.
No, it's not.
It doesn't tell many people what they insist they want to hear - but that is not even remotely the same as being "crap".
With respect, Mr Knight, you know a lot of things about weight loss, but obviously, not the first thing about women's hormonal health. Please attend to the multiple posters speaking from experience here.0 -
My advice as a hypothyroid person is to make sure you know what the numbers are (TSH, Free T3 and Free T4). Don't let them tell you you're "normal" and send you on your way. Some doctors/labs are still using outdated information when it comes to classifying people as hypothyroid. They tell people they're fine when they're not.
And just because you're in the normal range, doesn't mean that's were you need to be. It's about quality of life, not just a number in a range--that's why it's a range. Be assertive and your own best advocate. Ask for a referral to an endocrinologist if needed. It's your life and your health.
As someone who's been diagnosed with hypothyroidism for 11 years, I think this sums it up! So many doctors rely on TSH without looking at the whole picture. I know I can be on just enough thyroid medication to fall into the ''normal'' range and still be symptomatic (unable to lose weight and miserable). A slight raise in the medication and I feel much better and can lose weight. Look at your lab results and compare them to the reference range and make sure they are optimal and not just within normal. There are many many symptoms of hypothyroidism so it's worth checking a comprehensive list and checking off which ones apply to you. My eyebrows have always been fine, but I had terrible black circles under my eyes until I was treated.
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Losing your eyebrows is a very common indication of some kind of thyroid issue. Please get re-tested..... Hypo-thyroidism is a silent pandemic and many physicians do not understand it - how to diagnose OR how to treat it. Please educate yourself about the tests (TSH is not helpful. You would need T4, T3, Free T4, Free T3, and Reverse T3 and also look into testing your adrenal glands. There are some excellent websites - although some of them can be a little shrill and are biased in favor of certain medications. A good place to start is with the work of Mary Shomon, who has a site called Stop The Thyroid Madness. Please feel free to inbox me. Hope you feel better.
TSH level is the baseline test and by far the most helpful. There may be a competing hormone which is blocking T4 (commonly estrogen); however this does not lessen the importance of TSH. The problem is too many old school allopathic physician only consider TSH in initial diagnosis and never ask the next level of questions.
The other problem is that each patient's perception is biased, so they need objective evidence before a proper diagnosis.
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Absolutely get things checked out to be sure.
But one thing I noticed from your diary, other than the fact that you really need to use a scale, is that your fiber tends to be quite low. This won't account for not losing weight, but you mentioned how hungry you were with eating less. Upping my fiber has really made fewer calories more satisfying and long-lasting.
I've struggled in the recent past and thought it could be this or that, but it was me not being patient enough, and not being honest when I recorded. I hope you get good news from your doctor and can get on the right path!0 -
You should certainly get checked, preferably by a very skilled GYN or an endocrinologist.
It's an easy blood test--there is no reason not to have it done.0 -
I have my levels done twice a year.0
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Losing your eyebrows is a very common indication of some kind of thyroid issue. Please get re-tested..... Hypo-thyroidism is a silent pandemic and many physicians do not understand it - how to diagnose OR how to treat it. Please educate yourself about the tests (TSH is not helpful. You would need T4, T3, Free T4, Free T3, and Reverse T3 and also look into testing your adrenal glands. There are some excellent websites - although some of them can be a little shrill and are biased in favor of certain medications. A good place to start is with the work of Mary Shomon, who has a site called Stop The Thyroid Madness. Please feel free to inbox me. Hope you feel better.
TSH level is the baseline test and by far the most helpful. There may be a competing hormone which is blocking T4 (commonly estrogen); however this does not lessen the importance of TSH. The problem is too many old school allopathic physician only consider TSH in initial diagnosis and never ask the next level of questions.
The other problem is that each patient's perception is biased, so they need objective evidence before a proper diagnosis.
Yeah, there's a circularity there that's problematic for women, in that as you say, your average dino-doc is likely to rely on the lab report alone (and the normal reference ranges are still not consistent from lab to lab), and dismiss reported symptoms due to skepticism about women patients (an issue when history & subjective symptoms are so critical for diagnosis and treatment).0 -
@tomatoey - to make matters worse few endocrinologists specialize in thyroid disorder and instead focus on erectile dysfunction or diabetes. When mine retires I don't know what I'm going to do as he is one of the few who communicates and actually discusses options with his patients.0
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It can be a dino-doc problem, but many primary care docs, in general, are just very uninformed about all things endocrine.
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azulvioleta6 wrote: »It can be a dino-doc problem, but many primary care docs, in general, are just very uninformed about all things endocrine.
It does seem that way. I guess they can't all know or keep up with everything, if even endocrinologists often miss the mark, but saying as much might be helpful, and in that case, the thing to do is listen to patients.
@CSARdiver - I have only started to have any kind of dealings with this, but this is what I hear from everyone who has a thyroid problem, that it's very hard to find someone good. I hope you continue to have access to solid care going forward.0 -
As others have said, it can't hurt to have it checked.
I understand your frustration, especially when you're really doing everything possible and seeing no results. I did mfp and weight watchers for years, exercised and never saw results. (I also hated when people assumed I was lying about it when I asked for help.) Turns out I have PCOS and insulin resistance.
Not saying that's necessarily true for you, but you know your lifestyle and you know your body, if something doesn't seem right then look into it. Good luck!0
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