Levothyroxine

My wife had a total thyroidectomy some years ago and needs artificial thyroid hormone to, you know, live. She has not had any ill effects and has not gained weight.

I have never heard of anyone gaining weight via thyroid hormone. It is the thing that enables people with hypothyroidism to burn enough calories to lose weight, in fact. I was started on levo first and it just did nothing. After a few months I went back to the doctor and I said this isn't working. I need something else. She switched me to armour thyroid, which is made from pig thyroids. That worked beautifully. I started being able to stay awake, and I could lose weight at the same rate as anyone else through diet and exercise where previously it had been ineffective. Give it 3 months and if you have bad or no effects, ask your doctor for a different thyroid medication. There are several.

Within a few months of starting Levo for hypothyroidism, I've lost 44 lbs and I'm no longer obese. Kept the weight off and maintained for almost 5 years now and I still take the same Levo dosage. You have to watch your calories and exercise, there's no other way to lose weight and build muscle for better metabolism. Follow your doctor's advice!

Cat3141 wrote: »

I'm not a doctor, but from my reading as someone who has a hypoactive thyroid treated with medication, having a hypoactive thyroid is associated with weight gain. Levothyroxine is used to treat hypothyroidism. If anything, returning your body to normal levels of thyroid hormone (vs. low levels) should make it easier for one to lose weight, not cause one to gain it. For me personally, having my hypothyroidism treated resulted in higher energy levels, which makes it possible for me to do things like exercise.

This. It is possible to gain weight on it, but if weight gain was an issue you were having already, due to poor thyroid, the levothyroxin is more likely to help a bit, by getting things back to normal. However, you were probably eating more because of the hypothyroidism. You do need to cut back down to "normal" amounts, or you will definitely start gaining again.

I'm hypo with Hashimoto's - 75 mcg of levothyroxine a day, but because I don't convert t4 to t3, it has had no effect on my weight. Just keeps me clinically normal (because standard thyroid tests don't measure ratios and insurance balks about what they consider unnecessary testing). I'm following some recent medical journal research on the whole non-conversion/reverse t3 thing, because they're thinking it's yet another type of thyroid disorder that needs even different therapy. I've also just started taking a zinc supplement as you need zinc to convert. Fingers are crossed, because dessicated thyroid aggravates an arrhythmia for me and still doesn't normalize my levels. Hope the meds help you.