Hypothyroidism/Hashimotos!!

I actually got diagnosed w/ Hypothyroidism back in January (I had gained 10 lbs since summer and had a never ending craving for anything in sight).

I've been in Synthroid since Feb and have lost about 16 lbs. My dry skin got better, but isn't completely fixed.

One thing different for me though is I'm also on Wellbutrin (it's what motivated me to lose the first 30 lbs) because I needed some mood support about 4 years ago. I was going to go off it, and the weight started creeping back, so my Dr. said I should just stay on it since it's helping my weight loss efforts.

Just a thought! Good luck!

My doctor gave me synthroid i do not take it. I am not telliing you to go against your doctor s at all. I take kelp and L tyrosine , i was tired run down all the time. I feel so much better and I am losing weight. Of course no sugar, processed foods. Very strict diet protein, veggies, fruit, seems to work.
Good luck I know how depressing it is not to lose weight tried for 8 months

I have Hashimotos. I was diagnosed years ago, shortly after high school. I weight 120 from the time I was 12 until I was 19 and then my weight increased to about 140 and I could not lose it no matter what I did and exercise made me feel much worse. I had thinning hair, dry skin, depression, and brain fog like you say you have. When I was finally diagnosed I was also put only on sythroid and none of my symptoms ever got better. I fought docors for several years to get armour thyroid. I didn't do very well on it either. I am now on a T3/T4 combination. As far as my thyroid goes, I feel much better on it. (I have a lot of other hormone/autoimmune problems that cause a lot of other issues and the treatments have put more weight on me. I WILL figure out how to make all of this crap go away!)

I do know most doctors do not like to treat with anything other than synthroid. There is NO difference between synthroid and other levothyroxine medications. Pharmaceutical companies pushed synthroid and brainwashed doctors into believing it is the only way to treat hypothyroidism. The levothyroxine medications (synthroid is this type) have only T4, the storage thyroid hormone. Armour is dessicated pig hormone and contains T4, T3, T2, T1, and other helpful substances. It is regulated, doctors will tell you it is not regulated and harder to dose accurately. There also exists the T3 hormone (brand name Cytomel). This is the hormone that your cells actually use.

Advice from my experience is do not let the doctors bully you! You know your body and you know it is not right. You are not crazy. You may have to shop around to find a doctor that will work with you. There are lots of books and information available for thyroid patients. I recommend checking out these resources. Tests I recommend you have are Free T4 and Free T3. These will give you the amount of hormones available to your cells. These hromones bind with estrogen and they are no longer available for your cells to use. Some people cannot convert T4 into T3 and these tests will also show that. If you cannot convert you will need to take a T3 drug to get any relief in symptoms. I also recommend avoiding soy.

You have also mentioned taking birth control pills. These will affect your thyroid levels if you switch since estrogen will bind with the thyroid hormones. One thing doctors rarely tell women is that these pills reduce your B vitamin levels and it will help to supplement with a B complex vitamin. You probably need more than what is in a multivitamin.

I wish you luck in figuring this out and finding a doctor to help you!

Get on Armour it is a natural thyroid, the synthroid doesn't work for a lot of people...most. I'm on something like armour called naturthroid I believe, I get it from my hormone doctor. There are also some pharmacies that will compound a natural version also. if you want to keep it simple, just tell your doctor you want Armour.