Hypo-Thyroid disease--anyone have information?

I was diagnosed with hypothyroid disease about 6 weeks ago. For about 4 weeks, I've been on 60 mcg of Armour thyroid medication. I've noticed only a couple of changes: 1--I sweat when I work out. Before, I rarely broke a sweat even working extra hard in the gym. That has caused me to actually have a harder time working out because now I'm hot and uncomfortable sooner. 2--My sex drive is back. Unrelated to weight, totally, lol...and I'm single, so it's wasted!

I am noticing how much more I seem to crave carbs lately, too. I should be eating about 1200 calories a day to lose the 15 lbs. I still have to go, but I am finding it very, very hard to follow a diet! I have managed to lose 2 lbs. but don't know a lot about this disease. I've got a book on order that is about diet and hypothyroidism, but it isn't here yet. Any ideas on how to know what the right dose of meds is for me? Also, how can I get a handle on the diet issues? The food log is a help, but not a cure-all...I feel so frustrated about always feeling as if I have to eat, even if I'm full.

Hi there, I don't suffer from hypothyroidism and don't know much about it myself. However, here is some information from the reliable Mayo Clinic & about.com which might shed some light while you wait for some knowledgeable responses. Best of luck to you.

• Mayo Clinic information on hypothyroidism 
• Another page from Mayo Clinic on hypothyroidism & diet 
• About.com's information on hypothyroidism

 

I do have hypothyroidsm and the information on both the Mayo Click site and About.com's are excellent.  My doctor thought I knew as much as he about it.  There is no cure for hypothyroidsm but the medication once regulated will keep it under control.  You will have to use it for the rest of your life, but good news is it is cheaper than sugar.  $35 is enough pills for a whole year for me.

About the only change I notice is that I don't sleep 24/7 any more, and my hair and nails are in better shape.  It did not help with weight loss at all, but it did likely help when I put it on in the first place.  If you have to have something, this is the easiest of all burdens to bear.

Thank you for the replies. I have already read the about.com stuff, and it was very helpful. My dr. is not the best with bedside manner, and I felt like my symptoms were really dismissed as unimportant (like the dry hair and skin and losing so much hair) or that they were just related to being post-menopausal. I forgot that the meds also helped some symptoms mentioned on those sites, but still haven't done much with the hair and skin...I hope I get my eyebrows back and my hair gets better and grows back in as thick as it used to be. I'm still working on finding a dr. who will be willing to listen and not treat me like I have no idea what I'm talking about (like you, I've done a lot of research on this but no one really had much on the weight issues and dietary factors).

The symptoms and the disease it self are indeed post menopausal.  It is unclear whether the hypothyroidism is caused by menopause, or the other way around.  Synthroid, the replacement my doctor prescribed, is in fact, testosterone,  which is one of the chemicals that we lose as we approach and go through menopause. 

I have been a year on it now, and have had no improvement where my eyebrows are concerned, but my hair has improved.  That could be because I don't wash it every day, and do use a color sealant, which is actually a bit of a conditioner. I have to use cremes steadily both on my arms-hands and legs. 

I have had skin pain for a long time, and since I have been dieting, notice it is not as severe as it used to be. I mentioned the skin pain to my doctor and he just shrugs and looks at me blankly.  I think doctors believe most of the symptoms are unimportant and/or psychosomatic, and they just treat the thyroid itself.  For that matter, I think doctors believe that once they have found a pill that makes a certain test normal, they can dismiss it.  If the rest doesn't reverse or repair, oh well, to them it isn't life threatening.

If we find solutions to those other  symptoms, it will be with the help of our beauticians and friends. If I could find a female doctor I would, but with the severe doctor shortage now the baby boomer doctors are all retiring, I daren't move lest I find myself with no doctor at all. This has happened to several friends.

I also have hypothyroidism. I take levothyrox (eltroxin is the generic name), 100mcg for 5 days, nothing for 2 days. I used to take 100mcg every day, but it gave me palpitation, irregular heart beat and chest pain. So the  doctor told me to stick to the dosage as the numbers were good, but to give my body two days to get rid of any build up. The main problem with replacement therapy is that while your body produces what you need when you need it, a pill will never be able to do the same. It gives you an approximation of what you need most of the time. What you need changes with the season, the time of the day, the kind of activities you perform and the amount of stress you go through.

That's why you need to have your levels monitored regularly. I was diagnosed two years ago. Since then my hair has improved dramatically (I have a lot and it had really fallen off, and was very dry), my skin doesn't produce clouds of dust when rubbed, but it is still on the dry side (always was). My eyebrows haven't improved, like fransen's... My weight gain was also probably caused by hypothyroidism, as it started when I went into pre-menopause. Pills haven't helped that either...

Like fransen, the most dramatic effect has been on my energy level. I am fully efficient now, after years of mental confusion, hazy thinking and the depression that goes with feeling increasingly out of things. I was sooo lethargic I sometimes thought I had the contracted the sleeping sickness while visiting  Tanzania...

It will take time before things go back to normal, and also to find the right dosage, so don't feel too desperate. As fransen said, if you have to have something, this is probably the best choice!!! LOL

 Good luck on your weight loss! 

I'm hypothroid too, and like shaufel, also take levothyroxine, (eltroxin); 100 mcg and supposed to be every day, but I'm awful with taking pills, so it amounts to prob. 5 days a week too,  lol. Keep getting tested, every  6weeks to 3 months I think I was, now only once a year.

I'm a bit confused about the whole postmenopausal thing though,  because I was diagnosed when I was 24, after my first baby was about a year old.  My Dr. said it is most often that a woman gets diagnosed after a pregnancy.   I however, did not begin to take any medication (thought I was young,invincible, etc.) until I was 38.  By that time, I had to do something, I felt like I was falling asleep all the time, only with my eyes open which was especially scary when I was driving.  eeekkk I started off at 60 mcg, then after 3 mo, was increased to 100 mcg.  I've been on it ever since, with no problems. it's like it doesn't even exist any more.

The biggest difference  now is the energy, and mental clarity.  I also take folic acid, which helps big time with the mental clarity. I always felt like I was in a fog, some days worse than others.  But, I have always had about 3x the normal amount of hair, and that was never affected, I still have 3x more hair than most people.  But I have always had dry skin, and hair  too. Oh, and cold hands.  That's the other thing too, not so cold all the time now.  Before meds, it could be 90 degrees,  and I would still have a sweater on.  

The only thing that all the Dr's said was rare, was that I never had a weight issue without taking medication, in fact I was at my all time low during this period. So for me, taking meds or not hasn't had any noticeable effect on my weight.  Now, perhaps menopause will prove to be a different matter altogether, we'll have to see....

One thing that  my Dr. never gave any instruction  about was how/when to take the thyroid medication, it was 2 years later, the pharmiscist  said it works better on an empty stomach, 1-2 hours before food, or at least 2 hours after.   I thought something that important, you'd think he would have told me, but perhaps I was the only one in the dark  lol.    

 

I think it is MOST prevalent in post menopausal women, but there are other people that get lazy tyroid glands for some reason or another.  My pharmacist and doctor both told me 1-2 hours before eating. 

It was interesting to see that shaufel had in irregular heart and chest pain on too much. I sometimes double dosed and never connected chest pain to the thyroxin.  I do have COPD so perhaps, it isn't the double dose, but I will be very careful in the future.

Jewell, I think it did have something to do with weight, in that, with the medication, you have much more energy than before.  Also, regarding weight, did you or do you smoke?  Never mind... with 4 kids, you would never have a weight issue... lol... what happened did they grow up?  Glad to see another Canadian too.

I still need some kind of metabolism boost, suggestions? Also, Jewell, in what way do you take Folic Acid.

I am also hypothyroid.  I was diagnosed about 2 years ago. I am taking Synthroid, 50mcg daily.

I have a female doctor and she doesn't seem to be any better informed or have any better bed side manners than the male physicians mentioned here. She was fussing at me in October to lose at least 25 pounds and with the beginnning of the new year I found my way here.  I really need to lose more than just 20 pounds and this time I would love to make it a life style change so it will stick. I also have hypertension, another good reason to lose weight.

My biggest problem is that I always feel cold, especially now in the winter month. I have contacted the doctor before when I thought that maybe the dosage I was taking needs adjusting, but she tells me that my tests show that everything is as it should be. My skin has always been very dry and it still is. And I can't tell a difference in my hair either. I am post menopausal btw.

I have had hypothyroidism for 19 years,so since I was 11. My thyroid is completly gone. Right now my dose is 175mcg. When I was pregnant I was up to 300 mcg. That is how bad my thyroid is. I have to have my checked like every 6 months becouse it changes on me. My doctor is not sure why but might send me to a endocrinologist. Anyway, the big things I noticed right away, at age 11. Was that my weight dropped and my height went up. My skin was so dry that any little scatch would make me bleed. My skin is still a little dry but can control that with lotion and drinking plenty of water. The cold is something that has stuck with me. I am usually cold, except when I am working out or it is 90 outside. My husband finds it funny what I wear to bed. I can sleep in jogging pants,t-shirt and socks and not get warm. Right now as I am typing this my hands are ice cold. But my blood pressure is pretty low also which adds to the coldness. I am around 102\60. I have gone down as low as 85\52.

On one site I read that lossing weight with a thyroid problem is like trying to go up hill with 300 pounds straped to you, compared to a person who doesn't have a thyroid problem. Then I see things that say if you are on meds that you lose weight just as easily as other do. I don't know if I belive that. I have to work damn hard to get the scale to move and to keep it moving. I have lost 79 pounds so far and it has been a fight. I too go on sites just to get info about the thyroid. I want to know what foods are best, and things like that.

I will check in latter and talk. It is nice to find a forum that is for hypothyroidism. I will be back. Thanks for posting this one.

I forgot to post this former CC thread on PCOS and hypothyroid, you may find some info there.

http://caloriecount.about.com/forums/post/680 92.html 

Yes, fransen, you have to be careful about overdosing. Not the occasional overdosing, but the constant slight overdose that ends up making you sick. It can even stop your heart. So it's a good idea to always take the lowest dose possible (that's also why doctors usually start with a low dose that they build up after checking your levels).

A few years back, it became fashionable for women to take synthetic thyroid extracts to lose weight, and several ended up dead. There was a whole campaign in Switzerland to inform pharmacists and discourage people...

I wish I would feel cold because of my thyroid... Where I live it's in the 80s indoors and 90s outdoors... Or maybe it would be worse if I didn't have a thyroid problem?! 

It's funny, I am starting to make statistics: most of us had dry hair and skin even BEFORE they developed a problem... Jewel, I always had loads of hair too. I just found a lot more around the house and on my pillow before I started taking the pills. Not anymore. And most of us have weight problems that seem to be unrelated to our condition. Or rather, even if we did pile up lbs because of it, rectifying the problem doesn't seem to help much weight-wise. Only helps through the increase in energy... Maybe because, before we learned why we were gaining, we all went into crazy diet mode... I think it is my case. I am now trying to fix my metabolism, but it's very hard.

I do not think it's linked to menopause, but rather to the general slowly down and  unraveling of our bodies as we get older. Thyroid produces a hormone. As you go over the top, that hormone production slows down too. If you have been slightly deficient your whole life, or if your metabolism has shut down because of yoyo-ing, it becomes even more prominent after menopause. Just my opinion.

Nice to have others to talk to, I agree with Sammy! 

Oh! And no one ever told me I had to take it on an empty stomach! I am usually taking it with my breakfast (that's what my - female - doctor told me most women did). Up to recently, my breakfast was just unsweetened coffee, but I have started eating a more substantial breakfast, so I will have to change that!!! Thanks!!! 

 

I read on the about.com information that the research is now saying that the TSH level should be in the 3 range instead of 5 like drs have always used for the "normal" when doing the bloodwork. I'm taking the articles to my dr. when I go in next week for my tests. I'm noticing that I have days when I feel great and can really do a lot, especially with my exercise, but then other days, I feel like I am just too exhausted to do much of anything. It's not like I'm winded or muscle pain from too much exercise, it's a feeling that my muscles are just too tired to move! Like earlier this week, I had no trouble walking/running and doing 5 miles in an hour. Yesterday, though, I felt like I was going to die--I was swimming (normally I can do 40 laps in an hour) and barely made 25 laps before I just couldn't go anymore. Even those 25 laps were slower and I felt like I was swimming in molasses! I hope the meds can get adjusted so I am more consistent with feeling good. I really appreciate all the posts and information you've added! Thanks.

Squarepeg, My doctor is under the opinion it should be 5 too, so perhaps, I will suggest he read up on this research.  Regarding the energy.  Nothing seems to be bringing it back.  Last night before going to bed, I worked out for 30 minutes, and when I got up this morning felt like I was invincible.  I decided to walk the dog a kilometer instead of the usual half.  I was exhausted by the time I got home.  Perhaps if I had done that a week ago, I would have been exhausted at a half K. so, I will keep up pushing the cardio and see if it helps.  When I first moved here 4 yrs ago, I could walk 5 or 6 K without batting an eye. 

At the end of the first year, I lost my best friend and companion, a loving little cocker spaniel, who stepped onto the highway (while on a leash) and there was a truck right there.  I quit walking for a whole year, and when I was ready to walk again, to my amazement, I couldn't walk a whole kilometer, and, I was having difficulty walking up the stairs in my own house.  That was when I knew something was very wrong and went for tests.

The tests indicated a great heart, good blood pressure, good cholestrol but, poor lungs (COPD) and poor thyroid. I am on Spiriva for my lungs, which is VERY expensive, and of course, the synthroid levothyroxine.  In all truth, I am not sure if the changes are worth the expense, EXCEPT where the Spiriva is concerned, I never have the drippy nose I used to have constantly.  *laughing*  Would you pay $100 a month not to have post nasal drip?

I would love to speed up my metabolism, because after more than 30 days, of dieting, I don't see any weight difference at all even though I never go over 1200 calories by more than 50 to 100 calories. I know it says I started at 145, but I wonder if I really did.  Yesterday afternoon the scale said I was 145 again, but just in the morning it said 141, so did I weigh in the afternoon on start day?  I don't remember.

I am getting very exasperated with NO CHANGE.

I have hypothyroid and freeze all the time! my levels are finally to a point that i can feel good all day long. For me I have found that eating carbs really helps me. It make my body burn warmer. It helps my energy a lot too. as for not having enough fransen energy you may not be eating enough. i read this on another forum so don't jump all over me! 1200 is the minimum for what your body need to sustain its organs. you sound very active and what i read was that in order for your body to lose weight and not go into starvation mode that you can only have a difference of 1000 calories. so calories spent minus calories consumed should only at the lowest for one day equal 1000. you will hopefully lose 1-2lbs a week if your levels are stable. 

One thing I'd like to find out is how my hypo-thyroid affects my basic metabolism. According to the BMR calculator on another site, I should eat around 1700 calories a day for a sedentary life. Until recently, though, eating anything over 1300 calories was guaranteed to make me gain weight, no matter how much I exercised (though I was usually too tired to exercise more than 30 minutes a day). Now I am exercising more (about 60 minutes a day usually), and eating about that 1700 calories. I'm not losing...but I'm not gaining, either. How long before my metabolism is normal, and is it possible that when my medication is adjusted in a week or so (this is my first month on thyroid medicine) Ill start to see some changes? Also, I have days that I feel great more often, but I still have days I am just exhausted by the littlest things. I hope that will get better, too. I appreciate all the information everyone has shared.

hi, i have a hypo thyroid and yes it has sucked. i was tested about 2 years ago and they put me on cytomel, and just 2weeks ago i find out that ive been taking the wrong thryoid medicine. ive been gaining weight alot and fast and cant get rid of it, ive been taking naps twice a day and i got the nick name freeze baby because im always cold. and i just found out that those symptoms are from having a low thyroid.

 so i just started taking levothrox TB(thats what the prescription says) but its levothroxine which is the generic name for sethroid(think thats how you spell it). but they started me off at 100mcg which is 0.1mg, i really hope it helps with the weight loss ive gain....

oh very important news, women get a hypothyroid after having a baby because of all the anti body we lose, giving it to our babys. almost all women get this after their babies. cause before i had my kid i was skinny and ate mc.Ds all the time and ate junk food all the time, but after i had my kid all went wrong. having a low thyroid also cause you to be higher with cholesterol and diabetes. a lot of doc mistack giving your the wrong meds, cause when you get tested, they test you TSH, T4 and your T3. if your gaining weight very fast and your tired, have a heavy period or cold all the time you have a low T3 which you should take levothyroxine, if your low on T4 you need to take cytomel.

all lot of the times the doc doesnt catch it, because when you get tested and your T3 is low it says that your TSH is high, i dont know why this is but i saw a chart online exspailing it why that is, and when your TSH is reading high, your doc think that your fine. so when your ask to get tested ask for all 3 test and to look at each one very carefully, cause other wise youll end up like me going 2years on the wrong thyroid meds, and when i was biking 7miles a day and dieting and i couldnt loss any weight, thats when i knew something wasnt right..

also if you have HDHD, taking ridalen(sp?) will help lose weight. oh also very very important to know, take your levothyroxine at least a hour before you eat in the morning for it to work and if your take a multi vitamins, you have to take them 4hrs apart cause the calcuim in the vitemin take away the effectiveness of the thyroid meds...i found this out all today and every body that has a hypo thyroid should know this

here is where i found the #1 best information i have ever gotton

 http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/thyroiddis eases.html

Hi horseziluv.... Welcome to our little group.  I suspect there are many, many more that should be in this group, but so few women realize the widespread symtoms of thyroiditis or Hashimoto's disease it frequently goes untreated for years.  I think too that some feel they must have all the symptoms or they can't possibly have it.  eg.  I am not a depressed person and have never had what others call depression.  Of course I get sad when I lose a friend to death, or some other large event happens to me, but so does everyone. 

I was interested to read that overdoses of synthroid can speed up bone loss (osteoporosis) and cause arrhythmias, (irregular heart beat.)  I have messed with double doses in the past hoping to speed up weight loss, but the dangers far outweight any benefit; besides, I never lost a single pound by doing that. But I do have osteoporosis, so I have a double reason to be careful.  So far, my metabolism has been extremely resistant to weight loss, and I wonder if I am not just wasting my time trying. rdcote... I am not overly active.  Walking the dog is usually 2 or 3 blocks.  Photography doesn't take much energy either.  I live only a block from the beach, and 2 blocks from the forest.  I drive to most of my other haunts. 

Sometimes I feel like I am in a catch 22 situation.  You all say that I won't lose weight in starvation mode, but this 1200 calories is really the same amount I always ate as far as volume, but  now I leave out all cookies, bread and I dropped the fruit juices.  When I eat fruit now, I chew it, not drink it.  I didn't ever glut on candy, chips or hamburgers.  I think it has more to do with my dead metabolism than food habits.

One of the things I am not making any headway with in spite of being on the treatment for almost a year now, is muscle weakness, and the feeling I can't lift my legs.  I am having trouble sleeping due the extreme pain in my hips. 

My doctor seems to think that those last two are arthritis, but given the fact no one has arthritis in my family, I wonder. 

This is the article I found most helpful from the Mayo Clinic.  http://www.mayoclinic.com/print/hashimotos-di sease/DS00567/DSECTION=all&METHOD=print 

 

I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism this afternoon (over the phone) ... when my wonderful DH called my endocrinologist to get the results of my Monday blood tests (which were primarily for blood sugars and cholesterol issues.) 

My blood tests show that I have hypothyroidism, so my endocrinologist is starting me on 25mg daily of Synthroid. (I had no symptoms, by the way.) Apparently, my hypothyroidism may be one of the causes of my still-elevated triglyceride levels. Anyway, she has prescribed Synthroid as a replacement for a hormone that is normally produced by one's thyroid gland to regulate the body's energy and metabolism.... and she wants to see me on February 27, 2008.  (This is the very same doctor who told me last August that I could never get my diabetes under control unless I had gastric bypass surgery.... she is NOT my favorite person.)

Anyway, I found this thread to be VERY helpful.

=^..^= MOLLY

Squarepeg

I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism in 1999.  I was so tired back then, that after working an 8 hour day in the library I work in, I would come home and drag myself up to bed and sleep till the next morning.  I could not cook for my family or just about do anything.  After about 3 weeks of this I went to the doctor and they did all kinds of bloodwork on me.  Here they found out that I had Hep C which I had contracted years earlier from 13 blood transfusions.  They also found the hypothyroidism and they put me on 175 mcg of Synthroid.  I doctored with an endocrinologist and still do.  It takes a while to regulate your thyroid and I am tested every six months for new levels.  I just went and they had to raise my medicine again.  I know that  your thyroid produces T4 (thyroxine)which is a hormone becaUSE I also sweat when I work out.  I also know that there are two kinds of thyroidism and the one i have and i think you have is an underactive thyroid.Its a thyroid hormone imbalance.  It is an underproduction of T4 thyroxine, but T4 also has to be converted into its active form (T3 triodothyroine) by the liver.  Then it has to be efficiently  utilized by the body.  Symptoms of thyroidism are major fatigue, weight gain, depression, high cholesterol.  I would definitely suggest that you see an endocrinologist.  They will monitor your blood every 3 months at first and then go to every 6 months.  It will get easier once you get on the synthroid or some medication.  Keep your chin up and also know that certain food will interfere with your synthroid.  I found out recently that broccoli or any thing in the cabbage family will interfere with the medicine.  Also grapefruit.  I cheat sometimes and eat these foods cause I love them.  I hope this info helps.  Keep me posted.

 

CeCe 51

5yearbreatcancersurvivor

Well, I followed the low-carb diet outlined in the book about hypothyroidism by Mary Shannon today...amazing!! I am so full, totally satisfied, for the first time in I don't know how long...and only 1300 calories! THe only "carbs" I had today were in the cottage cheese and yogurt. I did have 1 slice bread and 1/2 a potato, and some no-sugar tapioca pudding...that's all! and I feel more energy tonight than I've had for a long time. Wow...and I've been so against the low-carb diets.