Hi Everyone... I am sooo glad I found this post...
I have had both Graves disease... then radioactive iodine twice.... now I have hypothyroidism.... I have been with the same endicrinologist for the past 18 years.... I have been on all different dosages of Synthroid... My highest being 300 mcg. I am currently on 125mcg a day. I had bloodwork done on July 20th.. My thyroid levels are good but I am very low in Vitamin D. I am now taking that daily as well... I explained to my doctor that I have been following a diet and exercise plan religiously and I cannot get the weight off... I have about 40 pounds to lose (50 would be better but I'll take the 40)... His response to me was its just a number on the scale and you are a good person anyway.... Really!!! This doctor would yell at me when I lost too much weight... then when I gained alot of weight he would yell at me... UGGHH!!! He told me to keep doing what I am doing but that there is no magic pill....
I am curious to know what is phentermine? Do I need a prescription? Does it help with weight loss?
I am so discouraged right now, I just feel like giving up on this whole diet thing!!!
Wow. Doctor's are crazy! They just put me on a weekly vitamin D tablet. I love love love my phentermine. I haven't been on synthroid for 5+ months (very bad I know) And now I am waiting on my nature-throid perscription to come in. (mail order takes forever)
Even when I am was taking synthroid I couldn't lose weight I could hardly maintain. I have taken phentermine for about a month now. I have lost 10 pounds! I'm not even on my other meds yet. I'm like what the crap. I don't have the appetite that I used to. (thank god!) And even though I am still always fatigued, I go to the gym for about an hour or so a day. Nothing I would have done with without the medicine.
You should get phentermine with a prescription. You can find it online without a prescription, but you don't really know what you are getting and I have read horror stories about the ones online. My insurance company doesn't cover it. So it costs about $25 for a month but I only use a half a pill a day. In Ohio it is regulated so you can only use it for 3 months, take a 6th month break and then start for another 3 months.
So, I can actually take it all year, but I take a break some weekends. And may take a week or 2 off every couple of months. And sometimes take an entire pill instead of half. (Keep the body guessing, you don't want to get stuck) During those breaks, it's harder to reign in my snacking.
I think internal medicine doctors are quicker to prescribe that other doctors. (I was going to another type of doctor before and she wouldn't even think about it (although weirdly enough, she fed my friends pain pill habit knowingly) and a friend of mine who takes phentermine goes to an IM.)
I know that losing weight takes work. And there is no actual magic pill but this is the push I needed.
I would suggest it.
Sorry it's such a long post.
Last edited by beahawkins; 08-13-2012 at 07:13 PM.
I dont have an IM... I really only go to my endicrinologist and my gyno... If I am sick I just go to a walkin facility near my house.... I dont know if they would prescribe the phentermine for me... I might try to call up my endicrinologist and see if they will call in a script for me..
What type of diet do you follow while taking the phentermine?
I am currently following weight watchers... I have lost 4 pounds in 3 weeks... I exercise everyday either at a bootcamp class or treadmill for 45 minutes a day 6 days a week.... Really, when I was younger I would lose 4 pounds a week.... So now you see why I am so discouraged...
I know it takes work to lost weight, I am definitely putting in the work... I just need a little push too!!!
I don't really follow a diet. This is my first real attempt to lose weight since high school. So I'm trying a smaller portions. Very rough calorie counting and stop eating before I get hungry.
And I am using a reward system. Because I need to lose so much weight and I am very short focused, I need something that I can see. So, every 5 pounds is a goal and I get a reward every 10 pounds. So far! 1 reward!
At the gym: I use a running machine (my favorite is the arc trainer) for 10 minutes. Then I stretch everything out. Another 15-20 mins on a machine. Then strength training. I like target my upper arms and my core. (My left arm is way weaker than my right and I am trying to fix that and I was in a car accident and stupidly didn't get checked out after and 3 years later, I now have sciatic nerve pain.) So working my core has really been helping my back. And sometimes I do thighs, but I use the machine so much that legs are last on my list.
Awhile ago my brother was reading me this book, over the phone.. (he's a goof) and he told me that my blood type in particular needs weights and then I read a couple places online that for those with hypo-thyroid really need weight training too.
I can definitely understand,the slow losing.
Hope you can too!!
So glad I found this site. Through all my research I knew there were more people out there with problems like mine, but to hear stories from everyone is something so much more!
I'm 30 & I've been battling PCOS probably since I had my first period at 13ish. I've been big all my life, and of course with PCOS, losing weight helps, but because you have it, losing weight is harder...
Within the last 4 years of my life, having moved I had to find a new gyno. She is a dream doctor, & had me blood tested for everything under the books to help find a solution, and in the last year, we found the thyroid problems, along with prolactin issues as well. It's strange, because my thyroid was 3 times the number it was suppose to & same with my prolactin. So she was sure fixing the thyroid would fix the prolactin. Well the thyroid fixed perfectly(and I lost 20 lbs faster than I've EVER lost it!) However, the prolactin went up, so she had me tested for a pituitary tumor, & they found nothing even after 2 MRI's. She finally referred me to a endo doc, & I have to wait until October until he can see me, but I'm praying that they can get all my stuff straitened out to assist me with losing weight, and hopefully getting pregnant eventually.
Like I said, it's just so refreshing to read so many stories similar to mine that help me feel less hopeless & crazy!
Stocco88 hanks! I am hoping it's a little more the next time I weigh in it will be even more (I'm terrified of checking my weight on the TOM.) I have to wait another few days. blah!
Do most people only see an endo and gyno? I feel like I get sick so often I have to have a regular doctor.. or will they do that too?
Noony6: from reading, it must stink to add PCOS to the mix. : ( Hope you get your prolactin issues figured out!
I do not know where that licking of the lips face came from! lol
Last edited by beahawkins; 08-15-2012 at 10:55 PM.
I wanted to pop in and say hey - I'm on the wagon myself. lol
Here's my run down -
I was either a junior or senior in highschool when my mom and I thought something was up - found out I had hypothyroidism (my dad has it as well)....I ballooned up quick in HS and that's when we went to check things out.
After trying to get the right dosage of hormones for about a year, we finally found it. 275mg
I'm 27 now...so I've been dealing with this for 9,10 years now. The last year and a half I was moving around, was taken off my mom's insurance, and just didn't have meds. This June my health started getting bad and I all of a sudden gained more weight and just felt horrible. So thankfully I found a free clinic near me and the doc gave me a prescription for my levothyroxin. (I'm actually supposed to go back there to have my levels checked again as it's been my 6-8 week period - and I dunno....I almost feel like I need a higher dose which is kinda scary seeing the looks I already get from docs & nurses when it comes to the dose I'm on already)....
But yeah....my weight has been up and down over the years. I did weight watchers in my early 20s, managed to lose like 20 lbs, then it came back. Tried WW again and that time I just gained weight. I"m always wondering if maybe I'm too sensitive to salt and things like bread and pastas...carb sensitive I guess. I dunno. But at my highest (when i was first diagnosed) I was up to about 280......and then during college I was around 220, went off the meds and was able to maintain 250. Now I"m 265.5 and I'm dying to take it off. I keep feeling my body change and feel like I'm doing to die in one way or another and I hate it. I hate how this has all kept me from...life in some ways.
But enough of that....lol basically I'm in a similar boat as you all and I'm really hoping I can make the right changes and get healthy and lose weight.
Beahawkins... well just like I thought my endo will not prescribe phentermine for me, his answer was "I am not an advocate of the drug" .... so I guess that ends that...
What I want to know is if I am dieting and exercising and the weight is not coming off what am I suppose to do???
Stocco88 : Well that isn't fair. Are you able to get another endo? Your doctor isn't the end all on all knowledge, if you feel like you need a boost then you should be able to find one that will help you.
I haven't checked my weight in a few days Although I have worked out and kept on plan and taken my medication, I'm feeling discouraged. (I had a bad break up last night) I went to put on jeans for the first time in a month (they were tight before, last night they felt extra tight.) I know it's TOM so I don't want to check my weight and be even more let down.
I went to go see a new endo a few weeks ago and my TSH was 0.25....this was before i lost 15 lbs...he said that was normal, but everything I've read says it isn't. I feel like I am having fast heart beats, anxiety, and trouble sleeping...I'm going back to my primary care doctor. She seemed so much better. I know when you lose weight your doseage should change.
Edit: my test results show I'm now hyperthyroid-my TSH is now 0.07. I knew something was wrong!
Last edited by Mer du Japon; 08-29-2012 at 06:31 AM.
Oh wow- I've never heard of someone doing that. Was that the method doctors used before the surgery? That must have been so hard to go through!
Congratulations on your awesome weight loss! That seems like a lot of weight to lose so quickly, though! 41lbs in two months is a lot! Where did you find the Ideal Protein diet? Is there a website or something I could read about it?
Thanks for the tip about the ticker- I can't wait to get mine! It will be nice to see where I've been, where I am and where I'm headed. That definitely always helps me with motivation!
hanks! I am hoping it's a little more the next time I weigh in it will be even more (I'm terrified of checking my weight on the TOM.) I have to wait another few days. blah!
