[QueenofThorn]

For the past three years, my parents have been mean about my fatness despite knowing that I exercise and measure my food intake. This month, they finally told me about my four aunts and mother who were all diagnosed with hypothyroidism. This idea is news to me... I looked it up, and I have every symptom. I am actually HOPING I have it, because I want the symptoms I'm facing to go away.

Exhaustion - I sleep 7-8 hrs on work nights and 12-14 on weekends and still feel tired all the time. Right now, it's 4:30pm and I have decided to eat 1200 cal today and skip the spin class because all I want to do is sleep. I'm usually ready for a nap by 3pm every day. It keeps me from pursuing my hobbies. I'm also worried it will affect my work performance.

Weight Gain/Plateau - I swim, spin, run and recently joined a hiking group that does very fast 8-15 mile hikes at high altitudes, often with wading, scrambling and bouldering (short bouts of rock climbing with no gear). My dad, a 65-year-old man, joined with me. He's lost 11 lb. I lost nothing. Even if I weren't measuring my food intake, and were eating, say, 2500cal, the hiking would have made some difference, right? Something should have happened, considering the intensity of the exercise.

Cold - After a 9-mile run I'll take a hot shower and put on dry clothes but still have to sit wrapped in a blanket for 2-3 hours afterward in a 75-degree room.

Dry hair, sensitive neck area, and poor memory

I'm hoping my doctor says I have this, because I've heard it's treatable. Does anyone have hypothyroidism? To what extent do the meds help with the symptoms?

[acdamron]

I am hypothyroid and have been on 100mcg of synthroid for several years.. The meds have helped nearly all of my symptoms except for feeling cold.. I can definitely tell a difference in how I feel since I started treatment. Good luck

[astrophe]

Me -- ten plus years now.

It makes a difference to be on the correct meds. It won't make the weight go away by magic -- you have to work at it still. But when meds are correct the work you put in will finally show and the "brain fog" will lift.

Get a check up and full labs and see what they say. Learn about about it too. I tested "low normal" for yonks and felt terrible until it FINALLY dipped out of normal. I didn't know at the time that different labs put the range of "low normal" at different places so look into that too.

GL!
A.

[mkroyer]

these are also all symptoms of chronic dieting down. ANd they are very generic symptoms as well. I think a lot of us could identify with most, or even all. Many are symptoms of depression too.


If you go to have bloodwork done, you HAVE TO have been eating at maintenace cals for at least a few weeks, or it will throw off all the results. Dieting makes hormone levels low and outta whack. and raises other hormone levels as well. We all have "lowish" levels when we are on diets, because we arent eating enough.

So, keep that in mind, and telll your doctor everything. I always test on the low end of normal, no matter what, and it sucks. But its called "normal" for a reason.

And if you dont eat at maintence to get your hormone levels where they would normaly be, and are misdiagnosed with hypo or ANYTHING, the meds could have the opposite effect and make everything worse... weight gain included

[EagleRiverDee]

Hypothyroidism does actually have a genetic component and you do appear to have symptoms consistent with hypothyroidism.

I began developing symptoms of hypothyroidism about 12 years ago. I began gaining 10 lbs a year, despite maintaining a high level of exercise and not changing my eating habits and eating quite healthy. I also had symptoms, and begged my doc for a blood test, which he refused. Fast forward 10 years and another doctor I was seeing for unrelated issues began to suspect there was a thyroid component and asked my permission to test. Bingo! I was diagnosed hypothyroid. I began seeing another doctor for treatment and further testing revealed I have the autoimmune disorder "Hashimotos" which attacks the thyroid. I was put on Thyroid USP which is a natural desiccated thyroid that I respond very well to. I FINALLY began losing weight and am so far down 38 lbs! My hair doesn't fall out any more, I'm not tired like I used to be, I have more energy. The only unresolved symptom is that I still feel cold much of the time but I can live with that.

One thing to bear in mind is that docs and labs differ on what a "normal" TSH level is (let alone FT3, FT4 and thyroid antibodies). Many physicians continue to use outdated lab values that show that a TSH of up to 5.5 is "normal". New lab values actually put the high end at 2.5, so there are unfortunately a LOT of people out there with beginning stage hypothyroidism that are being left untreated because docs that aren't up to the current standards say they fall into the "normal" category even when the person has EVERY symptom of hypothyroidism. I believe doctors should treat symptoms, not lab values, and fortunately my doctor does. She uses the labs for reference, but asks me how I feel and that's how we dialed in my dose. By the lab values I actually appear to be slightly hyperthyroid now, and yet I have zero symptoms of hyperthyroid and so we're leaving my dosage where it's at because I feel great on it. I hope you will be similarly blessed with a doctor who will treat YOU and not just look at tests and tell you you're fine when you aren't.

[QueenofThorn]

Originally Posted by mkroyer

these are also all symptoms of chronic dieting down. ANd they are very generic symptoms as well. I think a lot of us could identify with most, or even all. Many are symptoms of depression too.


If you go to have bloodwork done, you HAVE TO have been eating at maintenace cals for at least a few weeks, or it will throw off all the results. Dieting makes hormone levels low and outta whack. and raises other hormone levels as well. We all have "lowish" levels when we are on diets, because we arent eating enough.

So, keep that in mind, and telll your doctor everything. I always test on the low end of normal, no matter what, and it sucks. But its called "normal" for a reason.

And if you dont eat at maintence to get your hormone levels where they would normaly be, and are misdiagnosed with hypo or ANYTHING, the meds could have the opposite effect and make everything worse... weight gain included

Thanks for the advice! I hadn't thought of eating at maintenance before I get labwork done. My doctor's appointment is today, but my labwork has yet to be scheduled so I will ask my doctor about habits prior to the tests.

I've been alternating between dieting and eating at maintenance for three years now, which I'm told is a long time. (I've kept up with it faithfully for this long hoping SOMETHING would happen.) I lost 9 lb between April and July of 2011, when I upped my running from 6 miles to 8-9. Then I went right back up to where I left off, for no apparent reason. No change in eating habits, and exercise habits stayed consistent. I recently added the hard hikes into my routine, and still nothing has happened.

I must admit that eating at maintenance scares me because I'm afraid I'd gain a lot of weight really fast if I stopped. I think the hard exercise is the only thing keeping me from gaining weight at the 10lb/year rate. Thus far, since 2008, I've gained 5lb per year despite steady increases in exercise each year. I eat 1500-1800 calories on a light workout day (swimming/weights/short hike/spin class) and 2000-2400 on a hard day (8-9 mile run or a hard hike). I am seriously sick of measuring my food on a scale, and also of working out even when I'm too tired. Lately I've been skipping workouts because I've been giving in to the tiredness, which is a bad habit to get into...

I am seriously sick of exercising more than all the skinny girls I know and still feeling fat and gross in my clothes. (I can't afford to buy new, "fat" clothes.)