Dieting and Thyroid question.
 

I have had my thyroid within normal range for 3 years with the help of meds. I take synthroid daily .125mcgm daily. I have been dieting (well changing my eating habits) and loosing weight since late July/begining of Aug 2005. Now I am curious to see if anyone else has had thier thyroid function change mid-weight loss? I am curious since in the begining I had plenty of stamina/energy, and now I am back to where I was before my thyroid problem was discovered. I am TIRED all the time, I cant sleep well, I have cronic constipation again, my nails are chipping all the time again, and no matter what I try I am stuck at my current weight 178/180lbs. I've been here for 5-6 weeks. I wonder if my thyroid is loosing power (so to speak) again. I made an appointment for later today to have my blood work done and to talk to my doctor to get some help to loose this last 20-25lbs since I can hardly bare to get this close to my goal and NOT be able to get there....I am sooooo close and just can't get moving downward again, I need help with this.
So has anyone else had to get their thyroid function checked mid-diet?
If so what was the result, did you have to up your meds?
Also I read about iodine helping the thyroid, and I wonder since I cut out table salt if there is a iodine supplement I should be taking now?

Any ideas or things I should be asking today at the doctor would be appreciated. I have a list of questions to ask.

You're doing the very best thing by checking with your doctor, since only a TSH test will be able to tell if your meds need to be tweaked or if something else is going on. :)

I lost 120 pounds in a little less than a year and surprisingly, my Levoxyl (like Synthroid) needed only a small adjustment downward despite the huge weight loss. I had my TSH checked every six months while I was losing, as usual (and still do). I had expected that my need for medication would drop proportionally with the weight -- but ended up only going from .225 mcg/day to my current .2 mcg, a very minor adjustment.

I can't help you with the iodine question, but it would be a good one to ask your doc.

If everything checks out OK, keep in mind that the last 20 pounds are notoriously hard to lose and it's not unsusual to plateau this close to goal. Sometimes you gotta just keep on keeping on. :)

Best of luck to you!

You should be having your TSH levels checked at least every 6 months, more often if you feel you need it or your medication changes. I find eatin WW Core helps me lose weight and maintain better. I avoid all simple carbs and anything white (bread, rice, flour, sugar).

Well, I wont find out the results of my testing tomorrow, I was happy though that he is running FULL blood work. This should have been done 2 yrs ago. I also found out that I have a goiter (enlarged thyroid glad) and the Dr. feels so far (without the results back it is hard to tell) that they will end up tweeking my meds and maybe doing a ultrasound on my thyroid.

OK, I got my results...man I am glad I listen to my body.....

My thyroid function was not right so they are upping my meds, I went over my dieting (changing life/eating habits) with the Dr. He said I am doing very good and he is glad to see I am making changes and not following a crazy FAD diet.

He did tell me that next month (or whenever they get my meds adjusted right) he wants to do a ultrasound on my thyroid to rule out anything that could be cancerous (he thinks it should be fine, but wants to double check).
He is also giving me a barium (sp) enema to find out why I have such bad cronic constipation (I finally got a dr to do something besides tell me to eat more fruits/vegi's/fiber....not that I like the idea of an enema..lol) That will be nice to have an answer to this problem...you have no idea how nice.

So I am on the road to better health in more ways than one..woohooo...

Hi,

My doctor told me today that she thinks that I have an underactive thyroid, and I am getting a blood test in a couple of days so that I can fast. I was wondering what your sypmtoms have been/how you figured out you had this? I cannot lose weight at all, my nails have been stuck at the bed for at least 5 years...I dont bite them, and my hair is dry/ hard to grow. I am also So tired all of the time, and constipated a lot. I read mild depression is a symptom, which I have. My doctor seems to think that this is the cause, because my calorie intake is fine ( I showed her my eating habbits) and I exercise a lot, and still no weight losss...I think that I have gained weight actually.

If I do have hypothyroidism, do the meds help you a lot?

Yes the meds help, but it may take a couple months to get them adjusted right for you as there are many different strengths of the meds depending on your own personal thyroid. I had the same symptoms, couldnt lose weight for NOTHING. Cold, constipated, thin nails, ect....you name it...those are the "textbook" symptoms. I hope you get it under control, if you need help feel free to PM me anytime.

I take synthyroid also. I wasn't trying to lose weight when I was diagnosed -- I was just beat all the time. I honestly thought I had cancer or something -- that's how exhausted I was. It's helped a lot with my energy level -- I feel normal again. It's good to know that I should keep checking it every so often -- I'll check in with my dr again soon & also check my cholesterol at the same time.