Okay I have lost some weight I use to weigh 300 lbs but it seems that I have stop losing weight I have started a new diet plan and a new exercise routine hopefully it works I will keep everyone up to date I also started new meds by the name of Topamax® (topiramate) i have really bad migraine headeaches. Has anyone heard of it? it has literally taken my taste buds away I dont know if its a good thing or a bad thing oh wells we will see...

I have diagnosed with MS so I want to lose weight before I cant do much on my own so i am optimistic if you can call it that...wish me luck...here I go on my journey...

Every 10 pounds...

I was just diagnosed with it. I had my blood checked back in April and my doctor that I had at the time just focused on my cholesterol being elevated at 217, he never said anything about the thyroid. I finally visited a dietitian and she recommended that I see another doctor to get my thyroid checked. The new doctor immediately put me on synthroid and told me to expect some weight loss and of course continue with my diet and exercise. I just started, so I hope that I start seeing more energy soon! I'm glad that I was able to figure out what was wrong with me.

My doctor recommends take additional B and D supplements as Synthroid depletes these vitamins in your body. I have noticed a HUGE difference in my energy levels. Without them I am very tired and have zero energy.

He recommends 1000 mcg of B12 and 2000 I.U. of D daily.

What a difference it has made.

I was on generic meds and my reg doc sent me to a specialist . She doubled the dose and I have more nodules since I was on generic. She doubled the dose to see if the growths stop. Hopefully. I have not yet lost weight but have been told that people with low thyroid do better on a low carb diet. I have not been on it long enough. No sugar or flour products. Yes, we will have lapses, but altogether, less carbs is better. Eat more veggies and at least 3 fruits I day I am told.

I've got it. I would look into Armour thyroid. That is the only thing. Everyone else has given great info, too.

I have been very unsuccessful in losing weight since I was diagnosed. I blamed my thyroid for awhile, but now I think it may just be my own fault.

I just got a GoWear Fit to help me track how many calories I am burning a day. If I weigh my food religiously and wear this thing for a month and have a great deficit and STILL don't lose weight, I will know my metabolism is messed up. I do think I just eat way too much and move way too little, though.

I have been on Synthroid for several years and it is vital to my well-being. A previous poster mentioned being on a high dose but feeling like it isn't helping. I want to mention that there are several things that can interfere with the absorption of Synthroid. Be very careful about taking other meds or vitamins at the same time. If you take a multivitamin (particularly containing iron), take it at a totally different time of day. Also, make sure you are careful about taking on an empty stomach and then not eating for 60 minutes afterwards. Both of those things will help the full dosage be absorbed by your body! Hope that helps!

Is there a hypothyroidism/ Hashimoto's support group on this board?

I would love to join one.

If you are on Synthroid (t4) and still having hypo symptoms speak to your doc about adding Cytomel (t3). Some people have a problem converting t4 to t3 and need the Cytomel for their meds to be fully optimized.

Hypothyroidism runs in my family. My grandmother died of it. My mom had her thyroid removed when she developed a benign tumor the size of a grapefruit in her 30's. I've been on Synthroid since I was 25, I'm 43 this month. Currently taking 225 mcg of Synthroid daily. It took me 3 1/2 years of being very ill to find out that I was dangerously Vitamin D3 deficient. I'm on 50,000 IU once per week. Getting my Vitamin D3 levels up to 60 - 80 is what it took for me to start losing weight.

Today is the first time that I've heard that Synthroid depletes this all important hormone/nutrient. My B levels were tested too and they seem okay. I'm getting back on my multivitamin as soon as I can afford an extra $40-$50 per month.

Right now I'm alternating between losing 2 1/4 pounds per week and none at all. Tracking foods and exercise seems helpful but I don't always know why the plateaus are happening. Still horribly exhausted much of the time. I feel like I need a better doctor. Must do more research. I force myself to do what is best for my daughter, my pets and, sometimes, myself. I'm just so tired all the time.

My thyroid was only in need of mild medication until I became Vegan in my late 20's. In order for me to get enough protein to not be ill, I ate a LOT of soy as well as many other vegetable proteins. Not being able to process simple carbs as a hypothyroid patient limited me a little but diet was very well rounded. Despite my good intentions, I destroyed what was left of my thyroid function. Please be careful about eating processed soy and do the research. It may cause you to become infertile and morbidly obese.

Due to gaining 100 pounds in 2 years from my vegetarian lifestyle and its damage to my already weakened thyroid, I continue to eat a wise carb program, The Schwarzbein Principle, and have returned to eating omnivorously, albeit mindfully.

Get the Thyroid Diet by Mary Shomon. This book is a BIBLE for anyone with a thyriod condition. She is a huge advocate for self maintenance and goes thru, step by step,on how to improve your condition...especially when you might end up with several docs who are less than responsive to your symptoms.

Resurrecting an old thread here, it's interesting to read about everyone's experiences. I was diagnosed within the last couple months, I had very elevated TSH levels (9.61 uIU/mL, normal range is 0.36 - 4.57). My doctor believes it's hashimoto's thyroiditis. I started on a very low dose of levothyroxine (25 mcg/day) and will be having my levels checked again the end of this month. My doc wanted to start low and move the dosage up till my hormone levels are normal to avoid the effects of too much medication. I've been on the medication for about a month now. I'm feeling better, but I started the med shortly before winter break so it's hard to say if it's the medication or just getting enough sleep and not being so stressed out all the time.

Before I started the medication I was very fatigued all the time, it had been a year since I really exercised and I gained a lot of weight during that time, and I was feeling pretty down and depressed a lot of the time. I had lost a full time job and went back to school full time. I attributed a lot of my symptoms to stress, I've been working very hard to get everything right so I can get into a top nursing program next fall. I'm glad to know it may well be a medical problem and not "just me", because that means it's treatable! I stated exercising again this week, something I haven't had the drive or energy for in a long time. I'm feeling better already, hope it's only up from here!

hopscotchgirly - everything that you mention can be a hypo symptom. i know many people with anxiety and panic attacks that found they had a thyroid problem and with proper treatment, no longer deal with those things. if you find that you do have a thyroid problem, you may need natural thyroid meds (that also contain T3, not just T4 like synthetic thyroid meds) in order to treat your symptoms.

the regular thyroid tests missed my thyroid problem for over 20 years. if i were testing my thyroid today, i would have the following tests done:

FREE T3
FREE T4
TSH
REVERSE T3
and thyroid antibodies tests (Anti-TPO and TgAb)

also there is a lot of good info at
www.stopthethyroidmadness.com

if a doc wasn't willing to run those tests, then i would keep looking until i found a doc that would do what i ask. i hope you get the treatment that you need. take care, cathy

I agree with the majority who posted to this thread that leaving hypothyroidism untreated is really asking for trouble. I was undiagnosed for several years, and my heart rate had slowed to a crawl by the time I got a blood test that showed my TSH level off the charts, it was so high. I was weeks from death, according to my physician. Synthroid fixed me in less than two weeks - I felt SO much better! I had experienced near unbearable joint pain with this, and it all disappeared! My sixty pound weight gain took a little more attention, however. When the metabolism has become virtually non-existent (my doc said I resembled a hibernating bear), your body needs coaching back - a hypo friendly diet (see Mary Shoman's About.com/Thyroid website or buy her amazing book, which is the last word on the condition) and plenty of exercise to jolt thing back into motion! Getting the weight off is slow going, but I've managed half of it, so far. I switched to Armour until it became unavailable and now have a compounding pharmacist make me up a generic version - and I've added a little Synthroid in because my T4 was low (this is the active component - you need T4 to actually drive the bus)! Still, my TSH was nearly 0 for a long time and I never felt better. The thyroid does not start producing thyroid hormone once it stops - don't let anyone cause you to believe that it does. It cannot regenerate!

Iv had a underactive thyroid since 1998 and only been on meds since 2001 after puttingon 6 stone. With alot of hard work and having depression i managed to loose 5 and half stone it took me a few years but i got there so dont give up it will come off