Help!!! I have hypothyroidism and am struggling with.....?
I have been struggling with hypothyroidism for almost 3 years now, I'm 5,5" and right now weigh 160, before I had gained the weight after my 2nd child and was diagnosed with hypothyroidism, I had always been a very slimmed build... never weighing more than 130... I cannot seem to shed any of this weight, I can honestly say I've been working so hard for the past 4 months, walking on the treadmill for at least 40 minutes a day, 4-5 days a week sometimes I can squeeze in another 20minutes at night.... I'm watching what I eat, 3 healthy meals a day, lots of water... no snacking... aside from a slice of pizza once a week.... the doctors tell me my numbers are where they should be... I'm on 100mg of levothyroxine.. any suggestions of what more I can do or any other tests my doctors could try? my friend brought up a T3?
User Comments
- http://www.altsupportthyroid.org/...
http://www.lef.org/magazine/mag2004/may2...
http://www.armourthyroid.com/
http://www.healthrecipes.com/armour_thyr...
http://www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/...
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/hea...
- Hi there,
I am hypothyroid myself....so I'd like to offer you my two cents :-)
Your friend might be right, specifically you should ask for T3 Uptake bloodwork to be done. Levothyroxine is T4, which is usually converted very easily by your body into T3. If your body isn't converting T4 to T3 your uptake levels will be off, and this can be rather easily adjusted by giving you Armour or a synthetic T4/T3 medication combo.
Honestly, I wonder myself if I have trouble converting T4 into T3. I cant keep any weight off no matter what, and all my levels are normal too! So I understand your frustration.
You might also want to talk to an endocrinologist who specializes in thyroid disorders. about.com has a list of doctors reccomended by patients (if I remember right).
- I'd appreciate any input, I'm really getting discouraged....
- Sounds like you are not where you should be in range or you need T3. Since you are on T4, you need the morning TSH to be around 1.0 for weight loss to happen with diet and exercise. If after getting it to 1.0 for 6 months, you still cannot lose weight, then you may need T3. I have been where you are. I have taken T4 alone, T4 with Cytomel, and now I'm finally on Armour. While the Armour did not help with weight loss, it did get rid of most of my hypothyroid symptoms and gave me more energy. The Armour may work for you though. For me, I had to go one step further and that was to test for insulin resistance. Many times the added weight that the hypo caused, causes insulin resistance. This is diagnosed by a fasting insulin and a fasting glucose. Once I got that treated, I lost 15 pounds. Below I will post a few T4/T3 related websites and a thyroid weight loss group.