Hashimoto and losing weight

Hi Dr, 38, female and I am newly diagnosed with Hashi and am concerned because I am actually losing weight. This past month I have lost 8 pounds. I lost 11 pounds the month before. I have been eating much better -only fruits, veggies, lean meats, and small meals too, but I thought weight loss was difficult with Hashi's.

Also, my right thyroid has a 5cm cyst on it and I will be having surgery this month to have it removed. Could the thyroid be making me hypo and hyper as it is dying or dead? I do seem to be also having hyper symptoms at times. I am anxious, having small panic attacks, tremors, frequent urination etc etc.

I fear cancer because of the drastic weight loss. Yes, I am eating better but it is very easy for me to lose all this weight having Hashi. And I have constant pain in my arms, hands, legs, feet which is normal with Hashi? But I also have pain in my upper and lower back, chest, abdomin (abdomen) and even a shooting pain around my uterus area that radiates down my thigh. Could this all be Hashi/thyroid related?

All the pain and drastic weight loss really concern me though.

BTW I have been on synthroid 75 mcg for 1 month now.

Thank you.

Jolean

[FTB4]

There is a button at the top of this forum for MD's, I am not an md but I do have Hashi's, I went through a similar situation, when I first started out on Thyroid meds, I was on 100mg Levothyroxine and my TSH stayed high,(All this time I, like you had the shakes, back, leg and muscle aches,Pain in other glands in the body, etc) when I went to an Endo, he put me on Synthroid 100mg, Between then and six weeks later my TSH  dropped from 6.0 to 0.075, I had gone from Hypo to Hyper, I think this may account for your weight loss if you switched from Hypo to Hyper due to an increase in your metabolism, There are many thyroid sufferers here that will respond to any questions you might have. Welcome to this forum, and Good Luck FTB4

[JenB12]

It might not be COMMON to lose weight, but I can tell you first hand that in the last year i have lost close to 15 lbs. I have not changed my eating habits  and if anything i am exercising less... I think that weather you have weight loss or gain depends on many factors... such as what your body type is. I was always a very skinny child with a high metabolism. I can lose weight pretty easily and as i've been feeling worse with my Hashi's i've been losing weight. (I think my weight loss is mostly muscle weight since i've been exercising less due to being tired and chronic headaches.  Anyhow in my current weight i would be considered underweight for my height (103 lbs at 5'5")

I've been on synthroid for 10 months now, first 8 months was .05 MG and now I'm at .1 MG.

And as FTB4 said as well, you can defn be going from hyper to hypo it's very tough to manage with Hashi's.

Do not fear cancer right off the bat. Hashimoto's is a very annoying disease and causes a lot of really horrible unsettling symptoms. I've been experiencing many of those terrible symptoms off an on for a while now and I'm disappointed that it's been almost a year after my diagnosis and i still feel bad.

Anyhow I was told by my Doctor that it IS possible that the thyroid disease is what is causing my weight loss, but she was a little stumped by it since it's an "a-typical symptom", and so she is running more blood tests to be sure and to rule out other auto-immune diseases. Maybe there are some other tests that your Doctor would like to run on you as well?

If something feels off to you, and after a while you still continue to drop significant weight, and you don't feel markedly better you need to pursue it though your Doctor with more testing!

[JenB12]

also to put your mind at ease.... thyroid cancer is very treatable and is usually contained. I'm not a Dr. but it seems like It is unlikely that it is a cancer causing your symptoms. Pain in arms, legs, hands and feet as you described IS fairly common in Hashimoto's patents. it is also VERY VERY common in other co-morbid autoimmune disorders...mostly it is the inflammatory response in your body to the autoimmune reaction.

Lastly, you have not been on Synthroid for that long... the first few weeks that i took my first does was he//! It totally messed up my menstrual cycle and it made spotting come 2 weeks too soon, and I had miserable cramps as though I was going in to labor, and this happens now whenever I increase my medicine. So perhaps the shooting pains are the body going mad over the hormones.

I would absolutely encourage more testing if all of this persists and does not get better with time on the thyroid medicine.....

:)

[Jolean71]

Thank you all for sharing. It helps to know others have, or are, experiencing the same symptoms. It can be terrifying feeling as if you are dying.. and I guess we would be if we were born a hundred years ago! Thank God for the advanced medicine we have today. I am also on xanax to calm my nerves. I am having my right thyroid removed soon and I am very stressed over that too!