Sythroid and weight Gain

[idontwanttobefat]

I have been taking Synthroid for 2 months and have gained 16 pounds since. Before we realized there was a problem with thyroid being at low level I was gaining but not so quick. I take 50 MCG in the morning with the 8oz or water and go to the gym for two hours and STILL gaining and not losing. I have sleep apnea and have started sleeping with a machine for almost a month now, trying to get used to it. Now I'm not as tired or fatigued but I don't want to be fat. I am only 5 foot and I should be between 97-123 pounds. I eat healthy and not after 6pm, exercise blah blah blah. I am in tearing because I am about killing myself at the gym. Why is this happening?


This discussion is related to Weight Gain and Big Bloated Stomach on .35 Synthroid.

[SarahB79]

I totally understand your frustration.  I am 5'1"  30 year old female.  I have always weighed around 105lbs.  I was diagnosed with Hashimotos in August 2008.  I started out on levothyroxine 50 mcg, went up to 75 mcg and then went to Synthroid 75mcg.  I am still gaining weight and even though I am not as active as I should be.... I am not a total couch potato. LOL.  I am now at 168 lbs!  I feel so unlike myself.  So unattractive.  So depressed.  

Have you had other hormones checked?  Diabetes or insulin tests done?  Just thinking out loud, but maybe it's not just your thyroid.

[Terri627]

Actually this is for both of you above! I am 5 feet tall. After my thyroid was removed (follicular cancer) just over 5 years ago, I was also put on synthroid. I ended up gaining over 30 pounds. I was fat and miserable! I had gone from 115 to 150. My former endocrinologist refused to consider alternative medications. I begged over and over for Armour Thyroid. No luck. I changed doctors. The new one agreed to let me try Armour. I lost almost the entire amount that I had gained within 2 months. Of course, I controlled my diet as well, and still do. That is my personal experience. So, now I am 123 pounds, still tired, still having hypo symptoms, but at least I'm no longer fat! That's the only thing I can really say for the medication, but I know a lot of other people have had great results by switching to the natural stuff.
Good luck to both of you, I've been there and I understand. Hope your doctors will work with you and help resolve your worries.

[achybreakybod]

I hear you - I have been on prednisone - I lost ten pounds (when everyone else gains weight). I'm on levothyroxine (synthroid) and gained 20 lbs, when most people lose weight. Not all of our bodies have been given the play book!

I've finally been able to start exercising more again (I have rheumatoid arthritis) and am looking at melatonin to help with sleep - my sleep apnea doesn't help, but the synthroid has made me more insomniac.

My suspicion is that the weight gain is related to the loss of sleep (this is apparently not uncommon), so I'm concentrating on fixing the sleep issue for now, exercising as I can (finally!), and I'm going to ask my doctor about Armour (which I've ignored until now, although I know that he prescribes it for other patients - thank you Terri!).

Hang in there, and get a doctor that will help you with ALL of your symptoms. So many of these issues can take months or years to solve, but you have to keep working at them. I've developed rheumatoid arthritis, GERD, carpal tunnel syndrome, tarsal tunnel syndrome, sciatica, insomnia, and several other wonderful conditions all in the last three years, all of which seem to stem back to a course of antibiotics taken over three months to try to cure a long-term rash. Not my doctor's fault, this isn't a normal reaction - but then, my body doesn't grok 'normal'!  I've been able to reduce the impact through a lot of visits to a lot of doctors - don't give up, you can get there too!

[gimel]

The important thing in treatment for hypothyroidism is to get the thyroid hormones up to a level that alleviates hypo symptoms.  The active thyroid hormones are free T3 and free T4.  Free T3 is the most important because it is four times as potent as free T4 and it correlates best with hypo symptoms.  People sometimes resort to Armour in order to get enough free T3 in their body.  Sometimes the basic problem is that they are not getting enough T4 meds to get both of the "Frees" high enough to alleviate symptoms.

I think you might get some useful info from the post that I made in reply to moinkhan.

[Smilerdeb]

I totally agree with gimel......until your levels are stable, you wont lose weight and by taking T3 to help lose the weight will just send you hyper (not nice either).
The T4 has to convert to T3 and hence the ballgame starts on getting just the right amount of T4 for it to convert to T3.
If all else fails with synthroid...then go the T3 route but try the T4 route first.
Cytomel can cause thyroid storm if taken in larger amounts than needed.

[sonoma2007]

Hi I am putting this out there for most of you. I have been diagnosed with Hashimoto's disease about a year ago; just started taking .50mcg in the fall and started gaining weight especially in the stomach region, with the research I have been compiling I have come to the conclusion that if you have a t3 problem that is if your t4 is normal but it has a problem converting to t3 and your hypo you will gain weight also it raises your cortisol levels so that is why the stomach weight gain. I have read on this forum that someone went on Amour thyroid and the weight gain subsided and she lost weight amour thyroid contains t3 and t4 and your body seems to release it  evenly into your bloodstream. As far as the palpatations are concerned, I too experienced these, I was seeing a holistic doctor as well as my physician and he gave me a wonder cream that immediately stopped the heart palps, phyto estrogen cream. size of a dime rotating the places at night before you go to sleep. The palps happen he says because of a drop in progesterone in your body. If that drops it causes the heart to palpatate or skip beats, and you feel it. I am looking to get some amour thyroid but I must also share that I am doing acupuncture and it has helped tremendously with alot of my symptoms. Try to talk to your doctors about the amour thyroid, and to check your cortisol levels. It might be that synthroid raises the cortisol levels as well. Hope this helps

[iambellaluna]

Does everyone gain weight on thyroid meds?! I do not want to gain anything! I've been releatively the same size and just started Levothyroxine less than a week ago. This terrifies me.

[Ecologic]

Achybreakybod: how much Armour do you take? I took 1 grain (60 mg) for a long time and my weight never went down, currently increasing it slowly to 2 grains.

I started to gain weight after an ovarian cyst surgery, soon after I was put on Levo and weight kept creeping up (never knew if weight gain was from surgery or Levo). I was later put on Armour and have never been so fat in my whole life! Can't help wonder sometimes if I'd better simply stop all thyroid medications, I never noticed any improvement with my any of my hypo symptoms, weight being one of them.

[Smilerdeb]

I am on a T4 med only since RAI and TT (12 mths and 9 mths ago), gained 16kgs prior to RAI with Graves and Hyperthyroidism (the losing weight while Hyper fallacy is just that...a fallacy).
I went from 71kgs after RAI and now weigh just over 60kgs.
This weight loss is NOT from being HYPER, it is from getting my levels stabilised.
It is not from exercising (I gave the treadmill up a long time ago lol).
It is not from taking a T3 med or Armour either (Armour is not available here in Australia).

What the weight gain is from was...getting levels stabilised.
Anyone who takes a T3 med to lose weight may be disappointed.

To lose the weight , the levels have to be stable.
Until they are, it will be a constant uphill battle.

So in actual fact...if you are on a T4 med only...it IS possible to lose the weight.

[Smilerdeb]

Sorry.....was supposed to read........

What the weight LOSS is from was...getting levels stabilised.