Weight gain with Thyroid meds?

[MarijoR]

Has anyone else had a problem with gaining weight after starting on your thyroid medicine?

I know that I am eating less, not more, so that is not the issue.  I've only be on my medicine for 3 weeks, but still, I thought I would see a weight loss, not gain.  It's not a lot, but now my pants are getting tight (ugh!) and I don't want to go up a size (who does?)

Just wondering if anyone else has experienced this also.  If you have, did it resolve after a little while?

Thanks!
Marijo  

[garnet31]

While I was putting on some weight before my official diagnosis, it was more of a creep. After starting Synthroid, I put on almost 30 pounds in about six months. I thought it was because my dosage was being adjusted every so often and I had to get used to it. That endo and my new endo both said that the weight gain wasn't from the thyroid meds, although neither had another answer for it. I did have a barrage of blood and urine tests to see about diabetic tendencies, glucose tolerance---all sorts of stuff. You should check with your doc and say you want a full workup to see if there are other factors being affected and see if you have something else going on. I've read about there being some weight gain, which is mainly fluid, but you'd think that if your thyroid were normalized, it'd be easy to shed the weight. As a 40 year-old woman, I'm finding that's not the case. The low-sugar diets seem to help but be sure to check around and find out what's right for you, and above all, be sure to exercise. I've now gone down three pounds in about as many weeks but it takes serious effort on my part to do so.  Just hang in there. This may just be "one of those things" we always hear about but can seem to do anything about, so keep a watch on your thyroid and other issues with your body along the way and strive to be as healthy as possible from now on.

[MarijoR]

Thank you so much for your input!  It's good to know that low-sugar is the way to go.  When you had all your testing (i.e. glucose, etc..) did anything come back positive?

I will also try to be more diligent about exercise; I'm sure I could do better in that area!

Is your Synthyroid med still being adjusted or have you been on a set dose for a while?

Thanks,
Marijo

[KathyD]

I have gained 15 pounds since I had my lobectomy on 2/7.  I had my TT on 3/21 and RAI on 4/11.  But, I was taking an antipdepressant and it tends to make you gain so not sure why I have. I did buy the Thyroid Diet book and it does seem like eating low glycemic foods are the way to go.....I am trying to eat whole grains and low sugar foods.  I noticed when I take a "fluid" pill I lose atleast five pounds in one day so surely for some reason am holding alot of water .  I just started back on my synthroid and hoping to have more energy to workout and work on this BODY!!!

[garnet31]

All of my labs from the oodles of tests came back normal. While the constant weight gain has stopped, it's terribly hard to get it off. Exercise does help so if you're not that active, at least aim for 30 minutes of walking every day---and I mean every day---and go from there. Hash's has a side effect of high cholesterol so I'm also on Simvastatin (generic for Zocor) but that has nothing to do with the weight gain, as I went on it after that. But, if you have that problem, the exercise and restricted diet will aid in bringing that down as well. I made through 40 years and I intend to be around at least another 40, so now is the time to work and fix things because if you don't, 10 years from now you'll wish you had.

[MarijoR]

Good point about how if we don't lose the extra weight now, we will wish we had in 10 years.

I'm a nurse, and once I had a patient who was dying and was talking to her family about her life and what she wished she had and hadn't done.  She said she wished she had made the effort to lose weight, so she would not have  been overweight all of her life!  Now, this was not a severely obese woman, nor was her cause of illness related to her weight!  But still, it had always bothered her all of her life, and she regretted not having done something about it!

I have never forgotten that woman, nor her words on her deathbed.