thyroid meds and weight gain

[peterspebbles]

HI ...I had thyroid surgery three years ago to remove a cancerous tumor....I was put on synthroid 75 milgrams and have gained 35 pounds....now I know that I was over weight before the surgery, but I have changed my diet for the better.  I have heard so many opinions on this subject....some doctors dismiss this totally...but I am reading that more and more people on this med have gained weight and some significantly as myself....and they did not change their way of life or diets....my stomach ( middle) has bloated out like I am pregnant sometimes...and I never had a mid section or stomach even being over weight...has anyone else experienced this?  Thank you DEB

[kipland]

Yes.  I was just complaining about this the other day.  I had my thyroid removed in August of '07 due to cancer.  I had gained about 25 pounds the year before my issues were found, and hadn't changed my diet at all.  In fact, I was on weight watchers at the first part of it and quit because I was so darned frustrated.  While waiting to have the RAI treatment and being horribly hypo, I gained another 15.  I had always carried my extra weight in my hips and butt, and was small on top.  Now I have this tire around my middle and yes, I feel bloated all the time.  I also feel like my calves and feet are swelled all the time - to the point where they feel that they're going to burst if I squat down!  I eat fairly healthy, but I know that I need to add exercise....and probably a lot of it.  I've lost and gained the same 15 pounds for the last year and a half and can't seem to drop the additional 25 - which even then, I was overweight!

I'm on 175mcg of levoxyl and have been since I started it.  My last tsh reading was .03, so I'm very hyper - although I don't have any of the hyper symptoms.  They've adjusted my meds to where I don't take a pill on Sunday, but at the last reading, it had actually gone down again....from .01 to .03.  It's frustrating!!!!

[thyroidpatient]

I have Hashimotos, when first diagnosed, I gained thirty pounds.....can't lose it. went from 130 to 165....appetite not there and do not eat excessively, yet here  I am...definently stored in the abdomen....still take Synthroid 100 mcg daily, bloodwork ok, yet weight loss impossible,. really discouraged to read about thyroid removal not helping..

[gimel]

Far more important than knowing your TSH level, would be to know your free T3 and free T4 levels.  These are the thyroid hormones that are biologically active and largely determine metabolism and other body functions.  Free T3 is four times as potent as free T4, and it has the best correlation with hypo symptoms.  TSH is a pituitary hormone that has only a fair correlation with total T4 and total T3 in the blood, and does not correlate well with symptoms at all.  Somewhere back in time, it became the standard test for thyroid function and continues to this day, even though the AACE and the labs and doctors can't even agree on which reference range to use.

Patients who have doctors who pay too much attention to TSH in diagnosis of thyroid problems frequently don't get the treatment they need.  Other patients who get meds, but only enough to get the TSH within the reference range frequently are left with lingering hypo symptoms.

Dependent on the cause of the hypothyroidism and the particular patient, sometimes symptom relief will require that the TSH level be suppressed to the very low end of the range, or even below.  A TSH reading that is at range limit or below does not automatically mean you are hyper, unless you have hyper symptoms to go with it. In my opinion symptoms are what it is all about, not TSH.  And symptoms correlate best with the "frees".

I believe that the very best approach is to get your doctor to treat your symptoms by testing and adjusting your free T3 and free T4 with meds, as required to alleviate those symptoms.    I believe that both of you would benefit by discussing this approach with your doctor and see if he is agreeable.  Note that sometimes you have to be very strong and insistent.