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Hypo Thyroid for Endurance Athletes
I am a triathlete focusing on Ironman distance events and marathons. My sport requires me to train between 19 and 24 hours of actual exercise time per week. In peak training weeks with heavy volume and high intensity I have on several occations suffered from extreem fatigue, muscle soreness, cramping and allmost over night found myself unable to maintain the program. On the last instance I had my blood tested and the doctor upped the thyroid medication from 75mmg to 100mmg. After two weeks this seemed to temporarly take care of the problem and I was back to normal. However, I lost alot of fitness in those two weeks. It seems to me that intense execise impacts my ability to regulate my thyroid medication.
Do I need to increase my dose of livathyroid during peak periods of training.
Do I need to increase my dose of livathyroid during peak periods of training.
Dessicated thyroid brands: Armour in the most common. Others Westroid, Naturethroid. These have the T3 in it I wrote about before. A lot of doctors are not trained to think this works because it is not synthetic (newer), so be knowledgeable on your approach. Sometimes older meds work better. Might have to ask around for a doc that will prescribe this.
Many doctors don't understand the steps needed in changing to dessicated since they more commonly work with synthetics. I learned from this forum that my doc was misinformed. The change takes a little while to get used to, you have to work your way up in steps so you don't get shakes and headaches from the get go. I wish I knew dessicated meds earlier on, was in a lot of pain on T4 only. Am getting better now. You are not on much T4 now so, this is great that you know about options early on!
You may want to try a diet closer to the alkalizing side of things and focus getting on proteins from other sources besides red meat (acidic PH) if you don't do this already. You can tell the difference with muscle recovery and inflammation from that diet style!!! So if you do all this stuff early on, it might just be a speed bump for you.
Many doctors don't understand the steps needed in changing to dessicated since they more commonly work with synthetics. I learned from this forum that my doc was misinformed. The change takes a little while to get used to, you have to work your way up in steps so you don't get shakes and headaches from the get go. I wish I knew dessicated meds earlier on, was in a lot of pain on T4 only. Am getting better now. You are not on much T4 now so, this is great that you know about options early on!
You may want to try a diet closer to the alkalizing side of things and focus getting on proteins from other sources besides red meat (acidic PH) if you don't do this already. You can tell the difference with muscle recovery and inflammation from that diet style!!! So if you do all this stuff early on, it might just be a speed bump for you.
I apreciate the positive feedback. Do you just ask your Doctor for "dessicated thryoid" rather than the synthetic levothyroxine. Good luck with the new baby!
hI,
I've also done triathlon. Did my first Ironman 2 years ago. I am hypothyroid - with complete thyroid failure.
I can manage, though I'm currently not training cause I recently had a baby. However,have found I have slow recovery from training. This means have to build up slowly and incorporate plenty of rest and recovery - well as much as possible.
I've found that natural thryoid (I take dessicated thryoid) is much better for me than just levothyroxine.
Make sure you are ok on magnesium, zinc and the b vits. Eat nutritious diet. Don't give up, but do understnad you may have to work a bit harder to acheive the same as someone who doesn't have thyroid problem.
I've also done triathlon. Did my first Ironman 2 years ago. I am hypothyroid - with complete thyroid failure.
I can manage, though I'm currently not training cause I recently had a baby. However,have found I have slow recovery from training. This means have to build up slowly and incorporate plenty of rest and recovery - well as much as possible.
I've found that natural thryoid (I take dessicated thryoid) is much better for me than just levothyroxine.
Make sure you are ok on magnesium, zinc and the b vits. Eat nutritious diet. Don't give up, but do understnad you may have to work a bit harder to acheive the same as someone who doesn't have thyroid problem.
Normally once your lab results are in a range (and you feel good in a relaxed state) that is the dose you stay on for maybe 6 months - depends on individual. Post your last lab results with the labs ranges and someone here (not me) will give you their opinion. Maybe you are still under medicated.
Switching dosage in short periods would be a shot in the dark. It takes a long time for the t4 to stabilize not just say, one week or so. T3 you can feel right away, it is short lived in the system. Don't hear of Livathyroid too often, is that just T4 hormone? Do you mean Levothroid -its only T4, synthetic hormone.
I was a type of endurance athlete for 15 years. For the first ten years I had hypo symptoms but was not treated (wish I knew). The last five years competing I took just synthetic T4. The labs test said I was fine, but felt terrible. I had to quit the sport. Had a lot of muscle pain and no energy despite protein shakes and vitamins ect. Now, five years after I quit the sport I started to take dessicated thyroid that seems to help with muscle pain. I wish I tried it years ago.
Do you take a good muti vitamin or the B's with Magnesseum?
It has been recommended on this site that hypo's should get there Adrenals checked also. A 24 hour saliva test is apparently the best- more reliable than blood cortisol test I guess. I got this from a Holistic doctor for 150 dollars.
I don't think even with proper meds that a hypothyroid person is going to feel like they did before they went hypo, under a stressful conditions anyway. Sorry to tell you this! A proper working thyroid might adjust hormones as needed (anyone know this?). Meds are not that quickly adjustable.
Switching dosage in short periods would be a shot in the dark. It takes a long time for the t4 to stabilize not just say, one week or so. T3 you can feel right away, it is short lived in the system. Don't hear of Livathyroid too often, is that just T4 hormone? Do you mean Levothroid -its only T4, synthetic hormone.
I was a type of endurance athlete for 15 years. For the first ten years I had hypo symptoms but was not treated (wish I knew). The last five years competing I took just synthetic T4. The labs test said I was fine, but felt terrible. I had to quit the sport. Had a lot of muscle pain and no energy despite protein shakes and vitamins ect. Now, five years after I quit the sport I started to take dessicated thyroid that seems to help with muscle pain. I wish I tried it years ago.
Do you take a good muti vitamin or the B's with Magnesseum?
It has been recommended on this site that hypo's should get there Adrenals checked also. A 24 hour saliva test is apparently the best- more reliable than blood cortisol test I guess. I got this from a Holistic doctor for 150 dollars.
I don't think even with proper meds that a hypothyroid person is going to feel like they did before they went hypo, under a stressful conditions anyway. Sorry to tell you this! A proper working thyroid might adjust hormones as needed (anyone know this?). Meds are not that quickly adjustable.
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