Hashimoto's diagnosis - are my days of marathons finished?

Sorry to hear about the diagnose. You should be able to run well again with proper medication.

Lots of time T4 only treatment of Hashimotos doesn't help.

You may ask your DR for a T4/T3 medication versus T4 only.

T4 is the inactive form of thyroid hormone. The thought process of giving people T4 is that their bodies the will convert the T4 (inactive hormone) into T3 which is the active from of thryoid hormone. In a healthy functioning thryoid this is how the physiology works.

With Hashimotos, most people aren't able to make that conversion from T4 to T3. So taking a combination medication of T4 to T3 can be very helpful.

They either add a synthetic T3 hormone to your T4 or give you a NDT which is a natural bio identical hormone that has both T4 and T3.

In addition, you may want to consider taking Iodine. Lugol's Iodine or Nascent Iodine are both very helpful for those with low thryoid function.

I hope you find what works for you!

My TSH 4 level is 1.62 now with generic levothyroxine from my GP.

The endocrinologist seemed very knowledgeable about his field and gave me the Synthroid to try first and indicated he would at my next visit in September, review my blood work results from it and then consider a T4/T3 mix as you suggested. He did not want to jump into that right away from generic levothyroxine.

Glad to hear my days are not finished with running due to this.

There is a bright side to all of this.

You can now join the NOP and have Dr. Salazar as your coach.

TSH is actually not a good test for thyroid status as it is not a thyroid hormone. TSH is a pituary hormone signaling the thyroid to produce more thyroid hormone. The higher the normal the stronger signal is being sent to thyroid.

Many thyroid patient can have a normal or in range TSH but have low FT4 and FT3 numbers.

In order to find what is really going your doctor should be running FreeT4 and Free T3 tests. This will tell you how much hormone is free (unbound) available for use. You can artificially elevated T4 from medication but have no Free T3 for the body to use as energy. Free T3 is pure energy!

If you are still running like crap on T4 only, you will need T3 in order to run well. Or take Iodine which unbinds thyroid hormone so that your body can utilize for energy.

Best of luck!

PS - I am sure your endocrinologist is knowledge but you should do some research and be you educated in the drugs you are taking and basic thyroid physiology, You need to your best advocate.

I have hashimotos and have refused medication for several years now. My TSH is elevated in the 5 range and my T3 and T4 are borderline low. I feel medication will just kill off my thyroid and make it totally nonfunctional. I definitely get tired more easily now, after strenuous workouts and long days. I've struggled with insomnia most of my life but the hashimotos has actually helped correct my sleep such that I'm getting much more restful, deep, restorative sleep now. Endocrinologists are quick to prescribe replacement hormone but it's definitely a mixed bag. Lots of people struggle with maintaining normalcy in sleep, mood, weight, energy on medication especially because medication is started too soon while the thyroid is still functional to some degree. I'd rather go with the ebb and flow of my own biological rhythm until my thyroid ceases to function altogether.

No. You'll feel a little heavy legged for a while till they get you balanced.

It's a good thing your Dr. switched you to the "Synthroid" better controlled then the generic (Levothyroxine), just make sure your Synthroid is genuine, embossed with "synthroid" (see their website).

But it takes about six-eight months to get your free T4, free T3, and TSH balanced. Go slow and be thankful you can at least jog but once you get that Hashi under control you'll feel better.

Oh and take the Synthroid on time every day preferably one hour and thirty minutes before you eat anything. And NO COFFEE during that time.

Every once in a while I'll wolf something down about an hour and it'll effect the absorption of the Synthroid via 'getting the blues' at night. I just take half a pill of the old Synthroid (keep your old dosages when they increase your dose), when I get the blues and after taking it, the blues goes away.

So remember that.

The endocrinologist told me 30 minutes before eating would be sufficient for synthroid to be properly absorbed.

He is a highly regarded practitioner in this area of medicine, so I believe he will be better at measuring my progress than the GP was. No fault to the GP, they know a little about a lot of things, but not a lot about any particular thing.

Six to eight months - well, if that is what it takes, I will adjust.

How did you fare?

Have you been able to resume running since you started the hormone replacement?

Kara Goucher has this and it enables you to play around with all kinds of supplements

traggatmot82 wrote:

How did you fare?

Have you been able to resume running since you started the hormone replacement?

My T3 levels and T4 levels are back "in normal range", however my TSH score is now 4.5, above the high end of normal range of 4.0. I am able to run perhaps 2 to 3 miles before I get winded. That was an effect that did not used to happen prior my thyroid problems (e.g. I was able to run 20 miles or more fairly comfortably).

I am taking 112 mg of Synthroid under the direction of my endocrinologist.

I am also taking daily supplements of 200 mg of Selenium 2000 IU of Vitamin D3 and a Probiotic. I have also cut out gluten from my diet completely.

Was tested for celiac's disease just as a precaution, that came out negative.

I asked the doctor to do ultrasound of the thyroid at my recent visit and he confirmed it was under attack but there were no tumors, nodules or goiter to be concerned about.

Getting winded and also feeling my thyroid under stress while running seems to be my only side effect from the Hashimotos. No hair loss, bone pain, digestive problems, brain fog, etc. I guess I caught it fairly early.

I have Hashimoto's and was diagnosed about 10 years ago. It took a while to find the right dose/combination but I've had no issues since getting my doses figured out. I take 100 mcg Synthroid and 10 mcg Cytomel daily. I still felt sluggish and run down until my doctor added Cytomel to my treatment. I have blood work done very 6 months to monitor, and my doctor is well aware of my active level (ultra runner) but have stayed stable on this dosing for many years now. Once you get the right dose, or combination if you need both Synthroid and Cytomel, then you will be good and wont have any negative effects on your running. One thing you want to watch out for is not to take too high of Synthroid or Cytomel doses. It will not have performance benefits contrary to what people on this board say, but it will increase your heart rate, which will negatively effect your running. Find an endocrinologist that understands your active lifestyle, get your meds/doses dialed in, and you'll be good to go.

1) though it is the most common reason for hypothyroidism in the United States, diagnosis of hashimoto's based on an ultrasound only is impossible. The diagnosis is based upon certain antibodies that are tested for and/or biopsies of the gland itself

2) replacement of your thyroid to normal levels and adjustment as to your lifestyle will happen in time. Bottom line, your days of marathoning are definitely not over.

I got my hypothyroid diagnosis about 8 months ago. Unsure if its hashimoto's, but had highly elevated TSH (~11). In feb, my TSH was 1.8 and now I feel normal, but I'm not running much due to achilles issues.

Anyway, I would highly recommend taking your pills at night, right before bed. Leave plenty of time after dinner. Its made me feel normal/good day to day. Research shows that taking your dosage at night has a positive impact on how you feel during the day, even if it doesn't affect your TSH much.

Not Alberto wrote:

1) though it is the most common reason for hypothyroidism in the United States, diagnosis of hashimoto's based on an ultrasound only is impossible. The diagnosis is based upon certain antibodies that are tested for and/or biopsies of the gland itself

2) replacement of your thyroid to normal levels and adjustment as to your lifestyle will happen in time. Bottom line, your days of marathoning are definitely not over.

The Hashimoto's disease diagnosis was done via lab work blood tests. The ultrasound was done to give me the patient a visual of what was going on inside my neck under the condition.

What I'm wondering about is whether or not the sensation of breathlessness while running will ever go away. This is arisen in sync with the onset of Hashimoto's . I don't have asthma nor have I had this problem before.

I was running in the first wave of the Boston Marathon two years ago and now I can hardly run

two miles before getting winded. That's how much this has knocked me down

What is the cytomel used for? Is that for T-3 production? As I mentioned earlier my T4 and T3 values are now in normal range according to recent blood tests so I'm not sure I could convince my endocrinologist to start me on something new in addition to Synthroid.

asdgafsg wrote:

I got my hypothyroid diagnosis about 8 months ago. Unsure if its hashimoto's, but had highly elevated TSH (~11). In feb, my TSH was 1.8 and now I feel normal, but I'm not running much due to achilles issues.

Anyway, I would highly recommend taking your pills at night, right before bed. Leave plenty of time after dinner. Its made me feel normal/good day to day. Research shows that taking your dosage at night has a positive impact on how you feel during the day, even if it doesn't affect your TSH much.

I discovered the remedy to shortness of breath while running with Hashimoto's Thyroiditis. The shortness of breath is a side effect of Synthroid.

Consuming a small amount of pink Himalayan sea salt calms down the adrenals and allows me to run a few miles now without problem. It is important to get sea salt as it has more mineral nutrients than processed white salt. Also make sure it does *not have iodine*. Iodine is harmful to a thyroid under attack from Hashimoto's.