thyroid question

I don't know about guys but I know a lot of fat chicks who can't push away from the table like to blame their fatness on a thyroid condition. They're full of shit too I tell ya.

The only condition is that their thyroid got fatter along with their stomach, legs, ass and head. What a load of shit. God I loved her.

that's due to the all of the articles in womens magazines using the rationale that "docs are treating thyroid diseases right" i.e should have tsh <3.00 so they don't have to take responsibility for their weight.

the problem is that since the docs know that people want to blame obesity on something other than themselves, they probably aren't taking those guidelines very seriously.

there are also alot of websites that are geared towards educating people about thyroid diseases but then have stuff about weight loss products. i think that those new guidlines should be followed i.e. tsh <3.00 because exercise puts more stress on your thyroid than sitting on the couch.

but since the lay literture pushes this guidelin on websites geared towards fat women, the docs are probably just shaking their heads going ...right...

i don't know about any of the rest of the hypothyroid people on here but i didn't loose any weight when i started taking synthoid.

Hi noname-

saw the endo for the first time yesterday and I believe this Doc will help me. He listened intently to my story, answered my questions completely, and though he tends to be on the conservative side (his words) in treating patients, he felt it was appropriate to be aggressive in my treatment. He bumped up my levoxyl to 100mcg and will be testing my hormone levels every month for at least the next three months. Won't have any more to report until after May 1, which is my next lab date. I know you had asked me about my t3 levels before. Well, it turns out my regular Doc ordered the wrong tests (t3 uptake and total t4) instead of the free tests. I'll let you know what my t3 levels are next time. Thank goodness for a primary care physician willing to admit she's not the one to deal with my problem and referred an Endo who seems super cabable. Yhings are looking up...

RB

hey runnerbabe,

that great. here is an article to support aggressive treatment for thyroid issues.

http://www.physsportsmed.com/issues/1997/01jan/knopp.htm

it was this article that made me ask my doc for a test and it states in there somewhere that there is not alot of research to support titrating upwards in patients without cardiac issues.

i'm also not surprised about the doc ordering the wrong test. i gave my doc a packet of research on why i wanted to go on T3 (more to do with raynauds that running -but that's a whole other issue). but, they didn't even know how to ask for a T3 test on the lab sheet. i told them to give me their code book and i looked it up and marked the sheet.

interestingly, when my docs medical group changed labs, T3 became standard check box. so i now just check it myself and the T3 gets processed in the results. i think next time i'll check the ferritin box..i've never had one and i've always wanted to know :-).

i suspted that T3 is coming to light as somethign to check because pregnant women with a low T3 are more susceptible to have babies with birth defects. they even have special T3 ranges for pregnant women on my lab results.

check back in may. i bet you'll start feeling a bit more perky after a day of recovery. that's how i know i'm on the right dose. if not, a day or 2 off of running doesn't seem to kick out the dead legs.

I forgot to mention to the endo about the possibility that I have reynauds. I have mild and intermittent symptoms and was wondering what is the correlation between thyroid and Reynauds. Can you shed some light? I'll be sure to bring it up with the doc next time. Also, I may check the ferritin box, too!!!!

Reynauds often goes hand in hand with thyroid issues. I believe that one can have Reynauds and not have thyroid issues though.I think it's considered an autoimmune problem.

Are you just on synthroid, or did you consider t3 therapy as well? I'm glad you found a doc willing to be more agressive.Good luck and keep us updated.

Check the ferritin box too - might as well look at everything.

I did not lose weight on synthroid. I am also post marathon though, and running less (I've been on it for about 4 months).

I would assume for the average person, it would make weight loss easier, since you have more energy, better mental functioning, and a faster metabolism.

But moving your body and eating right is still a must. Lifestyle change must accompany the metabolic change.

I wonder if you need more time to adjust. I found w/ and adjustment, I couldnt just bump up to the next level. Increasing by a smaller percentage helped for me (which meant cutting a pill in half). I found I needed time to adjust, then I was fine.

How does your running feel when you feel over-medicated? Just curious.

That's one of the things I intend to ask my doc. Maybe I just need to stick it out a while longer or perhaps we were a little too agressive. We'll see. As for my running, it's weird. I ran a 10k PR yesterday but felt totally flat and uninspired. I wasn't even happy becuase I felt I could have run even faster had I felt rested. My training some days is easier because of my "superhuman" energy level, and other days (like today) it's really hard and not too enjoyable because of the underllying fatigue. Thanks for asking. I'll let you know what the doc says if you're interested.

RB

hey runnerbabe,

the recent hypo thread by Thyroid inspired me to read the old one and it made me want to know how you were doing after having your dosage upped? i'm substantially better. back in april i went to a 1.00 levoxyl and .012 cytomel and for the first time all year, i can train a bit and actually improve. my times are way off of where they should be but i'm seeing progress. gosh, looking back always makes you see how off you really were.

also, did you confirm whether or not you have raynauds? i have it pretty bad... i'll be the geek wearing gloves and mittens when it's 55 degrees.

Jtupper,

Do you happen to know what 'medication' she took? Was it just a T4 med such as Synthroid or Levoxyl? Or a bit of T3 along with T4?

Thanks in advance!

Thyroid conditions are much more common in women, but there are pleny of men that deal with it as well. I am a women and I was recently diagnosed with Graves (hyperthyroid) and my next step is a specialist bc like you I don't think I have most of the symptoms so I'd like to get more info from an endo. If you get any slight indication from your blood work (tsh) that you might have a thyroid condition, they'll probably prescribe an uptake test to confirm - this is a painless procedure, but a bit time consuming over a two day period. Once that comes back you'll know if it's time to pursue a specialist or not. Don't avoid seeing a specialist if there's a hint you have trouble - the longer you let it go the more problems you might develop.

I probably wouldn't have noticed my symptoms except for the fact that I'm a runner - my times dramatically slowed down to the point where even running my usual "recovery day" pace felt like a huge effort, and I ran a personal WORST in the 5K and 10K within a few weeks, despite having done a lot of quality training (imagine getting an elite entry for a premier 10K and then running almost 40 min. It was humiliating and I sent the race director an apology). The only upside was that I found out it wasn't all just in my head, there was truly a medical reason for it all.

Good luck getting healthy!

I'm dredging up an old post because I was recently diagnosed with what seems to be a borderline low thyroid. I'm heading in for a follow-up visit with my physician on Wednesday and was wondering if any of you could suggest questions for me to ask when I am in there. I tend to go brain dead in the doc's office and want to make sure I am prepared before I go in, and it seems that many of you have some very clear insights into what to expect and what to avoid.

Background about me:

I'm a 34-year-old nationally-competitive female distance runner (specialty is marathon). I had the test done because I've been feeling deep fatigue (felt like more than just the result of hard training) and have had somewhat declining performances and workouts over the past six months. I have struggled when getting anything less than 9 hours of sleep a night. I thought it was anemia, but my iron levels are all fine. My TSH was 3.93 and my T4 free was .83. Based on the paperwork my doctor sent me, it looks like he is planning to prescribe a low dose of Levoxyl.

As I mentioned, I'd really like to know what questions I should be asking from the get-go. I appreciate any feedback you guys might have.

That's great that the doc is willing to use the TSH > 3.00 as the marker for hypothyroidism. Most won't even consider treatment until you are in the 5.00+ range.

Here are questions that i'd be really curious to have a response to if the doc you are going to see has an interest on the effects of endurance activity on the endocrine system.

1. What do you consider to be the optimal TSH for a runner versus a sendentary person. Do you think there is a difference?

2. Do you think T3 needs to be more closely watched in sedentary versus highly physically active people?

Yes. I would agree with that. I guess I just want to make sure that it really is smart to medicate with a level under 5. But based on this thread, it seems that most of you feel you function best when your TSH is under 3 and preferably under 2. Do you know of anyone who has chosen not to medicate and has improved when their TSH levels are in the upper range? I seem to have been fatigued for some time (and now that I know what the problem seems to be there are other things that ring true - my hands and feet are always freezing, my arms get very achy when I type a lot or work on my palm pilot, and my father is hypo) so I'm skeptical that I can handle this on my own without medication, but I'm always a bit reluctant to take medication. Especially for life.

Thank you for those questions. I really appreciate them and will take them in when I go see him tomorrow. I'll report back on what he tells me. My doctor is a sports medicine specialist who was a competitive cyclist himself and he really seems to enjoy issues of health and performance, so I think he will be open to a long discussion on whether or not we should view this as hypothyroidism and how to handle it.

Let me know if you can think of anything else you would ask if you were in my shoes.

If he is really into it...tell him that there is a graph in the exercise science book: Exercise Physiology by Brooks, Fahey and White. In there, there is a graph that plots exercise time on the x-axis and TSH, T3, and T4 on the y-axis on separate graphs. the one that has always intrigued me is T3 - after 2 hours of exercise, this drops and does not come back up. I have always wondered whether someone who is hypothyroid and exercises for 2+ hrs every day can possibly get that t3 back up to normal if they stay on the same dose of synthoid.

After being diagnosed w/ Graves' (hyper), I had the thyroid killed and wound up hypo (it's common). TSH was almost 55 when I went on the Synthroid. I've been on it just a month now, feel great, running pretty well for now, I've dropped most of the weight . . . so don't worry, you'll be fine. I have a great Dr. who thinks the optimal TSH for an elite runner/athlete is 1. Also, Synthroid is just a synthetic form of something your body produces and needs. There are very few cases of rejection; I've heard of just one case where the person got sick from the meds and had to take something else. Best wishes for you . . . maybe we'll see each other at Twin Cities! -- kk

Kathryn,

Thank you so much for the information. It's good to hear about your experience, and I appreciate the information from your doctor about optimal TSH for elite athletes. I will be asking my doctor about that tomorrow. I am definitely hoping to make Twin Cities if I can get things back on track. Seems like it should be possible by then! It would be nice to meet you.

I saw this mentioned elsewhere in this thread. If I have time, I will talk to him about his feelings about the drop in T3 with long bouts of exercise.