Intro - New Member

Posted October 26, 2004 · October 26, 2004

I went looking for a group like this because my head is reeling after

my first visit with an endocrinologist.

To back up a bit, I have been struggling with fatigue and inability to

lose weight for the last couple of years. I have a LOT to lose so you

would think that following a diet strictly (weight watchers, journaled

and counted every bite) and exercise (5x a week of either biking or

swimming in the summer and water aerobics and stationary bike in the

winter) for 15 months someone who has a whole other person to lose

would have had some success, but no... not an ounce. I went to see my

doctor and she told me I was doing the wrong kinds of exercise, biking

and swimming are good for recreation, but I should join Curves. She

told me that I had to be lying to myself about what I ate and asked me

if I had a history of sleepwalking (I did as a child). I spent months

obsessing over the levels of food in my house convinced I was gorging

myself without knowing it overnight. She asked me if I ever ate when

I was stressed and I said " who hasn't? " She wanted to prescribe

prozac. I declined. She wanted to refer me to a weight loss surgeon

and I told her that if I wanted to starve myself, I could do it

without surgery... I just didn't think that was the most healthy way

to do it. This was all on a first visit.

Fast forward to 6 months ago, we moved cities and time to find a new

doctor. I have since done a lot of reading on hypothyroid and

recognize a lot of symptoms that I always just written off... I'm

always exhausted but I figured it was carrying the extra weight.

Recently (last couple of years) I just cannot get warm. I've been

fighting awful dry skin that gets a lot worse in the winter. I seem

to lose tons of hair but convinced myself it's just normal shedding.

The worst is lately my memory seems to be shot to hell... I was always

the kind of person who never had to write anything down to remember it

and now, if I remember to write something down, I forget that I've

actually written it down... in fact, I forget that just yesterday I

was thinking about it at all. Also, in spite of the fact that I have

been following a very healthy " diet " for the past few years my LDL has

been rising instead of falling (how about all of those oatmeal

commercials that say it's supposed to lower cholesterol?)

So, I join curves with a friend (like the old doctor said to do) and

start journaling again. 3 months of working out 5-6x a week and

watching everything I put into my mouth and nothing. I am getting

tired of people joking around that I only count as half a person when

they figure out how much to serve at meals. I've been freezing since

september and people laugh when I wear a wool sweater in 60 degree

weather. My skin is starting to scale up, my husband is finally

getting it that I am not just " playing dumb " if I don't remember

somthing he said yesterday and it's time to see another doctor. This

time I get more of the same, she refuses to refer me to an

endocrinologist telling me about the time she referred someone " just

like " me to an endo only to get a full workup that came back totally

normal. She said she is not a fan of Curves, that I should walk until

I feel like my heart is going to burst out of my chest (hello, has

this woman ever heard of a target heart range?) She told me I have a

slow metabolism (Really, Sherlock?) and that I am eating the wrong

kind of oatmeal, I should be eating steel cut oats instead of the

Quaker garbage.

My mother convinced me to try another doctor and although this one has

no bedside manner at all, she at least ran some basic tests and said

" well I'm just an internist, these numbers look ok to me but I am

going to refer you to our Diabetes center (misnomer, they deal with

all kinds of metabolic issues) to see an endocrinologist. " So, we are

finally getting somewhere. I did more reading before my appointment

and I learned that the T3 Uptake and I can't remember the

corresponding T4 tests are basically considered useless nowadays. I

learned that some endocrinologists are looking at 3 as the max for TSH

(mine came back at 2.94) and that many people report symptoms at

anything over 1.5.

I met with the endocrinologist and liked him a lot, but he said he

didn't need any more information than what he had at this moment and

thought I could benefit from a " boost " and getting my TSH into the 0.

5-1.0 range and prescribed Synthroid. He also said that the thyroid

may not be the issue (with losing weight) and that unfortunately it's

a very complex topic that is woefully underfunded and the only part of

it they do understand fairly well is the thyroid, but it could be

something else. I tend to focus on the utter inability to lose weight

in spite of the fact that I eat half of what most people eat and

exercise my butt off (figuratively, obviously not literally) as the

major symptom because it was what drove me to the doctor, but frankly

I'm also tired of being tired and cold and it being nearly impossible

for me to concentrate as well.

Right now my head is spinning. I'm glad that I finally found someone

who isn't treating me like I'm absolutely nuts or like I'm just

kidding myself, but at the same time I'm terrified that this won't

help and then what? I know it will take time to figure things out and

I know this is just a first step but I'm still anxious about the whole

thing. I've been doing lots of reading but it's all starting to blend

together so I went looking for some kind of a support group. Anyway,

sorry to be so longwinded but that's my story. I look forward to

learning all I can.

Posted October 26, 2004 · October 26, 2004

Howdy, ... welcome...

Whoosh, lots of info... good... now I'd like to run some things by you...

I'll be brief, at first, then we can start digging a bit deeper.

Low thyroid reduces metabolic rate.. with a low metabolic rate you need fewer calories... fewer calories needed mean it's easier to gain weight on less calories than other people to... also means it's harder to lose calories.

Being hypo, low thyroid, means low metabolic rate... which means the FIRST step is to increase metabolism.

Low metabolic rate... too low caloric intake and/or excessive exercising... further reduces metabolic rate... making it even harder to lose weight.

Excessive exercise and too low caloric intake also affects your thyroid hormone conversion and further decreasing your metabolic rate.

What does that mean? It's possible to actually diet and exercise your way to gaining weight.

So far, your new endo is on the right track.. kinda... he want's to get your TSH below 1.0.. that's good... but he's talking Synthroid (synthetic T4) and that, well, I'll just say that after a decade of being on the stuff and ending up on crutches because of it... I'm not a fan....

Ponder on those tidbits.... we'll talk more about that...

Now, for your labs... do you have copies of anything? the results with the lab ranges, any that you can get hold of from the docs that have tested you.

Post them here... we'd like to see what tests they took, the values and the lab ranges to see what has been going on....

Is this the first time you been on thyroid meds? What dose(s) - for how long? Do you know that you have to take synthetics on an empty stomach? Either an hour before eating or four hours after....

Lets see what's going on with you, okay?

Topper ()

On Wed, 27 Oct 2004 01:10:36 -0000 "firstenberg_l" writes:

I went looking for a group like this because my head is reeling after my first visit with an endocrinologist.To back up a bit, I have been struggling with fatigue and inability to lose weight for the last couple of years. I have a LOT to lose so you would think that following a diet strictly (weight watchers, journaled and counted every bite) and exercise (5x a week of either biking or swimming in the summer and water aerobics and stationary bike in the winter) for 15 months someone who has a whole other person to lose would have had some success, but no... not an ounce. I went to see my doctor and she told me I was doing the wrong kinds of exercise, biking and swimming are good for recreation, but I should join Curves. She told me that I had to be lying to myself about what I ate and asked me if I had a history of sleepwalking (I did as a child). I spent months obsessing over the levels of food in my house convinced I was gorging myself without knowing it overnight. She asked me if I ever ate when I was stressed and I said "who hasn't?" She wanted to prescribe prozac. I declined. She wanted to refer me to a weight loss surgeon and I told her that if I wanted to starve myself, I could do it without surgery... I just didn't think that was the most healthy way to do it. This was all on a first visit.Fast forward to 6 months ago, we moved cities and time to find a new doctor. I have since done a lot of reading on hypothyroid and recognize a lot of symptoms that I always just written off... I'm always exhausted but I figured it was carrying the extra weight. Recently (last couple of years) I just cannot get warm. I've been fighting awful dry skin that gets a lot worse in the winter. I seem to lose tons of hair but convinced myself it's just normal shedding. The worst is lately my memory seems to be shot to hell... I was always the kind of person who never had to write anything down to remember it and now, if I remember to write something down, I forget that I've actually written it down... in fact, I forget that just yesterday I was thinking about it at all. Also, in spite of the fact that I have been following a very healthy "diet" for the past few years my LDL has been rising instead of falling (how about all of those oatmeal commercials that say it's supposed to lower cholesterol?)So, I join curves with a friend (like the old doctor said to do) and start journaling again. 3 months of working out 5-6x a week and watching everything I put into my mouth and nothing. I am getting tired of people joking around that I only count as half a person when they figure out how much to serve at meals. I've been freezing since september and people laugh when I wear a wool sweater in 60 degree weather. My skin is starting to scale up, my husband is finally getting it that I am not just "playing dumb" if I don't remember somthing he said yesterday and it's time to see another doctor. This time I get more of the same, she refuses to refer me to an endocrinologist telling me about the time she referred someone "just like" me to an endo only to get a full workup that came back totally normal. She said she is not a fan of Curves, that I should walk until I feel like my heart is going to burst out of my chest (hello, has this woman ever heard of a target heart range?) She told me I have a slow metabolism (Really, Sherlock?) and that I am eating the wrong kind of oatmeal, I should be eating steel cut oats instead of the Quaker garbage. My mother convinced me to try another doctor and although this one has no bedside manner at all, she at least ran some basic tests and said "well I'm just an internist, these numbers look ok to me but I am going to refer you to our Diabetes center (misnomer, they deal with all kinds of metabolic issues) to see an endocrinologist." So, we are finally getting somewhere. I did more reading before my appointment and I learned that the T3 Uptake and I can't remember the corresponding T4 tests are basically considered useless nowadays. I learned that some endocrinologists are looking at 3 as the max for TSH (mine came back at 2.94) and that many people report symptoms at anything over 1.5. I met with the endocrinologist and liked him a lot, but he said he didn't need any more information than what he had at this moment and thought I could benefit from a "boost" and getting my TSH into the 0.5-1.0 range and prescribed Synthroid. He also said that the thyroid may not be the issue (with losing weight) and that unfortunately it's a very complex topic that is woefully underfunded and the only part of it they do understand fairly well is the thyroid, but it could be something else. I tend to focus on the utter inability to lose weight in spite of the fact that I eat half of what most people eat and exercise my butt off (figuratively, obviously not literally) as the major symptom because it was what drove me to the doctor, but frankly I'm also tired of being tired and cold and it being nearly impossible for me to concentrate as well. Right now my head is spinning. I'm glad that I finally found someone who isn't treating me like I'm absolutely nuts or like I'm just kidding myself, but at the same time I'm terrified that this won't help and then what? I know it will take time to figure things out and I know this is just a first step but I'm still anxious about the whole thing. I've been doing lots of reading but it's all starting to blend together so I went looking for some kind of a support group. Anyway, sorry to be so longwinded but that's my story. I look forward to learning all I can.

Posted October 26, 2004 · October 26, 2004