Graves' Disease Support Group
Graves-Basedow disease is a medical disorder that may manifest several different conditions including hyperthyroidism (over activity of thyroid hormone production), infiltrative exophthalmos (protruberance of one or both eyes and associated problems) and infiltrative dermopathy (a skin condition usually of the lower extremities). This disorder is the most common cause of...
Every since I was diagnosed back in June of 2011 with graves disease and I went into remission, I have gained like 30 pounds. My question is I see all these appetite controllers which is a good one, I need one bad, my levels are all normal, but I keep gaining weight and I really am not eating that much but I still gain weight. Thanks for any help.
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Using appetite suppressants are not a good thing for people who have graves even if you are in remission...Big Hugs...Kathy
I'm certainly no expert of anything medical or dietary, but it seems to me that EATING LESS, often results in a failure to get the nutrients necessary to boost the thyroid hormone production, if not also the TSH production to keep the normal thyroid feedback loop going.
To me, weight gain or loss is more a function of the thyroid than of diet and/or exercise.
I was not satisfied my thyroid was OK even though my numbers looked OK. But TT3 and RT3 always seemed problematic. My GP had been treating me. I went to an Internal med doctor that sort of specializes in thyroid. She added Cytomel and I happily gained 10 pounds putting me at a weight I liked.
My heart was acting up so I went to a cardiologist. For some unknown reason the TSH he did came back very hyper. An Endo diagnosed the Graves and did RAI. This was July last year. I immediately gained 10 pounds. Still OK but I didn't want anymore. Since then I have gained another 10 and am trying hard to not add any more. I don't think it is my diet.
My closet now has me covered, 3 sizes so I pick what I can wear this week. ;-)
I'm no longer seeing the Endo. After the RAI he tested me a couple times but not until it had stabilized and told me to come back in a year for another TSH and T4. Hopefully he knew what he was doing with the RAI but he sure isn't knowledgeable about the whole aspect of the thing. I have gone back to the internal med doctor and hope for the best.
BTW, there are no good Endos around here.
Betty
Graves Disease taking Synthroid
Hashimoto's
LADA (type 1 diabetes)
annbower, how long did it take for you to go into remission? What meds were you taking? How much? and how long did it take for them to wean you off?
My own experience with weight gain is that I was very thin until the birth of my 3rd child at age 38, when I had gained noticeable fat over my abdomen. Since then, I have mostly felt hypo-thyroid except for when my Graves' disease took me high enough to bring my pulse rate above 100. By then I was 60 and had gained about 60 lbs.
I had my thyroid tested when I felt particularly hypo, but only the TSH usually, and the one exception to that was under the stress of having to fight with the doctor to get him to do it. (Does stress raise thyroid levels?)
After the twenty or so years I was feeling down, with hair thinning, and gaining the weight, I actually lost 10 lbs. instead of losing 5 and gaining 10. That was when my blood pressure and pulse rose I was found to have a very low TSH (hyper-thyroid) but also only a very slightly high T4 (no FT3 or FT4 tests having been done at that time.)