Have you tried strength training?

My doctor has converted me to a gluten free/paleo diet for basically the rest of my life. I've adjusted very well to it. While I haven't lost any of the 10-15lbs I've gained because of this ridiculous disease, I haven't gained any since making this lifestyle change. It's very low carb, and my doctor told me that extensive cardio would be a waste of time because of this. He said walking and doing 20-30 mins of weight training 6-7x times a week is key.

Welcome!

Sorry for the reason you're here but, glad you found us.

helerown gave you some good tips re diet and exercise.

I'd like to address the thyroid labs that motivated your doctor to lower your dose. Has your doctor been checking anything other than TSH?

If not, you might want to talk to him/her about not only checking pituitary hormone TSH but, the actual thyroid hormones: FreeT4 and FreeT3.

Once a person has thyroid disease and/or is missing all/part of the thyroid, the HPT (hypothalamic-pituitary-thyroid) feedback loop is interrupted. Looking at pituitary hormone TSH tells us nothing about thyroid function.

Optimizing your FreeT4 *and* your FreeT3 levels are key to wellness.....that's what finally enabled me to lose the 7 lbs. I gained when I became hypo.

Please feel free to share your labs here and we'll show you how to interpret them. You'll need to post the reference ranges for each result since different labs use different ranges and your results can only be properly interpreted within the context of your lab's ranges. In addition, please know that this site has a bug that doesn't allow posting of special symbols along with numbers. Here's an example of a site-friendly way to post labs:

FreeT4 1.7 range .82-1.76

Looking forward to hearing from you again!

Thanks

My last last results were as followed

Free T3 @ 5.24 9 (Ranges - low is 4, High 8.30)
Free T4 @ 13.73 (Ranges - low is 9, high is 20)
TSH @ 1.04 (Ranges low 0.25, High 5

What do you think?

Your most recent results indicate the need for a dose INcrease rather than a decrease.

If you think about it, it makes sense for doctors to adjust our meds so our levels are similar to those a healthy person would have.

Thyroid textbooks indicate that healthy people have FreeT4 levels near the high end of the range and FreeT3 levels in the upper third/upper quarter of the range.

FreeT4/T3 levels around 60-80% of range is a reasonable treatment goal. Once those types of levels are achieved, it's appropriate for the doctor to make minor dose adjustments to eliminate any residual symptoms and help the patient identify his/her own optimal levels (called "setpoints")

Just to give you an idea, based upon your lab's ranges, 60-80% of range would mean a FreeT4 level around 15.6 up to 17.8 and a FreeT3 level around 6.58 up to 7.44.

Some people discover that they need their levels a little higher than this (I am one of them). A few people need their levels slightly lower than this. No one feels good with levels below mid-range.

As you can see, both your FreeT4 and FreeT3 levels are lower than the lowest level most people find comfortable. In fact, they are both below mid-range.

This could very well be contributing to your weight issues.

The way to increase those levels is to increase the dose.

What was the doctor's reasoning behind lowering your dose?

I'm posting this separately for clarity.

I'm not sure if you're familiar with other symptoms of hypothyroidism. I suspect you are dealing with more than weight issues.

While the site I will link below contains a lot of inaccurate information, it does have a comprehensive list of ways hypothyroid levels can affect us.

http://www.hypothyroidismrevolution.com/hypothyroidism-symptoms/

Not everyone will have every symptom/condition on the list. Each of us usually has his/her own typical cluster of symptoms.

Optimal levels = no thyroid symptoms

I hope you can convince your doctor to put you back on 125mcg and push him/her for dose increases as labs/symptoms dictate.

Thank you so much this is so insightful.

Prior to this, below were the results, perhaps, that's why she reduced??

Free T3 -3.79
Free T4- 4.77
TSH 55.55

Conclusion, Severe Hypothyroidism. Thats when i was on 125mg

Actually, no.....your prior results indicated severe hypothyroidism as evidenced by your below-range FreeT4/T3 levels (and your super-high TSH)

Your most recent results are better but, still very hypothyroid.

I think your doctor is confused by the improvements in your TSH. Unfortunately, many doctors get confused with TSH and they are the ones that keep us sick.

Please remember that TSH is a pituitary hormone and not a reliable indicator of thyroid status.

It's those FreeT4 and FreeT3 thyroid hormone levels that need to be optimized.

You already know the rest based upon my previous post :)

You really need to be back on 125mcg and will probably need a few more dose adjustments.

Many of us have been able to get dose increases by pointing out to the doctor that our FreeT4/T3 levels aren't even mid-range and have room to increase while still being in the normal range.

I'm sure you have other symptoms besides weight issues. It makes sense to share *all* of them with the doctor.

In fact, keeping a journal was instrumental to me with identifying my optimal levels and getting the proper care.

Here's a thread I wrote about it:

http://www.dailystrength.org/c/Hypothyroidism/forum/14455047-journal-success

Hi

Thanks so much for the feed back and encouragement.

I just did my monthly test, and the results are;

Free T3 Value 5.92 (Low: 4- High -8.3)
Free T4 Value (Low : -9- High -20)
TSH: Value 3.92 (low 0.25- High 5)

Do you think i should still be on 100mg Thyroxine. Meanwhile i think am piling at least a Kilo every 4 days.
Am getting quite worried.