[Depressed] Possible reason for struggles with weight..

Sorry to hear.

There is medication that should help to balance your thyroid levels, but it's something you probably end up taking on a regular basis.

You'll have to work through a lot of lethargy, feeling of just lying down all the time, and literally feeling like you have no energy to do anything ... it's depressing sometimes, but you'll make it through.

Battling through the same ... but it's gotten better. The weight gain has tapered off and although not coming off, it's staying put.

 

Sorry to hear. My ex-girlfriend had the same thing. She was skinny, though. But she had to take pills every day. It seemed like it would make her very moody and deprived of energy when she did not take them. Physical activity definitely helps, but depending on the condition might not be enough, in her case, she could not do without the pills. Good luck.

 

Sorry to hear about that Mathloom. I know very little about this but I recall that some dietary changes can help with a thyroid condition. Anyway good luck with it and the best thing you can do is to stay positive.

 

My mom has something similar to this sorry to hear that

 

Hypothyroidism is usually easily treated with medicine (one pill of synthroid or similar a day). It is also very common. You'll find yourself feeling much better once you begin treatment. The only thing is that they'll probably have you try a low dose and work your way up by running a blood test every six months or so to make sure your dose is correct. Hypothyroidism is NOT something to worry about, you'll feel better once on medicine, and it is not life threatening. In fact, over time, it can correct itself, if you are lucky.

I'm actually a little surprised that your Doctor didn't run a TSH and T4 blood test immediately and referred you to someone else without checking.

I would also ask your Doctor if it is worth checking calcium levels to see how your parathyroid is working.

My mother lived with hypothyroidism for years, but one year her Doctor decided to run a calcium test and she needed to get one of her parathyroids removed.

After the surgery she said she felt 15 years younger and didn't realize how bad she was feeling before (she thought it was just the fact that she was getting older).

Disease of the parathyroid is MUCH rarer than the thyroid, so you probably don't have it (the reason most Docs don't check), but to me, its worth a blood test.

 

Hypothyroidism patient here.

suffering from the same problem. was putting on a lot of weight for three years. plus depression, fatigue, dry skin, hair loss and other issues. finally one doc figured out that it was all because of hypothyroidism.

dont worry about it though. not a big issue at all. you just have to pop a pill daily morning before eating breakfast. and once your thyroid levels reach normalcy, you can work out and start losing weight again (albeit a little slowly).

In summary, you just have to live with it. dont miss out on the pills no matter what (At least in the initial recovery phase). my doc says I have to take those pills for life.

plus if you are familiar with Yoga, it helps a lot in upping your metabolism and activating your thyroid gland. see if you can find some yoga practitioner in your city.

 

My doctor never checked for this. thanks for the information. wil talk to him tomorrow

 

I know it's not what you want to hear, but this is really great news! Your condition is not life-threatening, can be easily treated with very low-cost medication, and is possibly even self-correcting. In the grand scheme of things, it could have been a WHOLE LOT worse.

My wife suffers from hypothyroidism, and it took a while to find the right dosage for her, but her quality of life has vastly improved since her diagnosis. Stay positive: this might turn out to be the best thing that's ever happened to you.

 

Weird. but this is generally prevalent among women. I am not sure why

 

I had the opposite - hyperthyroidism. I almost lost my thyroid because of it. My risks were thyroid cancer and having to lose my thyroid and rely on pills the rest of my life to keep my metabolism "normal". Luckily they found no problems and let it run its course. It was like having the flu for about 2-3 months. I would suffer from 103+ degree fevers unless I popped tylenol every few hours. My joints were always sore. I came home from work, didn't want to eat, and just went to bed. I didn't even want to move. Despite this, I was losing about 15-20 pounds per month doing absolutely nothing active.

One of the problems with hyperthyroidism apparently was that eventually everything was supposed to swing back to normal, but in some cases, it would briefly "overshoot normal" and turn into a case of hypothyroidism. I don't think we witnessed this in me, but it was a possibility.

I never want to revisit that again.

 

Don't be down. At least not until you get your TFT results. It's possible everything could be normal and you just have a natural tendency to gain weight for a different reason that is not as bad as hypothyroidism.

 

honestly i'd wait to hear from the doc...if you dont have it, then you're going to be even more depressed, since you're covincing yourself you do and are already thinking of how it would be like to have it.

Were you regulating your calories during that time or just not eating junk food?

 

Depression may also be a symptom of hypothyroidism.

 

You're not hypothyroid until you have a documented low T4 and an elevated TSH plus hypothyroidism symptoms. Even then, not all hypothyroidisms are the same. Some are transient like De Quervain's thyroiditis.

But you are right to assume gaining 18 lbs in 4 weeks is an issue.

I am hoping for the best, keep me posted.

 

my ex g/f took pills for her thyroid, but i can't remember if it was for hyper or hypo...maybe it was to balance the hormone level. I will say when she switched meds, it made her even more b&tchy than usual...seriously, it was bad...so just be careful...

 

The possibility of having hypothyroidism is not something to be depressed about. If anything, you should be happy that you might have found the cause of your troubles. Like others have mentioned, it's so easily treatable. One cheap pill per day.

 

....I don't get it....

Hypo- and hyperthyroidism are common. Why didn't he order the blood test already?

In fact, hypothyroidism is common enough that any diagnosis of depression should come with a TSH / T4 blood test to rule out hypothyroidism as the cause. Same with hyperthyroidism and mania/bipolar.

 

Are you having issues with your joints? Knee problems, back pain? Lack of flexibility? If you're aligment is messed up you could be affecting blood and lymp flow, your breathing, basically all of the processes in one way or another. This could mimic thyroid issues. Something to think about if your tests are negative.