The thyroid thread

[Thandie]

Re: The thryoid thread

I think there are a few variables.

It could be considered to be a natural physiological response as the competition diet is a semi-starvation diet.

This has been documented in the Minnesota starvation study.

I thought I had dealt with coming off the comp diet quite well this year, but obviously the thyroid function issue messed it up a bit.

I did make a conscious choice to just have a few months off while I was on holiday, and it has done me the world of good.

I have to concur that going into comp diet allows us to go on a semi-starvation diet, however can that be due to just going on too low carbs? I never had been on a low-carb diet. The lowest I go is about 150g, on occasion 125g. and that's when I'm cutting. Conversely, I never gain a large amount of weight off comp. Only about 10 lbs.; but I do want to gain about that much. So, I think is a rebound on going to low. Again, when people go on a too low carb diet, I'm not sure how low they go. I've had only a handful of clients who fall into this category and I see what this particular diet has done to their metabolism and their issues with thyroid.

 

[Tatyana]

I just printed out all the blood tests I have taken over the last four years.

I have had symptoms of hypothyroidism for some time now, as one of the tests I did on myself was an iron and transferrin saturation as well as ferritin, B12, folate, as I was looking for a reason as to why I felt tired most of the time.

My first season competing so far has been my most successful, and the irony of this is that this was before I was reading and posting on BBing forums.

AFTER I started reading all the different things about dieting, I started to second guess myself about how I was dieting as 'it's just not possible' to get to single digit bodyfat eating carbohydrates.

I count everything, the carbs in all veggies, and I have records, so I know I was eating between 120 (low carb days) to 200 (high carb days) grams of carbs.

While I think that experimenting with low carb dieting and dieting for far too long last year has had an impact on my thyroid function, the low carb dieting did suppress my thyroid enough for the issue to become apparent in a thryoid function test.

I just feel SO DIFFERENT.

I used to be a sleeping machine, a BIG fan of naps, mostly because I had to nap.

I am on call today, so the day before I would typically have at least one (or two) naps.

I did lay down, but I wasn't tired and couldn't sleep.

I am really wondering now how I went so long with that fatigue and brain fog.

 

[Thandie]

I just printed out all the blood tests I have taken over the last four years.

I have had symptoms of hypothyroidism for some time now, as one of the tests I did on myself was an iron and transferrin saturation as well as ferritin, B12, folate, as I was looking for a reason as to why I felt tired most of the time.

My first season competing so far has been my most successful, and the irony of this is that this was before I was reading and posting on BBing forums.

AFTER I started reading all the different things about dieting, I started to second guess myself about how I was dieting as 'it's just not possible' to get to single digit bodyfat eating carbohydrates.

I count everything, the carbs in all veggies, and I have records, so I know I was eating between 120 (low carb days) to 200 (high carb days) grams of carbs.

While I think that experimenting with low carb dieting and dieting for far too long last year has had an impact on my thyroid function, the low carb dieting did suppress my thyroid enough for the issue to become apparent in a thryoid function test.

I just feel SO DIFFERENT.

I used to be a sleeping machine, a BIG fan of naps, mostly because I had to nap.

I am on call today, so the day before I would typically have at least one (or two) naps.

I did lay down, but I wasn't tired and couldn't sleep.

I am really wondering now how I went so long with that fatigue and brain fog.

Yes, it is 100% possible to get to single digits bf while eating carbs as you already discovered. I have been down to 9% bf. In my off season I was eating 400g of carbs and I was still losing. Can I do this all the time and still burn calories, hell no; Sometimes is higher and sometimes is lower. But I try my best to keep it high. That said, NOT everyone can get there while eating the same amount of carbs. Some people are carb sensitive and have to keep their carbs low in order to see some progress. However, this can not be done for a long time or it will backfire.

Sometimes is what carbs and what you combine it with that works for different people. Some carbs make be bloated while others makes me feel thin. We are all so vastly different that one diet its all is not possible. With the exception of eating whole foods, grain, etc, and keeping your metabolic rate high.

 

[Tatyana]

Ok, frustration again.

I had blood work done on June 22 and these are my results:

TSH 0.07 IU/L (0.4-4.5)

FT4 20.2 umol/L (12-24)

I was on 150 ug of levothyroxine and felt great, however, in my research on thyroid issues, it is generally considered that keeping the TSH in the normal range is preferable, this indicates that your thyroid gland isn't suppressed.

I was also getting a few odd sides like breathlessness at this level.

So my GP and I decided to drop my thyroxine to 100 ug/day and add in 20 ug of liothyronine to see if we could normalise my thyroid gland.

For the five weeks I have altered my meds, I have been tired again, memory is a bit dodgy, and my previous success with fat loss (on average 1.6 lbs/week) ground to a halt.

I had bloods done yesterday, I am more or less in the middle of the reference range for everything except my thyroid hormones have plummeted AGAIN!

TSH 0.57 IU/L (0.4-4.5) This is great

FT4 11 pmol/L (12-24) LOW

FT3 3.2 nmol/L (4-8) LOW

My biochem consultants are perplexed, as am I. One of them is going to have a word with the endocrinologist consultants.

I just want to find a nice level to normalise things and take off some of my chub, get the mental acuity back and stop having to take a nap every lunch hour (I can do this at work as we have an on-call bedroom).

 

[Tami Bellon]

Have you tried taking anything alternative - homeopathic?

Iodine
Guggul
L-Tyrosine

...there are more, but those come to my mind first.

http://abchomeopathy.com/c.php/73

http://www.natural-cure-remedy.com/hypothyroidism.html

 

[Tatyana]

Have you tried taking anything alternative - homeopathic?

Iodine
Guggul
L-Tyrosine

...there are more, but those come to my mind first.

Hypothyroidism & Homeopathy

Natural Cures Remedies | Hypothyroidism

I have taken guggul and tyrosine before. Iodine insufficiency is as rare as winning the lottery in the developed world.

In all honesty, after the YEARS of symptoms from having subclinical hypothyroidism, how odd my thyroid is, all of the research that I have done and that I am doing with regards to the long term impact of being hypothyroid, I would rather go with the therapy that is known to work.

My consultant at work has told me of a few patients that have tried alternative therapies, it has typically been a mitigated nightmare.

This is the thing, if 100 ug of thyroxine (T4) doesn't have an impact on the symptoms or the blood work, I really doubt that these herbal remedies will.

Some herbal and natural remedies are very effective, however so far, the natural solutions for clinical hypothyroidism haven't been successful.

 

[Tami Bellon]

I have a client who has had 1/2 her thyroid removed and the other half is refusing to cooperate. Her hair and nails were dry and brittle, she was tired and cranky. So she had her bloodwork done and they told her she was in the "normal" range, patted her on the butt and sent her out the door. I don't trust doctors....that's just me

Are you in the US or the UK?

One thought for you though.....if you haven't used any of the alternative therapies, and you aren't sure they'll work, maybe just think about trying. What could it hurt? Nothing else is working right now

Just a thought....

 

[Tatyana]

I have a client who has had 1/2 her thyroid removed and the other half is refusing to cooperate. Her hair and nails were dry and brittle, she was tired and cranky. So she had her bloodwork done and they told her she was in the "normal" range, patted her on the butt and sent her out the door. I don't trust doctors....that's just me

Are you in the US or the UK?

One thought for you though.....if you haven't used any of the alternative therapies, and you aren't sure they'll work, maybe just think about trying. What could it hurt? Nothing else is working right now

Just a thought....

The levothyroxine was working, we just experimented with dropping the amount.

I am in the UK.

Doctors really need to treat the symptoms.

My TSH was always normal, so a free T4 wasn't performed until I suppressed my thyroid gland with a low carb diet.

Typically, TSH is the most sensitive indicator of thyroid function, I just have an atypical presentation.

With regard to your client, did she have a free T4 and T3?

It seems more common for US labs to still run TSH, FT4, FT3, as well as the much older tests of total T4 and T3.

 

[shirlene29]

I know a few people that prefer armour (or any dessicated thyroid) over the synthetics...
I am perplexed by your numbers ....
I don't feel normal myself unless I'm at a tsh of .05 (hyperthyroid!) but I'm trusted to watch myself for upcoming thyroid storm and keep beta blockers on hand.
I also have a pretty sexy scar on my neck from my brush with extra-thyroidal papillary microcarcinoma so everyone is pretty satisfied with leaving my ultra suppressed.
My sister and my future mother inlaw are both in-tolerant of synthetics and only keep their weight down on armour...my fmil has no thyroid at all...and for some reason her jerk off dr was really resistant to put her back on armour after she had been on it for ten yrs already...
My sister is bad about blood work....she ups herself until shes shakey than slowly backs off...her levels always come up perfect...go figure.

can you get it in the uk? a dessicated...
I second a homeopathic md, they seem more focused at looking at the whole picture than just one thing.

 

[Tami Bellon]

With regard to your client, did she have a free T4 and T3?

It seems more common for US labs to still run TSH, FT4, FT3, as well as the much older tests of total T4 and T3.

Oh wow, Tat - I don't even think SHE knows the free T4 and T3 thing. I need to ask her. I'm pretty unfamiliar with the testing. I need to research that for myself for future reference.