Questions for members of the hypo-club (ppl with hypothyroidism)

[lilnurse]

Hello all,

I started feeling overwhelmingly fatigued several weeks back (I'd sleep for >12 hours/day and wake up still aching and exhausted but be too tired to go back to sleep). I'm very pale and was pretty much stalled on fitness/weight goals, although I was consistent with my diet and Cathe's rotations. At first I thought it was just me catching up on my vacation and recovering from a busy job.

One day just for grins, I took my blood pressure/pulse and it was running 90/60 and a pulse of 45 (>=60 and <100 is normal resting pulse). I went to the docs and had some bloodwork done and they found out that my TSH level was slightly elevated. Funny how one wonky hormone can cause so much trouble. Anyways, they did more thyroid panels and I'm waiting on those results to come back so I can be put on Synthroid.

My question is for folks who were diagnosed with hypothyroidism after starting their regimen with Cathe. While the docs were working on your Synthroid dose, did you modify your exercise routine to be less intense? Or did you push through and feel better for it? Right now, I'm considering just sticking with my Adam Ford stability ball dvds and some gentle yoga/dance tapes to reduce the dread factor until I feel better and my body is more cooperative. I miss Cathe already, but at least the eye candy that is Adam Ford provides some consolation (too bad he's married). ;-)

Anyways, thanks y'all!

 

[Afreet]

I didn't even notice any symptoms when I was diagnosed, so I just kept right on going with whatever I was doing at the time. I think that unless your thyroid is HUGELY, RIDICULOUSLY broken, it shouldn't have much effect on your weight loss goals. Of course, feeling fatigued can be, and often are, thyroid-related, but once you're on the synthroid, any TSH-related issues should go away.

I am always tempted to blame fitness plateaus on my thyroid, but for me, I think almost all of my problems are related to diet. Once I switched to clean eating (almost all lean protein, veggies, complex carbs and fruit) I noticed that I lost weight "easily".
(I say "easily" in quotes because I do actually find it very hard not to eat cake for every meal. Or ice cream. Or both. I pretty much have to talk myself out of it once or twice per day).

If I stick to my plan and record everything, I see that weight falls away when I stay away from simple sugars and keep my calories in check. I have WAY more energy when I eat a high-protein, nutritious meal every 3 hours or so. I also make sure to have one meal right after I work out, and that meal is usually a protein shake with strawberries and BSN lean dessert. I drinks tons of water. These two things have made enormous differences in my energy level throughout the day.

OK, so to answer your question directly: I never modified my exercise routine for thyroid-related reasons. They'll have to monitor your TSH constantly for the rest of your life, and they may have to change the dose several times. It shouldn't have too much impact on you, except for the incovenience of those blood tests every three months. Such a drag!

If you're feeling burned out, definitely listen to your body and do some gentler routines, but also be aware that improving your diet, staying hydrated, and sleeping enough can really affect your energy level.

I want to emphasize that I'm not trying to downplay the effect that hypothyroidism can have on how tired you feel. At one point last year I could barely stay awake for a normal workday and was suddenly capable of sleeping for 15 hours. I got my thyroid checked and sure enough, my dose was too low.

But there are definitely steps anyone can take (even with a normal thyroid) to ramp up their energy level, and I have found many of them quite helpful.

Lisa

 

[horseshowmom]

I'm the mother of a teen-ager with Hashimoto's thyroiditis (hypothyroidism). Her symptoms began around age 11, 3 years later we finally had a definitive diagnosis. For the past 3 years she has been well managed with synthroid. Her case is perhaps extreme, but our experience was that it completely changed everything about her from personality to body shape, energy level, EVERYTHING! That being said she has a double whammy of PCOS and her initial TSH was 17 with a spike to 42 on her 1st round of synthroid. She is also on what is considered the max dose for her height/weight,etc. Basically she has zero natural thyroid function.

It absolutely affected her energy and weight. One of the side effects of hypothyroid can be excessive joint and muscle pain. She went from dancing 5+ days a week to barely being able to walk up a flight of stairs without crying from pain. She had a dramatic and rapid weight gain that she is still dealing with. It is very difficult because although she has begun a good exercise program, the joint and muscle pain often causes her to need to skip a day.

So my long winded point is to listen to your body. I would absolutely allow yourself to switch to gentler exercises while you're waiting for your body to be re-regulated. Perhaps for cardio you could switch to lower impact ~elliptical or bike?
One word of caution would be to really watch your diet. It's horrible I know, but my daughter's metabolism is still not what I would consider *back to normal*. So instead of being able to cheat once a day with a cookie or little something, she can maybe sneak a treat once or twice a week with only a bite or two. Otherwise the weight just won't budge.

Kudos to you for being in touch with your own body and catching this early! Good luck to you with managing your disease. It can be done, but continue to listen to your body. It will tell you what it needs!

Becky

 

[LauraMax]

I'm with Lisa on this one. I've never let my hypothyroid affect any aspect of my life. Frankly I've always been a bit skeptical about it truly being a serious problem, esp. w/a sis who tries to blame pretty much everything, from PMS to just plain laziness, on her thyroid. I was 21 when I was diagnosed, & only b/c I'd been in a car accident--the doc in the emergency room informed me I had an enormous goiter that had to be looked at immediately. At the time I didn't feel bad, although I did wonder why I bore a slight resemblance to a bullfrog.

There have been a few times in my life when I've gone off synthroid just as an experiment. I gained weight, but I felt fine & my exercise routine didn't change.

 

[bitmover]

Hey Laura, did they ever do anything about your goiter? I have a giant one, too, and they biopsied it, but it's fine, so they are just leaving it. It's such a nuisance taking vitamins! And I'm constantly clearing my throat, though I'm not sure that's why.

As for exercise, I too, was diagnosed so long ago that I cannot even remember, but, I do remember that I started feeling better very quickly -- I also didn't realize there was anything wrong with me, but after I got on the synthroid I felt great. Hopefully that makes sense.....

-Beth

 

[LauraMax]

Hey Beth--same here, they biopsied it & it was fine. It was swollen b/c of the hypo. The synthroid pretty much took care of it. If that's not the case w/yours, can you do that radioactive iodine thing? My sis did & it evidently helped her a lot.

 

[horseshowmom]

Glad to hear many of you have had mild thyroid issues.

That isn't everyone's experience. My daughter isn't lazy or unmotivated. She has two serious medical conditions which affect not only her daily quality of life, but her future health and fertility as well. Maybe it's the combined effect of hypothyroid and PCOS, but her health has definitely been adversely affected.
It isn't just *puberty* as we were told for over 2 years until I demanded proof that there wasn't a medical explanation for her behavior and poor health (including weight gain). And, yes, I'll admit I'm a bit sensitive to judgments made about *it's all an excuse or in her head*. When you're a parent, you know when there's something wrong with your child. It's frustrating as he** when it takes years to get an accurate diagnosis or when dance teachers call your beautiful child fat & lazy or others say the thyroid can't influence your health in any dramatic fashion.

For some people hypothyroidism can be a long journey to balance and good health.

My best advice is to listen to your doctor's advice for your personal situation and educate yourself. There are many great books out there. Anything by Mary Shomon or Sara Rosenthal is a must buy IMO!

 

[meowracer]

I can always tell mine is off when I stay cold all of the time, and my hair starts falling out too much. I always shed a lot, but when it gets overwhelming, then I know. It, and my skin, also get dry. Those are the first tell-tale signs that it is time for a blood check. Before I was diagnosed, I carried a sweater or jacket even in the Texas heat. I wouldn't need it outside at 100 degrees (!) but always inside. Some places are ridiculously cold anyway, but whoever I was with would always think I was nuts to wear a jacket. I would still be shivering. I was also very sluggish and just felt like crap most of the time. However, that had been the way I felt for so long that it just was sort of my normal. I still did everything, worked out, etc. I just pushed myself. Synthroid alone did not help me either. I had to add Cytomel (a T3 med) to the Synthroid in order for my body to respond. My doctor also won't have me take a generic on this med. He said that he is good with generics for most, but not Synthroid, FYI.

 

[Afreet]

...My daughter isn't lazy or unmotivated. She has two serious medical conditions which affect not only her daily quality of life, but her future health and fertility as well. Maybe it's the combined effect of hypothyroid and PCOS, but her health has definitely been adversely affected.
It isn't just *puberty* as we were told for over 2 years until I demanded proof that there wasn't a medical explanation for her behavior and poor health (including weight gain). And, yes, I'll admit I'm a bit sensitive to judgments made about *it's all an excuse or in her head*. When you're a parent, you know when there's something wrong with your child. It's frustrating as he** when it takes years to get an accurate diagnosis or when dance teachers call your beautiful child fat & lazy or others say the thyroid can't influence your health in any dramatic fashion.

For some people hypothyroidism can be a long journey to balance and good health.

My best advice is to listen to your doctor's advice for your personal situation and educate yourself. There are many great books out there. Anything by Mary Shomon or Sara Rosenthal is a must buy IMO!

I totally agree and I hope my response didn't come off as dismissive of thyroid issues or their health effects - that really wasn't my intention. I just assumed the OP was talking about a mild hypothyroidosis, which may or may not be the case.

My sister-in-law suffers from PCOS, and she had a terrible time getting diagnosed properly as well - she was told many of the same things as your daughter, and it wasn't until her 5th year of medical school that she finally figured it out. It took a lot of effort for her to make her GP understand, but once she got the diagnosis (finally), she was able to pursue a variety of treatments, some more effective than others.

My brother had hypothyroid along with several other conditions which, taken individually, didn't mean much. His wife (the above-mentioned sister-in-law), after her experience with PCOS, took each of the conditions more seriously than any of his regular doctors, and finally took him to a really excellent endocrinologist who figured out that he was pre-diabetic.

It's important to see an endocrinologist or metabolic specialist who understand the complex ways these conditions relate to one another if you think you have symptoms that aren't being addressed by the thyroid drugs alone. Hypothyroidism is linked to PCOS (Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome), diabetes, and other illnesses and should be taken seriously. I'm sure none of the people who posted here meant to imply that anyone who suffers from any of these illnesses is lazy or just needs to get over it! I have so many similar cases in my own family that I really sympathize with you and your daughter.

I only meant to indicate that for me, hypothyroidism is a concern, but not an insurmountable one, and none of my doctors ever suggested that, in my case, I should adjust my exercise regimen or diet in any particular way.

 

[horseshowmom]

Thanks for the reply! I know there isn't anyone on this forum who would deliberately dismiss anyone's concerns!
It's just a very sore subject b/c it took so long to get her the proper help. I was dismissed for so long as being reactionary. At one point, a doctor wanted us to allow a psych hold on our then 14 yr. old. Again we said prove there isn't a medical reason for this...and again there was...her testosterone (due to PCOS) was off the charts.
The 2nd most frustrating thing has been getting our daughter to admit she needs to take her meds (teen-agers hate to be different!!!) and finding a doctor she likes and will work with. We finally have done all of that. We found an amazing endocrinologist in Charlotte. (The U of MI in Ann Arbor peds endocrinology was also wonderful, she just wasn't ready to work with anyone at that point)
It's such a fine line to get her to accept and treat her diagnosis, but NOT to let it define her or become a crutch for life.
So, sorry if I was *reactionary!* and thank you for taking the time to post all the potential complications from these disorders.

Becky

 

[Afreet]

Reading your post earlier reminded me of how frustrating it is to explain things (even relatively simple things) to doctors, and how totally crazymaking it can be.

So I would have really felt terrible if I had inadvertently contributed to anyone's frustration over a similar issue. I regularly leave my doctor's office feeling like kicking someone. If I had a child being treated the way I am often treated at the doctor's office, I would probably be ready to strangle someone. I don't think you were unreasonable at all.

I'm glad you found a good doctor at last! It really pays to be proactive about healthcare, to the extent that you can be. They keep making everything so "efficient" that you get cattle-prodded through the whole thing at lightning speed and hardly have time to process anything that happens!

Lisa

 

[lilnurse]

Thank you all for your input.

Since I found out about my hypothyroidism a few weeks back, I've been taking my blood pressure daily and I've noticed that there is a correlation between my blood pressure and "good" days and "bad" days. On bad days where I feel so fatigued, my BP and pulse are super low/borderline shock (which makes sense because that means my heart isn't pumping blood efficiently, which means less energy and the periods of dizziness I feel). On good days where I feel like people, my vital signs are all within normal, I don't have the (not-DOMS) muscle aches, and I can finish Imax 2.

I guess what I'll do until I get on Synthroid and get all this stable is just keep an eye on the BP/pulse and modify down on days where my heart function isn't so great and push ahead on days when the ticker is good. I was reading that exercise is awesome for hypo-folk because it helps our body to utilize what T3 and T4 we do make more efficiently, so I definitely want to keep doing something.

The good thing is that I'm happy that at least now I know what's making me feel bad, it's caught early, and that it's (relatively) easy to fix and control. As I said earlier, I really do appreciate everyone's input as I haven't had much luck getting information from my docs about exercise and thyroid function, so it's good to hear from people who have been there/done that/got the tshirt.

 

[SirenSongWoman]

I never changed anything. I take 125mcg. of Levothyroxine daily (it took awhile to get the dosage right) and kept on going. If my improvements haven't been spectacular lately it's probably more attributable to my diet and long work hours, though.