return of thyroid function?

[alice846]

if someone is stupid enough to overmedicate themselves with dessicated thyroid for weight loss, is it possible for their thyroid function to return to normal with withdrawal of said thyroid replacement and adequate nutrition?

[alice846]

to all: thank you for your thoughtful responses.

the problem with the thyroid is that diagnosis and treatment is all so controversial and makes my head spin.  i have a doctor's appt today to review my most recent bloodwork (indicating high tsh and low-normal FT4 and TT3).  i know that she will probably prescribe synthroid, which causes me some ambivalence. so many doctors roll their eyes at the idea of dessicated thyroid or the addition of t3. i would rather go back on armour or nature-throid (now that the armour formulation has been altered), but could synthroid (and possibly the addition of cytomel) be just as effective in ameliorating my symptoms? i've read a lot of accounts of people who are disappointed with their treatment and continue to have a lot of unresolved symtpoms. i like to stay informed so as to be my own advocate, but it is hard to find any fluff-free straight-forward information.
is it possible that my overmedication may have caused a resistance to further treatment? receptor damage that will render my cells unable to respond to medication? i am also wondering how much of the weight gain with hypothyroidism can be due to fluid retention. i'm gaining more than should be humanly possible considering it takes 3500 calories above and beyond bmr to gain a single pound. even with zero bmr i am not eating enough to gain a pound, or two, or three...a day.
i would very much like to move forward and start over, and i plan to push for not only a more inclusive thyroid panel, but also a hormone work-up. i really feel, like you said, that my cortisol levels have skyrocketed, among other things that are surely out of balance.

[stella5349]

This is a hard one for me to answer.... at first I was going to really light up this post.. lol

Being anorexic is really an emotional thing. Constantly hitting your head against a brick wall would be easier. - I know.

I don't entirely agree with Gimel's yes answer - especially with desiccated thyroid medication.

My feeling is there is more of a chance to halt the thyroid from producing permanently after you have been inducing it with T3 meds. Even though I am with NO thyroid now, weight since getting my thyroid ablated was a constant stress over me. I have visited some really dark forums with abusing thyroid meds for weight and talked this over alot in meetings with doctors who understand thyroid and it is grim information. Especially for those who only had weight issues and started meds to lose it.

Its obvious you probably have not been taking care of yourself for a while and your doctor who started treatment for your issues is gone. This leaves you in a worse situation.

I lean with Barb. Starting over is best. You need to get your body back inline. The hard part will be finding someone open to all forms of treatment for you.

Successfully I have dropped ( and continue dropping) weight. Took me many years to have this happen. Its an evil myth that desiccated thyroid guarentees weight loss. If there was one thing I could change - it would be exposing those people who promote Armour ( desiccated thyroid) as weight loss, as liers.

I think you have low thyroid by the little you talk about here. I also think that due to abuse to your body you may be experiencing other things - like insulin resistance and cortisol issues. I don't know your labs that gave you the Hashimoto statement - but having those tests again to know for sure is best.

Don't base your condition on TSH entirely. You need Hashi tests ( TPOab - TgAb) and basic thyroid Free T3 - Free T4 and TSH. Get some adrenal ( cortisol) tests and do a full panel of insulin and FSH/LH tests too. Make sure this doctors reads ratios and not reference ranges. That could save you some time getting well.

[Barb135]

It sounds like you need to get to a doctor and start over again.  If you were correctly diagnosed with Hashi's, you would have had some kind of antibodies.  

Nutrition is not going affect your thyroid levels; however, once you get on a proper med and get your levels stabilized, you should be able to lose weight with a sensible diet and moderate exercise.  

Once on thyroid med, it's most likely that you will have to be on it for the rest of your life, especially if you have Hashi's because the antibodies will eventually totally destroy your thyroid and you will need med to replace the hormones your thyroid can't make.

[alice846]

thank you. i was diagnosed with hashimotos a few years ago, but have been hoping that perhaps my low thyroid function was due to euthyroid sick/nonthyroidal illness as a result of chronic long-term undernutrition.  upon being diagnosed, i stupidly overmedicated myself with armour as low doses failed to stop the weight gain (despite painfully low caloric levels and excessive exercise). i have struggled with anorexia for years and have recently been working on increasing my calories and decreasing my exercise to more healthy levels, hoping that my thyroid function might restore itself. unfortunately i've gained ridiculous amounts of weight (some of which i am desperately hoping is fluid) in a very short amount of time. my tsh level a few days ago was high (6.9).  i was wondering if this was perhaps some kind of rebound effect and that it would come back down to normal with adequate nutrition. the dr who originally dxed me has left practice and i have no way of obtaining my records. is the presence of thyroid antibodies ever transient? im not sure if i tested positive for them back then, or if she dxed me based on tsh and t4/t3 levels. i do know my reverse t3 at the time was high. also,  is it possible that overmedicating might have damaged thyroid hormone receptors and will make it impossible for me to experience relief from low thyroid symptoms if i start to take medication again based on my current blood test results?

[gimel]

My opinion is that the answer to your question is yes.  Reading between the lines, I wondered if your weight issue is one of poor diet and inadequate exercise, or if you are one of those unfortunate people who have low metabolism related to thyroid problems.  If this is the case, have you ever been tested for thyroid function?  If so, what were the test results and reference ranges on the lab report?  If you can look in the mirror and tell yourself that the weight issue goes beyond any diet and exercise issues, then perhaps you need to go for thyroid tests and insist that they go beyond the usual TSH test and also test for the actual, biologically active thyroid hormones, FT3 and FT4 (not total T3 and total T4).