What can I do about my hashimotos disease?

[surfnatsunrise]

Over the past 3 years I gained 90lbs, and I have been misdiagnosed by many doctors. I have been through every single blood test in existence, and now finally my doctor has diagnosed me with Hashimoto's disease. I am exhausted all of the time, even after a full night of sleep. No matter what diet/exercise I do, I have yet to lose any weight. My family/friends/boyfriend all think they have the answer for me, but they are all wrong. It is so frustrating and I'm depressed about my weight all of the time. I suffer from poly cystic ovarian syndrome as well, and infertility is a real fear. I am 28 years old now and going to school full time, but one day I do want to have a family. My question is, how are women dealing with hashimotos? Do you have PCOS as well? What are you doing? I just want help and support because I feel like I can't deal with this on my own. And talking to my family about this is no longer an option.

[Barb135]

It's important to note that thyroid hormones, alone, will not treat PCOS.  PCOS is often treated with a medication called metformin, which is also used to treat Type II diabetes.  Women with PCOS are likely to have insulin resistance, thus are at greater risk of developing Type II Diabetes or pre-diabetes.  Insulin resistance is a major cause of weight gain or inability to lose.  I've had insulin resistance for several years and the type of food, as much or more than the amount, we eat is extremely important.  

[surfnatsunrise]

I was on metformin for a while but it was making me really tired. My doctor told me last week that there is another version I can take. I am awaiting the test results from my last blood test.

[gimel]

Flyingfool has given you a lot of good, general information.  I think we should also have a look at your thyroid related test results and reference ranges shown on the lab report.  Also, if tested for Vitamin D, B12 and ferritin, please post that info as well.

[surfnatsunrise]

Thank you! I am awaiting the newest test results.

[surfnatsunrise]

Thank you for this. I really appreciate it. It can be so frustrating when no one understands what is going on and everyone has an answer of how to fix it. It's a real problem that is just brushed off by people that don't understand what is going on with your body. I am the same, I will sleep a full night 10 hour plus and still be exhausted in the morning. For a while I thought I was suffering from sleep apnea, since both of my parents have it but it was not the case. I just went to a reproductive endocrinologist and I am hoping he will be able to help me get on the path I need to get healthy again. Weight loss isn't my goal at this point, right now I am just looking to not be tired all of the time.

[flyingfool]

Hashi's is the #1 cause for Hypothyroidism (low thyroid) in the modern world.
So far there is no "cure" for the autoimmune condition.  You can only treat the hypothyroidism that the condition results in.

For a quick tutorial on what Hashi's is.  it is where your immune system incorrectly believes that your thyroid gland is a foreign invader.  And like a good immune system is supposed to do, it goes about attacking and "killing" anything it "sees" as a foreign invader.

So what is happening, is that your immune system is attacking and slowly decreasing your thyroid glands ability to produce thyroid hormones.  So as the condition progresses. At first your gland starts to produce more hormone. But at some point, the attack has done too much damage and it is unable to produce enough hormone for you to feel well.

Thyroid hormone is the fuel that is the "engine" or furnace if you will of your body.  The avaialability of thyroid establishes the metabolism rate of your entire body. That is how fast or how much "heat" your body's furnace can produce.  A slow metabolism associated with low thyroid results in significant weight gain in most people and despite diet and exercise, the metabolism rate is so low that it is impossible or nearly impossible to lose weight no matter what the Hypo patient does!  Sound familiar?????

The "solution" is to be treated with the "proper" dose of thyroid hormone replacement in order to make up for the los of hormone that the thyroid gland no longer can produce.

While the concept of the soluttion sounds so simple.  Finding out the correct or optimized dose for any individual is in a lot of case more art than science.  And a person in the throws of Hashi's.  You are literally chasing a moving target.  As the ravages of Hashi's is continually decreasing the thryoid glands ability to produce hormone, you are also adding in thyroid medication.  In some cases an increase in dosage may still end up with a DECREASE in your levels of thyroid in your blood. Because the increase in medication was not enough to make up for the added loss of production caused by Hashi's.

Suffice it to say that it sounds like you have a complete vindication that it is your metabolism caused by Hashi's and the body's response to that which is what is contributing to the weight gain as well as I'm sure other symptoms that you most probably have.

To give you some reassurance.  MANY people here and my wife included found it literally impossible to lose weight no matter how little or how "healthy" they ate and controleld thier diet. Nor did it matter how much they exercised. it was literally impossible to lose weight.  That is UNTIL they were able to get some control over their thyroid levels.

Now getting medication is not a silver bullet. While a few people are "lucky" and getting the right dosage resulted in the weight simply falling off of them.  Most people still had to be be very diligent and work hard to lose weight. So do not get your hopes up expecting that just taking the right dosage of pill will simply be magic.  Most of the time that doesn't happen.

However.  Getting the proper amount of thyroid or even getting on the right track at some point improves the quality of life dramatically in a LOT of other areas of their life.  Weight is not the only health or quality of life that suffers by a person with low thyroid.  Having the energy to stay awake longer than 30 seconds after sitting down in the car as a passenger to drive somewhere and be able to carry on a conversation for example!  

My kids and I would "take bets" as to how long or how many miles it would be before mom was nodding off and asleep whenever we drove anywhere!  It was a sick family joke really.  And a sad testimony to how improper diagnosis of FAR, FAR to many people, mostly women have to suffer with.