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FullyBuilt

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I was told over at the IGF/HGH section when I posted my ? that you could be of some help. If you have time to anwser i'd really appreciate it:

Im really stuck and have a ? about my fiancee. She is 23 years old and has gained about 60lbs in the past year. Last year she found out her thyroid was low and was prescribed syntheroid. She still kept slowly gaining weight. Then she lost her health insurance and used T3 at 25mcg daily. This worked for a while and then she kept gaining weight. She has tried everything. I've even put her on contest diets and that will only let her weight remain the same. She is about 5'5" and weighs 185lbs but its really odd b/c she looks about 150lbs if that. She has a good amount of muscle but holds a lot of water especially in the leg region something is wrong. Even when she upped her t3 dose to 50mcg still nothing. So she has gone back on syntheroid at 100mcg daily and it has had no change. I have a feeling something else went wrong. Something hormonal, b/c being on 100mcg syntheroid and doing 2hrs of cardio per day with a perfect diet she still will continue to gain weight. She went to a local dr and they were not much help. They recommened an endo, but nobody seems to know much. I was thinking she should be tested for
estradiol
progesterone
Cortisol
total test or free test(not sure which is more important for females)
Does that sound right? The local dr tested her for a cbc,glucose,metabolism,liver,etc.... and everything was normal. Is there something else that can cause this crazy weight gain. Do you recommened anything else besides what I listed above? Any help is appreciated. Thank you.
 
Jayhawkk

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Have to be careful to look at things like her sneaking meals outside what is given to her before thinking there's more wrong with her than her thyroid.
 
Mulletsoldier

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Big bump to what Jay said, regardless of what you lay out for her if she's not eating that she may be gaining weight.
 

FitnFirm

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I was told over at the IGF/HGH section when I posted my ? that you could be of some help. If you have time to anwser i'd really appreciate it:

Im really stuck and have a ? about my fiancee. She is 23 years old and has gained about 60lbs in the past year. Last year she found out her thyroid was low and was prescribed syntheroid. She still kept slowly gaining weight. Then she lost her health insurance and used T3 at 25mcg daily. This worked for a while and then she kept gaining weight. She has tried everything. I've even put her on contest diets and that will only let her weight remain the same. She is about 5'5" and weighs 185lbs but its really odd b/c she looks about 150lbs if that. She has a good amount of muscle but holds a lot of water especially in the leg region something is wrong. Even when she upped her t3 dose to 50mcg still nothing. So she has gone back on syntheroid at 100mcg daily and it has had no change. I have a feeling something else went wrong. Something hormonal, b/c being on 100mcg syntheroid and doing 2hrs of cardio per day with a perfect diet she still will continue to gain weight. She went to a local dr and they were not much help. They recommened an endo, but nobody seems to know much. I was thinking she should be tested for
estradiol
progesterone
Cortisol
total test or free test(not sure which is more important for females)
Does that sound right? The local dr tested her for a cbc,glucose,metabolism,liver,etc.... and everything was normal. Is there something else that can cause this crazy weight gain. Do you recommened anything else besides what I listed above? Any help is appreciated. Thank you.




People with Hypothyroid have to understand that the synthroid is no magic pill, Usually by the time you get diagnosed you are already overweight, feel like crap and so it takes a very long time to get back on track. I too had many problems during my first few years on synthroid, but I noticed when I quit taking it, out of spite, that I became much worse off.

My best progress with overall health happened when my Doctor put me on combination therapy, I take .150 mcg Synthroid and 5 mcg cytomel, right away I lost 20 pounds in 3 weeks, then I kept it off, this was before any dieting too.

You need a really good doctor to give you both, I went through 6 doctors to find one who would prescribe both. And more importantly you have to get labs done to make sure all levels are good. I would not recommend playing with T3 or T4 on your own when you HAVE the disease, as you can really mess yourself up BAD. The thyroid controls every other hormone in your body, without that working perfect you will get nowhere.

Also its important that the diet is clean, Hypothyroid patients are known for having a lower tolerance to carbs- thus her water in her legs, happened to me too, At night I would look like I gained 10 pounds all in my legs, it can be painful as well.

We can eat carbs but they must be always with protein and in moderate amounts, and not sugar crap or white flour products.

Please feel free to PM me or email me anytime, I was happy I saw this early on!
 

FullyBuilt

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Ok so you only take .150mcg t4 and 5mcg t3. Wow she is taking 100mcg t4 and hasnt noticed anything yet and its been 3weeks. There are no dr's that are good around here. What about this. Maybe she should keep taking 100mcg t4 and start 12.5mcg t3 now. Then a month down the road she can have a thyroid panel done. That would let her know how her thyroid is functioning on those doses and maybe the dr's can go from there. She simply can't go off all meds completely b/c she did that last time and gained 4lbs in like 2days and felt miserable. Couldnt even get out of bed or got to work and school,etc... Does that sound good? Take 100mcg t4 and 12.5mcg t3 for a month and then get tested? Thanks for all the help.
 

FitnFirm

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Ok so you only take .150mcg t4 and 5mcg t3. Wow she is taking 100mcg t4 and hasnt noticed anything yet and its been 3weeks. There are no dr's that are good around here. What about this. Maybe she should keep taking 100mcg t4 and start 12.5mcg t3 now. Then a month down the road she can have a thyroid panel done. That would let her know how her thyroid is functioning on those doses and maybe the dr's can go from there. She simply can't go off all meds completely b/c she did that last time and gained 4lbs in like 2days and felt miserable. Couldnt even get out of bed or got to work and school,etc... Does that sound good? Take 100mcg t4 and 12.5mcg t3 for a month and then get tested? Thanks for all the help.

Her T4 dose is actually .10, it is less than me. They typically start everyone out on that dose and over time keep monitoring your TSH levels to make sure its still enough. I go every 6 months or sooner if I feel the need. The small dose of T3 I take is VERY powerful when used as combination therapy. It ( T 4 ) takes 4-6 weeks to build up in your system as well, so be patient!!!!!!!!! I know how frustrating it can be trust me!!! But if the T4 dose is actually enough and you add T3 before it is truly in her system, it will stop all progress and she will be worse off. I would wait at least 6 weeks, and in the meantime watch her diet, cut out all sugar, no white flour products, and make sure to get plenty of good proteins. Eat several smaller meals a day. If after 6 weeks you see nothing, then add just a tiny bit of T3 5 mcg like what I take, Im telling ya, that little bit makes a world of difference. See with me, my body doesnt take the t4 and turn enough of it into T3, I have Hashimoto's disease with it, a disease that is causes the body to attack itself, creating antibodies and working against me, so I have to outsmart it.

You must have 25 mcg tabs of T3 ? So getting them into 4 equal parts will be hard, plus there is no guarantee that the active ingredient is dispersed equally across the tab, so that sucks.

Ok, answer me some questions, however silly they may sound.


Does she have bowel movements daily?

Is her skin dry?

Is her hair falling out?

Is she cold, even in the summer?

Does she sweat? armpits etc, when really hot? actual sweat.


get back to me!
 

FitnFirm

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PS.


She should NOT be eating ANY soy products at all!!!!!!!!!!! It hinders the absorption of T4. Also no IRON supplements within 2 hours of T 4. AND........T4 must be taken on a empty stomach at least 1/2 hour before any food intake, IN the morning.
 

FullyBuilt

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Ok she just took 12.5mcg of t3 today but after reading what you said, how it could effect the t4 she will stop. One day of that t3 dose isnt gonna ruin everything is it?
AND TO ANWSER YOUR QUESTIONS:

Does she have bowel movements daily?
Yes, probably like 3-4 daily but very small. Seriously like the size of an apricot seed at most but smaller. I make fun of her and tell her she poops rabbit pelletts :)

Is her skin dry?
No, actually oily

Is her hair falling out?
No

Is she cold, even in the summer?
Never cold, always extra hot, all the time

Does she sweat? armpits etc, when really hot? actual sweat.
Not very much
 

FullyBuilt

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Also not sure if this helps or not, but when she was on 25mcg of t3 for like 1year, when she stopped for a week to get bloodwork done, she gained 4lbs and her tests read:
TSH W/Reflex to Ft4 range is .4-5.5 and she was .35
T-4 free range is .8-1.8 and she was .1
She was only off for 1week of t3 and thats what it read. Everything else including glucose was perfect except red blood cell count was 5.25 range is 3.8-5.1
Hematocrit was 45.9 range is 35-45
Sodium was 134 range is 135-145
 

FitnFirm

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Ok she just took 12.5mcg of t3 today but after reading what you said, how it could effect the t4 she will stop. One day of that t3 dose isnt gonna ruin everything is it?
AND TO ANWSER YOUR QUESTIONS:

Does she have bowel movements daily?
Yes, probably like 3-4 daily but very small. Seriously like the size of an apricot seed at most but smaller. I make fun of her and tell her she poops rabbit pelletts :)

Is her skin dry?
No, actually oily

Is her hair falling out?
No

Is she cold, even in the summer?
Never cold, always extra hot, all the time

Does she sweat? armpits etc, when really hot? actual sweat.
Not very much

Well if she was really suffering bad from being HYPO, she would be lucky to have a bowel movement once every 3 days, so at least she is going. I think she is not drinking enough water, in fact Im sure of it. And it sounds as if she is not eating any or very little vegetables, you need that to be regular, and the good fats too- as in natural PB, olive oil, fish oil.


Hair not falling out, BIG PLUS, that is another bad sign and she doesnt have it.

Never cold? always hot, thats a sign of high metabolism, too much T3 !!!!!!!!!

She does sweat but not very much, I couldnt sweat even if you put me in a sauna, it was bad, so although she only sweats a little, that is ok.


See this is what happens when you play doctor on your own. Stop the T3 like you said, one day will not hurt her.

You really need to get her diet straightened out, that is probably 80% of her problem. And she needs to drink alot of water, and watch caffeine intake for awhile. Make sure to add the veggies, a few servings a day, and some good fats too, whole wheat breads, brown rice, lean meats.

Keep taking the prescribed T4 and make these changes and Im positive she will see a difference in a couple weeks. Her body is like a rollercoaster with all these changes that have been made, must keep it the same for awhile, like I said its no magic pill. I never had T3 added until after using just T4 for 11years!!!!!!!!, so as I got older my thyroid slowly got worse, which is normal.


You need to tell her that, this will be work, this will not be easy, and she has to make changes. Just taking T3 is not going to fix everything, all girls wish it were that easy. A little tip I have for you is when women get depressed, they eat when no one is around, do you think this could be happening?


I also wanted to add this- Why did she quit taking her meds a week earlier for blood work????????? You are only not supposed to take it the morning of bloodwork, crap by the end of a week labs would be all screwed up. Whoever told you that is an idiot! If it was her doctor, get a new one!
 

FullyBuilt

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She stopped the t3 b/c she wasnt prescribed it for a while so she was getting it online. She wanted to find out what her natural low production would be, so when she went to the dr, they could put her on synthroid. She stayed off it for a week so it would show her levels being very low so she could get prescribed t4 right away. He mom is hypo as well and they always give her the lowest doses possible to start out with and she didnt wanna gain more weight from this. So far she has been on 100mcg t4 for about 2weeks now and thats all she is gonna stay on until she gets bloodwork done another 3-4weeks from now. That should tell her whats going on I hope.
 

FullyBuilt

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FitNfirm I have an update if you can help out. Ok so she has been on just 100mcg T4 for about a month now. Not much has changed. She did drop 10lbs during a 5day period when she only at about 600cals and did 2hrs of cardio. It was all water though. It has all come back on. An average daily intake for her is about 40-50g fat, 100g protien and less than 20carbs. Under 1500cals per day and anywhere from 1-2hrs cardio and 45min weight training. Nothing has happend. Now here is what changed.

For some reason she has much more energy when eating hardly any carbs while on T4. When she was on t3 in the past she got very weak with low carbs. I have no idea what this means.

Bowl movements are around the same as before, but slightly less b/c she is injesting less calories.

Still is very hot alot.

Still is gaining about .3lb per day while keeping a flawless diet and cardio.

So im not sure what to do. She has an endo appointment in 2weeks. Should she stay at 100mcg T4 now , or do you think she needs to up the dose to 125 or 150mcg since she is seeing no results?
 

FitnFirm

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IM HEADING OUT FOR THE GYM, ill answer this when I get back, k !






FitNfirm I have an update if you can help out. Ok so she has been on just 100mcg T4 for about a month now. Not much has changed. She did drop 10lbs during a 5day period when she only at about 600cals and did 2hrs of cardio. It was all water though. It has all come back on. An average daily intake for her is about 40-50g fat, 100g protien and less than 20carbs. Under 1500cals per day and anywhere from 1-2hrs cardio and 45min weight training. Nothing has happend. Now here is what changed.

For some reason she has much more energy when eating hardly any carbs while on T4. When she was on t3 in the past she got very weak with low carbs. I have no idea what this means.

Bowl movements are around the same as before, but slightly less b/c she is injesting less calories.

Still is very hot alot.

Still is gaining about .3lb per day while keeping a flawless diet and cardio.

So im not sure what to do. She has an endo appointment in 2weeks. Should she stay at 100mcg T4 now , or do you think she needs to up the dose to 125 or 150mcg since she is seeing no results?
 

FitnFirm

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Ok, please dont change anything!!!!!!! Let her get the blood work done, if you change now, the labs will be screwed up, and you will be worse off! I know your anxious but please, dont change her meds at all.


The more energy on t4 vs. t3 is because she was getting tooooooooooo much t3, more is not better, if you get too much it actually goes in the reverse!
 

FullyBuilt

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Ok we will take your advice and wait. Also, the primary care dr. she went to a while back only tested her for tsh and t4. So we should also request t3 to this endo along with tsh again and t4, or should it be freet3,freet4 and tsh? Thanks
 

FitnFirm

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Ok we will take your advice and wait. Also, the primary care dr. she went to a while back only tested her for tsh and t4. So we should also request t3 to this endo along with tsh again and t4, or should it be freet3,freet4 and tsh? Thanks


Yes get all those plus ask for an antibody test, to see if she has hashimotos as well.
 

FullyBuilt

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Her appt is on tuesday but im sure its gonna be another 3 or 4days before lab results come back. So far all this time on 100mcg T4 she hasnt really noticed much at all. One day about a week ago she used one of my droppers that I use for liquid anavar,proviron,etc... and its 1.5cc instead of 1ml like her t4 dropper. So she took 150mcg instead of 100 and the next two days she dropped 2lbs each day. She wanted to stay on it, but she decided just to stay at 100 until we get lab results.
 

FitnFirm

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Her appt is on tuesday but im sure its gonna be another 3 or 4days before lab results come back. So far all this time on 100mcg T4 she hasnt really noticed much at all. One day about a week ago she used one of my droppers that I use for liquid anavar,proviron,etc... and its 1.5cc instead of 1ml like her t4 dropper. So she took 150mcg instead of 100 and the next two days she dropped 2lbs each day. She wanted to stay on it, but she decided just to stay at 100 until we get lab results.


ok, so now you tell me you have liquid???? I dont feel this is a good product, you really need the actul medicine not a re-make of it, no damn wonder she doesnt feel any better :blink:
 

FullyBuilt

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Yah lol maybe I should have stated that. Its from IBE though, pretty legit company. I've used their clen,t3,nolvadex,etc.. and it seemed to work. But yes, the prescription pills would be much better.
 

FitnFirm

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Yah lol maybe I should have stated that. Its from IBE though, pretty legit company. I've used their clen,t3,nolvadex,etc.. and it seemed to work. But yes, the prescription pills would be much better.

Well you should really tell the doctor that when they do labs, cause as much as I respect IBE, I am a thyroid medication user and even if they were giving the stuff out free, I wouldnt take it. the liquid is not exact, like the pill can be. I mean this is a life we are talking about right?
 

FullyBuilt

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Ok so we got back from the appt. Dr. prescribed her 137mcg T4 and wants her to get a bloodtest again in november. He has her getting every thyroid test done, plus cbc,metabolic panel and anti-body for thyroid and he also has her getting an ultrasound done on it. So, we'll have to see what happens in november. Now here is something new. Her last lab tests actually showed she had high t3 levels. She was only on t3 back then, but went off it 1week before the test. Really weird how it was still high after being off t3 for a week. Anyway I guess in Nov her t3 will be where its supposed to. I'll keep everyone update on how her new t4 dose is. And thanks a lot fit n firm for everything. We really appreciate it.
 

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Ok so we got back from the appt. Dr. prescribed her 137mcg T4 and wants her to get a bloodtest again in november. He has her getting every thyroid test done, plus cbc,metabolic panel and anti-body for thyroid and he also has her getting an ultrasound done on it. So, we'll have to see what happens in november. Now here is something new. Her last lab tests actually showed she had high t3 levels. She was only on t3 back then, but went off it 1week before the test. Really weird how it was still high after being off t3 for a week. Anyway I guess in Nov her t3 will be where its supposed to. I'll keep everyone update on how her new t4 dose is. And thanks a lot fit n firm for everything. We really appreciate it.


Well Im glad to hear she will be getting treatment. The T3 could be elevated for a number of reasons actually, but it does build up in your system, thats why if you stop taking it, you may not feel different for a couple weeks. .137 is alot of t4 though, Im on .150. Im interested in what her TSH was. do you have the results you can share ?
 

FullyBuilt

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Well, the dr, said he goes by a calculation of bodyweight to prescribe the first dose. Then in novemeber he goes by what the bloodwork shows. The stuff must be working though, b/c she already lost 2lbs in only 1day. I don't remember her TSH levels but they were very low. Like extremely low. But she was on t3 for over a year and stopped 1week before those lab results, so im sure it was gonna show she was shut down harder than she would have been. Maybe her t3 was high b/c she naturally has high t3 levels and they bounced back during that 1week period of being off it.
 

FullyBuilt

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Ok here is the updates. She was on 137mcg for about 6months and noticed a change, but not a whole lot. Looked a lot better(tighter,leaner,etc... but still weighed about 30lbs more than she should) So bloodwork showed that her t4 and t3 is withing normal ranges but still a little on the lower end(which the dr. said is fine, but that pisses me off) the dr. has mainly been concered that her tsh has been low. Is always been really low ever since she started the t4. He just lowered her dose to 112mcg and is having her get a MRI on her pituitary( he originally gave her an MRI on her thyroid which came back fine but now want to check pituitary). He said its very abnormal for tsh to be low b/c it was also low before she even started synthroid. Any ideas? She did do a few 1month anavar cycles(only 10mg) so hopefully that didnt screw up the lab tests, but she stopped at least 1month before getting bloodwork, plus I dont think var would mess with thyroid.
 
Pfunk47

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just wondering, aside from the medical, what has she been doing for exercise/diet all this time? How much? Reading this thread it looks like a lot of effort has been spent in figuring out bloodwork, self T3/T4 administration without proper full research.

" But she was on t3 for over a year and stopped 1week before those lab results" - her high results came from over a year of use - not a 1 week rebound.

FTF stated it already - 80% of the issue - I think the basics (diet/training) need to be revisted and concentrated on more than the Chems.

if she is training like a champ, dieting smarter than bobo and keeping track of it better than an accountant than your obviously exploring the next possible cause but..we can only comment off of what you posted. Please post her diet and training/frequency if you want the best advice from this board.
 

FullyBuilt

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Diet is very good and so is cardio. She has expirementing with all diff types of diets and cardio regimens and not much has worked. The only way she starts to loose some weight is if she's doing around 3hrs of cardio per day with about 100 grams protien, under 50g carbs and around 50g fat. Thats how drastic it takes for her to start dropping lbs. Its definately not her diet/cardio, its clearly a thyroid problem. She ran some var a few times so she could diet really hard without losing muscle. FitNFirm when you read this i'd really apprectiate your thoughts on the post I posted a few hours ago. Thank you.
 

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I am by no means an authority on this but what you have descibed sounds like she may have Polycystic ovary syndrome. I have a friend who is going through this same thing and after Dr. after Dr. she went to an endo and is having success.
 
Outside Backer

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fullybuilt ,

your a good man for sticking by her throughout all this, many guys see thier women "balloon up" for lack of better words, and begin to run, but your persistance and wanting to help her and keep her happy is a testiment to you


good job bud
 

FullyBuilt

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Thanks bro. The odd part about this is she's gained like over 40lbs but its almost like its a turmor inside her or something. She really doesnt look like she put on much bodyfat at all and looks like she added muscle. Either way, I still love her to death so even if she did look bad i'd still stick by her to the end. MRI results for pituitary should be back soon, so i'll post up when we get them.
 
sdmf45

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Thanks bro. The odd part about this is she's gained like over 40lbs but its almost like its a turmor inside her or something. She really doesnt look like she put on much bodyfat at all and looks like she added muscle. Either way, I still love her to death so even if she did look bad i'd still stick by her to the end. MRI results for pituitary should be back soon, so i'll post up when we get them.

That is very rare. Props to you.
 

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