Partner with hypothyroidism -any tips

[D_Harry Palmer Fiztwacker]

Hey all,

My fiancee' has recently been diagnosed by hypothyroidism and has started treatment.

Her symptoms are:
- Weight gain despite working out 4-5 times a week (weight + cardio) and calorie controlled diet
- Loss of energy, needing to sleep 10hours plus per day
- Zero libido / sex drive
- Bad circulation (cold hands and feet)
- Difficulty concentrating and mental fatigue

Obviously this has put a huge amount of stress on our relationship, but we are trying to work through it.

In addition to the medial treatment, I need some direction is regards to the exercise and diet regime for her. We have purchased The Thyroid Diet by Mary J Shomon, and are working through that.

If anyone has had experience (and hopefully success) with dealing with hypothyroidism - please let me know. Specifically it would be good to get some ideas in regards to a training / work out regime to kick her metabolism into gear again.

Please private message we or reply if you have info / resources to help me.

AP

 

[Principessa]

Hey all,

My fiancee' has recently been diagnosed by hypothyroidism and has started treatment.

Her symptoms are:
- Weight gain despite working out 4-5 times a week (weight + cardio) and calorie controlled diet
- Loss of energy, needing to sleep 10hours plus per day
- Zero libido / sex drive
- Bad circulation (cold hands and feet)
- Difficulty concentrating and mental fatigue

Obviously this has put a huge amount of stress on our relationship, but we are trying to work through it.

In addition to the medial treatment, I need some direction is regards to the exercise and diet regime for her. We have purchased The Thyroid Diet by Mary J Shomon, and are working through that.

If anyone has had experience (and hopefully success) with dealing with hypothyroidism - please let me know. Specifically it would be good to get some ideas in regards to a training / work out regime to kick her metabolism into gear again.

Please private message we or reply if you have info / resources to help me.

AP

I have Hashimoto's Thyroiditis which is an extreme form of hypothyroid disease. Though she sometimes seems like a bit of a fanatic, Mary Shomon is a great resource! Let me know how she does on that diet I haven't bought that book yet as I have all but given up on weight loss. :frown1: I don't recall my thyroid ever effecting my sex drive but Lord knows it has affected everything else.

 

[Dave NoCal]

I had elevated thyroid problems in the early nineties. In retrospect, the docs mostly think the Lyme disease I still deal with got in there. Long story short, it was irradiated, which meade my hypothyroid, and I went on thyroxine (Synthroid). I've had no problems since, just have to take a pill every day.
It seems to me that a lot of people who are hypothyroid, most of whom seem to be women, get strung along by the medical profession because they are trying to supplement to "normal" rather than zap and replace. The problem is that supplementation causes downregulation so that they spend years chasing a moving target and never get there. I feel fortunate that it jsut got taken care of.

Your fiancee will not feel well until her thyroid levels are normal.

Dave

 

[Smartalk]

Hi your partner will be feeling pretty crap, the saying "the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. Some people are born without a thyroid gland, they grow up as slow, sluggish individuals with poor memory poor consentration, vague expression on their face. This condition is know as "Cretinisum" and that is were the word Cretin come from.

No doubt your partner has been prescribed Thyroxin by the GP. Unfortunately he cannot give the dose required straight away as the body would would react as if it was Hyperthyroid (overactive). Unfortunatly it is a slow gradual process starting on a low dose gradually over a period of months. Be assured that as your partners blood thyroxine levels reach a normal level they will be back to their normal self. Hope all goes well for you both, just be there, understanding and supportive, a little TLC will go a long way. Things will only get better from now on.

Do keep us posted if you need to unload then send me a private message only to happy to be a listening ear.

 

[CUBE]

I hope you all do well. I just learn so much through all our lives here

 

[D_Harry Palmer Fiztwacker]

Thanks for all your support and comments - I really appreciate the time.

She just went to her internal medicine specialist yesterday and had her dose increased to 100mg thyroxin a day.

She originally didn't get anywhere with the GP - who just thought she was a hypocondriac. She had to demand the appropriate tests and the referral to the specialist.

She thinks has been suffering the effect of this disease most of the time I have known her (6 years). If she has been sluggish, slow with a poor memory during that time I am afraid - she somehow managed to become a veternerian during that time - one of the most challenging course out there, and she regulary out smarts me. If the treatment makes her quicker with a better memory she will be running rings around me! Bring it on.

We are also working on improving our relationship which should (with the treatment) get the sex life back where it was and where it should be!

I will read the Mary Shomon book myself and provide some feedback for you njqt466


Once again thanks for your responses.
AP

 

[Smartalk]

Really pleased to hear that she has seen someone who know what they are about. You better see someone yourself or as you say she will be running rings round you. Be like having a new woman in your life.

Keep us updated

 

[Dave NoCal]

Hey Pirate,
My guess is that the internal medicine speicalist increased her dose to 100 micrograms. At 150 lbs, I take 150 mcg. Bear in mind though, that mine is complete replacement. At any rate, 100 mcg may be enough to provide positive results. However, I've known very petite women who took 200 mcg for years on end with good results. It takes a number of weeks, perhaps six, for the increased dose to get into the system. The lab value she/you want to be watching is the TSH (Thyroid Secreting Hormone). It is a hormone that signals to thyroid "make more." If it's above the normal range it generally means she needs a bigger dose.
Bieng hypothyroid is MISERABLE and hopefully your fiancee will be feeling better in a few weeks.
Dave

 

[D_Harry Palmer Fiztwacker]

Hey Dave - yes, 100mg prescribed.

Fingers crossed!

 

[gibguy]

Hi Pirate

I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer a year and a half ago. After 2 surgeries and a good blitzing of radioiodine ive had no further problems.(Im not implying that your fiancee has cancer here-sorry if i gave you a fright!)

I sympathise with your fiance and my symptoms were the same as hers, always sluggish, my weight went from 12 stone to 15 stone and i just ambled along in life.

Im now on 200mg of eutirox (spanish equivilent of levothyroid) and my weight has dropped back to 12 stone, my mood is lighter and life is good now!

As Dave mentioned.....the settling time for medication varies from person to person, mine has taken just over a year.

I do wish you both the very best and please look after each other and stay positive as there is light at the end of the tunnel!

I look forward to your future comments and how your fiancee is progressing etc.

Keep strong and most of all...keep smiling:smile:

Cheers for now

Wayne

 

[B_doc23cm]

Thanks for all your support and comments - I really appreciate the time.

She just went to her internal medicine specialist yesterday and had her dose increased to 100mg thyroxin a day.

She originally didn't get anywhere with the GP - who just thought she was a hypocondriac. She had to demand the appropriate tests and the referral to the specialist.

She thinks has been suffering the effect of this disease most of the time I have known her (6 years). If she has been sluggish, slow with a poor memory during that time I am afraid - she somehow managed to become a veternerian during that time - one of the most challenging course out there, and she regulary out smarts me. If the treatment makes her quicker with a better memory she will be running rings around me! Bring it on.

We are also working on improving our relationship which should (with the treatment) get the sex life back where it was and where it should be!

I will read the Mary Shomon book myself and provide some feedback for you njqt466


Once again thanks for your responses.
AP

That's very unfortunate, in my book hypochondriasis is a diagnosis of exclusion. Your fiancee should get her thyroxine levels and TSH checked in about another 3 months, and increase the dose again if her TSH is still high. Good luck with everything!

 

[Dave NoCal]

I would like to add that hypochondiriasis is a lifetime psychological trait that funtions as a problematic adaptation to non-health related anxieties. It isn't contagious like the flu and doesn't suddenly appear in young adulthood absent some major health crisis. Even then, it probably isn't hypochondriasis but rather situation appropriate anxiety and vigilance.

No offense, doc 23cm, as you sound different but many physicians, certainly here in the U.S. ascribe to the philosophy of "anyone I can't diagnose in one minute is crazy." I like and trust individual physicains but HATE the medical profession, in general.

Dave

 

[BLOC]

I was diagnosed with HYPERthyroidism when I was 18. I can still vividly remember walking into the GP's offices to be told I had Grave's disease. The first question I asked...was the name of the disease a portent of things to come? Fortunately, it wasn't.

My blood pressure was through the roof, I weighed 52kg, lived on 4 hours sleep and ate enough calories for 3 people! I tried anti-thyroid medication to try and knock down the production of thyroxine, but complications set in and I was given the choice of either radioactive iodine treatment or have surgery to remove most, not all, of my thyroid. I opted for the latter after discussing in depth with my Dad (an anaesthetist). I knew that I would be HYPO after the surgery.

I now take 200 micrograms a day to keep my levels right. I have my blood tested every 3 months, and during my post operative years, my dosage has ranged from 50 micrograms to 300 micrograms a day! As others have already mentioned, it can take up to 6 weeks for your body to reflect the efficacy of the new dosage.

I'm an active woman, I play several sports and love going for long walks. One thing I did find, my body had a problem processing carbohydrates, I felt bloated all the time. I have now reduced my carb intake significantly and I always try to have my carbs with lunch, and none after 3pm. To boost my bodies metabolism of the carbs, I take a Chromium supplement that seems to help.

It is vital that your fiance remains as active as she can to help with her lowered blood pressure, and that she eat responsibly until her thyroxine levels are back to normal.

It takes time, and the changes are oh-so-subtle, but things do change. I diarised my weight, my food, my attitude, my outlook, anything that would allow me to look back and see how much better I now feel.

Good luck to you both, and keep the love.

 

[nicenycdick]

...This condition is know as "Cretinisum" and that is were the word Cretin come from.

Actually, it is the other way around. The medical label "Cretinism" came from the word "cretin", which came from the Alpine French dialect pronunciation of the word Chrétien ("a Christian"), in a region in the French Alps where persons with the condition were especially common. These people, then, were called Cretins and, later on in the 18th century, medical professionals used the term to decribe people with the condition.

Other possible origins are:

1. From creta, Latin for chalk, because of the pallor of those affected.
2. From cretira (Grisson-Romance creature), from Latin creatus.
3. From cretine, French for alluvium (soil deposited by flowing water), an allusion to the affliction's suspected origin in inadequate soil.

I don't usually nitpick, but I enjoy the search for the origin of language...maybe a little too much, huh?

 

[B_doc23cm]

I would like to add that hypochondiriasis is a lifetime psychological trait that funtions as a problematic adaptation to non-health related anxieties. It isn't contagious like the flu and doesn't suddenly appear in young adulthood absent some major health crisis. Even then, it probably isn't hypochondriasis but rather situation appropriate anxiety and vigilance.

No offense, doc 23cm, as you sound different but many physicians, certainly here in the U.S. ascribe to the philosophy of "anyone I can't diagnose in one minute is crazy." I like and trust individual physicains but HATE the medical profession, in general.

Dave

No offence taken, in general were all quite nice when you get to know us, and have our fair share of crazy people too :wink:

 

[Dave NoCal]

Doc, I'm sure that's the case. I've been unfortunate in quite a few of my dealings.
Dave

 

[pixie]

Your fiancée sounds athletic - the shoulder stand in yoga stimulates the thyroid. The Synthroid should be kicking in now - how is she feeling of late?