[gus]

#1019592

Our daughter is 17 and was diagnosed with Graves 3 years ago and is now on synthroid daily . She has gained over 40 lbs and she insists she is not over eating. She does have a sweet tooth and occasionally snacks. She is very, very self conscious about her weight and is constantly trying to diet. It is effecting her socially…

She is beautiful young lady, very active and on the varsity soccer and track team. She is also talented both musically and artistically.

She has been told by many that she is just eating too many calories. I had read somewhere that graves will effect your weight and cause gaining. Is this true and if so how can we help her ?

[DianneW]

#1072732

I have seen a good study showing that Graves’ patients who have become hypothyroid weigh significantly more than age matched controls who have normal thyroids. The question still remained whether metabolism has basically changed or whether eating and exercise habits have changed for these patients, but the hypothesis was that it may be a metabolic problem.

Not all treated Graves’ Disease patients are overweight, though many are. I can understand how difficult this must be for a teenager. My personal experience is that maintaining a pre-Graves’ weight is much more difficult than it was before, and I don’t believe my metabolism is the same. We do become accustomed to eating more while hyperthyroid, and that is part of the problem. The majority of America is overweight, not just people who used to be hyperthyroid; so we shouldn’t think that weight control is easy for anyone. It’s not!

The truth is that slim people usually don’t eat very much. A girl who wants to look like today’s social ideal is probably going to miss meals, or worse, unless she’s unusually active or is one of those rare people with a high metabolism for other reasons.

If your daughter is asking for help with her weight issues you could talk to her endocrinologist about whether her thyroid levels are optimum for her. If they are, the next step might be to see a nutritionist so that she can learn to eat foods that have the fewest calories for the most nutritional value and ability to keep her feeling satisfied. It will have to be something she wants to do for herself, of course.

I understand the significance weight has as a social issue for a young girl, especially in high school. It’s something that people can LEARN to manage, given the right information. Your daughter may have to make some difficult choices, but it’s possible for her to lose weight.

Do get professional help for her if you can, though. Too many girls turn to unhealthy behaviors to lose weight when they feel desperate.

[Kimberly]

#1072733

Hello,

If you run a search on this board for “weight gain”, you can see that your daughter is definitely not alone.

I am a lifetime member of Weight Watchers (and should also disclose that I work part time for them). I am actually still slightly hyperthyroid and am struggling with a few extra pounds. I am playing around with my daily POINTS target to try and find the range that will get me back to my goal weight. POINTS don’t translate exactly to calories, but I think I’m going to end up roughly 500 calories/day less than where I was before I became hyperthyroid. It’s probably a combination of less activity (because I’m not back to 100% stamina) and reduced muscle mass…but I also believe that my metabolism is different than it was before, and might not ever get back to my old version of “normal”.

As someone who knows what it’s like to be overweight, I think you have to be really careful with your daughter. Weight is an emotional issue, and some people deal with emotions by…eating. ” title=”Confused” /> When people used to get on me about my weight, it didn’t make me want to run and join a gym – it made me want to eat an entire bag of Nacho Cheese Doritoes. No, it’s not at all logical…but that’s where I was at that point in time.

I find that the family members who seem to have the best influence are those who commit to making healthy changes themselves (i.e. joining a gym, eating more veggies, joining Weight Watchers, etc.). Their positive behavior changes (and the results) generally will inspire others to join them.

Good luck!

[Aravindh]

#1072734

Oh .. I did nt realise that the weight would increase post the Graves Disease cure. I am a GD patient myself and have been on Tapazole. Lets see how it goes. Would Doctor advise us to go to the workouts after we are cured of this disease ? Will we be able to do the normal running ? All these are questions that I am asking to myself. Still without answers. Lets see. Keep posting what you know. Thanks Aravindh K Natarajan.

[Madame_X]

#1072735

Would Doctor advise us to go to the workouts after we are cured of this disease ? Will we be able to do the normal running ? All these are questions that I am asking to myself. Still without answers. Lets see. Keep posting what you know. Thanks Aravindh K Natarajan

I asked my doc if I could sign up for a gym and he told me to wait until my next visit with him; then he’d decide from there.

I am due back at the endo in 2 months. I was diagnosed start of November.

[DianneW]

#1072736

Aravindh wrote:Oh .. I did nt realise that the weight would increase post the Graves Disease cure. I am a GD patient myself and have been on Tapazole. Lets see how it goes. Would Doctor advise us to go to the workouts after we are cured of this disease ? Will we be able to do the normal running ? All these are questions that I am asking to myself. Still without answers. Lets see. Keep posting what you know. Thanks Aravindh K Natarajan.

Dear Aravindh,

The excess weight gain statistically doesn’t apply to patients who have a remission with antithyroid drugs. All Graves’ Disease patients regain the weight they lost because of the hyperthyroidism, but it seems to be the patients who become hypothyroid and go on thyroid replacement hormone who end up with excess weight gain. These are the patients who have radioactive iodine therapy, or surgery, or who later become hypothyroid because of the natural tendency of Graves’ Disease to eventually destroy the thyroid (possibly after many years).

Once your thyroid levels are normal, at some point your doctor will most likely advise you that it’s safe again for you to do workouts and do your normal running.

There are many successful athletes who have been treated for Graves’ Disease, and of course they aren’t overweight. It’s not inevitable that weight gain will occur.

[hyperm]

#1072737

Hi there,

I can completely sympathise. I was diagnosed 4 years ago and was always of a slim build – I was overactive for a year before being diagnosed and my neighbour (who has hypothyroidism we found out) was so concerned about my weight loss when she saw me pottering out the back garden, hanging washing out etc.. that she asked my mum if I was anorexic.. Once I was diagnosed and started meds as many people will tell you on here it can be a constant game of fiddling with meds until your bloods stabilise.

I was put on the blocking treatment as (typical of me) they couldn’t get it controlled so I was on carbimazole and thyroxine. I felt awful and although I hardly ate (my husband was my witness and at work my colleagues noticed my lack of appetite) I started to pile on the pounds, although my mum and hubby noticed that some days my face would look hugely swollen etc… I approached my endo at that time questioning the weight gain – he said that my bloods were in normal range and very rudely asked "are you sure its not what is going between the teeth?" I was so shocked and hurt and my husband had wished he was in at that consultation. I was so active as had a little toddler at the time, worked part – time and kept my house very clean so was never off the go until around 11pm at night then back up at 6 am with my little one etc…

Anyway, I joined several dieting clubs and although staying religiously to their plan I was putting on weight ” title=”Sad” /> I was at least 20lbs overweight and that fluxuated sometimes by 7lbs a week! I fell pregnant and had to change endo’s (thankfully) he was shocked I was on the treatment I was – I explained all the weight gain /swelling etc.. etc… he said that I should never have been on those meds and was overdosed on both for over a year (my previous endo and him studied together at uni ). He took me off all meds completely to see if I would go into remission and within a week or 2 I lost 9-11lbs and then it just started to fall of me. Yet my bloods were in the normal range.

I am by no means qualified to state that your daughters weight gain is down to the meds etc… but it could possibly be worthwhile getting a second opinion and also perhaps there may be some gynological issues too which can cause such a weight gain. Its a horrible feeling and can completely empathise with her especially when you recieve conflicting info.

I tried to refrain from any carbs after 6pm and drink a lot of fluids to see if that would help the fluid retention.

I am now back to the weight falling off me again and for all it feels great at the mo (as just after having a baby) I am concerned that I will once more stabilised start to regain weight.

Sorry I am not of much help.

m xxx

[mamabear]

#1072738

gus wrote:Our daughter is 17 and was diagnosed with Graves 3 years ago and is now on synthroid daily . She has gained over 40 lbs and she insists she is not over eating. She does have a sweet tooth and occasionally snacks. She is very, very self conscious about her weight and is constantly trying to diet. It is effecting her socially…

She is beautiful young lady, very active and on the varsity soccer and track team. She is also talented both musically and artistically.

She has been told by many that she is just eating too many calories. I had read somewhere that graves will effect your weight and cause gaining. Is this true and if so how can we help her ?

I’d like to ask if you are your daughters father or mother? I ask because dad’s talk to girls differently than their moms do and that will affect the answers I give you. ” title=”Very Happy” /> I didn’t want to assume Gus was a man in case you were a woman using an ID name that meant something.

[belldandy112]

#1072739

Gus —

Gosh … it’s so hard to comment to this, because I have found to maintain a weight at which I don’t look like a victim of starvation. Before I was diagnosed with Graves. I had what you might consider "healthy" eating habits — a lot of salads, broiled meats, very little sugar … post-diagnosis, I was shoveling in anything that couldn’t get away from me first. I’m 5’3" and typically weight 115-120, most of which is muscle (I’m also extremely athletic). When out of remission, I quickly drop down to about 89. Given the choice, I think that I’d rather battle extra pounds. Gaunt is not only unattractive, once I got down to that weight, I had difficulty walking (no padding on my feet).

When finding a support group, you make all kinds of friends, yes? I have one gal pal with Hashimoto’s. She had great success with the raw food diet and swears by it. Because I’m curious, I went to Whole Foods and tried a plate of the stuff. In a few words: Ugh, ugh, and ugh. It’s basically mulched-up salad stuff with a few nuts and soy product tossed in to make it hold a shape. But she looks great, and, at the same height as I, is the same weight (115). It really did work for her, although I’m not sure if anyone could endure this diet over time. She’s a very motivated woman, as she’s a yoga instructor and has to look good for her job. My motivation to stay on this diet would be exactly zero after about the first day. (If there were a little "nauseated" emoticon, I’d put it right here.)

I would definitely advise a dietary consultation (I did that too, when trying to gain weight in a healthy way) and perhaps even a consultation with a personal trainer who is also a physical therapist (did that, too). Regular trainers who don’t understand the problems Graves patients face are unable to safely guide them through a routine that is conducive to their particular goal. A good sports medicine clinic should be able to give your daughter a referral. I believe that there is a way to obtain any goal — sure, it might take quite a bit more effort. But it can be done.

Have a good day, everyone! ” title=”Smile” />

Melissa
Austin, TX

[gus]

#1072740

Thanks to all of you who have responded to my questions about my daughter’s weight gain. It is good to know there is someone out there who can help. My wife and I have addressed some dietary issues with her and she is tracking her daily caloric intake. Hopefully this data may lead us to some conclusions.

God Bless,
Gus

[catsmum]

#1072741

Hi,

I can so sympathise too. My 17 year old daughter was only diagnosed at Christmas & is getting upset that she has gained about 8-10 lb since she went on block-replace therapy.
I was really interested to hear about Hyperm’s experiences with carbimazole & thyroxine as this is the exact meds my daughter is on. If you read this, Hyperm, can you give me more info about why your new endo stopped this treatment please. We are back at my daughter’s consultants in a few weeks & I’d like to be able to discuss this with him as I’m not sure it’s best treatment for her.As well as gaining weight she is sleeping all the time & has no energy whatsover & has also developed a goitre. It’s hard enough to cope with finding out you have a disease like Graves, without having your appearance change so much when you are already going through the trials of teenage years.

[DianneW]

#1072742

Catsmum,

Block & replace can be used to help stabilize levels, and it might not be the treatment that’s causing your daughter’s problems but the amount of thyroid replacement your daughter is receiving that is causing her trouble. If she is receiving too little then she will feel hypothyroid just as someone who has had RAI and isn’t receiving enough thyroid replacement hormone. Feeling tired and gaining some weight can be symptoms of hypothyroidism. Sometimes patients feel better if the amount of thyroid hormone is raised a little even within the normal range, so talk to her doctor about whether that might help her.

If he thinks she’s on an adequate dose of thyroid hormone and tells you that’s not what’s causing her to feel the way she is or tries to dismiss her symptoms, then ask him to find out what IS causing her to have these problems. Don’t let him get away with pretending she’s okay when she’s not. If what he’s doing isn’t working, make certain he tries something else, in other words.

All the best to you both, Dianne

[catsmum]

#1072743

Thanks, DianneW.

I think it is probably that her thyroxine dose is too low. I took her back to see an endo about 2 weeks back as she was suffering extreme fatigue, gaining weight & had developed quite a large goitre within the space of a few days. He did test her blood & upped her levothyroxine to 75mcg but she’s not feeling any better. I would have thought the bosy would respond to increased hormone levels relatively quickly & we would have seen some improvement by now?
Am I just being a bit impatient? How long does it usually take to notice the effects of increased dose? She’s due to have bloods done again in 2 weeks time so suppose we’ll see what happens then.

Take care,

[hyperm]

#1072744

HI Catsmum,

I was on block and replace for nearly a year and felt awful – even though my bloods were seemingly "normal" I had such bad fluid retention and the weight gain was heart breaking – I was on every diet under the sun. I had a very unsypmathetic endo whom I had worked on the wards with. Anyway, when I fell pregnant he referred me to a an endo/gyn specialist who he subsequently when to medical school with! When my new and current endo read the treatment I had been on he was shocked and asked "why on earth are you on that treatment?’ My hubby and I just looked at each and other and I replied that I had been on it for over a year. Subsequently my BIL from Japan had been calling every other week telling my hubby to demand I was taken off those meds… Anyway my current endo said that menstruating women shouldn’t be on block and replace – its suitable for post menopausal women or men but that I had been on the wrong treatment for over a year and had been overdosed too. I came off it and lost weight immediately and felt much better.

| am sure others have different opinions on this but I really trust my endo and everything he has said or done has been o f great benefit to me.

HTH

m xxx

[catsmum]

#1072745

Hyperm,

Thanks for the reply. I’ve spotted a couple of things online about block-replace not being suityable for menstruating women. I will definately look into it before we go back to the endo.
Problems over here are that we have the National Health Sevice (don’t get me wrong, I think every country should have one & I worked in it for a while) but it means we get allocated a consultant endo & it’s not very easy to ask for a different one. You often don’t see the consultant when you go to appointments & it can take ages to get appointments etc too (we can’t just ring up & see the specialist when we need to). It is also difficult to find out about the doctors & who’s recommended in each field so feel like our hands are tied.
I will however question this treatment when we go back, (Lord, do I have a list of questions for that doctor next time I see him….)
Thanks again, I don’t know what we’d do without the support of you guys.

W. x

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