[Kimberly]

#1064597

Hi Laura – Sorry to hear about your diagnosis, but glad that you found us! This is a great place to get info and support…and just vent if you need to!

If you do a search on this site for "weight", you will see that many patients (including myself) do struggle with weight issues after treatment for Graves’. I am a Lifetime member of Weight Watchers, and recently switched from counting POINTS to counting calories, because the pounds just seemed to keep piling on. ” title=”Sad” />

However, not every patient will have weight issues after treatment. The fact that you have managed to avoid weight gain so far while on Prednisone is hopefully a sign that you will be one of the lucky ones! To address your questions…

Soy – There is a lot of controversy over this one. If you ask 10 doctors, you will probably get 10 different opinions. I read in a Mayo Clinic article that soy is believed to interfere with the body’s absorption of replacement hormone. While the doc who wrote the article did not say to avoid soy completely, he did suggest waiting 4 hours after taking your replacement meds to consume soy.

Low Iodine – Is there any reason that this particular approach was recommended to you? Our thyroid glands use iodine to make thyroid hormone. So following a low iodine diet will reduce any remaining thyroid function that you might have after RAI. Some docs do recommend a low iodine diet for a couple of weeks prior to RAI or to having an uptake scan done. This is because the low-iodine diet leaves our thyroid gland "starved" for iodine, so it will gobble up the radioactive stuff more quickly. However, I have not heard of using a low iodine diet to help with weight loss. If you are still interested in this approach, you can google ThyCa, which is a Thyroid Cancer Survivor’s support group. They offer a low-iodine cookbook online for free, as Thyroid Cancer is often treated with RAI…and survivors have periodic uptake scans to check for potential problems.

Best of luck!

[lesioux]

#1018410

I was just diagnosed on 7/28/10. I have taken the RAI and I am currently on Prednisone because the Graves is affecting my eyes a little bit. I am alraedy overweight and in researching this disease and the side effects of all the meds, I am very worried about gaining more weight. I am especially worried because I am a vegetarian and I eat a lot of soy products and everything I read says that with Graves soy products need to be avoided.

Can anyone recommend any low iodine cook books or diets that help. I am getting married in 2 months and I had hoped I could focus on losing weight not gaining during this time. I am already limiting my calorie intake and starting a new exercise routine (because before I really wasn’t doing anything due to the exhaustion)

So far I haven’t gained any weight, but I have only been on the prednisone since 7/29/10. I have felt slightly hungrier than normal, but I just drink tons of water to make it go away. Cutting out all sweets, alcohol and switching to decaf for the next 2 months to see if it will help.

It just seems that everything out there is for people with hypothyroidism and not very much help for people overweight with Graves. Any advice is appreciated ” title=”Very Happy” /> Thanks – Laura

[Ellen_B]

#1064598

Hi Laura,
I have not heard Graves’ patients being advised to stay away from soy products. The only concern I have heard about soy products with thyroid function is the possibility of soy causing a goiter and hypothyroidism.
So here is some information on soy. Soy is one of the foods that contains goitrogens.Other goitrogen containing foods are members of the cabbage family and cassava. However, for goitrogen containing foods to affect thyroid function one must be iodine deficient. It is possible for thyroid functioning to be effected if you live in a country with marginal intake of iodine and where the mainstay of food is one of the goitrogen containing foods. The typical American diet has plenty of iodine and a varied diet so this does not happen.
The flavanoids in soy are potentially goitrogenic. Studies have been done with individuals taking daily for two weeks two soy bean drinks. When the serum flavanoids were tested the concentrations were 4 to 30-fold lower than the levels required to inhibit the thyroid by 50%.
The question for you is how much of your thyroid is functioning after the RAI — may be very little. If that is the case soy can have very little effect. So the long and the short of it is you should at least continue to enjoy soy while trying to maintain your weight.
If my discussion has left you more confused and you would like to ask more questions let me know by sending an email with your questions to gravesdiseasefd@gmail.org I will then be glad to give you more answers.

Sincerely,
Ellen Brightly
Administrative Assistant
Graves’ Disease Foundation
400 International Drive
Williamsville NY 14221
Toll-free — (877) 643-3123
Email: Gravesdiseasefd@gmail.com
Website: http://www.NGDF.org

[ewmb]

#1064599

You do need to heed the package insert instructions on hormone replacement about Soy. You should not take your synthroid, levoxyl etc. with Soy flour products.

ewmb

[Harpy]

#1064600

Laura
Just did a quick google re your situation.
Firstly as mentioned iodine shouldn’t be too much of an issue, if you you have had RAI and your thyroid is mostly non functional, I assume you are on synthyroid or equivalent going too low on iodine may reduce effective conversion of T4 to T3, so try use non iodised salt and processed foods that have extra iodine, because, as Ellen said, your diet most likely has plenty of iodine already there.
Getting off the Toxins like sweets, alcohol and coffee is a good move any toxin load you remove will make it easier for you to heal, and improving your diet will help again.
I don’t know how strict you are with your vegitarian diet, just a couple of points, variety is the key, protein is essential, but the volume is probably less than you imagine, it is access to a wide variety of proteins that is the key.
There is indications that there may be some issues with soy, but I think you said it yourself, you eat a lot of soy, this is probably the bigger issue, your reliance on a single food stuff. Variety is important for everyone but even more so for you because you can not access a whole area of proteins, vitamins and trace elements obtained through meat. So to compensate you will need to eat a wide range of foods, cut your soy intake by replacing some of it with other legume types and replace more with a range of higher protein, greens, fruits, roots and nuts, remember wholegrain cereals also contain good protein levels. You will have to do some research yourself because only you know what you like and don’t like or can access locally, just start one change at a time, look up some high protein non soy vegitables and next time you shop, buy these instead of your full soy quota, next time do the same, so week by week you will gradually change the dietry make up of your pantry and that’s what you’ll eat. Never make massive dietry changes all at once, particularly in your condition, as this can bring about imbalances that could feel like medication side effects and you won’t know what is wrong.
The main rule with GD is patience, irrespective of whether you’ve had RAI, Surgery or on ATD’s the graves is there and will show up as symptom flare ups if you change too many things at once, and that includes meds, supplements and diet.
Slow and steady wins the this race.
Good luck with everything,
I’m sure you will be a beautiful bride and have a wonderful wedding.
Congratulations in advance.

[Ellen_B]

#1064601

Hi Laura,
My posting on last Friday (Aug. 27th) was focused on the effect of soy on thyroid function and I did not mention food and levothyroxine interaction. Thank you ewmb for your immediate response and for mentioning it. Soy bean flour is on the list of foods that decreases the absorption of thyroid hormone. One pharmacist Jeffrey Low has said to minimize the risk of interaction, thyroid hormone should be taken on an empty stomach at least 30 minutes prior to eating. How much more time (than the 30 minutes) you should wait you should check out with your physician and your pharmacist.
I wish you well in all your wedding preparations.
Sincerely,
Ellen Brightly
Administrative Assistant
Graves’ Disease Foundation
400 International Drive
Williamsville NY 14221
Toll-free — (877) 643-3123
Email: Gravesdiseasefd@gmail.com
Website: http://www.NGDF.org

[Author]

Posts