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Weight Gain After Thyroid Removal

Posted , 36 users are following.

anita96
anita96

I am due to have my Thyroid removed in the next couple of months and have been told i will be prescribed Thyroxene afterwards. I have recently searched the internet for more info and have repeatedly come across horror stories of people gaining lots of weight. The specialist and surgeon i spoke to did mention some weight gain is possible until the correct doseage is found. Is it true that i will not be able to control my weight gain after the op even though i will be on Thyroxene

1 like, 67 replies

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  • jacki5
    jacki5

    Posted

    Hi Anita 96

    I was diognosed with under active thyroid around 4 years ago, and have been on medication ever since - 100 micrograms thyroxene once a day now. My symptoms were not so much weight gain as permanent tiredness and being really cold all the time.

    I started on a higher dose and, through 3 monthly fasting blood tests, they adjusted the dosage until the test results were where they wanted them to be. This took about a year, and I made sure to eat sensibly and exercise (even if only 20-30 minutes a day).

    Then I retired 2 years ago and did gain weight, but that was due to less exercise during the working day and , basically, overeating through boredom!

    In my experience, this has made no difference to my weight on a long term basis - in fact I have just cut down the food and upped the exercise for the last 2 months and have lost 10 lbs! I did use it as an excuse for a while, but then realised that it was in my control if I behaved sensibly. I now feel no different to before the problem started. if one tablet a day solves it - excellent!

    I hope everything goes well for you, and try to look at any weight changes as temporary, until your thyroxene dosage is right for you

    Jacki5

  • ann58526
    ann58526 anita96

    Posted

    How lond did it take to identify correct dosage. I have mine removed 2 year ago and still do not have correct dosage.

     I gained a lot of weight.

  • pkn0819
    pkn0819 anita96

    Posted

    I had my thyroid removed a year ago last October I started to gain weight last July and have gained 15 lbs. Anyone have this problem and is there anything I can do?
    • linda56092
      linda56092 pkn0819

      Posted

      I also had mine out last October and have gained 22 pounds.  So depressing.  Dr. Isn’t worried about it at all.  
  • Nsdoubleh
    Nsdoubleh anita96

    Posted

    Hi. I am scheduled to have my thyroid removed next week. I'm curious how your weight has been in the last year? I am getting married in 9 months and bought my dress already. It is a tight fit and I do need to loose roughly 10-15 pounds to fit into it more comfortably. Reading about this possible weight gain is a nightmare! How has it been for you? I don't want to miss your reply. I would love to hear from anyone!

    Emis Moderator comment: I have removed the email address as we do not publish these in the forums. If users wish to exchange contact details please use the Private Message service.

    http://patient.uservoice.com/knowledgebase/articles/398331-private-messages

  • corinthain423
    corinthain423 anita96

    Posted

    Hello,

    I am 1 week out of surgery from having thyroid removed. I am on 150 mg of levothyroxine. Please tell me what to expect. Ugly scar and weight gain would be too much for me to handle. I imagine I have gained 20 pounds prior to surgery but my goal is to loose 50 pounds. Fearing How? It almost sounds impossible.

    • christina37543
      christina37543 corinthain423

      Posted

      Hello I had my took out 16 months ago and I wish I could tell u every thing was going to be great but I will not lie. Ur life will be so different u will be different up until about 2 weeks ago I had almost gave up. Doctors saying my levels were fine. But I knew I wasn't so I was going to get my life back. So I got on Internet and search and now I can say after 2 weeks of taking about 6 different vitamins and demanding the doctor to write me a t3 medication even though those levels came back fine. Now I feel great I have gained 35 pounds since my surgery and I really tryed to lose it but I couldn't get no where so t3 is the key. So I'll let u know how that when I start losing the weight cause the other key is not to give up and don't listen to everything the doctors say u know ur body they don't. Here is something I read that really helped me. I hope it helps u

       

    • Zeko
      Zeko christina37543

      Posted

      So how you feel now. ?did your doctor discribe you T3?Did you loose any wight? Please let me know!

      I am very sad a had my surgery 2 mnts ago and gained weight olredy. Help me to know dsomthing I don't know.

      Thanks a lot

    • christina37543
      christina37543 Zeko

      Posted

      I am going to the Doctor tomorrow hopefully to start taking armour thyroid which I heard is better for u I hope cause I am so missable and just want to feel normal again. But I also believe that a lot of my problem is my rt3 is high but to find that out u really have to insist ur Doctor give u that test cause most look at u like ur crazy cause all they want to look at is ur the and t3 levels and if those r fine they say u should be fine and I have got to the point where I tell them there crazy and they need to stop treating every thyroid patient like they r the same person. But after tomorrow I will keep u all posted just pray for me I have gave it all to God.
    • christina37543
      christina37543

      Posted

      I went to the doctor on February 1 and the doctor put me on armour thyroid and I can honestly say I finally feel more like myself then I have since I got my thyroid took out and I have lost 5lb. So I would most definitely advise people to at least try the armour if synthryoid isn't working. 

  • suzanne08660
    suzanne08660 anita96

    Posted

    i Had my thyroid removed almost a year ago, and decided i wasnt going to let this change my life i excerise hard for an hr everyday and watch what i eat and have lost almost 55 lbs  gaining wt  does not have to be your destiny!
    • suzanne08660
      suzanne08660

      Posted

      Oh and Also try to get NDT (Natural dessicated Thyroid) it gives you all the hormones you lose without your Thyroid. DONT do Levo or any other synthetic hormone replacement your be sorry... I had to go to a intgrative Dr. to prescribe it. well worth it  and not that expensive its forever remember.
    • sandra95096
      sandra95096 suzanne08660

      Posted

      Hi Suzanne,

      I just had my thyroid removed on Tuesday of this week (01/17/2017)  I didn't want to remove both sides But I was frightened when I learned of others having it removed due to cancer concerns so I allowed the doctor to remove my entire thyroid. I have always worked out so that's okay but I feel sad that I lost a part of my body that God gave me.   Please let me know how you dealt with the emotional part of this surgery   Thank you 

    • sandra95096
      sandra95096 suzanne08660

      Posted

      Hi again, here's my second message, I also am taking the Levo, why is that bad? and what is the name of the natural dessicated  Tthyroid medication?  I also have Multiple Sclerosis and stopped taking any meds for that because the last drug I took was Aubiogio which they told me is stays in body for upto 2 years so I'm giving my body is break for a few months.

      Thank you again for any help/information you can share 

       

    • christina37543
      christina37543 sandra95096

      Posted

      I have been told that when it comes to ur thyroid brand should be what u take if u r taking sythedic thyroid medicine like Levo u should take synthryoid but armour thyroid is natural desicated thyroid medicine 
    • Heather3b1g
      Heather3b1g sandra95096

      Posted

      HI Sandra, 

         I would like to ask if you'd like to follow each others journey through this process. I had my thyroid and all the lymph nodes removed on the left side of my neck on 1.26.2017? 

         

    • Mythreesons
      Mythreesons sandra95096

      Posted

      Hi! I just had my thyroid removed a month after you. I did not want to remove the whole thing either, but did what the doctor recommended. I am reading these horror stories of weight gain. How are you doing?? Have you gained or lost weight so far?? What medication are you on?? It would be nice to hear from you since we removed our thyroid around the same time!
    • sandra95096
      sandra95096 Heather3b1g

      Posted

      Hi Heather reading your story makes me wonder how  doctors decide what needs to be removed?  My doctor took out my thyroid but left my lymph nodes. He removed the part that had cancer which was my left side thyroid AND my right side too because they couldn't risk leaving it because they couldn't confirm there was no cancer ont that side too.

       

    • sandra95096
      sandra95096 Mythreesons

      Posted

      I haven't gained weight but I'm unsure how easy it will be to lose it if I go on a diet because I got sick this past weekand didnt eat for 3 days and I weigh the same which doesn't make sense.  So I should try a diet next week see and see what happens IF i don't lose weight I guess I'll have to ask my oncologist to prescribe stronger thyroid medication unfortunately.

    • rumi61286
      rumi61286 sandra95096

      Posted

      Hi Sandra,

      Sorry to hear about the fears and emotional debate. You mentioned that you had an option of removing just one lobe but decided to proceed with complete...was cancer confirmed after the surgery? Was it "suspicious for..." as a result of the FNA biopsy? Thank you 

    • jessica30833
      jessica30833 sandra95096

      Posted

      Hi Sandra,

      I hope your recovery is going well. I understand how emotional this must be. I have been praying and thinking a lot about this a lot. I am scheduled to have surgery in a few weeks but I am very concerned about removing a part of my body that I was given. I am worried to find fault in my body. 

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