Hyperthyroidism and Keto

hyperthyroid
(James storie) #21

I suppose this limiting of salt is due to the iodine? If so, use kosher salt or natural salt that hasn’t been fortified with iodine. You need sodium to balance your electrolytes. I would do a little investigating and question asking if I were you. Doctors still think salt is killing us!

(I) #22

thanks for the advice… since I am doing this Ketogenic diet then i have been taking more salt…

(dw_hyperthyroidsusie) #23

Thank you for bringing some humor to this not so funny topic. I’ve also been 100% diagnosed with Graves disease and my Graves antibodies are pretty high, hyperthyroidism and my T3 & T4 are through the roof. I was put on methazimazole and not enjoying it. I’m definitely gaining weight and trying to figure out how to combat that. The idea of obliterating my thyroid with radioactive iodine and going on synthrax for life is starting to sound good to me. I’m looking into trying a keto/atkins diet to force a fat burn and lose some pounds!! Nothing else is working. I do various Jillian Michaels dvds 3-4 x a week and have stuck to a 1400 calorie range the past week and I think I actually gained 2 pounds. HELP!

(dw_hyperthyroidsusie) #24

Hi jamestorie – so you had your thyroid obliterated by radioactive iodine and are on synthroid? I’ve been recently diagnosed with Graves and hyperthyroidism, but I think it was going on for a year and I was happily losing weight while working out and dieting like a madwoman, and thought my weight loss was a result of that. I think I had hyperthyroidism for a while and now it’s so bad my thyroid is not doing anything but producing the T3 & T4 at really high levels. I’ve been put on methazimazole and just had my dose increased from 30-40mg daily. I know this med is slowing down my metabolism. I can feel it. I’m feeling like I would rather be on synthroid for life because at least then I can control the dose and get it to a point where I’m back to my old weight and not consistently gaining. What is the SAD diet you refer to?

(dw_hyperthyroidsusie) #25

Hi Jodi - can you give me some more information on how you suppressed the thyroid with natural consumption of veggies? I’m hyperthyroid, but its gone so far & caused by Graves that now I’m on meds and I am gaining weight. I’m researching the Keto diet as a way to combat the weight because my metabolism is slowing and I can feel it. I don’t honestly know what to do at this point because I am keeping a healthy balanced diet at approximately 1400 cal per day, plus a minimum of 30 min exercise and nothing’s happening. I normally would drop 2 pounds a week with this regimen. Any advice would be helpful! I’m on methazimazole right now at 30 mg a day, and now upped to 40mg a day since Monday. It lowered my T3 & T4 slightly but not fast enough. My doc was going to double the dose but I asked her to give it a chance and see if anything happens.

(dw_hyperthyroidsusie) #26

Hi - I sound just like you but probably my thyroid problem is a bit worse because I was started at 30mg daily – 15mg am and 15 mg pm— just moved up to 40mg daily (20 am 20pm) and it’s only been a week and I think I’ve gained another pound somehow. This week I was extremely careful with my diet. I stuck to about 1400 calories and worked out an intense workout at least 4x this week, which was an improvement from the week before. I’m tracking everything on myfitnesspal and following the CISRO Australian healthy diet as a guideline to make sure I get all my categories in. Now I’m thinking of switching to a full keto diet to force a fat burn. Has this worked for you? I fear what’s going to happen if I don’t quickly get a few pounds off. Its starting to make me me panic and think that radioactive iodine may be the way to go. Well that might happen anyway if I don’t see enough of an improvement with the methazimazole treatment.

(dw_hyperthyroidsusie) #27

Hi - I was diagnosed with Graves and right now have begun my treatment for extreme hyperthyroidism. Last year I had lost 30 pounds with diet and exercise, so I thought, and since then have gained it all back gradually – mostly because I was lethargic and did nothing much all winter. Now I’m on meds to correct the thyroid hormone T4 & T3 overproduction, and I think my metabolism has come to a dead crawl. I’m gaining weight over what I had already gained and I can’t believe I can’t even have one glass of wine and wake up the next morning and be like 2 pounds over. I think I need to go cold turkey sugar free & keto and see if I can make a dent. I have received no information on how to treat the Graves.

(sq) #29

I would check out Dr. Amy Myer’s book The Thyroid Connection. She has Grave’s herself. https://www.amazon.com/Thyroid-Connection-Tired-Brain-Fogged-Overweight/dp/0316272868/
You can also get some freebies from her website when purchase the book too https://www.amymyersmd.com/thethyroidconnection/
I’m not affiliated with her or anything, it’s just good info.

(Sherrell Echols) #30

Same here, diagnosed back in Jan 2018.

(Megan) #31

This is a really old thread so I don’t know if anyone will see this, but I was just diagnosed with Graves Disease and also have just started eating keto on 1/1/19. My Dr. strongly urged RAI or surgery but I hate the idea of becoming hypo, because I’m eating keto to lose weight. I don’t even love the idea of taking methimazole because my goal is to be off prescription drugs. I currently take something for blood pressure, GERD and anxiety, and all of these I believe can be helped just by my diet. I saw some other comments stating that surgery/RAI was not something they would recommend, can anyone advise why? I already don’t want to do it, I just want more information. And I’m curious how people have done on methimazole?

(Louise Injarabian) #32

Hey,
I was wondering the same, is the conversation still active.
I was diagnosed with Grave’s disease this summer and started with methimazone (thyrozol) 30mg/day. In in 3-4 weeks my hormone levels were back to normal so it was quite quick for me. Now I’m juggling between 5 and 10 mg/day. I need to continue this treatment for another 1-2 years and hope that my levels will stick to normal.
I’ve gained some weight, for sure, around 8-10 pounds. I’m super active, I do crossfit and other high intensity trainings so I was surprised that exercise and eating super healthy wasn’t enough to keep the pounds away. I mean, ofc I knew I was going to gain the lost weight back, but I didn’t think I’d gain more than before the disease.
I tried different diets and none of them really worked well, I was hungry all the time and not losing weight. That’s why I’m now trying the keto diet. I’m still monitoring my macros and kcal intake to be sure I eat the same amount of kcal than before. The first impression is that I’m not hungry anymore with the same kcal intake so that’s surprising. I am feeling a little bit more tired, maybe because I’m doing so much exercise. I will give it a go for couple of months to see how I feel. I read some papers that the keto diet could lower the T3 and T4 levels, so not great for maybe hypothyroidism, but quite good for people like me that are on thyroid suppressive medications. Maybe it will allow me to reduce the dose even more.
I wouldn’t count on this diet, or any other diet, to cure the disease. It’s an autoimmune disease, not you thyroid just producing too much hormones.
But it can be complementary, and allow a normalish way of life when you can go out and eat with friends (sticking to no-carb food such as meat) and drink some wine etc.
The downside of these medications for women is their toxicity on the foetus, it’s strongly recommended to not get pregnant during the treatment period (up to 2 years). This is one of the reasons why some women prefer the operation or RAI, because they want to have a family and not wait for another 2 years.

How is your keto diet going?