Anybody here think their hypo symptoms came on after starting low carb?

[Katy131]

Hi folks

I understand from other sources and hypo friends that low carb supports the thyroid and helps with hypo symptoms.

But on another thread, Derblumers has suggested that some people feel low thyroid function has been caused by starting a low carb diet.

Any comments?

[easylyvin]

I started low carb January of this year. I was diagnosed with Hashimoto 7 years ago, so I have been taking daily medication. Everything was fine, until recently, I noticed my hair was falling out and I was tired and confused. Had my bloodwork tested, and I was low again. The doctor had to raise my levothroxine from .25 to.3. I was figuring since I lost 25 pounds, I would eventually need less thyroid meds. Guess this was not the case! I do not know whether this has anything to do with LCing or not. I read someplace on this community that if you eat more protein, you will need more thyroid hormone. Good thread to start. I would like to know more about this, as well.

[easylyvin]

Oh, I should add, my thyroid meds have been adjusted in the past, this was not the first time.

[ItsTheWooo]

Here's how I understand it.

Leptin regulates the thyroid. Losing weight and being in a pervasive state of negative energy balance (fat always leaving the cells & fat never entering the cells i.e. a low carb diet) lowers leptin. When your body perceives low leptin this signals starvation. It adapts in many ways, one of which is by lowering thyroid function.

"Starvation mode" is often thought of as this magical threshold you cross when you do something like eat below your basal metabolism, or don't eat 10xs your weight, or some other arbitrarily defined value of what constitutes starvation level calories. In reality, whether or not your body perceives starvation has very little to do with how much you're eating and more to do with how much you're eating relative to how much you're burning. In other words, the rate of catabolic fat and muscle loss determines whether or not your body begins adapting to starvation. Furthermore, there is no such thing as "starvation mode" as it is not a black and white binary state to be in; there are many degrees of exhibiting starvation symptoms, parallel to the many degrees of fat loss.

The fact of the matter is your body views weight loss as starvation, and it adapts to it like it would starvation. How dramatically your body adapts depends entirely on how dramatic the weight loss. If you lost a lot of weight and you lost it very quickly (big caloric deficits) you will have more severe symptoms than someone who lost slowly. The slow loser who is making very small caloric deficits will likely not have symptoms strong enough to recognize as hypothyroid.

Now the question is, if you are a dieter and are suffering from signs of starvation related hypothyroidism, how do you go about changing this? Logically it seems that a refeed day, taking a few days off to do higher carb and above maintenance calories would be sufficient to raise leptin levels and restore thyroid function. It also seems logical that you should stop trying to force your body to make such huge caloric deficits and begin eating more. However, these are just theoretical treatment options. In reality, I believe I have low functioning thyroid related to weight loss (possibly reinforced by soy consumption), and I don't know what to do about it. I am going to try forcing myself to eat more food and carbs (and less soy products) and see if that helps, but for all I know this might be permanent damage to my thyroid and I might need drug treatment.

[Katy131]

I believe I have low functioning thyroid related to weight loss (possibly reinforced by soy consumption), and I don't know what to do about it. I am going to try forcing myself to eat more food and carbs (and less soy products) and see if that helps, but for all I know this might be permanent damage to my thyroid and I might need drug treatment.

Very interesting :)

What symptoms do you have which make you think you have a low functioning thyroid? Did you have a fast weight loss which perhaps brought this on?

I've been stalled for 2 years and no matter how I tweak my WoE, I still keep coming back to the same old 160 (I'm 5'6). I lost the first (and only) 15 pounds on low carb over 1 year, so it wasn't a fast loss by any means.

In fact, I believe I have been hypo for many years (I have a host of other minor symptoms pointing to that) and now I'm treating myself with a comprehensive multivit (to get enough iodine and selenium and B vits, etc) and I'm doing an experimental regime with Virgin Coconut Oil. The signs are promising so far, but its a very long haul ... :rolleyes:

[DerBlumers]

Hi Katy...

The theory about leptin levels and thyroid makes some sense....I often wondered why I constantly get stuck in my weight loss...it seems like I get into a perpetual starvation mode. Even when I lose weight...I lose so very slowly....and stop a lot. As an experiment last week I did a refeed...ate spaghetti and ice cream with chocolate/cinnamon sauce...gained 3 1/2 lbs that day.......then kept strictly low carb this past week. I weighed in this morning...one week after the refeed...and have lost 2 1/2 lbs of the gain. I understand this next week is the crucial one....will I continue to lose? Time will tell, I guess.

In the mean time...I think I should probably get my thyroid checked again. I'm going to see if I can talk my doctor into changing my levothyroxine to its equivalent in Armour (which is natural...and includes T3).

BTW...I just bought some coconut oil.....


:D

[ItsTheWooo]

Very interesting :)

What symptoms do you have which make you think you have a low functioning thyroid? Did you have a fast weight loss which perhaps brought this on?

Well I've lost 150 lbs now, most of it very quickly. I've been dieting for over 15 mos now.


My symptoms include:

Low basal morning temperature (this morning measured an average of 97.1 deg)
Low temp during the day (usually around low 98 degrees, just under or just over that).
Depression/depressed mood (low vitality and energy and interest in doing things due to being so tired)
Debilitating fatigue (sometimes it feels like my arms are bricks, I'm so tired all the time for no reason)
Low labido
Fertility abnormalities
Dry skin
Hair loss
Diminished interest in food (Sometimes it's so bad where I'll be hungry but I would prefer not to eat because I just don't have any desire to)
Low metabolic rate (I have to eat extremely little to see palpable fat loss)

These are symptoms associated with dieting too much, but in reality they are starvation induced hypothyroid symptoms. Starvation is a dirty word on a weight loss board, but in reality all a diet is is self-imposed starvation. It is purposeful energy restriction designed to get your body to catabolize its own fat mass... regardless of intentions, dieting is no different in practice from going through light starvation. Your body doesn't know the difference between desirable weight loss and undesirable weight loss. It is programmed from years of adaption to cyclical bouts of feast and famine to think losing too much of itself is a bad thing. When your body sees too much fat loss it thinks "I'm starving" and adapts as needed.



I've been stalled for 2 years and no matter how I tweak my WoE, I still keep coming back to the same old 160 (I'm 5'6). I lost the first (and only) 15 pounds on low carb over 1 year, so it wasn't a fast loss by any means.

In fact, I believe I have been hypo for many years (I have a host of other minor symptoms pointing to that) and now I'm treating myself with a comprehensive multivit (to get enough iodine and selenium and B vits, etc) and I'm doing an experimental regime with Virgin Coconut Oil. The signs are promising so far, but its a very long haul ... :rolleyes:
Do your lab results show hypothyroidism (low T3 & T4 and/or high TSH)? I had my thyroid tested before starting low carb when I was 17 or 18 and the endo said it was fine then. I am fairly certain if I were to be retested I would have depressed thyroid hormone levels. I just have too many of the symptoms now to not have a somewhat debilitated thyroid.

Like I said in my first post, I'm hoping that once I begin eating more and maintaining thyroid function and metabolic rate will be restored on its own... I don't want to take drugs for something I did to myself and am capable of changing.

[Katy131]

Do your lab results show hypothyroidism (low T3 & T4 and/or high TSH)? I had my thyroid tested before starting low carb when I was 17 or 18 and the endo said it was fine then. I am fairly certain if I were to be retested I would have depressed thyroid hormone levels. I just have too many of the symptoms now to not have a somewhat debilitated thyroid.

Like I said in my first post, I'm hoping that once I begin eating more and maintaining thyroid function and metabolic rate will be restored on its own... I don't want to take drugs for something I did to myself and am capable of changing.

I had my thyroid tested about 5 years ago (before I was lc and before I had educated myself about all this) and it was "normal". When I had a chol test earlier this year, my TSH was done as a matter of course and when I got hold of the breakdown, it was 2 (highest on the normal scale is 3), so I can see if I wanted my Dr to test my thyroid she would not be so inclined.

I do have a high cholesterol, however, of about 7.2 (which is about 280 translated), which is indicative of low thyroid function, but luckily my HDL and trigs are very good, which makes all my ratios fall into the right bracket. My Dr wanted to put me on statins but I managed to persuade her not to, and as I am not into conflict :rolleyes: I also do not want to go back in there and start an argument about thyroid either!

To be honest, although I have a whole list of minor symptoms, they are just that - minor. I have other hypo friends who are VERY sick with this, and I am just not. My symptoms include:

Low early morning basal body temp (averaging 97 over a monthly cycle, and has gone down to as low as 96.2)
Slow heartbeat (sometimes as low as 56 per min)
Lack of concentration, short term memory probs - not able to find the word, etc
Unexplained high cholesterol (despite lc for 3 years)
Part of my left eyebrow is missing
Difficulty losing weight despite lc
Tiny muscle cramps in lower legs/thighs and sometimes arms
Sleepiness in the afternoons (despite lc)
Cravings in the evenings

I'm sure there are more, but because of my memory problems, I can never remember them all at once! Anyway, you can see they are not serious probs, just annoyances, which makes me feel I might be able to sort the problem myself through nutritional medicine (in which I have become a great believer). You can be sure that if I was to get very sick with this, I would go to the Dr for medication. Like you, I want to try to treat myself in the first instance.

[HoserLC]

The last time I lost weight low-carbing I eventually stalled after about 50 lbs off. My morning temp was 96.5, my eyebrows had disappeared, and my skin was dry and cracking. Yep, I'd say my thyroid had figured out what was going on. And I think the whole "excercise more to keep your metabolism high so your thyroid doesn't shut down" theory is just wishful thinking. Sooner or later your thyroid senses the lipolysis and shuts down.

[Katy131]

The last time I lost weight low-carbing I eventually stalled after about 50 lbs off. My morning temp was 96.5, my eyebrows had disappeared, and my skin was dry and cracking. Yep, I'd say my thyroid had figured out what was going on. And I think the whole "excercise more to keep your metabolism high so your thyroid doesn't shut down" theory is just wishful thinking. Sooner or later your thyroid senses the lipolysis and shuts down.

Interesting. So are you saying it's the long term ketosis that slows down the thyroid or the constant restriction on food? I ask because my lc woe doesn't include ketosis yet I am experiencing low thyroid function. Also, on a lc woe we don't really restrict intake of food, just the types of food.

[ItsTheWooo]

The last time I lost weight low-carbing I eventually stalled after about 50 lbs off. My morning temp was 96.5, my eyebrows had disappeared, and my skin was dry and cracking. Yep, I'd say my thyroid had figured out what was going on. And I think the whole "excercise more to keep your metabolism high so your thyroid doesn't shut down" theory is just wishful thinking. Sooner or later your thyroid senses the lipolysis and shuts down.
I agree. If anything it would only make matters worse by putting even more demand on the body for fuel.

Metabolic slowdown with dieting is just a fact of life. Your body thinks its starving and shuts down. I think people should take maintenence breaks when they aren't losing any longer, or perhaps eat above maintenence for a little while, which should help.

[enmuffins]

Yes from what I've read on the Calorie Restriction Diets this is what happens as a result of restricting calories. On those lists I read members approving of this as it means to a longer lifespan. My own hypothyroidism seemed to get more severe and in need of medication as I put on 10 extra lbs. I will be in the same quandary - when I've eventually lost those 10 lbs. IOW wondering if its an dis/advantage. What is said in the quote below is what I have read.

Canary Peg

Here's how I understand it.

Leptin regulates the thyroid. Losing weight and being in a pervasive state of negative energy balance (fat always leaving the cells & fat never entering the cells i.e. a low carb diet) lowers leptin. When your body perceives low leptin this signals starvation. It adapts in many ways, one of which is by lowering thyroid function.

"Starvation mode" is often thought of as this magical threshold you cross when you do something like eat below your basal metabolism, or don't eat 10xs your weight, or some other arbitrarily defined value of what constitutes starvation level calories. In reality, whether or not your body perceives starvation has very little to do with how much you're eating and more to do with how much you're eating relative to how much you're burning. In other words, the rate of catabolic fat and muscle loss determines whether or not your body begins adapting to starvation. Furthermore, there is no such thing as "starvation mode" as it is not a black and white binary state to be in; there are many degrees of exhibiting starvation symptoms, parallel to the many degrees of fat loss.

The fact of the matter is your body views weight loss as starvation, and it adapts to it like it would starvation. How dramatically your body adapts depends entirely on how dramatic the weight loss. If you lost a lot of weight and you lost it very quickly (big caloric deficits) you will have more severe symptoms than someone who lost slowly. The slow loser who is making very small caloric deficits will likely not have symptoms strong enough to recognize as hypothyroid.

Now the question is, if you are a dieter and are suffering from signs of starvation related hypothyroidism, how do you go about changing this? Logically it seems that a refeed day, taking a few days off to do higher carb and above maintenance calories would be sufficient to raise leptin levels and restore thyroid function. It also seems logical that you should stop trying to force your body to make such huge caloric deficits and begin eating more. However, these are just theoretical treatment options. In reality, I believe I have low functioning thyroid related to weight loss (possibly reinforced by soy consumption), and I don't know what to do about it. I am going to try forcing myself to eat more food and carbs (and less soy products) and see if that helps, but for all I know this might be permanent damage to my thyroid and I might need drug treatment.