Any connection between Under Active Thyroid and weight gain?

I know. I tell a lot of people that and it cheers them up no end! But it really is her experience and a friend of ours once broke a jaw and did he loose weight! Sipping soup through a straw for a couple of weeks. Unfortunately he was only 35, quite slim and had such a good appetite.

I've also heard that it's good for older women to have more body fat than when they were younger because of the fat cells' relationship to (especially female) hormone production. This helps in preventing some of the arthritic conditions, or something. Sorry, my knowledge is a bit vague, but I've seen/heard this a few times.

Both my mum and dad were very slim all their lives. As they hit their 80s they got thinner and thinner - and as said below, when they got ill they had absolutely no reserves whatsoever. They were both like mummies when they died, just bones.

Hot off the press! Saw the doctor today as I'm due to have another blood test to check thyroxine levels (I have an under-active thyroid).

She told me that latest research suggests that doctors are now being urged to lower the doses of thyroxine because there is a link between high doses and brittle bone disease. You can't win, can you?

PS: I am on 125 mc of thyroxine at the moment. I was on 150 mc. The GP will probably reduce it to 100 mc and I'll just keep piling on the pounds. Oh dear. And it's nearly time for lunch ...

Great news! My thyroid is back to normal (don't know why it was suspect in the first place ) so no need for further testing. Sounds daft but I was disappointed at first as I had convinced myself that it was the reason for my lack of weight loss [wishful thinking emoticon!] but obviously I am delighted as the experiences that some of you have had make me shudder !!!
The lack of weight loss has now to be tackled with the help of the weekly weigh-in thread!
Good luck and to all you thyroid sufferers, my heart goes out to you all.

I agree that being a bit heavier as you get older helps if you are ill. My mum who is 88 has always been very slim, unlike me! When she became depressed after her younger sister died, she virtually stopped eating and buried herself in a darkened room for months.
She eventually became so disoriented that she started falling over and then two years of broken bones and hospital visits started. She was down to nothing and we feared and assumed she would just fade away.

Then something weird happened! She had a series of mini strokes due to infections and was completely out of her head for ages poor thing.... But she seemed to forget that she didn't eat and once we got her stabilised, she started eating like there is no tomorrow and almost stuffs food in. She is eating better than she has for years, is getting stronger and has more energy. She is able to take various tablets with no problem when she has always found it difficult to swallow. She iis forgetful and still in an EMI unit but she is looking better and fighting off infections better as time goes on.

I have read the posts on underactive thyroid with interest - I have had to take thyroxine for the last 6 years and my weight gradually crept up, and I have found it very difficult to keep below 11st.
In America they apparently believe that just supplementing with thyroxine l is not enough and you need iodine supplements too.
I asked at the doctors' and the chemists and got a sort of 'you don't want to go there' brush-off with no real explanation.
I have however started using iodised salt for cooking and putting on food, and since Christmas have lost half a stone, and had to go out last week to buy a new pair of (smaller) jeans.
Of course I have no way of knowing whether my weight loss is due to the iodised salt, or the fact that I retired at Christmas and now spend most of my time gardening , walking and playing tennis
Anyone know anything about the iodine connection?

I am another Underactive Thyroid sufferer, and I put on 4 stones before I

was diagnosed. I then lost 3 stones by serious dieting, but have since put

on 2 stones again. It`s a nightmare trying to lose weight with this Thyroid

problem. It`s so much easier to put the weight on than to lose it.