Type 2 Low-Carb, Hashimoto's, and hypo's.

[JoKalsbeek]

Hi people,


I've been thinking a lot about low carb and what goes wrong for me, because it seems, something does go wrong, somewhere. At the moment I eat between 80 and 100 grams of carbs a day, no diabetes medication, no insulin. (The diabetes consultant recommended 125 grams, the dietician 100, so I'm usually a little lower than they think I should be...). That's weekdays, when I am relatively inactive, and I hover between 4,5 and 8, just about. Over the weekend I have to up the intake (hello occasional treats!) when we're out and about, walking uneven terrain and carrying about a few Canons with heavy lenses. I eat every three hours, six times a day, but when I have an active day like that, that just isn't enough. I will have to take in more, preferably before the shakes hit and my legs turn to jelly. But I don't always notice how low I've gotten until I'm already at a point where a quick soup 'll get pushed up my nose instead of in my mouth. I'm shaking so badly, I can't aim my utensils! Reading here that people stick with a 30 gram diet had me puzzled: my sugar drops too far, too fast to even consider that an option, and I don't go into ketosis, far as I can tell. Just keep burning off the sugar until I drop, I guess. I have lost weight since I’ve changed my diet, and slowly continue to do so, and my HbA1c was 38 at the last check… So I’m quite happy far as that’s concerned. But I am terrified of hypo’s now, because they do tend to happen over the (active) weekends; I have nightmares and everything. So today I hit Google again, but it was only helpful insofar that people with “thyroid issues” might not go into ketosis, but it didn’t say why, or what to watch out for. I have Hashimoto’s, my thyroid’s been on it’s lazy ass for well over a decade. But when I visit websites it’s just people shouting that the thyroid and low-carbs can or cannot affect each other in a certain way, preaching their own dogma with no research linked to back it up, one way or another. It just gets very confusing and frustrating. Is it just me? Because I know diabetes is a very person-specific condition, but heck… With auto-immune diseases rarely coming alone, there must be Hashimoto/Diabetics out there who may know what is going on?


Thanks for your time… And I’m sorry if this has come up before, I just can’t seem to find answers…

Jo

 

[librarising]

@JoKalsbeek is your thyroid being treated ? I also have Hashimotos, but never came across any issues with lowcarb.
In my opinion GPs know less about thyroid issues than diabetes. Most GPs treat to the TSH test, and worry little about FT3 and FT4. My GP keeps telling me I'm overtreating my condition because the TSH is (for him) scarily low., but then he didn't have the awful fatigue. Starting T4 I saw an improvement followed by return of symptoms, repeated each time I increased the dose. I'm currently experimenting with Natural Dessicated Thyroid (a mixture of T4 andT3)
Geoff

 

[JoKalsbeek]

@JoKalsbeek is your thyroid being treated ? I also have Hashimotos, but never came across any issues with lowcarb.
In my opinion GPs know less about thyroid issues than diabetes. Most GPs treat to the TSH test, and worry little about FT3 and FT4. My GP keeps telling me I'm overtreating my condition because the TSH is (for him) scarily low., but then he didn't have the awful fatigue. Starting T4 I saw an improvement followed by return of symptoms, repeated each time I increased the dose. I'm currently experimenting with Natural Dessicated Thyroid (a mixture of T4 andT3)
Geoff

Hi Geoff,

Right now I'm trying to get the levothyroxine dosage right.... Between the weightloss and my not exactly taking it as I was supposed to (on an empty stomach), my numbers got all screwed up. So first my TSH was far too high (I can't remember if it was 6 or 8, but high anyway), and when I corrected the intake, it dropped so far my GP lowered my dosage. But after four days on the new lower dose, my thyroid got so swollen it was choking me, so I added 12,5 micrograms on my own, and I seem to be sort of okay now at 132,5 micrograms in the morning... My heart isn't going crazy because it's too high, and I'm not getting too chocked because it's too low, so at the moment I have to just keep this up for a while and get my blood tested again soon. I always get the impression that my specialist just wants to get rid of me, she's always referring me back to the GP, who then refers me back to the specialist... I feel like a bl**dy ping pong ball sometimes. And since people are difficult for me to deal with, I just let things be, no matter the consequences for my health. Otherwise I wouldn't've been an undiagnosed diabetic for so long... (Years). Haven't seen anyone for the rheumatism since 2012, and walked around with an IUD which was being rejected for 6 months. (Turned out I was having contractions that whole time. No wonder it hurt so much.). I am SO the wrong person to get ill. Getting diabetes with all the regular checks seemed like a big cosmic joke, really; I felt all the appointments were worse than the disease itself. I'll talk to the doc about possibly changing meds, or maybe going back to the specialist (sigh), if this new dosage doesn't do it for me. I'll have to give it a chance first though. But the next check-up is about a month from now, so that should be long enough to have given it a fair go. If this doesn't get better (fatigue, I know it well!), changing it up might indeed be the way to go.

Thanks!
Jo

 

[librarising]

@JoKalsbeek I do know that sense of struggle. For years I knew something was wrong. My tiredness wasn't natural. About a decade ago my GP did tests (probably TSH), told me the results were 'fine', and I was just getting old !
Fast forward to 2012 when my GP during a diabetes check-up agreed to test for anti-bodies. They came back positive. I waited and waited. Nothing. I had to ask to be referred. It was the consultant who started me on Levothyroxine. That was the start of my journey to finding the answer to treating my symptoms (and NOT my TSH).
For the decade before T4, I just got more and more tired, and would fall easily asleep of an evening. Each day I would wake tired, then spend the day tired. Now gone, thankfully.
Geoff
p.s. my thyroid tiredness was undoubtedly mixed up with my pre-diagnosis blood sugar tiredness.

 

[JoKalsbeek]

Since I changed my levothyroxine dosage (again), I haven't hit any extreme lows anymore. So I could have lowered my carb intake a year. ago! Ah well, just happy not to get a hypo anymore if I don't eat every three hours exactly! It is so good to be a little more flexible again...!!!