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BrynGlas

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Hi, I am female, 67 years of age,

My brother diagnosed type 1 as a young adult, his son, (my nephew) and my grandson both diagnosed at the age of 3 years.

Mother and father both type 2, though not overweight

My 1st cousin is coeliac

I had low thyroid diagnosed about 24 years ago. I take Levothyroxine 150 mcg daily. I have not found it easy to lose weight despite the thyroxine. I was 10st 3lbs for many years until I started going through the menopause in my 40's and everything went pear shaped from then.

I tried HRT, a couple of different ones which didn't work. Until I tried one which added 2 stones to my weight in the 1st couple of weeks and they would not allow me to try any more, I was banned from HRT because of that weight gain.

I am a member of ThyroidUk and with their help I hope to get myself better controlled, currently waiting for my blood test results to arrive from my GP. I have never been given or shown my results to date.

I will then start private blood tests, because the NHS apparently only like to test for TSH and T4, apparently I need the lot doing.

And because of the auto immune family history, there is a good chance that I might have Hashimoto's disease, auto immune, attacks the thyroid apparently.

I am 12st 12lbs in weight, can't lose weight, which I put down to my low thyroid.

I am also Epileptic taking Levatiracetum 1,000mg daily, controlled well at the moment. I am under the care of the Walton Centre Liverpool, which has a satellite clinic at my local outpatients department, Bangor, North Wales weekly.

I have tried to lose weight very often and failed, though I have had periods over the years when I have lost weight using a diet. In 2011/2012 when I was 15 stones, I lost 3 stones dieting.

I was amazed when it worked, because I had tried many times before to lose and it hadn't worked and I had no idea why it worked this time. I didn't get there with low carb though, the only thing that got me to lose weight occasionally has been calorie vounting. 1,200 calories a day.

The 3 stones stayed off until around May-ish 2013, when I tried to keep it at bay but couldn't, it just appeared a few ounces at a time, relentlessly. I was soon 14 stones again.

January 2019, weighing 14 stones I tried again, I started to lose. I had been doing Yoga, Tai Chi and Pilates since October 2018. I started calorie counting again and began to lose weight.

I reached 12stone 5 lbs and came to a full stop. Weight started to creep on again and now I am hovering between 12st 12lbs and 13st 1 lb every day, no matter what I eat or don't eat. I try to walk for an hour every other day now, weather permitting.

I have tried low carb/high fat many times over the years. I can get into ketosis, but I simply don't lose weight. In November last year I bought myself a blood sugar monitor, because I was trying low carb again and was really determined that it had to work.

When I am determined to lose weight I take it seriously. I use a diary, an A4 book, I weigh what I eat, use a Carbs/ Calorie book to work out macros, calories, carbs, net carbs, protein, fibre etc. I have been doing this for years, whether counting carbs or calories. And for years I have been banging my head against the wall when I use the ketostix, see them turning purple, but no weight moves!!! And when counting calories and not carbs the same often happens. I gain, or stall, but can't understand why.

In November last year I began to get the most horrendous headaches when trying low carb diet again.
Neither paracetamol, nor Cocodamol touched them. I have had these on odd occasions over the years, but Cocodamol stopped them. This time I could not stop them and although I had ketones ++ I couldn't take the pain and stopped the diet.

This was when I bought my Blood Sugar Monitor, because I wondered if it was low blood sugar causing the headaches. I had had fasting blood sugar tests when I was first diagnosed epileptic in the early 80's and they said I had low blood sugar then and I had been getting these intense headaches at that time too.

I had also wondered if it was migraine over the years, but no one seemed to think it could be that.

I bought a GlucoZen.auto - which I couldn't find on your list. I was worried that I might be going along the Type 2 route.

I found that my first BM of the day, before eating or drinking was between 5. and 5.6

I would take BM throughout the day, but not every day after a while, because I have never had a reading higher than 9.0 since I bought the monitor.8

Diet - I eat low carb. I don't have high carbs such as bread, rice, potatoes, pasta, biscuits (though I am no saint there! I usually don't have them in the house) sweets etc are a no no, I always have 95% cocoa solids chocolate in the freezer for when I crave chocolate. This is all because of the diabetes side of my family history of course.

I eat all meats/offal/fish/shell fish/eggs/cheese thwt sort of high protein. Nuts and seeds too, but not overly, or regularly. I lookbat labels too. I like nut butters, but I am careful to buy brands with no palm oil or anything like that.

Vegetables I eat salads, green veggies, cauli (make my own cauli rice), aubergines, peppers, tomatoes, olives, etc etc

Fats are butter from grass fed cows, rape seed and olive oil, coconut oil, lard.

I mainly drink black coffee, sometimes with 5g of double cream in it. Or overnight I have a lemon and lime zero calorie sparkling water by my bedside.

I do drink alcohol, but not regularly. If I do it would be vodka and zero calorie coca cola. I only ever drink coke when I am out, not in the house.

I don't use things like tomato sauce etc and my one vice this way is mayonnaise, full fat, I don't do low fat anything. I usually make my own mayonnaise, but I always have Hellman's full fat mayo in the house.

I don't buy ready meals I prefer to make my own meals from scratch.

The reason why I have joined your site is that yesterday I took my BM at 9.30 am before drinking/eating and it was 6.8. I had not had such a high BM before in the morning. I had not eaten since 6.30 pm on the previous night.

This morning before getting out of bed, my first BM was 7.5 and I had not eaten since some chicken slices at 7pm last night.

Since I bought my monitor I have never been as high as 9.0 and that was only once, mainly I have beem between 6 and 7.8 max.

So, that is my sorry tale. I would ask my brother about this, but he has just had his stomach removed (cancer) so I don't want to bother him. But I don't want to go down the type 2 route if I can help it.

This very long message might confuse you - it sure confuses me - but please ask and I will try to explain if I can.
 
BrynGlas said:
Hi, I am female, 67 years of age,

My brother diagnosed type 1 as a young adult, his son, (my nephew) and my grandson both diagnosed at the age of 3 years.

Mother and father both type 2, though not overweight

My 1st cousin is coeliac

I had low thyroid diagnosed about 24 years ago. I take Levothyroxine 150 mcg daily. I have not found it easy to lose weight despite the thyroxine. I was 10st 3lbs for many years until I started going through the menopause in my 40's and everything went pear shaped from then.

I tried HRT, a couple of different ones which didn't work. Until I tried one which added 2 stones to my weight in the 1st couple of weeks and they would not allow me to try any more, I was banned from HRT because of that weight gain.

I am a member of ThyroidUk and with their help I hope to get myself better controlled, currently waiting for my blood test results to arrive from my GP. I have never been given or shown my results to date.

I will then start private blood tests, because the NHS apparently only like to test for TSH and T4, apparently I need the lot doing.

And because of the auto immune family history, there is a good chance that I might have Hashimoto's disease, auto immune, attacks the thyroid apparently.

I am 12st 12lbs in weight, can't lose weight, which I put down to my low thyroid.

I am also Epileptic taking Levatiracetum 1,000mg daily, controlled well at the moment. I am under the care of the Walton Centre Liverpool, which has a satellite clinic at my local outpatients department, Bangor, North Wales weekly.

I have tried to lose weight very often and failed, though I have had periods over the years when I have lost weight using a diet. In 2011/2012 when I was 15 stones, I lost 3 stones dieting.

I was amazed when it worked, because I had tried many times before to lose and it hadn't worked and I had no idea why it worked this time. I didn't get there with low carb though, the only thing that got me to lose weight occasionally has been calorie vounting. 1,200 calories a day.

The 3 stones stayed off until around May-ish 2013, when I tried to keep it at bay but couldn't, it just appeared a few ounces at a time, relentlessly. I was soon 14 stones again.

January 2019, weighing 14 stones I tried again, I started to lose. I had been doing Yoga, Tai Chi and Pilates since October 2018. I started calorie counting again and began to lose weight.

I reached 12stone 5 lbs and came to a full stop. Weight started to creep on again and now I am hovering between 12st 12lbs and 13st 1 lb every day, no matter what I eat or don't eat. I try to walk for an hour every other day now, weather permitting.

I have tried low carb/high fat many times over the years. I can get into ketosis, but I simply don't lose weight. In November last year I bought myself a blood sugar monitor, because I was trying low carb again and was really determined that it had to work.

When I am determined to lose weight I take it seriously. I use a diary, an A4 book, I weigh what I eat, use a Carbs/ Calorie book to work out macros, calories, carbs, net carbs, protein, fibre etc. I have been doing this for years, whether counting carbs or calories. And for years I have been banging my head against the wall when I use the ketostix, see them turning purple, but no weight moves!!! And when counting calories and not carbs the same often happens. I gain, or stall, but can't understand why.

In November last year I began to get the most horrendous headaches when trying low carb diet again.
Neither paracetamol, nor Cocodamol touched them. I have had these on odd occasions over the years, but Cocodamol stopped them. This time I could not stop them and although I had ketones ++ I couldn't take the pain and stopped the diet.

This was when I bought my Blood Sugar Monitor, because I wondered if it was low blood sugar causing the headaches. I had had fasting blood sugar tests when I was first diagnosed epileptic in the early 80's and they said I had low blood sugar then and I had been getting these intense headaches at that time too.

I had also wondered if it was migraine over the years, but no one seemed to think it could be that.

I bought a GlucoZen.auto - which I couldn't find on your list. I was worried that I might be going along the Type 2 route.

I found that my first BM of the day, before eating or drinking was between 5. and 5.6

I would take BM throughout the day, but not every day after a while, because I have never had a reading higher than 9.0 since I bought the monitor.8

Diet - I eat low carb. I don't have high carbs such as bread, rice, potatoes, pasta, biscuits (though I am no saint there! I usually don't have them in the house) sweets etc are a no no, I always have 95% cocoa solids chocolate in the freezer for when I crave chocolate. This is all because of the diabetes side of my family history of course.

I eat all meats/offal/fish/shell fish/eggs/cheese thwt sort of high protein. Nuts and seeds too, but not overly, or regularly. I lookbat labels too. I like nut butters, but I am careful to buy brands with no palm oil or anything like that.

Vegetables I eat salads, green veggies, cauli (make my own cauli rice), aubergines, peppers, tomatoes, olives, etc etc

Fats are butter from grass fed cows, rape seed and olive oil, coconut oil, lard.

I mainly drink black coffee, sometimes with 5g of double cream in it. Or overnight I have a lemon and lime zero calorie sparkling water by my bedside.

I do drink alcohol, but not regularly. If I do it would be vodka and zero calorie coca cola. I only ever drink coke when I am out, not in the house.

I don't use things like tomato sauce etc and my one vice this way is mayonnaise, full fat, I don't do low fat anything. I usually make my own mayonnaise, but I always have Hellman's full fat mayo in the house.

I don't buy ready meals I prefer to make my own meals from scratch.

The reason why I have joined your site is that yesterday I took my BM at 9.30 am before drinking/eating and it was 6.8. I had not had such a high BM before in the morning. I had not eaten since 6.30 pm on the previous night.

This morning before getting out of bed, my first BM was 7.5 and I had not eaten since some chicken slices at 7pm last night.

Since I bought my monitor I have never been as high as 9.0 and that was only once, mainly I have beem between 6 and 7.8 max.

So, that is my sorry tale. I would ask my brother about this, but he has just had his stomach removed (cancer) so I don't want to bother him. But I don't want to go down the type 2 route if I can help it.

This very long message might confuse you - it sure confuses me - but please ask and I will try to explain if I can.
Click to expand...

Hello, and welcome,

Couple of questions, (and sorry if you already answered them but my migraine meds are kicking in, so I'm not very clear headed.). The headaches you got when you went into ketosis might have been keto-flu? Is that possible? Carbs hold on to a lot of fluids, so when you cut those, you end up urinating a whole lot for a few days up to two weeks. And with the urine you flush out a lot of electrolytes as well, meaning you become dehydrated. It can cause some killer headaches, beside muscle/joint aches, nausia and whatnot. Key there is bone broth and coconut milk/water. Get those electrolytes back up to par. Just in case it happens again.

If you're familiar with low blood sugars, you might have had RH: Reactive Hypoglycemia. It's when your pancreas pumps out more insulin than you actually need after a very carby meal, so you hypo a few hours later. A lot of people with RH develop T2 later on, because they make a lot of insulin and thus, become insensitive to it. that's when it becomes T2.

Yay for making your own mayo. I tried it, but I suck in the kitchen, so have to buy mine, haha. :)

Most important bit of this post: Your fasting blood glucose doesn't tell us much, though it is slightly on the higher side than where it should be, that could easily be dawn phenomenon (The liver dumping glucose to give you energy to start the day). What you want to know is how you respond to food. Test before a meal and 2 hours after the first bite. Since you're already eating low carb you will probably not cross the 2 mmol/l threshold (You don't want a bigger difference than that between the two readings). But that's the one you want to keep an eye on. Also, if you have doubts because of your family history, ask your GP for a HbA1c test. That's the average for about 2 months worth of blood glucose. Getting your levothyroxine dosage right will also help with your blood sugar control.

I stopped losing weight, and I don't know whether it's because I've turned 40, almost 41 now (Hello, peri-menopause!) or because I am getting my macro's wrong... I have been checking lately and I am going well over my protein limit, every day, even with just the 2 meals I have. So I'm doing this puzzle too, you're certainly not alone there! There's a thousand reasons why keto might not be working...
goes through a few, as well as their solutions. Do you practice IF?

Anyway... I hope you'll get some workable answers. And again, welcome!
Jo
 
JoKalsbeek said:
Hello, and welcome,

Couple of questions, (and sorry if you already answered them but my migraine meds are kicking in, so I'm not very clear headed.). The headaches you got when you went into ketosis might have been keto-flu? Is that possible? Carbs hold on to a lot of fluids, so when you cut those, you end up urinating a whole lot for a few days up to two weeks. And with the urine you flush out a lot of electrolytes as well, meaning you become dehydrated. It can cause some killer headaches, beside muscle/joint aches, nausia and whatnot. Key there is bone broth and coconut milk/water. Get those electrolytes back up to par. Just in case it happens again.

If you're familiar with low blood sugars, you might have had RH: Reactive Hypoglycemia. It's when your pancreas pumps out more insulin than you actually need after a very carby meal, so you hypo a few hours later. A lot of people with RH develop T2 later on, because they make a lot of insulin and thus, become insensitive to it. that's when it becomes T2.

Yay for making your own mayo. I tried it, but I suck in the kitchen, so have to buy mine, haha. :)

Most important bit of this post: Your fasting blood glucose doesn't tell us much, though it is slightly on the higher side than where it should be, that could easily be dawn phenomenon (The liver dumping glucose to give you energy to start the day). What you want to know is how you respond to food. Test before a meal and 2 hours after the first bite. Since you're already eating low carb you will probably not cross the 2 mmol/l threshold (You don't want a bigger difference than that between the two readings). But that's the one you want to keep an eye on. Also, if you have doubts because of your family history, ask your GP for a HbA1c test. That's the average for about 2 months worth of blood glucose. Getting your levothyroxine dosage right will also help with your blood sugar control.

I stopped losing weight, and I don't know whether it's because I've turned 40, almost 41 now (Hello, peri-menopause!) or because I am getting my macro's wrong... I have been checking lately and I am going well over my protein limit, every day, even with just the 2 meals I have. So I'm doing this puzzle too, you're certainly not alone there! There's a thousand reasons why keto might not be working...
goes through a few, as well as their solutions. Do you practice IF?

Anyway... I hope you'll get some workable answers. And again, welcome!
Jo
Click to expand...
 
Hello and welcome,

You have a lot going on. I don't really have any answers for you sorry.

I have recently gone down to one meal a day- mostly because I can't find a breakfast I like with very low carbs and am temporarily sick of the salad for lunch. I have noticed that my weight loss has restored/increased. I don't do it every day but when I am busy at work it doesn't seem too much of an effort. My weight loss is much much lower or nil when I have a whole week eating two or three times a day.

Not sure that that is helpful and I don't have your other conditions.

Welcome to the site and I hope someone can find some answers or things to try.

Good luck.
 
@BrynGlas - I'm another of those folks with a wonky thyroid, although my hypothyroidism follows a few years after my T2 diagnosis, so I'm the other way around to you.

The frustrating thing is that if your hypothyroidism isn't well managed and medicated (I don't think I'm quite there myself yet), your journey to great health will be hampered somewhat, as out thyroids are a major contributor to our overall metabolic health.

I'm also one of those hateful people who lost weight easily, even though I didn't have masses to lose, and am now a very slight old girl. For me, weight gain wasn't a symptom of my hypothyroidism.

I don't know how far along you might be in your overall reading on things, but there is an altering view that in those with metabolic challenges, weight gain and insulin resistance are symptoms of what's going on, not necessarily any horrendous bad habits or eating patterns.

As you have doubtless been told on ThyroidUK (are you using the HealthUnlocked portal - I'm a member there too. :) ), it is important to have your blood test results. Another person's fine I see not necessarily aligned to our own, and where our metabolic health is concerned, just being in range doesn'talways quite cut the mustard.

My advice to you would be to stick with cutting the carbs. The headaches (thankfully I've never been a sufferer, but will tag my colleague @Goonergal to comment on those) should hopefully ease as your body gets used to your new eating regime.

Take it steady. I wouldn't be too surprised if you find that here's work to be done on your thyroid, vitamins (like D, B12, Ferritin and Folate), as well as your diabetes, but don't panic, a lot of those things tend to go hand in hand, so it'll be fine.

I can't comment on your epilepsy, as I have absolutely no experience of it.

So, I would suggest your next steps are trying to limit your cards, collecting lots of data (what y ou eat and your blood glucose numbers surrounding that, and gathering up your blood results from your GP.

I'm sure the good folks on ThyroidUK will help you understand your full thyroid bloods when you have them done.

You are now on two great places. I always say ThyroidUK is just as great, in terms of information sharing, guidance and support as here, except a different, but equally challenging subject matter.

Stick with us. You'll be fine.
 
Thanks for the tag @DCUKMod

Hi @BrynGlas and welcome to the forum.

Sorry you’re struggling so much and have so much to deal with. So far as the headaches are concerned, I’ve been a lifelong migraine sufferer and was treating 6-8 a month on diagnosis a little over 3 years ago. Initially when I switched to a ketogenic diet (went pretty much cold turkey) they got worse and I really struggled - guess it was keto-flu on top of the existing condition. Gradually they improved to the point that it is now 2 years and 6 months since my last migraine.

Looking back it’s clear that swings in blood sugar levels played a major role in my headaches. Having been under a consultant for many years, he mentioned on discharging me from the care of the hospital that there is some evidence to support the use of ketogenic diets for migraines.

It’s also interesting as you mention epilepsy. Ketogenic diets are sometimes used to manage epilepsy in children and certainly in my case many of the prophylactic drugs used for migraine are primarily treatments for epilepsy, so that might be an avenue worth exploring.

Please do stick around and keep us updated, this is a great place for support and learning.
 
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