I hear you and sympathize. I have thyroid problems but not Hashimoto's. Mine is just not functioning adequately. The doctor hasn't given me a name for the problem. I take Levoxyl (plus Cytomel). I'm much older than you, 58. Want to warn you that you are right to be concerned now because it will get a whole lot harder when you reach menopause. Sorry to be negative but I'm hoping to help others keep from being in denial about their weight. I buried my head in the sand and allowed myself to get to 250 lbs! I'm can assure you that the quality of life at 250 is rather poor. Also, if you are married, your poor quality of life affects your partner as well. Not good. So, I don't have a solution but want to encourage you to exercise and move. Find something that is fun that doesn't seem like too much work. If you are single, perhaps a bicyle club would be good. I have recently joined a gym and enjoy swimming 20 laps per day. Hope to move to more activity when I lose more. You might consider a gym. I'm sure you've heard of these suggestions. I'm sure you have heard others say that "you ought to be glad, things could be worse". I'm afraid I'm going to be one of those. I have a lovely friend who is quite attractive, very petite and has always been trim. I've watched her eat and she doesn't watch her food intake that much. She doesn't even like to exercise so she doesn't. But... she gets migraine headaches that cause her to become totally unable to work/play/eat for days. Lots of pain. I must say if I had to trade problems with her, I wouldn't. For some reason, recently, even with my thyroid problems, my appetite is under control and I've been able to lose weight (30 pounds lost since Januaary 04). There are lots of possible reasons. I'm trying many things. Too many to include here but want to encourage you to keep trying. One thing that seems to really help is that I eat nuts at the end of a meal to keep me from eating too much. It seems to shut down my hypothalmus gland. Overeating, quantity has been my problem. Didn't really sound like that is your problem but in case it is and you find yourself eating when you shouldn't try a small handful of nuts. I know they are relatively high in calories but on those day I eat the most nuts, I lose weight. Go figure! I don't eat salted or roasted nuts, no peanuts, but try a variety (all raw) including walnuts, macadamia, brazil, pecans and almonds. I get them at the health food store. I also am one of those weirdos who drinks 1 Tablespoon of apple cider vinegar and 1 Tablespoon of honey in a glass of water with my breakfast and also before I go to bed. I think this may help my systemic yeast problems more than weight loss but since I'm not sure why I am able to lose now and didn't use to, I thought I would include it. (you can read about this on the web. A guy named Bragg first suggested it.) You have the internet. I'm sure you have researched. Hopefully, you can find some "tricks" of your own to help you with your thyroid problems. My main advice is to not give up! Good luck. --Alice

Yes the lab report shows the "reference" scale that the lab is using. As I said the labs us different "norms". So Lab Corps has one and Quest has another and your Dr's lab in house may have another if they didn't send it off. So you do need to do a little more research with your MD. I don't know if you are seeing your GP for this or your OB-GYN as you said you have issues with pregnancy etc. I would hope that they are all working together to assist you with that issue. It is sometimes hard to find the right "tone" to take with your MD when questioning their facts . If they get defensive then you might want to consider a different MD> I am a patient advocate so I STRONGLY believe they are there to answer questions...as many as you have til you are satisfied. I will try looking up some more stuff to post to you if you would like. I am by no means a specialist but I do believe in reading and asking questions. Caroline

I had my thyroid removed about a year ago due to multiple nodules. There was no malignancy, I'm grateful to say, and the surgery was the easiest thing I could imagine. I was in hospital just overnight....little or no pain and a clean very thin scar. The meds are a little tricky sometimes, at one time, I lost almost 30 pounds (yippee)but also my nails got really funky and my hair thinned. When the doctor adjusted the dosage, I found the 30 pounds and my nails and hair improved. He keeps a close check on my numbers and adjusts the meds accordingly. Don't fear the surgery, it's a piece of cake.

I think it's just a rumor that potency varies. Most doctors don't lie Armour t. becuase there's more money to be made in the synthetic versions. Synthroid has had problems with potency. There are a lot of doctors who don't know much about thyroid disease and how to manage it, so study up on it yourself to help you to know if your doctor knows much about it. I was so ill with many of the hypo symtoms, but the MDs I went to never mentioned putting me on meds becuase my tests were within the 'normal range'. Well, normal wasn't good enough for me. Fortunately, I found someone to help me. You shouldn't have to take more than one pill a day for the dosage you need since it is sold in several diff. dosages. You're spending more money than you need to that way. A good doctor will start you on a low dose and work up to a higher one if tests indicate it.I'm going to start up on 30 mg again and see if that and my homeopathic treatments will improve my health again. The books 'What Your Doctor Didn't Tell You About Menopause' and his other book about premenopause talk about hormones and other things that help the thyroid function. There are books about thyroid disease too. Us females are complicated creatures. Remove the x if you want to e-mail me, since I'm not having much luck in opening posts on here lately. I don't know what the problem is yet, so I don't know when I'll be able to get on here again. Best of luck to you.