I have so struggled with weight gain since taking Carbimazole. I have been taking it for 18 months now and despite being quite fit and constant daily exercise, I am not losing it and struggling to keep my weight down.I am a size 10 to 12 but recently found that I was moving to just the size 12 and had to revamp my wardrobe with baggy clothes. I am so depressed about my weight and when I mention it to my consultant, his professional opinion is \"its to do with the amount of daily calories I am having\". I have just come across this forum and am so grateful to see that it is not just me and that there are real people out there with the same concerns that I am experiencing.
Hi, I have done quite a lot of research into this, it is'nt the Carbizamol that causes the weight gain its your own body setting its point at where it feels it needs to be. we have no power over this apparantley, if we dont eat enough calories it will raise the point. I'm having the same problem but think if you exersize enough at least it should eventually become muscle instead of the flab its lying down at the moment. Unfortunately at the moment if I exersize too much I feel quite ill for a few days.
I think all we can do is eat well, they say mostly veggies no bad carbs and plenty of protein.
Depressing is'nt it
I have been under treatment for oveactive thyroid for a year now and have been prescribed carbimazole and I definetlly have gained 11/2stones since starting it.I am now waiting for a date to have radio active iodine treatment and I am hoping I will lose weight when it is over and I no longer have to take carbimazole.Has anyone out there had this treatment I would love to know how you got on. Alice in wonderland
hi i've been on the carbimazole for 8 months and have gained 2 1/2 STONE.. and I have never been so misrable, I have been told that the weight will drop off as fast as it came on once i stop taking the tablets. in another 10 months.. goodness only knows how big i will be by then.. no one seems intersted in the weigh gain its all about the thyroid.. I too have been advised about the radioactive iodine treatment, but was told it may kill the thyroid all together and leave me with an underactive thyroid and the weight.. surely someone has been through this and came out the other end happy and healthy and back to their normal weight.. Please say it can be done???
Thanks for your reply and I do feel sorry for you as I also feel miserable cos of my weight gain.I understand that once I have the radio-active iodine treatment that they then can control my thyroid with thyroxine and I will not be taking carbimazole .I am hoping that this will be the answer and I will be feeling a lot better than I have been for a year now.I would love to hear from anyone who has had this procedure.Good luck
Hi everyone
Well I have had some developments since I made my original posts. Thankfully I had responded really well tto my treatment and I am now down to one tablet. I have had my blood test today and hopefully if my
levels are the same as they have been now for about 5 months that will be the end of my treatment next
week once I see the consultant. But this story did not go without heartache. 18 months into my treatment my levels were increasing. I was told that now the 18 months were up my options were either radio active treatment or surgery. My family agonized about both and surgery seemed to definately be out of the
equation. Then my partner said he had seen a film on tv about a similar case and that the person opted for herbal medicines.
I was all for trying anything, and it did not go without the cost. It was very expensive and at the time I was
fortunate enough to be able to afford the treatment. I went through a course of 6 weeks of all sorts of
potions and when I then went for my next blood test I was over the moon when I was told that my levels
were improving and that the reduced my tablets by one, so I was on three a day. I continued on my
herbals believing they were working for me. But then I hit a few financial difficulties and couldn't afford to
continue buying the herbals. I began at the gym and was working out regularly. On my next appointment my levels had improved again and I was taken down to 2 tablets a day and I have been regularly training and my levels have got better to the point of where I am of 1 tablet. My weight really got me down and only when I started taking the herbals I started to notice a slight change. I am now still training regular and my dosage has been reduced and I am now down to a size 8 from the size 12 where I was when I started
the course of Carbimazole 2 years ago. I really do know how down the weight gain makes us feel as I
really have been there. I know its a long hard slog people but I have experienced all you have and now I my tablets had been reduced and I am taking regular exercise, fingers crossed I will be off the
medication next week. Wish me luck and good luck to you guys too.x
Well done Naz I hope you have reached the end of your problems.I was very interested in your story re iodine treatment or surgery.I dont want surgery but my consultant has assured me that the iodine treatment is usually very sucessful so I am giving it a go.After it I will only have to take thyroxine to keep my thyroid levels ok so with any luck without the carbimazole I should start losing weight and go back to normal . Good luck next week I will be interested in how you get on.By the way I am going to look into the herbal treatment you talked about.
Alice in Wonderland......please please do your research on surgery and Rai, google both those methods, you dont have to go there. Weight gain on Carbizamol is nothing compared to post RAI.
Please google RAI and weight gain read the forums they are scary, you stand a really good chance of reaching remission on Carbizamol, the weight gain is not the drug it is your thyroid levels normalising. You will have a constant battle
I have looked into quite a few sites re RAI treatment and all seems positive.I hope I am going in the right direction with this. Any one else out there with an opinion or experience of it regarding weight lose ETC!
Hey Alice in Wonderland. I finally done it. I got the ' All Clear' today and I am so happy. I wish you all the success in the RAI, if that's the route you have chosen to take. I genuinely hope all goes well for you. Best
Wishes. And for anyone else out there who may just be diagnosed with the overactive thyroid I managed to
beat the surgeons who wanted to do the RAI and surgery to remove the thyroid so heart of heart I do believe
it can be done, but I did have the herbals which started to reduce my levels and then going to the gym
regular really showed an improvement, if you can try other methods before opting for RAI or surgery. Good
Luck.x
Well done Naz and congrats for reaching "normal" I am still waiting on my appointment for RAI I am still a bit nervous about it but I am running out of patience. I have read so many conflicting reports about it but I have to trust somebody. Put on another 2lbs last week and I cant bear to get on the scales.Surely there is an answer out there !!!!
Hey Alice in Wonderland. I so understand what you are going through with the weight gain, and I know
exactly how miserable it made me feel. Do what your heart tells you to do. I didn't really do much
research on RAI and would have opted for it as a choice if my levels stayed as they were.
The only reason I put off at that moment is that I have children in close proximity to me in what
I do, so I had to put that option on hold for a while. There are always going to be positives and
negatives in anything we do so follow your heart. You know I used to be so upset about gaining the
weight but I just started wearing more baggier clothes rather then trying to fit into my normal stuff and I
felt better by doing this. And the biggest thing for me not worrying about my weight later on was that I
realised that no matter what I couldn't change putting on the weight, it wasn't due to me over eating so
if I was to carry on worrying I would still put it on. I knew it was the medication and eventually there would
be end to it. Keep us posted. But in the meantime if you can try and even get something that will keep
your cardio going, like the wil, if you have it or even a cheap exercise dvd. I am not saying this is
guaranteed to work, but I so believe it helped me and whilst you are waiting for the RAI it may make a
difference. Good Luck.xxxx
Thanks for your answer Naz.Like you say nothing makes a difference to my weight gain And I will have to put up with it until I stop the medication.Regarding RAI I think it would suit me ok as I am a pensioner and live alone so no danger to children.I am very active and do a lot of walking as I live on the beach with lovely walks but I find I have to push myself some days as I dont always have the energy.Hopefully I wil get it sorted eventually.
Hey Alice in Wonderland. Wow living by the beach sounds like bliss. Just to let you know that I used to go for 5 mile walks everyday with my partner. Unfortunately it did not benefit me at all and my levels were still very
high. This is why I say try something for Cardio. I did normal walking but I so believe that the cardio work
helped me. I am not superfit, and I do struggle but even though I was normal walking each day it had
no real effect on my levels. I know everyone is different but I know what a battle it is when we are diagnosed
out of nowhere with having an overactive thyroid. It is a pain and I know it is a waiting game for the RAI but I wish there was more evidence to show that ways of working your levels down without the therapy. I really do appreciate how costly herbals are too but seriously if you can afford it you could try giving it a go. Let us know how you get on if you go through with the RAI. Best wishes.xx
Hi everyone hope you're all doing well. I too have Hyperthyroidism and been treated on 20mg of Carbimozole a day. First let me start by saying I lost 10 stone I was 23 stone and went down to 13 and half but though I weighed less my health was terrible. I couldn't get up off the floor or even run up the stairs I was like an elderly person going up the stairs one step at a time. Well ended up in hospital with chest pains and found out the chest pains were because my thyroid was severely hyper my TFT was 97 and also my heart rate at resting was 158 beats a minute. So enough was enough I decided to take my medication originally started off on 40 mg and 30 mg of propranolol I gained 14 pounds within the first month then another 14 in the next two month and about another 5 at Christmas so at Christmas my weight was 16 stone 4. I was taken off Propranolol and my dose lowered to 20mg of carbimozole. Anyway I've joined the gym and when I started the gym I was 16stone 13 more weight increase managed to lose 5 pounds but got weighed and now have gained another 5 pounds back. My wii scales say I weigh 17 stone 3 the gym ones say 16 13 and the electronic ones almost 18! I am seriously at breaking point. Although I'm losing inches off my body the scales keep creeping up and it's upsetting me I don't want to get back to 23 stone and the Doctors aren't understanding at all. Exercise eat well I do and nothing works. RI has also been mentioned to me but I can't have it because my partner works and I have two small children so I wouldn't be able to be within arms distance of them all the time because they are clingy. It helps to see that you have all gone through the same thing. I'm so sad and its affecting my relationship. 
Hi Everyone Sorry for the silence from me but I am still patiently waiting for my date for RAI treatment.Shouldnt be long now I hope. Meantime I do feel sorry for you Mell-bells re your weight gain after doing so well losing all that weight .I have put on another 8 lbs this past month and I cant bear it. I am convinced it is the Carbimozole as I have been on 20 mg for the last 6 mths.My levels of tft. is down to 21 and I am hoping when I have RAI and come off Carbimozole I will lose it.Once you start to come down and they reduce you carbimozole I think your weight will level off.I have been told that nothing you do can reduce your weight until your tft is lowered.Good luck and go with it for now it will get better
Hi Mell Bells. I was really touched by your story. You really have been through it. You don't mention how long
you have been diagnosed for. I felt for you so much when I read your post because I know how miserable I was
with the weight gain, and yet as you say the doctors do not want to know. Please post how long you have
had this for. I am fortunate now that my levels are all back to normal now but I struggled with it. At my 18 month
appointment with the consultant he was so hyped up with preparing me for surgery or RI and thankfully my
partner had me on the herbals. This was the first time I started to see a change in my levels and I started
loosing a few pounds despite the fact that I was walking 5 miles every day. Because the herbals were so costly I had to start cutting down but I started going to the gym and increasing my cardio and my levels really started
to balance. It has taken me a long time to even feel any confidence with my body as the last two years have
made me feel so frumpy with the weight gain. I am a fostercarer and childminder so RI was not really an
option for me at present and when I told my consultant this he was not happy with me carrying on with the
Carbimazole but I felt the confidence in the herbals at the time so I insisted on him just keeping me on the
tablets and even managed to go down from 20mg to 15mg. There is light at the end of the tunnel and you do
say you are going to the gym so just keep it up. Forget the scales for a while. You know your body and you
say you are losing inches which is good as you are toning your body. I know its hard at the moment but I so
believed that the gym helped me with getting my levels down and just concentrate on getting better and not
your weight, I know its hard, but remember I have been there. Do you feel that you are being supported by
your partner. Just remember your partner is probably just worried about you getting better and not you gaining
the weight. And also think about it your not gaining weight because your eating loads, this is out of your control
so as soon as your levels start to balance your weight will too even though it does take a while. Keep us posted.x
I've had Hyperthyroidism for 8 years. Since I was 15. When I get told to have a trial period off the tablets it goes rocketing up again. I was classed as been Eu-thyroid but the Doctors aren't willing to lower my dose. I see the endo every 8-10 weeks and each time its always the same keep taking your tablets don't over eat and exexercise. If I do any more exercise I'm going to become ill because the gym is taking over my life! I enjoy going though.
My partner used to be very concerned especially when they said I was almost in a thyroid storm at my last visit to A&E with the chest pains he was the one who told me to start taking the medication otherwise I wouldn't be around to see my kids grow up and so I did and yes I feel a million times better but the weight god it gets me so down! I am 5 foot 8 and are pear shaped so I don't believe I look the weight I do but my GP she is an awful women I have a slight prolapse and she wouldn't refer me to a Gynaecologist until I lose weight seriously as if I'm not trying.
I've started the slim fast diet today and hope that will help but I have a horrible feeling this is going to be how it is all my life. If I don't take my tablets it goes hyper again if I do then I have a constant uphill battle of trying to lose weight sometimes I go to the gym just so I don't gain.
I feel though that my thyroid levels might be up again because I'm feeling shaky and jittery and anxious again.
Thank you so much for your replies its helped. xx
Hi all, I have just recovered from a thyrotoxic storm, I was diagnosed with hyperthyroidism and the hospital took out my tonsils which the stress of the surgery caused the storm. I have been told by my doctor that my thyroid should have been under control before they operated. My function blood was 69 when I had the storm and was 44 when they let me out. A few weeks ago it went down to 22 but this week is back up to 33. I haven't been back to the hospital yet, I go on 6th August. I couldn't put weight on at first and struggled, I was 8 stone 10. Now my weight is piling on, 10 stone 2, I don't know what to do,
hi all, can I ask alice in wonderland how things are going lately, I too have had the same problems with weight gain etc. im now six weeks past the radio active treatment and am feeling better. I now feel ready to fight
the weight gain, any advice. Im due to see the consultane in october so Im assuming they'll start me on the
thyroxine.