Have Hypothyroid. Gained Weight And Having Hair Fall. Taking Eltroxin. Any Other Test? Other Medication?

Posted on Thu, 30 May 2013

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Thu, 30 May 2013 Answered on

Thu, 20 Jun 2013 Last reviewed on

Question : I have has Hypothyroid for the past 10 years and have gained a lot of weight. Have put on 25 kilos over the last 10 years. Stamina levels have also gone down significantly and I tend to get tired very easily. I am also experiencing a lot of hair fall and hair thinning off late. The hair has become very brittle and breaks easily. I have been taking 125mg of Eltroxin regularly for a year now but the weight gain has not stopped. Do I need to do any more tests or take any other medication. My thyroid results over the years are given below:

Date     T3     T4     TSH
3-Oct-03     2.43     0.69     41.65
20-Nov-03     121     10.6     9.24
1-Mar-04     98     9.1     26.27
15-Apr-04     124     11.7     7.58
7-Aug-04     111     10     5.93
11-Aug-05     116     9.6     7.87
28-Apr-07     116     11.2     2.01
1-Mar-08     100     11.03     3.1
24-Mar-11     85.7     11.5     5.59
20-Jun-12     97     10.5     5.81

Answered by Dr. Om Lakhani (33 minutes later)

Hi XXXXXXX

Your thyroid levels are still not adequately controlled. We need to bring your TSH down to a lower level. A level of less than 2.5 is would help control your symptoms. For this we have two options

1. Either we increase your dose of thyroxine to 150 mcg which.
2. I use combination of T3 and T4 (available as Proloid) which helps in patients not contolled with thyroxine alone

Also you need to take your thyroid meds 60 min before breakfast. Avoid any other medications when you take thyroid medication.

Apart from that I would advice you to get done the following tests

1. Anti TPO antibody
2. Serum thyroglobulin

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar