# Thyroid and Carbohydrates



## AnnaBell (Nov 2, 2016)

Can lack of optimized thyroid levels affect one's ability to tolerate/digest carbohydrates? Eating carbohydrates, even if complex (which I eat a lot of), seems to make me become tired, irritable, anxious, and generally on edge. It also seems to give me headaches and a runny/stuffy nose. I frequently don't feel hungry until after I actually eat something. I've tried eating a low-carb diet but it's quite difficult and inevitably doesn't last. I crave carbs frequently but try to combat it by adding protein and/or fat because I know too many carbs isn't healthy and will make me feel bad. I also have a history of an eating disorder, so completely cutting out certain foods is not a great option for me.

My labs from 2 weeks ago were TSH 0.5 (range 0.3-5), FT3 2.7 (2.3-4.2), FT4 1.18 (0.71-1.85). My Levothyroxine was raised 8 weeks ago to 75 mcg. Before that, I was on 50 mcg Synthroid and my TSH was 2.19 but FT3 & FT4 were pretty much the same. I have also been on 5 mcg Cytomel since July.

Other issues include constipation, fatigue, apathy, dizziness, vision blacking out when standing up too quickly, and lack of exercise tolerance but that may be beside the point...


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## Lovlkn (Dec 20, 2009)

Your symptoms might just be tied to being under medicated.

Most feel best with lab results falling somewhere between 1/2 - 3/4 of the range for FT-4 and FT-3.

Season changes seem to have an impact on how we feel as well.

Constipation is a common side effect when under medicated as are fatigue, apathy. The others sound like low sugar or low blood pressure.

I'm no doctor - I speak from my experiences.


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## AnnaBell (Nov 2, 2016)

Thanks for your response, Lovlkn! I am surprised that my endo did not say anything about increasing my Cytomel when he sent me my lab results but that is one of the first questions I will ask him when I see him next week. I was wondering if low FT3 can result in an intolerance to carbohydrates.


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## my3gr8girls (Mar 18, 2016)

When I was in a hypothyroid state carbs made me feel awful too. Mostly I just felt very bloated and miserable after eating them. That problem noticeably disappeared once my hypothyroidism was under control.


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## Lovlkn (Dec 20, 2009)

Ditto on thoughts posted above.

I struggled with constipation and fatigue until I got my labs in a better place. Felt my digestion as a whole was impacted due to low thyroid levels.


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