- This topic has 1 reply, 2 voices, and was last updated 10 years, 2 months ago by
.
-
Posts
-
I’m actually writing this for my sister, who doesn’t have a clue nor the time to do so. Anyway, when she was 19 she was diagnosed with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis after dramatically losing weight for no reason. The doc said that her body was attacking her thyroid and it was speeding up in response, hence the weight loss instead of gain. She takes synthroid and birth control and after six years absolutely cannot eat without ridiculous amounts of pain. This inludes nausea, diarrhea, and all over gastric distress. The doc has been telling her since October that it’s an intestinal virus and it should clear up, except it hasn’t and no one seems to be taking her seriously. I tried to explain my limited understanding of how thyroid and digestion are both metabolic issues, but I did not recommend refeeding because 1. it hurts so much for her to even eat (I think she has gastroparesis too) and 2. she keeps gaining weight despite eating under 1000 calories a day. Obviously, we all know why she’s gaining but whenever I’ve explained the info about metabolism I’ve learned from 180D she holds her own conversations with someone else. Honestly, there’s no way she would go off of birth control or take probiotics or really even five healing more than a couple of days, because she doesn’t want to have to think about /put work into things like fertility or health, even though she’s suffering. So it seems like it’s futile to try and help, but she’s my sister and at the very least I will satisfy my own curiosity.
Anyway, my theory is that she doesn’t eat enough to push her digestive system to work at creating the environment for good digestion, that undereating is exacerbating the issue and causing a metabolic crash that is also resulting in weight gain. (I read 180 Digestion, and tried to get her to read it, but she has a million excuses for why she can’t take charge of her health.) I was also wondering if she should take dessicated thyroid to help.
Anyone with any other theories? I know Peat did a lot of thyroid work, but I don’t know where to begin with reading about thyroid function. So suggestions for reading material would be fantastic also.
It’s certainly possible that boosting her calories (particularly carbohydrates) would improve your sister’s digestion and help her feel better. Unfortunately, it’s very unlikely you’re going to be able to convince he to try it, unless she’s the one who came to you for advice. In my own experience, I’ve learned that it’s better not to give dietary advice unless the other person expresses an interest. It can be hard when you care about a person, but she probably doesn’t want to hear it right now. If the problem continues for several more years, she might change her mind.
I’m currently experimenting with an approach to increase calorie intake without gaining weight. You can check out my thread, “A complicated recovery,” to read about it–though again, I doubt your sister will listen unless she’s reached a point where she’s open to advice.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.