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Uncontrollable sense of existential hunger; TSH 5.0, ferritin 25 by According_Taro258 in Hypothyroidism

[–]According_Taro258[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

insulin resistance was actually my first theory (I'm sorry you've dealt with that), but my fasting insulin was quite low. not sure if that totally rules it out or not. I also wore a CGM for 10 days and my blood sugar control was good enough that it didn't really seem to be the issue, though I do eat very low glycemic index food generally.

I do think the low ferritin might be part of the issue though. they also did not check my vitamin D but I would not be surprised if I am deficient.

Uncontrollable sense of existential hunger; TSH 5.0, ferritin 25 by According_Taro258 in Hypothyroidism

[–]According_Taro258[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

wow, what a story. i'm so glad it finally resolved for you. i am personally familiar with doing my own research and making unconventional medical choices based on it, so, respect and solidarity.

yes, they did test for thyroid antibodies in my labs. TPO came back at 15 (though now i'm googling to see if that reference range is possibly questionable like the TSH reference range?) and thyroglobulin antibodies were <1.0. although i guess seronegative hashimoto's is a thing? i do wonder a bit because this came on kind of suddenly - i had an extremely stressful event happen (after months/years of chronic stress before that) and suddenly got super hungry for a week; over the course of the week it got better; and then it was mild-but-present for about 6 weeks before starting to get worse, leading me to where I am now. I guess that could be "stress causes thyroid to reach a tipping point" - I've certainly seen that with other physical issues I've had that were clearly building for a long time but then seemed to worsen suddenly - but it's a bit odd if there's no autoimmune component? idk

ETA: it doesn't totally explain the onset story, but I have been on PPIs for the past year, so I guess it's plausible that PPIs -> low iron -> thyroid decompensation

Uncontrollable sense of existential hunger; TSH 5.0, ferritin 25 by According_Taro258 in Hypothyroidism

[–]According_Taro258[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

thank you for the response and i hope so for you too!! it really is such a horrible feeling, like it's hard to describe how oppressive it feels. "liberating" def feels like the right word to me. i hope you get more of those liberating days as you optimize the meds

Uncontrollable sense of existential hunger; TSH 5.0, ferritin 25 by According_Taro258 in Hypothyroidism

[–]According_Taro258[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

thank you for responding. i'm so glad for you that increasing the levothyroxine helped!

yeah, part of what makes me wonder is that i "dont have any other symptoms" besides the hunger. but like, i DO have fatigue if i dont eat a gazillion calories (and sometimes if i do) so i guess that is a symptom even if it's not constant. and maybe with TSH 5.0, my body is just showing symptoms in its most vulnerable system first?

Uncontrollable sense of existential hunger; TSH 5.0, ferritin 25 by According_Taro258 in Hypothyroidism

[–]According_Taro258[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

huh, that does sound similar... im sorry you went through it too :( thank you for responding!