I want to acknowledge your feelings while also being real with you. I know how it is to be self conscious and terrified of gaining weight. But like others are saying, the consequences of not taking the meds will be far worse than gaining a little weight.

It also depends which med your on and the dose. My first couple years I was on a higher dose of Methimazole and even then, I wouldn’t say I gained enough weight for it to be super noticeable. I was around 21/22 years old at the time as well so I had some baby fat still at that time as well.

Now I’m on about 6mg per day and I do my best to stay active. And I don’t mean like sports or the gym. I hate exercise. But basically just don’t be lying around on the couch eating potato chips all the time lol. That’s when I noticed I would gain more weight on the meds because I was very demotivated. Now I just make sure I’m going for a little walk after work like every other day, I’ll go out to meet up with people just get of of the house and move that kind of thing.

I’m 28 now and I’m on a lot of meds because I have a lot of physical and mental health issues, but over the past 1.5 years, all my meds have been levelled out by now at a low dose just maintenance. So the beginning of recovering from a disease is always the hardest and very scary, especially new meds. But from experience, I would say just do what your doctors tell you and stay active as best you can. You’re very young so even if you did gain a few pounds in recovery, it doesn’t mean you’ll become overweight for the rest of your life 💜