Water retention/weight gain

Hi everyone,
I just stopped taking Nystatin after being on it for a little over a month and am currently taking 4 LB tonic protocol pills 3x a day. I have finally been able to work out the past couple of weeks and have mostly been running with some days of weights. I am feeling fine when working out with the exception of some joint pain and prolonged soreness after weights. However, I am noticing that my fingers/hands/wrists have been swollen and I am gaining weight. Very frustrating since I am working out more than I used to and eating healthier. I am also detoxing a lot more with dry brushing, detox baths, drinking a lot of water and taking activated charcoal. Does anyone know the cause of the swelling or weight gain and how to prevent it?

I notice the swelling as soon as I wake up in the morning. It just feels like tightness is my fingers and I notice my fitbit is tight on my wrist as well. Typically as the day goes on, it starts to go down some. I thought it could be due to muscle but I am not using weights all that much and am noticing not only is the weight on the scale increasing but my clothes have been tighter as well.

I have had them checked before I started treating for Lyme which was in March. My T4 free was 1.13 and my Tri-iodothyronine free was 3.4. I am thinking I should get them checked again since starting treatment and because my mom and sister have hypothyroidism.

BritniMBC92 said...
I have had them checked before I started treating for Lyme which was in March. My T4 free was 1.13 and my Tri-iodothyronine free was 3.4. I am thinking I should get them checked again since starting treatment and because my mom and sister have hypothyroidism.

Hon

If the reference ranges your lab uses is the same most labs use, I'm sorry to tell you that you've been dealing with hypothyroidism since at least March.

Here's how people share labs on thyroid forums and I'll use your results and list them with most common reference ranges:

Free T4: 1.13 (range .8 - 1.8)

Free T3: 3.4 (range 2.0 - 4.4)

Looking at it this way, you can see that your FreeT4 level is closer to the low end of the range than the high end of the range.

Just to give you an example of a healthy level: my 87 y/o mother doesn't have thyroid issues and her lab uses the .8 - 1.8 range. Her FreeT4 level is 1.58. I'm sure you're much younger than my mother so I'd expect your healthy level to be even higher than my mother's

And, most healthy people have FreeT3 levels at least 3.8 and often higher.

The thyroid is the master regulator of all body systems. Thyroid hormone is the gas that powers our cells. If the thyroid isn't working right, the body isn't working right. All of the Lyme-savvy reading I've done indicates the need to maximize thyroid function during treatment....and it only makes sense to do so even if Lyme wasn't in the picture.

I hope you'll "talk thyroid" with your LLMD....

I just called my doctor and she thinks my T4 and T3 levels are normal and that it could be my adrenals. I am still not convinced that I don't have hypothyroidism especially since it runs in my family. I have an appointment for next week and asked if I should do blood work before and she said no. I did look back at my labs and my DHEA was 61.5 (range 110 - 431.7) which I think is for adrenals. I guess I just don't associate weight gain and swelling with adrenal fatigue.

Thank you cd3764 for all of your help! I am going to my LLMD Oct. 8th and will hopefully get more answers from her then!

I had just been on Nystatin for a month and a half to treat the Candida and ended it 2 days ago. It did help with the bloating but I am still having water retention/swelling in my fingers, hands and ankles

In my quest to find out what has been wrong with me for the past 6-7 ish years, the ONLY labs that ever came back abnormal were low free T3 and low vit D, which led me to my chiro who is just starting some holistic tx... and they recommended adrenal testing which showed complete adrenal exhaustion and low DHEA , then on  to the MD that tested CD-57 that was low and then igenex test that was igenex and CDC pos for lyme.  In 7 years those were the only test in thousands of dollars of test that were ever abnormal....... with weight gain being one of biggest issues I've had. I also have a family hx of graves disease and hypothyroidism ( my father and paternal aunt) :/ 

Went back to the doctor today. She is re-checking my DHEA, TSH, T3, T4, Cortisol, Thyroid ab, and c-reavtive protein. Thinks my adrenal glads aren't functioning and is really worried about the swelling in my hands after showing her a picture of how they look in the mornings, but doesn't know the cause.