Constant weight gain issues - Low energy, feel bad, unless I eat, etc....

Have you been checked for Candida?

What about parasites? Maybe with your immune system down with fighting off all the viruses and bacteria it isn't ably to fight off parasites as well. Just a thought :)

If all tests have been done and there is no medical reason found, then weight gain is just a matter of math. Amount of calories in compared to the amount of calories burned. However lyme can really mess with our metabolisms. And I think that is what happened to you.

Within the first hour of waking you need to ingest some protein. This starts the furnace in your body to burn calories. The idea is to eat lots of nutritional meals (like 6) in a day. No sugar, that is wasted calories.

When you get the eating part and drinking part (at least 8, 8 ounces of water and lemon splashes because of detoxing) then you move onto calories burned.

You cannot expect the math to work any other way. What goes in has to be used to maintain. In order to lose you have to burn more than you consume.

My husband can eat twice as much food as I can. He eats like a horse and I eat like a bird. He goes to the gym for over an hour a day. I do gentle exercising like a stationary bicycle or housework and yard work. He lifts weights and that burns his calories even when he is sleeping.

Maybe up your protein and exercise to get that metabolism working good again.

By the way, I struggle with weight and I hate it. I hate even thinking about it. And with lyme I did not want to focus on weight. I had to focus on getting well so I gained. Now that I am feeling better I will focus on the weight. It was just too hard to do both for me.

Post Edited (PeteZa) : 4/2/2016 11:50:18 AM (GMT-6)

Hi cirenep,

My ND told me that basically you are holding on to weight or gaining weight (in my case) because your body is in constant fight mode, therefore, your cortisol levels are pretty much constantly in play, causing the weight gain....mine is mostly in my belly area - and yours?

I eat well, take my supplements, now am feeling well enough to do light exercise like walking and gardening and keep my sugar and grain-carb intake to a very bare minimum.

I figure once I'm feeling really good, I will deal with the weight gain then. I gained 40 lbs in two months when I first got symptomatic with Bartonella....my total weight gain is about 60 lbs right now. Mind you, I had MONTHS of nausea and stomach upset that restricted my ability to eat. I also went through a strange food aversion thing for a few weeks that I simply couldn't eat anything that I needed to chew, so I lived on soup and smoothies (weird, yeah, I know). I know it wasn't a simple calories in/calories out thing for me, personally. When I talked to my doc, she explained it to me and it all made sense.

Your body is fighting so hard, it's doing everything it can do to keep you alive and moving. Sometimes there are repercussions to that. I just remember, everything in due time....take care of the body and later when things are going better, address the weight gain.

Good luck in your treatment,

Jenny

I echo Jennysetter and Trav. - wise words. I, too, can relate. My weight started to budge only when I completely cut out grains and dairy and upped my water, tea intake. I was hungry all the time, too, and my downfall was snacking late at night and not adhering to a "set" bedtime( insomnia). Anyway, started with baby steps and now I only have teas after supper and do not eat anything after supper, anymore, except my lyme herbs and magnesium. I hit the sack sleepy or not at 11 PM now and listen to a meditation tape after I turn the lights out - every night. I am still dragging my arse around, but that's another story.

((((((TRAV.)))))))) Thank You for the link I am going to check it out right away. I forgot to ask the doc about the adrenals and she never mentioned that. But that is a biggie for sure! XX

C. - You've been on my mind all aft'noon since I read your post. I just thought of something else - maybe you need to do a liver cleanse. I am doing one today ( gallstones and pain in stomach etc ), it will alleviate some pains if you have some and sluggishness you mention. Just a thought.

You have been given a lot of great information and reasonable avenues to pursue.

Sorry I have the need to add yet another one - I don't trust "normal" thyroid results until I've seen them myself.

"Normal" just means the results fall within the normal range. Well, lab ranges are skewed towards sick people because they are the ones getting their blood drawn most often.

Healthy people have certain types of thyroid levels.

If you'd like me to show you how to interpret your thyroid labs, please post them here with reference ranges.

And, if you're not doing so already, it's a really good idea to maintain copies of all medical test results...you never know if you need to share them with a new doctor.

If you are dealing with thyroid disease (and your symptoms indicate you could be), maintaining copies of thyroid labs is vital for successful treatment.

And thank you for your nice wishes about us all feeling better and better soon! Same to you!!!

I'm really sorry to tell you this but, you were dealing with hypothyroidism back in May 2015.

Your levels were "normal" but, your thyroid function isn't.

Please know that healthy people have TSH 1.0 or lower.

Most importantly, those same healthy people have Free T4 and Free T3 levels in the upper quarter of the reference range.

Based upon your lab's ranges, this means Free T4 of 1.6 (or higher) and Free T3 of 3.8 (or higher).

Admittedly, your Free T4 and Free T3 levels aren't all *that* much lower than what a healthy person would have.

However, if you wear a size 7 shoe, how does size 6 feel? It's basically the same idea.

The fact that your TSH was so high back then shows that your thyroid was struggling to produce hormone. (TSH stands for "thyroid stimulating hormone" and is produced by the pituitary in response to the body's need for thyroid hormone. If a healthy person has TSH 1.0 or lower, your higher TSH indicates that your body isn't getting enough hormone and your pituitary is "calling" the thyroid to produce more).

Low Vitamin D levels can actually cause hypothyroidism.....and they can also occur because of hypothyroidism.

The Vitamin D Council recommends a level of 50-70 for good health. I'm glad you're supplementing.

You might want to get some new thyroid labs done...

Thank you so much for the insight @cd3764 and @leilex ..... I might try doing another thyroid panel and examine that as well. I believe I was NEG for Bart, but I will check. Past adrenal tests seemed pretty normal, as I recall. But I would expect them to be off a bit.

Great link, jrpsf!!

Thanks for sharing!