HealingWell
Search Close Search
☰

weight gain?

Support Forums
>
Lyme Disease
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply
❬ ❬ Previous Thread |Next Thread ❭ ❭
Posted 9/23/2012 10:10 PM (GMT 0)
I have rolls on my back, never had that

I gained sooo much weight since I Have been sick.

SOme of it

came in just one week.

friends and drs, were asking what is going on?

I am a size 3x when a few yrs ago I weighed 115. I have no clothes that fit me.

I am very uncomfortable

and i dont understand it. WHy? not the food, I have not been eating that much

exercise is down cause I have no energy

rolls all over, even under my chin

never had this prior

I am going through so much as it is, all this added weight is just horible

anyone else gained a lot of weight for mysterious reasons?

 

Posted 9/23/2012 11:08 PM (GMT 0)
Yes - 20 lbs in 2 months. But, turns out my thyroid is screwed up. Lyme attacks the thyroid. Weight gain or weight loss is common.

If you get your thyroid checked, make sure to ask for your T3 and T4 to be checked also, not just your TSH. And, make sure your doctor knows about the new TSH standards. Normal range is now .3 to 3.0 and likely to be 2.5 in the future.

Also, make sure you're getting enough iodine.

Of course, I can talk a good talk, but I'm not losing weight. All I eat are vegetables, and I haven't lost even one pound.
Posted 9/23/2012 11:18 PM (GMT 0)
I've experienced something similar in a very short period of time, but I don't think it is weight gain. At least not in my case. It appears to be related to the lyme ripping up tissues, muscle, muscle fibers, etc. Hence, losing all your definition and appearing to have rolls and what not I don't know if this would be the case for you also, but just thought I'd share this perspective. Probably doesn't make it any better, and quite frankly might be worse cause its harder to repair tissue than it is to lose weight. But whatever the case, hopefully we can recover from this. This has been something very difficult for me to as I've always had an atheletic muscular build and now I am a mushy water balloon with no definition.
Posted 9/23/2012 11:20 PM (GMT 0)
Yes. I've struggled with weight gain (and loss) for no particular reason. I've gotten quite heavy, and quite thin - with either disproportionate, or no, changes in diet/exercise.

After an abdominal surgery 15 years ago, I gained 30 pounds in 30 days... and I couldn't eat for the first 2 weeks! I was barely up to 1300 calories a day by the end of the month. After I told the doctor this and asked what was wrong with me, he said he didn't know, but he could help put me on a diet because I was getting too heavy. I wanted to slug him!

As I've been reading about lyme, it seems to that there can be many possible causes. There's an insulin resistance factor (which I have). Weak adrenals can cause weight gain. Hypothyroid can cause weight gain, and so can toxin build-up and allergies.

All of these things are associated with Lyme. I know I've had practitioners tell me I had all of these things in the past.

For me, the thing that helps the most is an allergen-free diet and gentle daily walking...

Currently I'm slowly adding a few pounds - 5-7 in the last 7 months. So, it's probably time to go back to the draconian allergen-free diet and the strict daily walking regime....

i know how disconcerting unexplained weight gain can be. Our society has a great deal of prejudice toward anyone who's not stick-thin. And, you really don't need that on top of Lyme struggles.

It helped me to decide that I wasn't going to let anyone else tell me whether or not I looked good. I just needed to be pleased with myself. And that, as long as I was doing my best to be as healthy as I could be, I could be happy with myself - regardless of my weight.

Try not to worry about what other people think, and just focus on doing what's good for you.

Take care.
Posted 9/24/2012 4:32 AM (GMT 0)
I have gained 15 pounds in my six months of treatment. I have developed muffin top very badly...the antibiotics made me very hungry, so that is some of the reason. However I have only gained in middle of body. I just did a saliva test on adrenals, so I guess I will see if that is an issue with my gain. Hate it! None of my pants fit me, even the hang on me pants are tight. I feel your pain.
Posted 9/25/2012 1:15 AM (GMT 0)
i had to do laundry for the few articles of clothing that fit my big butt and all
soo depressing all smaller clothes in closet and boxes. Unreal to have gained so much so quickly
not related to food, it is bizarre and terrifying being in a body that is not mine.....

horrible

my heart has been hurting lately, never had any heart pains....
Posted 10/16/2012 11:37 PM (GMT 0)
I defenitely believe Lyme effects our Thyroid! My has been the opposite. Lost 40 lbs in less than 4 months and it is a daily struggle to maintain a healthy weight. I had tsh score of .23 but along with all my other symptoms they were discarded. You would think Id be happy about but you it seems to not be in my control! I feel ill and even after Ive eaten, moments later I can feel as though I havent eaten in days. Prayers for solution for all~
Posted 10/19/2012 4:04 AM (GMT 0)
I too gained weight with Lyme disease, but once the thyroid became regulated, I insisted on Armour and not Synthroid, I have finally gained enough strength to go back to the gym and whereas before the Lyme I was a size 8 then 12, 14, now to a 10 and hopefully back to my size 8, also I have found that juicing helps a lot.
Posted 10/19/2012 6:44 AM (GMT 0)
I think the most overlooked factor for weight problems in the chronically ill is muscle mass. Muscle burns a ton of calories and losing just a little can have a dramatic impact on your daily calorie burn. It also contributes to a large chunk of the weight on a healthy individual, so if you are chronically underweight a lack of muscle can be part of the problem.

You get sick, you stop exercising, non-exercise activity level goes way down, which all causes fat gains while slowly losing lean muscle. If you get really sick to where you have trouble eating and your activity level is near zero weight comes flying off, though much of it is lean muscle. In either case, muscle loss is the constant.

After riding out this cycle you're left with a large reduction in muscle mass, which means your body is burning much fewer calories, which means even modest diets can lead to unhealthy weight. Its the exact same thing that happens to yo-yo dieters.
Posted 10/21/2012 4:55 AM (GMT 0)
ya you should get your therod check, and get your t3- and t4 checked
Posted 10/21/2012 2:03 PM (GMT 0)
I agree with Spall. I'm not dangerously thin, but I was normal weight to start and lost about 35 lbs very quickly in the beginning. I have not gained any back. Up until recently I was still attempting to run or hike each week. It had been decreasing week by week and now I'm completely unable to do it anymore which really aggravates me because I was running 8-10 miles per day prior to Lyme.

I have noticed that even though I'm much less active than normal and not losing weight, my clothes are still becoming too big. I think it's a loss of muscle which I was afraid of. That's why I had been forcing exercise as long as I could.

I had a period of a few weeks recently where I had days that I could not stop eating. I probably ate 4000 calories or more. Then other days I can barely eat a granola bar and a cup of soup. This past week has not been great. I am not eating enough calories because I feel so terrible. I am debating making a coconut milk ice cream shake at some point.
Posted 10/21/2012 9:14 PM (GMT 0)
LOL, Summer3! You're going to make those of us that have gained too much weight want to eat the things you should be eating!!! LOL!!! smilewinkgrin

I went through about 18 months where I lost too much weight, but now I'm now in the group of gaining too much weight. I took in a food diary (what a pain in the rear!) to my doc as she wanted to see what all I ate in a week. I promise I didn't even cheat! She took one look at it and said in great surprise, "You don't eat enough to gain weight! What's going on?" I just laughed a bit and said "Lyme".

So I have weight loss "ear tacks" that Chinese Medicine Practitioners use. They aren't uncomfortable, although the ones in my left ear took a day and a half to no longer be sensitive. I do hope that they make a difference for me! This is the heaviest I've ever been and I've had a great deal of healing already. Some days feel like I'm just going backwards - which can set off the anxiety if I'm not very careful. Ugh.
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply