[Gaxiciverfere]

My story is a little different. Around the time of puberty, I developed hyperthyroidism (aka Graves Disease), likely because of autoimmune disease (my own body was attacking my thyroid gland). This illness runs in my family (mother, grandmother, great-grandmother), though I am the only male in the family it has struck.

It went undiagnosed for a long time, and as a result I became excessively skinny. For those who do not know about the thyroid gland, among other things, it regulates your metabolism, how fast you burn calories, heart rate, blood pressure, body temperature, etc.

My thyroid was kicking so fast that I was, essentially, starving. This occurred right at the age where I started developing my own taste in food, and the ability to obtain food for myself, whether it be shopping, cooking, or restaurants. Because my metabolism was flying soooo fast, I was hungry ALL THE TIME. I ate constantly, had 2-3 bowel movements a day, and still was losing weight. I had a paper route and spent ALL my collections on candy at the corner store. It got bad enough that kids at school started teasing me about being too skinny.

During this critical time of development (around puberty, when things tend to get hard-wired), I acquired a taste for quick-energy foods, especially sugar. I ate whole boxes of donuts, whole boxes of cereal each day, etc., anything that could fuel my body until the next meal. Sometimes I stole money so I could buy cookies. Sometimes I'd bake cookies at midnight and eat them all before going to bed. Still, I was losing weight.

Finally I was diagnosed and they treated me with anti-thyroid drugs which essentially killed off part of my thyroid gland. My metabolism normalized and I finally began to gain weight.

I was relatively normal for a handful of years, but slowly began to get slightly overweight--and unfortunately, my taste for carbs and sweets seemed to have been permanently imprinted on my brain.

Unfortunately, the doctors overshot the mark a bit, and my thyroid became underactive instead of overactive. I have had hypothyroidism for about 17 years now. Unfortunately, my hyPOthyroid treatment has never been as effective as my hyPERthyroid treatment was.

After 17 years on synthetic thyroid hormone replacement, my thyroid finally pooped out and I ballooned to 240 lbs. (Actually, there was a one-year stretch about 5 years ago when my thyroid started working again for awhile, and I managed to get my weight down to about 185--I looked great! But it didn't last.)

Flash forward to June this year. I'm fat, fatigued, depressed, achy all over, unable to perform sustained exercise, high blood pressure, thinning hair, intolerance to cold temperatures...all the classic symptoms of untreated hypothyroidism--but I was on a high dose of hormone replacement!

Turns out, synthetic thyroid hormones do not work equally well for everyone, and I was one of those. I switched in June this year to Armour Thyroid, a natural hormone replacement drug made from the thyroid glands of pigs (yes, I know--icky). It's a real drug, regulated by the FDA. (If you think that's icky...female hormone replacement is made from horse urine...).

Whew! What a difference! After the very first dose, I knew I was onto something. My energy level returned almost overnight. The fatigue began to lift and the achiness diminished enough that I could start to exercise again. Depression lifted.

But unfortunately, my weight was not budging. Hypothyroid patients' bodies hold on to fat like it's made of diamonds. Most, especially when treated with synthetic thyrooid hormones, find it exceedingly difficult to lose weight despite diet and exercise.

I tried diet and exercise--futilely--many times over those 17 years of poor thyroid treatment. But for me, it's been different this time. As soon as I started Atkins, I knew it was the right diet. My carb cravings diminished markedly, and I started losing weight for the first time in years.

Mind you--Atkins did NOT work for me when I tried it before, because my thyroid treatment was insufficient. For me, proper thyroid treatment was the essential first step.

I have no doubt that a good number of other overweight people may suffer the same problem I had--thyroid problems are on the increase, and this may have something to do with poor diet and lack of iodine, as well as an increase in auto-immune diseases (which is actually the cause of BOTH of my thyroid conditions).

And most doctors today treat thyroid patients only to achieve certain results on blood tests, and not based on the symptoms and quality of life of the person. Many hypothyroid patients are dying from high cholesterol and heart disease because doctors don't tell them that these conditions are related to their thyroid problem. It's a national disgrace, but that's a whole other topic I could rant about for hours.

Anyhow, Atkin--plus exercise--is working for me this time, and I feel better now than I have in years. I'm down 18 lbs, and have about 22 more to go to reach my first goal of 200lbs. Then I'll reassess and see how much more I want to lose.

Hope my story helps someone.

--Chris