You should only take a weight loss product if it has been approved of by the FDA.  Fat blocking drugs like Alli or Xenical have been approved by the FDA.  Alli is the brand name for the medication Orlistat.  Xenical is a prescription medication that is a higher dosage of orlistat and is sold under the brand name Xenical.  Even though both of these medications have been approved by the FDA, there is now a warning that drug interactions with your thyroid medication can exasperate hypothyroidism.  As a result, the FDA has added the warning that “XENICAL and levothyroxine should be taken at least 4 hours apart.”

Weight loss drugs approved by the FDA are for those who are obese or morbidly obese. They are taken by many who suffer from hypothyroidism in an effort to lose weight.  The problem is, the claims made about these drugs can be overly hyped and the proper warnings are not heeded by those who are desperate to loose weight.  If you have a low functioning or slow thyroid, it is very difficult for you to lose weight.  Any product that claims that you will be able to lose weight without effort on your part is misleading.

Ephedra was approved of by the FDA but had so many dangerous side affects that it had to be taken off the market.  How much more dangerous was it for those who were on thyroid medication?  The FDA now warns consumers to beware of weight loss products that have the following words added in their advertisements: effortless, easy, magical, secret ingredient, new discovery or exotic, etc.

Xenical and the over the counter drug Alli, work to prevent the absorption of fats.  If you decide to take Alli or Exenical, be prepared to suffer the side effects of diarrhea, cramping, leakage of oily stool, flatulence and abdominal discomfort.  Many people who take these medications find they need to wear depends.  These side effects are not pleasant and since the medication may interfere with your thyroid medication, it is safe to say that thyroid patients and over the counter weight loss medications may not mix.  It is better to try to lose weight naturally by making the necessary but healthy dietary changes you need by adding in more thyroid friendly foods.

Thyroid diseases interfere with how your thyroid works.  People can develop goiters which is an enlarged thyroid or they may develop either hyper or hypo thyroids.   Hyper refers to the condition where your thyroid is over active and hypo means that your thyroid is under active.

Symptoms of hyperthyroidism include:

* Weight loss
* Sensitivity to heat
* Anxiety and irritability
* Panic attacks
* Insomnia
* Fatigue
* More frequent bowel movements
* Sweating
* Goiter (enlargement in your neck)
* Graves’ disease ophthalmology – bulging and drying out of the eyeballs

Symptoms of hypothyroidism, or under active thyroid, include:

* Weight gain
* Fatigue
* Sensitivity to cold
* Clinical depression
* Constipation
* Dry, rough skin and hair
* Irritability
* Memory loss

When your thyroid gland is not working properly, it will either release too much thyroid hormone into your system or too little.  Women should be more concerned about thyroid cancer than men.  However, thyroid cancer is very treatable with iodine and the thyroid gland may be removed to treat it.

Recent findings give great hope for successfully treating thyroid problems holistically.  Natural approaches to treating thyroid conditions involve exercise, diet and certain supplementation.  When you begin to eat the proper foods that actually feed your thyroid gland, your metabolism will be corrected and your weight gain will vanish without effort.  There are several thyroid diets you can read about to find out what type of diet is best so you can control thyroid diet and weight gain.

One other important tip to keep in mind is that the type of oil that you ingest daily is of extreme importance when trying to correct a thyroid disorder that leads to weight gain.  Switching to coconut oil has been helping many people to correct a slow metabolism whereas polyunsaturated oils only make the condition worse.  Many such people say that as soon as they taking Virgin Coconut Oil the fat began to melt and many have lost 20 pounds effortlessly.  It has to be Virgin Coconut oil though.  You can find it in your local health food stores.