Hashimoto's improvement

[bugbomb]

Not a Whole30 endorsement per se, but my wife was diagnosed with Hashimoto's (an autoimmune disease that targets the thyroid; it causes hypothyroid symptoms) about six months ago. Hashi's is interesting because it is triggered by gluten. Gluten (as we all know) can penetrate the intestinal lining and enter the bloodstream. For folks with Hashimoto's, the immune system confuses the gluten in the bloodstream with thyroid tissue, and begins to attack the thyroid, suppressing function.

My wife's blood tests indicated low thyroid function as well as high levels of Hashimoto's-indicating antibodies (TGAB ~1300 and TPO ~80). She opted to go gluten-free rather than take Synthroid, which was the only course our (terrible) doctor was willing to recommend.

After a few months gluten-free, she had bloodwork done again. Unfortunately, she was inadvertently exposed to gluten about a week before the tests (sneaky oyster sauce in a Thai stir fry), but even with that exposure, her levels were WAY down (TGAB ~160 and TPO 17) and her thyroid hormone levels were in the normal range.

We're going to experiment with selenium supplementation next, so we'd welcome any input the community might have on that front.

[Emily]

That is awesome!

Do you guys know about this site: www.stopthethyroidmadness.com . Thyroid meds don't make money and neither does thyroid research, so thyroid disorders are really poorly treated (as it sounds like you found out). Not going on Synthroid was one of the best choices she could have made!

Good luck to you both!

[bugbomb]

We have seen it, and plan on spending even more quality time there.

[Robin Strathdee]

Welcome aboard!

It's wonderful to see the success you and your wife have had together so far and we're excited to see how your 30 days changes things further!

[Ladybugbutt]

OH my gosh, I'm so glad to hear about these results.  I was put on Synthroid shortly after my son was born, and not knowing better...and since my mom and sis had been on it for years...I used this HORRIBLE drug for a decade.  The side-effects were awful - depression, anxiety, borderline Bi-Polar responses to things.  I'm sure it contributed to the myriad of other issues I experienced over that decade as well - and the sad thing is, I never put two-and-two together until I got very sick with Strep about 3 years ago and stopped taking ALL of my meds (for anxiety, depression, thyroid, etc etc) during the 2 weeks that I was trying to recover.  It was all I could do to get the antibiotics down my throat during that timeframe - I know you're not supposed to stop "cold-turkey" from amy of the meds I was taking, but I did it.  And not only did I not have any negative symptoms/response from doing so - amazingly, my depression, anxiety, and mood swings disappeared.  Totally.  That's when I finally figured out that it might be the synthroid.  I did some research and what I found out blew my mind.  

 

About 6 months later I was at my annual visit with my doc, and he scolded me for going off the Synthroid and put me back on it.  I did take it - for one day - and the results were IMMEDIATE - depression, anxiety, terrible mood swings.  I went back to see him about it, we argued (he told me that if he prescribes somthing for me to take, that I WILL take it.  I responsed that No, I would NOT.)  I walked out and have NEVER been back to see him.  

 

After the fact, I looked at the results of my blood tests and did some research online, and discovered that the results he was medicating me for were considered to be "inconclusive - monitor and re-test annually", and NOT a clear diagnosis requiring thyroid meds.  Ugh.