We have found that you have the autoimmune disease Hashimoto’s thyroiditis. This is a slow destruction of the thyroid gland by “autoantibodies”, which are antibodies that your immune system has produced which are attacking your own cells. If not treated appropriately, this will destroy your thyroid gland and you would need to take thyroid medication forever. It is treatable, though!

In my practice I am always interested what is CAUSING the immune system to become overactive.

It is very important to identify what the triggers are that are activating the immune system, because if one has an autoimmune disease there is a 30%+ chance that he or she will develop another more serious one, such as multiple sclerosis, colitis, rheumatoid arthritis and others.  Also, when the immune system is overactive, it can weaken your surveillance for conditions like cancer and also increase susceptibility to infections.

Most of the time, autoimmunity happens when the barrier in the gastrointestinal tract is compromised. Gaps develop in between cells in the intestine, causing “leaky gut”. When this happens, partially digested food is absorbed prematurely and it is irritating to the immune system. Inflammation develops which can cause autoantibodies and therefore disease throughout the body. LEAKY GUT IS OFTEN THE ROOT CAUSE. 

Management Strategies for Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis:

It is very important to heal any gastrointestinal inflammation.

The first step is to eliminate the foods you might be sensitive to. Keep in mind, you may not have any gut symptoms at all, but if your intestinal lining is irritated, autoimmunity can result. The most important thing you can do is to eliminate gluten and dairy. They are such a common cause of inflammation, you need to just remove them. Here are some other strategies:

1. Food intolerance testing to see what foods your system is reacting to
2. Paleo diet (organic meat, fruits, vegetables and nuts/seeds). Eliminate processed foods.
3. Avoid sugar! Sugar feeds yeast overgrowth which causes leaky gut. Make fruit the sweetest thing you eat.
4. “GI Fx”  is a stool test for certain infections and to analyze the health of the bacteria in your gut.
5. Lactulose/mannitol test is a simple urine test to measure how “leaky” your gut is.
6. Supplements to heal the gut lining, assist in digestion, and replace healthy bacteria

Achieve and maintain a healthy weight

Being overweight or obese is associated with dysbiosis (change in gut bacteria from good to bad) in the gut and issues with glucose metabolism, which increases the chance of autoimmunity. Ask us today about our weight loss programs.

Stress management and good sleep hygiene

Stress is a big reason why people get gut inflammation. You need to measure cortisol levels and then address stress. You may not be able to change what is happening to you, but you can control your reaction. Stress reduction strategies, counseling, and supplements help calm the stress response in the body

Micronutrient testing (from Spectracell)

The test is a blood test that measures the levels of 35 different nutrients in the cells of your body. This tells you exactly what nutrients your cells need more of to function well. Most people need to take a number of nutrients as supplements, such as Vitamin C, Vitamin D, antioxidants, fish oil and minerals among others.

Heavy metal urine testing

This can be done to look for heavy metal toxicity in the body. Lead, mercury, arsenic and cadmium can cause gut inflammation, neurologic symptoms, fatigue and autoimmunity. Traditional blood tests will not detect toxic levels of metals stored in the cells, but this test will. If you have ever had significant exposure to heavy metals, this test should be done right away.

Toxin testing

Testing can be done (Cyrex 11, Great Plains GPL-TOX) to look for environmental toxins such as styrene, gasoline additives, phthalates, benzene, vinyl chloride, and organophosphates.

Ensure good dental health

If you have any amalgam (mercury) fillings, you need to see an environmental dentist and get them safely removed. Also, chronic gum or dental inflammation from any cause is associated with immune dysfunction and must be treated.

There may be “stealth infections”

These infections cause the autoimmunity. There is testing available for Lyme disease, mycoplasma, H. pylori, and other chronic infections.

Consider getting an autoimmune profile (Cyrex 5) done.

This looks for other autoimmune antibodies, for example: pernicious anemia, inflammatory bowel disease, Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, and multiple sclerosis.

Read “Autoimmune Solution” by Amy Myers.

This book is an excellent guide to autoimmunity and the things you can do to heal.

Read “Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis: Lifestyle Interventions for Finding and Treating the Root Cause”

This book by Izabella Wentz is a comprehensive yet easy-to-read book on Hashimoto’s written by a pharmacist who has Hashimoto’s, has been successfully treated, and is considered to be an expert in the disease.

What To Expect:

• Over time, we will follow your thyroid antibodies in hopes that they come down. Once they are back into normal range, your risk for other autoimmune diseases and cancer will be down to baseline.
• If the antibodies plateau at a certain level above normal or if they go up, we will continue to do the testing above until we find out what is stimulating them. In general, once the gut is healed, you are eating food appropriate for your body, you are sleeping well, your stress is managed and you are getting the right nutrients, the antibodies usually drop down nicely. If not, we look for toxins, metals, or other infections as they can exist without any specific symptoms.
• We will monitor your thyroid hormone levels and adjust your thyroid medication as needed.