I wanted to reach out to see if any of the people on this board have any good information regarding Hashimoto's Disease. My Fiancé has just been diagnosed with it and we are both scrambling to gather information about it. We are both fairly healthy eaters and make most of our meals at home. Neither of us really bother with fast food, and mostly stay away from processed foods. Getting the jabs wasn't even an option for either of us and honestly my fiancé really doesn't partake in Western medicine for the most part.
We did find a great nurse practitioner that is in line with the Frontline Doctors that has been very helpful in helping us determine what might be causing these ailments. I am looking for any information that is helpful towards diet and lifestyle changes that might curb or reverse the effects of this disease. My fiance has been very lethargic lately (which is not normal for her), felt very weak (muscular) and had achy joints. She has taken a couple of blood tests, which have pointed us towards Hashimoto's, but I do think that there are other tests that might make sense to assure we aren't dealing with a mis-diagnosis. My fiance has noticed that she feels better when she cuts dairy products out of her diet, and sadly has noticed worse symptoms when the stress of her job is greater.
Any information that anyone can offer would be greatly appreciated as well as thoughts and prayers.
I appreciate this community greatly and how there are so many people that are willing to offer up education that they have on subjects or links they have that are helpful to other people.
Honestly, I consider this group of people to be more of my family and friends than those individuals I have grown up with and who don't currently see the world through a critical perspective in both social and political views.
Thank you for taking the time to read my plea for help. She is my world and all that I ask for in life is for her to be healthy and happy.
Like Grave's (overactive), Hashimoto's (underactive) is an autoimmune thyroid problem. I am assuming that your girlfriend was given an antibody test to confirm a Hashimoto's diagnosis.
Just as a curiosity, have her think back this last two years and see if there was any kind of traumatic event - emotional, physical, etc. I found that many people had some sort of trauma occur within two years of symptoms being bad enough to seek help. Mine was an auto accident topped off with a flu vaxxine.
Dr David Brownstein is a good place to look for information about thyroid issues that are not exactly main stream. He has written several books on the subject of thyroid and iodine. You will need to educate yourselves before embarking on a course of action. Don't get too crazy with medical changes until you get more information. Dietary changes are good no matter what.
Gluten and dairy are no goes since they both cross react with each other. Anything dietary that may be adding to inflammation or a leaky gut situation needs to be looked at closely. Any source of competing halogens needs to be eliminated if possible. That means sources of fluoride, chlorine, and bromine. These three are everywhere and in just about every processed food out there. Iodine is a halide - but it is pushed out by the others. Diet may be the biggest factor as to why Americans are suffering from thyroid issues.
Also, I don't have much use for endocrinologists. Find someone more in line with functional medicine. You cannot tell what is going on just looking at TSH. Glandular function is a mixed bag that can have many variables. This is why thyroid can be tricky - especially autoimmune.
My mom, who also has Hashimotos and graves like I do, went to Brownstein when he was still accepting patients. He is a wealth of knowledge and his books are very helpful.
One of the experts on the subject as far as I am concerned - and he learned from the expert on iodine. I think I have everything he has ever written.
She feels like she has had it for several years at this point based off of her fatigue and weight. It doesn't appear that there were any trauma events that would have shocked her into this other than maybe a stressful job. I do not think she has had an antibody test yet, but I will check on that. They have not narrowed it down towards Hashimoto's but the last blood test she got, pointed in that direction.
Thanks for your input and time to reply, Mac.
No problem fren. We have many anons on this forum from a variety of wheelhouses. This subject is more in line with mine. Besides, I have battled with Hashimoto's for decades. Mine, like many other forms of autoimmune disease, was triggered by trauma.
The only way to have a definitive diagnosis of Hashimoto's is by antibody tests. Otherwise, there is no way to distinguish Hashimoto's from just low functioning thyroid. If you are lucky, then maybe your girlfriend has a generic low thyroid. That would be much easier to correct. Any autoimmune disorder is a crap shoot and much more complicated.
The best advice from all the replies that I have seen to your OP is diet. Get rid of the gluten and possibly all dairy - at least for the time being. Very clean dairy can be reintroduced later after things are better settled. Removing the competing halogens is critical for all thyroid issues since they displace iodine. If her problems can be corrected without meds, that is best. The thyroid is a bit of a lazy gland. If you give it a crutch, the feedback loop will further drive down the glands ability to make thyroid hormone on its own.
If she must have replacement, and she is not autoimmune, look into glandulars. This will give a wider panel of other thyroid hormones that are found in the gland but are not in larger quantities - like T1 and T2. Glandular thyroid will not work for autoimmune because the body is already mounting an immune response to the thyroid gland. The bodies' immune system could also react to animal glandulars. Animal glandulars, though they made me feel better for awhile, drove my antibodies extremely high. That can lower resistance in the long run due to B lymphocyte exhaustion - much like we are seeing with repeated injections. It is the same concept.
If you have any further questions, please feel free to private message me and I will do my best to answer your questions.
Good luck Mac
All great information. Thanks Mac, and yes, hopefully it is just a generic low thyroid issue.
I am not sure we can private message on this board, like we could on Voat, when you were helping me steer through Covid when it first came out (or at least I haven’t figured out how to private message yet). Thanks for all that you do.
When you check the replies to your comments, up at the top it should say "create a message." That will allow you private messaging on this board.