A good explanation of the link between Iodine and Selenium

[greygoose]

Nutrient Depletions in Hashimoto's PART I: SELENIUM

thyroidpharmacist.com/blog/...

[Marz]

Have been taking 200mcg Selenium ( Wassen ) for over 10 years and still my Anti-TPO has remained the same - HIGH. When I read the book - Hope for Hashimotos - by Dr Alexander Haskell - he suggested 400mcg of Selenium to reduce Anti-bodies - so I also tried that. They remained the same This is one of the reasons I have become Gluten Free in an attempt to reduce them down from 950. Had annual blood- check today so will soon know if GF has helped/worked. I also have Crohns which could of course muddy the waters.... When I read about Hashimotos and brain issues it made me think long and hard - so going GF seemed a sensible option.

I have read that when taking Selenium it is important not to take it continuously - but to have a month off from time to time. I think it is possibly the same for most supplements.

Thanks for posting gg - I do like Izabella....

[greygoose in reply to Marz]

Yes, she's very good. I haven't had my anti-bodies tested since the first diagnostic test. As they think anti-bodies aren't important - in fact that endo didn't even mention them to me, it was a different doctor that spotted them - they don't see the necessity to retest. Their treatment is just the same, anyway. Ah, well...

[Marz in reply to greygoose]

The thinking years ago was certainly that anti-bodies were not important. However things have moved along - as you will know from reading about Izabella Wentz and others in the realms of auto-immunity.

Many Docs are not familiar with Auto-immunity and are therefore inclined to ignore it and perhaps it will go away. In fact even Dr Skinner wrote in his book that he felt some sympathy towards Mr/Dr Hashimoto and his discovery.

Having been diagnosed with Crohns at 27 - another Auto-immune condition - and then the Hashimotos in 2005 - over 40 years later - for me the jigsaw was beginning to be pieced together. As I have said many times here - I think of myself as having an Auto-immune condition that effects my thyroid. So I do as much as I am able to support my gut health. I know you have mentioned on the forum you do not think being gluten free helped you - but for many it is the beginning of gut healing. Gluten molecules can escape from the gut - triggering an immune response. These little critters then can go all over the place. Thyro-globulin and the gluten molecule are similar - hence the connection. ( am sure someone will correct me if I have mentioned the wrong bit

You are right about re-testing - unless of course you are interested in seeing if they have reduced. I had mine checked last year for the first time since diagnosis and was shocked they had not reduced. Hence my new approach. I also listened to The Gluten Summit on-line in late 2013 which was impressive.

Another problem - there are not many Consultants specialising in Auto-immunity - maybe Haematologists are the ones to assist. Professor Yeheudi Schoenfeld specialises in Auto-immunity at the Mount Sinai hospital in Tel Aviv and he spoke on the summit. I guess we need more Functional Medical Practitioners - like they have in the US. Just a few in the UK.

Yes the treatment is just the same to support the thyroid - but dealing with the Auto-immunity is another ball game

[greygoose in reply to Marz]

All true! But for myself, I imagine that there are no more antibodies because there's no more thyroid to attack! Well, only a tiny little bit that doesn't have to do much because of the hormone replacement. I don't know that the antibodies are my problem, I think the problem is more likely to the damage done from having gone for 50 years undiagnosed.

[Marz in reply to greygoose]

.... as you say having gone undiagnosed for so long can cause damage. My Endo here - thinks I was born with the problem - don't know why he thinks that. Probably my medical history maybe part of that thought process. But hey I am so much fitter now than before and enjoying it.... apart from the back which I would happily trade for a new one

[greygoose in reply to Marz]

Well you wouldn't want mine! lol They properly buggered it up. I can't twist sideways now. And I often have back ache, plus the problem with my right leg...

[Marz in reply to greygoose]

..aahhh My legs sometimes feel like my walkie-talkie doll Angela - I had to lean her to one side to bring the other leg through - and vice versa

[greygoose in reply to Marz]

They were all like that, weren't they? Certainly my Polly was! lol I always thought it was a bit of a cheat because she was called a walkie-talkie doll but she couldn't walk and she could only say 'Mumma'! No vocabulary at all!

[Marz in reply to greygoose]

Didn't really like her as much as Caroline - my other doll with a delicate china face and cloth body. She looked like Marilyn Monroe - oh no that was the Christmas Tree Fairy with her crimped blonde hair - and a small knitting needle for a wand with a little tinsel for the star....we had her for years - like over 50

[greygoose in reply to Marz]

Oh, the Christmas fairy!!! My mum made ours after I was born in 1945, from a celluloid doll. she dressed her in white and added wings. Every year I lived in that house, she went up on the Christmas tree. I left home in 1968.

When my mum died in 1999, we found the box of Christmas décorations up in the attic. Obviously, there had been some hot summers, and the roof wasn't insulated, so when we unwrapped the fairy, she had completely melted! So sad.

So, I bought my own fairy when my son was born in 1968, and she went up on the tree until 1973 when we left for France. Come Christmas 1973, we discovered that the box of décorations had disappeared. Whether it had been stolen or what I don't know...

So, bought another fairy (lol), a French one. This one went on the tree every Christmas until our divorce in 1995, when the (now) trunk of décorations went to my daughter and husband. When they got divroced, he somehow got custody of my Christmas décorations! (It's OK, it's fun for my granddaughter to put them up each year.)

I didn't bother with a tree until one year my 6year-old granddaughter (different off-spring) arrived on Christmas day and said 'but where is your tree?' I showed her the light-fitting I'd lovingly decorated with balls and tinsel, but she wasn't impressed. So, the next year I got a tree! But this time, I bought a large father Christmas in a red velvet coat, with a gold wreath and a wooden staff, to go on the top. I've had enough of fairies!!!

(OK, I'll shut up now I've bored everyone speechless! lol)

[Marz in reply to greygoose]

Lovely story ! When I left home in 1966 - I had to take the fairy with me ! My Mum told me that it had belonged to some neighbours and as a toddler I had taken a fancy to it and cried until they gave it me - so she didn't want to be reminded

[greygoose in reply to Marz]

lol Sounds like you had some lovely neighbours there! Have you still got it?

[Marz in reply to greygoose]

Sadly no ! It somehow disappeared with lots of other things whilst leaving my ex- husband in the marital home - you know the usual story Still spend time looking for things in the kitchen I thought I had !!

[greygoose in reply to Marz]

Yup, know exactly what you mean. Do you remember that series about three witch sisters? Think it was called Bewitched? No, that was one witch... lol Anyway, on of the three witch sisters came up with a spell whereby everything she had ever lost suddenly turned up - think she'd lost her engagement ring or something - well, the house was full of stuff - including a goat! And she was only in her early 20s. lol I often think what would happen if all the stuff I've lost over 69 years of life suddenly reappeared... I'd be inundated with... things! I think I might enjoy that. lol

[Marz in reply to greygoose]

[Barb1949 in reply to greygoose]

Not me you haven't. Such lovely memories. I have three fairies at the moment. The first I bought my very first Christmas after I got married (1968) which is just a cardboard cone covered in silver with gold plastic wings and a dolls head. She used to have a tinsel halo but that disappeared years ago. Sometime in the early 80's I bought a more expensive fairy with lace dress and wings over gold material , and last Christmas I bought a lovely new one which is battery operated and lights up. My daughter was thrilled to see them all on the tree. I also have a woollen robin made by my eldest (disabled) son when he was 7. Lovely memories which will be passed on one day.

[greygoose in reply to Barb1949]

Yes, exactly, passed from generation to generation. I have some bells and birds cut out of coloured sheet metal that were what passed for Christmas décorations during World War ll. They're not very pretty but they remind me of my childhood.

Every year I buy something new. This last Christmas it was a Snowy owl. Not very Christmassy you might think, but very pretty. The shops round here were full of owls around December last year.

[Barb1949 in reply to greygoose]

I too buy a new decoration every year. This was a tradition started by my husband and I keep it up. As well ass the fairy, this year I bought some clip on robins for the tree.

I notice there were also lots of owls about this year, my granddaughter loves owls so I bought her a candle holder shaped as an owl.

I think it's rather lovely to keep up these traditions.

[greygoose in reply to Barb1949]

Yes, so do I!