This article From Dr Michael Ruscio's website is interesting and gives hope.to those of us with thyroid auto immunity.
A preliminary study has shown that administration of magnesium, selenium, and CoQ10 can actually prevent the damage to your thyroid gland that is often seen with thyroid autoimmunity. Now, this is a preliminary study with a small number of patients, only about 10, but the results are very interesting, and they reaffirm something that much of the functional medicine community has been looking at and hoping to be true for a while, which is that through using different vitamin therapies that are antioxidant in nature, we may be able to quell the inflammatory and autoimmune damage to the thyroid gland and, by doing so, may stop or halt or even be able to reverse the damage to the gland.
This study actually tracked a small group, again, about 10 patients, who either had Hashimoto’s autoimmunity, which can cause hypothyroidism, and Graves’ autoimmunity, which can cause hyperthyroidism. The researchers tracked over a few years these patients’ antibody levels and—this is what is really interesting—did repeat ultrasounds, and they showed in some of these patients—in fact, the majority of the patients—they were able to have a positive impact on the thyroid antibodies, and more impressively, they were able to have a positive impact on the thyroid architecture or structure and even see reversal of some of the damage.
This is a landmark study that shows that through nutritional medicine we may be able to stop and even reverse some of the damage to the thyroid gland that happens in thyroid autoimmunity, so again, very exciting news. Again, the use of magnesium, selenium, and CoQ10 was able to stop thyroid autoimmunity or halt it and reverse some of the damage seen in the thyroid gland.
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Mourneadventurer
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Interesting. May be true. Just to clarify however that despite the white coat and stethescope in some pix on his site, he is not a doctor of medicine. His doctorate is from a chiropractic college in the States.
Chiropracters in the USA are usually far more educated in pain relief from which many people with thyroid hormone deficiencies suffer from rather than the usual MDs, particularly if the person remains undiagnosed or on too low a dose of thyroid hormones.
I have had Thyroid Mixodema for 30 years and have been on Levo for all of that time. About 9 years ago I read about the effects of Selenium and Magnesium and have supplemented with them ever since and I have really felt the benefits. I also take 2000 Vit D and a good quality B12 supplement. At age 69 I feel so much better than in my 40s and 50s before I started supplementing. I can only say about my personal experience.
Thanks Kathy21, for sharing your experiences. I was surprised when my Vitamin D 3 levels were noted as adequate with recent Endo's blood tests that the Functional Nutritionist said that instead of 62 they should be between 100- 120.
The vitamin B12 test both NHS and active show that I have enough in my system. However The Functional Nutritionist is going to check inorganic acids as well as she prefers that test as this confirms if it is being utilised correctly.
I have been taking these three supplements for 4 years, and do agree that they keep the antibodies low, and help with further destruction to the thyroid. I do not think from my personal experiance that anything out there at this time will repair the thyroid once the damage is done. Early diagnosis is the best bet to stop further damage. In the future, I think maybe stem cell treatments may help.
The scandal is salon9153 that most folk including myself hadn't been tested for antibodies. I'm hoping to reverse the damage of 28+ years on T4 only with these supplements and T3. Perhaps stem cell treatment in the future would be possible? I've also decided to go grain, eggs and casein free for 28 days and supplementing the good guys am and pm.
Wouldn't it be better to get rid of the hashimotos before trying to heal the thyroid, which will just get attacked again? Thyroid meds and hashi's don't have to be permanent , according to functional medicine. Isabella wentz says the thyroid can rejuvenate, once the hashimoto's is gone.
Hello Faith63, that's what I've interpreted from Izabella Wenz's book as well. This study also indicates that supplementation of Selenium, CoQ10 and Magnesium reversed the antibodies in the patients monitored. Hurrah! Since realising I've got this friendly fire reaction going on and supplementing the above. My antibodies now seem to be heading in the right direction towards zero. I'm also gluten free and including casein, eggs and nightshade a for a month I.e Paleo Auto immune. To give my body the best chance to reset itself.
Everything is so interlinked it needs a multi-faceted approach and from experience not easy to get all of the ducks in a row.
i would think, that supplementing these things, if you are not deficient, would make no difference. Does that make sense? You still need to find your root cause. I am seeing a functional medicine doctor and had extensive testing. She has not recommended any of this, but instead, a protocol for healing my immune system, by healing my leaky gut, replacing missing bacteria and enzymes and addressing my neurotransmitters.
Hello faith63, as we're all bio-unique with our own individualised root cause your functional medicine doctor probably has ruled Magnesium, Selenium and Co Q10 (Ubiquinol) out. It might depend on where you live as well as soil can be depleted. It might be worth discussing with your physician though and letting them see the extract above.
With me I reckon it's a multi-faceted approach using the above minerals and anti-oxidants to quell the auto- immunity and bring a hypo-thyroid system including my gut back into balance. I was on T4 only for 28 years and unknown to me unable to utilise it. I now know when to supplement T3 as my heart will skip beats if I forget!
Like yourself I'm looking at improving gut flora with pre and probiotics and I'm now looking at water based kefir, kimchi (?) and sauerkraut. Apparently the good bacteria stay longer when in food.
The Microbiome Medecine Summit is currently being aired online. It is enlightening and perhaps worth a listen to some of the speakers who have cutting edge research and information?
you cannot heal your gut with those supplements, no, i was not tested for those minerals. Functional medicine is essentially about healing the gut, thus healing the immune system. You would need testing of your stools. saliva and blood.
It is always multifaceted tho, you do need to replace missing hormones.
I was also not told to do kimchi..my gut bacteria was actually tested and i was prescripted specific bacteria supps to take.
I just wanted you to know , that i think you are missing something in your approach because it isn't tailored to your specific needs, and you don't know what they are. Like you said, we are all different. I have heard that many have parasites, yeast, chronic epstein barr virus, loss of sex hormones and other conditions causing their hashi's.
Thanks Faith63, for taking the time to reply. I appreciate that.
Yes I agree personalised medicine is the way forward. My functional stool and urine tests are awaiting me as I go without supplements in order to give the Functional Nutritionist a good baseline from which to work. I'm getting hormones, inorganic acids, H Pylorii, gut tested this weekend.
I was able to reverse a lot of my hypothyroid symptoms (,see profile) using supplements but now I'm digging deeper like peeling back the onion layers.
It was the DIO 2 genetic test that proved I wasn't able to covert T4 to T3.
23 and me with various other websites interpretations of my genetics then let me see I wasn't able to methylate correctly undoubtedly a contributory factor.
The Functional Nutritionist's tests will hopefully throw more light on my journey back to my root cause.
I'm grateful to ThyroidUK and this forum (yourself included) for their sharing of knowledge and experience along the route back to health.
I'm curious to know the strength of the supplements Selenium and Magnesium and if you take them at a particular time and finally where you source them.
I have been taking both for about two months, I take them together usually with breakfast and mine are from H & B
Thus is a minefield sometimes I don't want to be doing something inadvertently wrong
Hello Aud5, I've always opted for supplements that aren't going to add to my health challenges so I carefully check fillers. The ThyroidUK website has arranged discounts with a couple of reputable suppliers.
I've personally been taking Seeking Health or Solgar. Supplements Selenium Methionine 200mcg equivalent to 2 Brazil nuts,
Magnesium Citrate 375mg and/or Epsom Salt baths the CoQ10 I take as Ubiquinol 100mg or sometimes more if my heart needs a helping hand.
I'm now working with a Functional Nutritionist on Skype who will check inorganic baselines for supplementation as I don't want to rob Peter to pay Paul.
Hello Pushinlimits, certainly I've always been wary of any environmental toxin that I can potentially avoid such as cigarette smoke, fire retardant mattresses, soaps and shampoos, toothpastes and body creams to name a few and try to eat organic food as much as possible. Radiationn is more difficult as that can be dependant on where you live. So I'm now looking at putting a barrier on top of the house foundations and doing radon checks more frequently. I'm also trying to minimise time on the computer - this isn't easy either!
I can't comment on neck radiation as I am grateful I haven't had to have it but I didn't even like the ultra-sound when that was done on my neck. My response was to get the helping anti-oxidants in as soon as possible to support my own immune system.
Thanks so much for this. I looked at the pubmed paper then searched for the full article. The trial looks very convincing with comprehensive data. But even the wealth of interesting asides and research links to the importance of these supplements and a combined clinical evaluation and treatment regime for thyroid is worth looking through.
I do believe we have to calm the immune system and balance the endocrine system.
What I found interesting in my own journey was the realisation that by being on T4 only I was unable to effectively convert to active T3. I was actually hypothyroid for decades and this has unwittingly taken a toll on my gut and my ability to absorb minerals and vitamins correctly.
At one point I couldn't balance on one leg to put on socks/trousers, I couldn't walk heel to toe in a straight line without holding on to walls or furniture, when bringing my index finger back to my nose and then stretch out I had a tremble in my hand on full extension. I believe I had ataxia which I have thankfully reversed as my balance has returned to normal over the months.
I changed water-based B1to liposomal - Benfothiame (take am and pm) and now actually take individual B vitamins as I await my recent Organic Acid, parasite, H Pylori, Hormone panel test results.
The next stage of my journey back to full health is looking at the Microbiome and balancing my gut flora with soil based probiotics and fermented foods.
I do hope this is of some help in your journey back to health,
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