Hypo and Gluten Intolerant

[teyris]

How many of you lovely people are Hypo and have a gluten intolerance? How did you find out about the intolerance? Have you gone GF? Sorry for all the questions just need to hear from people in the same boat as me

[SlowDragon Administrator]

According to Izabella Wentz (the Thyroid Pharmacist) who specialises in Hashimoto's, she says in her experience about 88% of her patients have gluten intolerance. Some of these/remainder might also have dairy, nightshades or other intolerances

Obviously she tends to see only "difficult" cases.....but there seems to be more and more research linking autoimmune diseases to diet, leaky gut & especially gluten intolerance.

Her recent docu-series Thyroid Secret was excellent on diet issues.

I went gluten free, to fantastic improvement, last year. Never had any gut symptoms at all. After more than 20 years since diagnosed with Hashimoto's. Tested negative for coeliac, but endoscopy confirmed non-coeliac gluten intolerance.

Link is to interesting research paper on connection between anxiety/depression and brain disruption due to gluten intolerance/coeliac - especially when no gut symptoms

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...

[SmallBlueThing in reply to SlowDragon]

Why were you given an endoscopy (or did you go private?) if you tested negative and had no gut symptoms?

What sort of fantastic improvement have you noticed?

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to SmallBlueThing]

There's more detail on my profile, but basically I tried GF as was increasingly unable to walk & exhausted.

I could have had NHS endoscopy, but waiting for it would have meant having to go back on gluten.

Gastroenterologist strongly advised, as my walking was so bad, that I should stay off gluten and have endoscopy ASAP.

Result showed high antibodies/reaction to gluten (even 4-5 weeks after giving it up) but no damage to villi. Negative for H Pylori.

Subsequent DNA test to see if "silent-coeliac" or gluten intolerance; result suggests unlikely to be coeliac.

I now feel completely well/normal. But obviously having to pace my self on how much I do, after years of being so exhausted.

Vitamin D supplements for me were a disaster. Almost 6 months of terrible leg pain severely limiting activity until I decided to stop them in November.

Now slowly improving my stamina and distance I can walk, actually even managed to walk about a mile last week.

Another improvement I have noticed recently since going GF is my brain is working better. Memory and finding words definitely improved. Plus the loss of continual background anxiety is brilliant.

[SmallBlueThing in reply to SlowDragon]

Thank you, that's very interesting.

I feel there are nutritional and mental risks in pursuing some sort of dietary perfection, when unwarranted. No food is perfect, after all.

[humanbean]

I had gut problems, but was tested for coeliac disease and it came back negative. I've also never had positive antibodies show up in thyroid testing, although I do have (officially) subclinical hypothyroidism.

Because of the above, I didn't give up gluten for 5 years after being tested for coeliac. I eventually gave it up a couple of years ago as an experiment. It worked brilliantly, but had little effect on my gut.

In my case my balance improved a lot, although this is still dodgy in the dark and in narrow spaces. And my temper improved immensely.

Put it this way... My husband is better at remembering I need to be gluten-free than me, and I'm sure it's because I'm nicer to be around.

[dang]

I had to quit gluten myself along with a looooooong list of other foods. A lot of us with Hashimoto's have gut / digestive issues.

The gut is the first line of defence for your body, and where your immune system begins. Having gut issues leads to all sorts of disease, it is also super common to become gluten intolerant from gut issues. In my opinion I believe a lot of us started with gut problems and eventually became hypothyridic, then when we go on a gluten free diet we're actually giving out gut a break which then has a beneficial effect on our thyroid. However going gluten free doesn't actually solve your gut problems, it only avoids triggers which would flare up antibodies. I believe it's important to treat the underlying condition that causes your gut issues, if treated you should not only be able to improve your thyroid condition, but also eventually be able to stomach gluten again (unless you have Celiac's).

Since there are so many different things that could weaken ones stomach and cause autoimmune disease, each individual has to be accessed differently. One person could have Epstein-Bar Virus for example whereas another person has H.Pylori, both could lead to Hashimoto's. I myself tested positive for Yersinia anti-bodies (well known molecular mimickers of thyroid tissues) and also low DAO enzyme, these most likely eventually lead to my Hashimoto's however my stomach problems came years before the thyroid issues.

Here's a good read on gut infections and Hashimoto's link. (Not sure if this translates at all to people without Hashimoto's).

hypothyroidmom.com/hashimot...

[Rosie_P]

teyris last summer I joined this group (not even knowing that I had Hashis) because I found a thread discussion on line here about a skin condition that I HAD called exfoliative keratolysis. This is an auto immune condition. I read Dr. William Davis book Wheat Belly and decided then to go gluten free. Within a week my hands and feet were starting to heal and I haven't had a flare up sense. Recently I was dx with Hashis, but who knows how long I've had it. I never was much of one to go to the Docs. I found this link to be very insightful for the gluten- thyroid connection. It explains how similar their molecular structure is and why Hashis may get started...chriskresser.com/the-gluten...

[elwins]

Had tests and found out I had colitis, had allergy testing done which showed up wheat and corn cause me problems, been on thyroxine for over sixty years. Having a flare up at the moment due to drinking gassy drinks. Have you tried keeping a food diary to see what foods are causing you problems. Best of luck.

[Mahala1959]

There is a suggestion that if you produce antibodies via consuming gluten, these antibodies can also damage your thyroid and other organs like the brain. I had problems for years with gluten without really being aware, and eventually my thyroid gland started to malfunction. I think this might have been mentioned in the book 'Wheat Belly'.