A basic Hashimoto's and thyroid protocol.
I have taken this with permission from
Thyroid Care Group Facebook.
The Importance Of Knowing
By Roderick Lane ND
Welcome to the Thyroid Care Group I see many people posting on the Internet and on social media asking for help concerning their thyroid or endocrine condition. They are often hampered especially in the UK where the thyroid is concerned by the fact that they are not actually informed as to what their condition is. It's important to know when you post stuff on the Internet asking for help whether you actually have an autoimmune based condition or non-autoimmune. In the case of thyroid disorders this means are you suffering from Hashimoto's or graves or just what is considered by the medical profession as a classical low secretion of T4 hormone. If you are going to seek advice gather as much basic information as you can before you act upon the advice you are given. Many individuals are very well-meaning compassionate and caring but if they don't actually know exactly what it is you have what they suggest may not actually apply.
So a few of the things you need to know if you have a thyroid condition you need to know your TSH, though we know TSH in thyroid conditions is a very misleading measure as it can often be confused by the level of synthetic T4 (level thyroxine) that you may be taking you will need to know your T4, T3 and antibodies. Very often you will be told that you don't need to know those things this is because your GP is under a great deal of pressure not to spend money on tests that can be considered by some unnecessary which when trying to find out about your thyroid is not actually the case.
So feel free to post and ask questions and my colleagues and I will do our best to get back to you.
Roderick Lane ND, DCN
Elizabeth Bright ND, DO
Emma Moorby Ketogenics chef and trainer.
Not forgetting the people who just pitch up and post and provide information.
To ensure people can find it, this is how I start the autoimmune protocol. It is the foundation and starting point of most autoimmune programs.
The Roderick Lane ND Hashimoto’s the layered approach.
This is to be read in conjunction with the notes from the lecture sponsored by Thyroid Petitions Scotland. Many thanks to Lorraine Cleaver for instigating both the lecture and this explanation.
While this is not an in-depth protocol it actually outlines my approach to the treatment of Hashimoto's disease in the London Thyroid Clinic. I say outlines my approach because every single thyroid sufferer is different, those who do not respond to levothyroxine understand this only too well.
The most basic thing you must do when you have any form of endocrine disorder is balance the blood sugar levels. This becomes more complicated in Hashimoto's disease due to the auto immune component. A rather simple and old-fashioned definition of Hashimoto's and Graves' disease is rheumatoid thyroid, that is rheumatism of the thyroid gland. Our simplest understanding of this is that your immune system is eating the thyroid gland. Put like that using a description it does sound rather gross.
So in the treatment of Hashimoto's and in Graves one of the first things we need to do is alter the nature of the immune system's response to the thyroid gland. Somewhere in the complex biochemistry of a human being your immune system is decided to literally eat you rather than attack pathogens. In essence you have a confused and poorly directed immune system response.
The usual advice given in this situation is that you should be both gluten and dairy free, at this point I hear lots of people sighing saying 'oh dear not that old saw again!' The despair usually follows that comment from people who have tried to be gluten and dairy free when it has made no impact. It has made no impact usually because the individuals concerned have a highly compromised digestive tract. You will have heard such phrases thrown about on the Internet as candida albicans, leaky gut syndrome, gluten sensitivity, inappropriate stomach pH, pancreatic insufficiency of digestive enzymes et cetera, et cetera. The key to all of these problems is the correct functioning of both the stomach, small intestine and large intestines as a single unit. This is the secret when you're trying to perform an autoimmune protocol. It's not just the diet it's also the manner in which you digest, process, utilise and excrete that dictates the outcome of any nutritional program.
It is a rather interesting fact that many people who have not done well on synthetic hormones have found that when they have actually improved the digestive process the synthetic hormone therapy has improved quite considerably. The implication in this for those individuals that their digestive tract was not capable of digesting and processing the enteric coated pills in the first place.
So here we go Roderick Lane's layered approach to autoimmune dysfunction 101.
The first thing to do is to actually make your digestions work and support the bacteria throughout your digestive tract, this is the most basic thing you can do for any disease and for fundamental health. The ability to break down food in the digestive tract digest, process it and turn it into building blocks of health, which also includes hormones, is so fundamental yet so often ignored.
Stage one
Do the Broda Barnes temperature test and also the iodine patch test. These two tests are repeated every month even if they are not acted upon, they are designed to enable you to both monitor and gather evidence as to your needs and the impact the protocol is having upon your entire system.
Increase the levels of good bacteria in your gut the simplest way of doing this is by using homegrown Kefir. You can buy Kefir granules on the net and they have a wonderful way of reproducing. It is a however important when you are using your homegrown 'gut bacteria complex' to ensure that it is grown out of organic milk which is full fat. A good basic kefir homegrown complex will on average contain between 20 to 23 different forms of gut bacteria all of which are beneficial to you. Consume two medium-size glasses of this and a day. Interestingly if you use a homegrown kefir the bacteria modifies the milk complex to a considerable extent consuming the lactose and also it convert the fats and change the nature of the casein in the full fat milk. A biologically active Kiefer complex is very low on the list of allergens. Those who find themselves occasionally sensitive to dairy products may well not find themselves reacting to their own home-made gut bacteria complex. The key to this success of using home-made gut bacteria is that at point of consumption the bacteria actually is physically alive and reproducing. If you are sensitive to cows milk and you don't even want to give this a try you can use both sheep and goats milk.
If you cannot literally stomach making a rather sharp tasting yoghurt for yourself, I would consider the following options.
Bioacidophilus forte Biocare UK. . As it suggests this is an acidophilus complex but a rather specific one.
This is a gut bacteria in a capsule, I recommend this specifically because I know how effective it is and that it actually works. Because you're dealing with an autoimmune problem take three a day between meals.
Add to the yoghurt one heaped teaspoon of turmeric and stir it in, turmeric has remarkable anti-inflammatory properties throughout the body and the digestive tract. It has been shown that turmeric can be far more effective than ibuprofen as in the anti-inflammatory and pain killer.
If none of these work for you or you find it too demanding I would suggest using
Biocare UK. GI complex GI complex is designed to support the integrity of the entire gut wall. Some people with histories of ulcers, gastric reflux and a long, long list of medications find that combination of Kefir and GI complex to be a remarkable winning combination in healing the digestive tract.
At this point what have you done? If this is all you need to have done you have repaired the gut wall integrity and improved the bacterial breakdown and fermentation of foods so that you can strip them of fats, minerals, vitamins and amino acids all of which are involved in the building of thyroid hormones and the thyroid gland. If this is all you need this should reduce digestive bloating, fatigue and inflammation sometimes stage I is all you need.
Do this for a month and keep food and mood diary, a list of aches and pains and the things that actually drive you down. You will be surprised at the differences that will occur when your digestion begins to wake and serve its essential purpose.
Stage two
Do the Broda Barnes temperature test and also the iodine patch test.
As has been said before it is routinely recommended for people with autoimmune thyroid problems to be both gluten and dairy free. This is not just wheat free! There are all manner of grains on the planet and some things which are recommended in certain circumstances like oats may not fit into a gluten-free diet. Do remember when you are doing a diet for an autoimmune condition it is not actually a diet it is a clinical tool and should be treated as such. The fact that you may well lose weight, feel better look better is actually a side effect of dealing with the autoimmune issue (it's a nice side-effect, see Emma Moorby's slide presentation).
The two diets commonly used when treating a thyroid condition are the Paleolithic diet which has a modicum of carbohydrate included in it or the one I prefer in most situations the ketogenic diet which is acknowledged to be highly anti-inflammatory. Sadly to give you a proper outline of a ketogenic diet I would actually have to write the entire book out so at this point you have to do a spot of voting with your feet and actually read the book. Do not try and run a ketogenic diet from websites or website information. That ketogenic diets being done by fitness professionals and weightlifters are not the same as a ketogenic diet or Paleolithic diet needed for excellent health. The excess muscle burning and fat trimming diets cannot be maintained or even attempted by somebody who is exhausted with a thyroid condition.
Both the ketogenic diet and the Paleolithic diet go against much of what you would have been taught about over the last 40 years of dietary control. Again, I must emphasize that the Paleolithic and the Ketogenic diet when properly applied clinical tools and are not just diet fads. They have two points in similar in that they are both designed to stabilise blood sugar levels and they also help reduce insulin levels. This has a knock-on effect of reducing cortisol and is very useful for those who actually have both thyroid and adrenal problems combined.
The three books I would recommend that you read are
The Science of Ageing Backwards: ReGenerationX.
Available on Amazon as a print on demand volume. This book was written by me and my co-author Elizabeth Bright and is a ketogenic diet aimed specifically at adults who are not interested in becoming weightlifters or going in for body sculpting.
New Atkins: New You By Dr Eric Westerman this is an updated version of the Atkins ketogenic process. Do not confuse this book with the rewrites of Dr Atkins original books such as The New Atkins Diet.
The Cantin Diet. By Elaine Cantin. This book has a rather comprehensive section of references those of you wish to search with such things and some remarkable case histories.
Continue on with your good but bacteria and do the diet for a month, again keeping a food and mood diary and plotting any changes. The changes always happen in remarkably odd areas like you no longer have aching elbows. Healing is a very odd process the body has its own set of priorities they work like this
You heal from the head down
from the inside out
in the reverse order of the occurrence of the symptom
from the significant
to the insignificant.
Stage three
Do the Broda Barnes temperature test and also the iodine patch test.
If your digestive issues have not resolved themselves and you are still experiencing stomach bloating, tiredness after eating and food craving consider the following
Hypo-D. Made by Nutri-West Ltd this product is a broad spectrum hydrochloric acid supplement with enzymes. It should actually be taken with food at meals, not before a meal or after meals but during food consumption as it's designed to break down the food and augment your stomach acid.
Spectrumzyme Biocare UK For people have history of food allergies and digestive allergies it is a broad spectrum enzyme product. It contains the enzymes that allow you to break down fats, proteins, carbohydrates, lactose and gluten. It may be that your digestive tract has suffered from drug and nutritional insult for such a long time that you need your digestions supporting over a very wide and specific spectrum.
Ployzymeforte Biocare UK Again for people who have digestive issues this is a very broad spectrum enzyme product and also a very dynamic one, it has a smaller range of enzymes in it than the Spectrumzyme however the potency of this enzyme product is far stronger.
Stage 4
Do the Broda Barnes temperature test and also the iodine patch test.
If all is moving forward at this point you should have begun to see a change around in many aspects of your condition that you are totally unaware of both diarrhea and constipation being one of them. As you will have noted as you move through this process the protocol is becoming more complex at each stage but being a layered approach we allow it to instigate and incorporate changes. My experience of treating people with thyroid issues over more than quarter of a century has been gently, gently is the preferential approach. The very act of getting better can be both scary and exhausting therefore it's important not to push yourself too quickly.
This is the point where you begin to add vitamins and minerals to your diet specifically things that routinely can be added and are relatively safe and simple to do are.
B 12
Magnesium
Mineral Complex
Mega EPA
Liquid Iron
Again these are Biocare UK Products
Once again the general process here is maintain the good gut bacteria, continue on with the chosen diet, continue on with the digestive support should you need it and now add in the minerals and vitamins. Once again maintain this process for another month and allow the gradual changes to occur.
Stage Five
At this point do the Broda Barnes test again for a month, measure it against your original Broda Barnes Test. Is the test now showing an upward trend over the months. You measure the trend by adding all the temperatures together then dividing it by the number of days in the month, remember the test should be done over a calendar month. Don't just rely on guesswork do a calculation if your monthly average has gone up by .2 of a degree you are doing very well. You're heading towards recovery.
At this point to your iodine patch test and see how long the iodine has taken to disappear. Opinions vary about the iodine patch test I have found it to be remarkably useful over 25 years of use in clinical practice however at this point I must say just like all tests irrespective of how or why they performed the iodine patch test is an indicator not an absolute.
Now where you need to make decisions, do I keep doing what I'm doing because I seem to be getting better? Given that you've taken on board the entire gut ecology, digestion and the balancing of both blood sugar and insulin secretion this will have a radical impact on your endocrine system. In the ketogenic diet you will have an eating dark fish which in its own right contains iodine and iodide.
At this point if you're actually working with a qualified naturopath they may well recommend the use of glandular's such as
Metavive II
Core Level Thyro Nutri-West UK
Or the use of broad-spectrum thyroid support nutrient complexes such as
TH Intensive Biocare UK
TH207 Biocare UK
Lugols Iodine Any make
Details of the companies mentioned
Biocare Ltd UK biocare.co.uk
0121 433 3727
Discount code arranged for lecture P6854 (10%).
Metavive The-Natural-Choice.co.uk
01444 318 822
Nutri-West Ltd. nutri-west.co.uk
01329 820 100
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