Hi, just got my Medichecks back, have been doing this for the last few months, antibodies seem to have come down from 470 last July, so hopefully going gluten free is working although two months ago they were up a tiny bit. TSH has come down slightly but T3 and T4 seem to have dropped just a fraction and am wondering if this is why I feel more fatigued and a mass of aches and pains more so lately. Having a crushed T5 vertebrae doesn't help due to osteoporosis. I am not on any medication, GP not interested in thyroid (thinks Hashimotos is a virus) nor my primary hyperparathyroidism, so am trying to go down the self help route. . I tried 1/4 grain of NDT and reacted quite badly which I think is due to high cortisol even though I was taking HB, Ashwagandha and Rhodiola drops, I hadn't left them off for the 15 days as I was supposed to.
Sorry I have hit something on keyboard and don't know how to get off italics, groan. I have bought some CBD oil in the hopes it might help with the pain in my back and ribs but see that it is also for anxiety so won't start taking it. A thyroid group on FB advised better to use Regenerus this time for cortisol as it includes DEA, no more expensive than Medichecks.
GP not interested in thyroid (thinks Hashimotos is a virus)
As I'm sure you're aware, Hashimoto's Thyroiditis and "autoimmune hypothyroidism" are two names for the same condition. UK doctors tend not to use the Hashi's name.
I tried 1/4 grain of NDT and reacted quite badly which I think is due to high cortisol even though I was taking HB, Ashwagandha and Rhodiola drops, I hadn't left them off for the 15 days as I was supposed to
If you did a saliva test and it still showed high cortisol despite taking all those things at the time of the test then either the things you are taking aren't working, or your dose is too low or your cortisol was really, really high before you started treating yourself. There are other things you could try.
Something you could look into is Seriphos by Interplexus (which is phosphorylated serine) and also phosphatidyl serine (often shortened to PS). Sadly, both things are very expensive.
Your TSH is too high and your Free T4 and Free T3 are too low. Neither the Free T4 nor the Free T3 make it to the middle of the range. I would say you are hypothyroid, but sadly, as you must be aware, hypothyroidism is not diagnosed early enough in the UK, and your chances of being treated are slim to non-existent.
There are a lot of things that affect thyroid function. You might like to read the first post in this thread from another forum :
You have Hashi's, thanks to the positive antibody results. I'd say that even the Thyroglobulin antibodies are too high - they are well into the upper half of the range.
One good source of info on Hashi's is Izabella Wentz. She has a website, a Facebook page, has written a couple of books, and has appeared in several Youtube videos. She is a sufferer of Hashi's herself who managed to put it into remission.
The most commonly suggested things for Hashi's are to a) go gluten-free and b) take selenium supplements. Going gluten-free has to be done religiously and ruthlessly to be have a hope of being affected. Try it for a couple of months and see if it helps. If it doesn't then you should go back to eating it again.
Different people react to different dietary interventions. Some need to go lactose and casein-free by giving up animal milk products. Some get improvement from eating a low-histamine diet. Some people give up nightshades. It is a good idea to only try one thing at a time, and to start eating things again if giving them up makes no difference to you. (Being honest - I've only ever gone gluten-free, I've never tried any of the other things. I got benefits from going g-f.)
Your vitamin B12 is not bad. It is often quoted on here that neurological damage can occur with levels under 500 pmol/L, and that the Japanese think that 500 pmol/L is the essential minimum anyone should have. A suggested optimum level is around 900 - 1000 pmol/L.
Your folate is too low, and needs to be mid-range or higher i.e. roughly 26 - 50 ug/L for most of us to feel well. Anyone who has thyroid problems of any kind should take a good quality B Complex which includes methylfolate, although some people don't tolerate methylfolate and need some other form of folate instead.
Your CRP is okay - the lower it is the better. It is a measure of inflammation in the body, but won't tell you where inflammation is actually occurring. Just to give you some comparison, I saw a program on TV where a (real) doctor measured the CRP of someone with an active chest infection and it was 50. I think (but don't know for certain) that chronic inflammation tends to show up with much lower levels than acute inflammation.
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Ferritin - you really need this to be a bit higher. Mid-range or a little bit higher is considered to be optimal for people with thyroid issues. So, a level of about 80 - 100 ug/L would be great. If you need suggestions on supplements for iron, just ask.
Very many thanks for going to all that trouble for me with links etc. I will have a proper read tomorrow, in a horrible amount of pain and I don't remember it being this bad a year ago so am wondering if I have done another vertebrae.
I started going gluten free last November, haven't felt any better for it but am persevering. I was using Rude Health almond milk but it worries me not having any calcium with my osteoporosis. I have been using that A2 milk just at breakfast and seem to be okay with it. I hate milk anyway, and tend to only drink ginger tea. I cut out all the nightshade group as I found particularly tomatoes I was wracked with arthritis pains the days after. I have started taking ferrous fumerate and it is quite gentle on the stomach. I did buy Isobel Wentz's book the Root Cause, a lot of it went over the top of my head and I was cutting out all sorts of things, but I went back to eating watercress every day recently and organic celery as I wasn't getting much iron at all. I am a bit dubious about broccoli. Ive been using the sublingual B12 drops. It is so disheartening as I try my best to be healthy but get nothing from the GP. I also have the worry of high calcium due to primary hyperparathyroidism and have spent over £6 on private awful endo and various tests and an indecisive endo surgeon.
When I receive the Regerus kit will then look into this PS you speak of. Even if I could get my adrenals under control and try the NDT, there is the problem of trying to get hold of more. I got this as a private prescription from an FMP who is a GP not at my practise as she has just disappeared. Had two consults with her and that was back in March and she has never been in touch to see how I got on with the NDT. All I got for my £150 was a load of email attachments with various diets which everyone would get, nothing personalised and I was already gluten free.
Anyway, thanks again for your time. I am disappointed that the T3 and T4 are gradually getting lower. The thyroglobulin antibodies have come down gradually since last year from 122 last year. Strangely when the peroxidase antibodies went up a bit in May to 350, my CRP was 0.9. But then I always have to be different.
Just dug out my cortisol levels for the middle of last month when I was on all those herbs etc.
I noticed hyperparathyroidism. My Mum had that and went to a naturopath who gave her nettle tea to have 5 times a day to reduce calcium in the blood and put it into the bones. At her next blood test her hyperparathyroidism was in the middle of normal and her calcium had reduced to top of normal.
if your mum has primary hyperparathyroidism, she needs to have the offending adenoma removed as it will only get worse over time. Naturopath should be advising her to seek the advice of an endocrine surgeon not encouraging her just to drink tea ad pth and calcium fluctuates anyway. Top of the range blood calcium is not good.
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