gluten free hashimotos- experience?

[roosta22]

Hi there,

Ive been diagnosed with Hashimotos from 2012, and have been on a strict gluten free diet ever since. I am however beginning to question whether it truly is the be all and end all for people with hashimotos.

Is there anyone out there that is not on a fully gluten free diet with Hashimotos? how do you feel? how is your health etc?

I am missing some foods, specifically pumpernickel bread/rye bread, and Im wondering if its something I may be able to reintroduce....

[greygoose]

Did you feel any better after starting it? Sometimes, we don't realise what something is doing for us, until we stop it. You could try eating a little gluten and see how it makes you feel. If you start to feel worse, then slowly reintroduce gluten into your diet. But, monitor yourself very closely, for symptoms.

[roosta22 in reply to greygoose]

yes perhaps Ill try and reintroduce and see how I go. I dont ever recall feeling better or worse, though I do know nutritionally speaking, my diet was better before as all these gluten free products are often higher in fat/sugar etc. before I would eat alot of high quality wholegrain products, eg dark rye bread, bran cereals etc.

[Saggyuk in reply to roosta22]

Hi roosta

I suppose I would have thought the same at the point my thyroid went if I had gone GF at that time but it was only twenty years later after more and more problems and further issues and autoimmune diseases that it became clear that it was the gluten in the first place and that it just continued to cause further damage - thyroid was just the start - at least for me. However it certainly may not be the case for you or everybody else. All you can do is give it a go and see how you feel as suggested by grey goose but I would add that personally I would not give this a go at the same time as trying to get pregnant and maybe do it beforehand.

For example, when I go on a six week gluten trial now, I quickly become very low with a tsh between 30 and 50 and takes three months to go back to normal once trial completed and this could be very problematic and even dangerous if trying to conceive or already pregnant. So might be best to either try gluten again now but wait before trying to conceive or trying gluten again after pregnancy would be my advice possibly as just wouldn't want to take the risk to do both at the same time to be honest

[roosta22 in reply to Saggyuk]

Thanks saggyuk! Yes I think that's a good idea- to try maybe after pregnancy.

Does anyone know about a gluten free diet and baby health?

Is avoiding gluten, ultimately setting up the child for possible intolerances, if it's not introduced in utero?

[Saggyuk in reply to roosta22]

hmm, I honestly don't think they know for sure and many of the issues surrounding this and they keep changing their minds. For instance, they used to say to avoid peanuts until recently but now say no problem, they used to say leave introducing gluten until much later but now fine from six months.

From my point of view, there are many coeliac woman who avoid gluten during pregnancy who have babies who turn out not to be coeliac so I doubt very much it would cause it. There are also many women who don't eat shell fish while pregnant and I don't think it impacts on whether the child will become allergic later on and there are many women who eat nuts or milk while pregnant who have children with nut allergies and lactose intolerance so I haven't seen any real evidence and I think it's mostly conjecture either way. Most babies/toddlers don't get diagnosed coeliac until after weaning so I don't think there would be enough gluten in breast milk to cause issues. My little one certainly didn't have obvious problems associated with gluten until after weaning - this was when her poops became truly awful and got eczema and I ate gluten all through pregnancy/breast feeding. She did have really bad colic earlier on though and many women swear that gluten in breast milk can cause this and it goes away if they stop eating gluten???? My daughter was allergic to many things such as tomatoes/sun tan lotion/soaps/detergents but when she gave up gluten and her inflammation in general went down, all her other allergies disappeared. It all comes back when accidentally has gluten.

Basically I've read reports that avoiding foods during pregnancy increases the chances of allergies in the child and have read reports that say the opposite but have not seen anything significant enough.

However, antibodies and immune responses are passed through the placenta and through breast milk but I haven't read enough to know whether autoantibodies or immune disfunctions are passed just as easily but in my head logically, I would think it's more important to have a low level of inflammation and autoantibodies/antibodies to gluten in general whilst pregnant in regards to your child's long term health and responses maybe? This is purely my opinion and have nothing to hand to back it up lol!!

You being healthy is the most important thing during pregnancy so just do what you need to remain so and deal with any issues later on if showing any signs of allergy - eczema/asthma/digestive issues/stomach pains - find out what it is and remove it - there's always a cause so don't accept doc giving you creams and saying just one of those things and nothing you can do lol

[Shelley1954]

I have Hashi's and am not gluten free, although due to change in diet I eat little bread but it is not a food option for me. Since commencing T3 around Feb/March this year, I am symptom free other than nails which are still ridged but improving.

[Hellonwheels]

I have found (in the U.S.) that eating organic, whole grain, and no ADDED gluten (vital wheat gluten is used as a dough conditioner in a lot of breads here) have helped tremendously. I have gone gluten-free, also, and the results were the same for me.