Anyone watching Trust me I’m a doctor? Link between mental health & autoimmune conditions!

[Raucous]

I’m just watching Trust me I’m a doctor on bbc 2 & they have just looked at recent research where people with mental health problems had their antibodies tested and many were found to have an autoimmune disease, they were then treated with immunotherapy and a large proportion showed huge improvements.

I am busily researching antibodies as both my mum & I have high TG antibodies but no TPO - we have not particularly suffered from depression but I know many with Thyroid problems do and this I’d often not looked at as a cause if their TsH is normal because antibodies aren’t tested. I wonder how long it will take for antibody testing to become routine when people go to their GP with depression or other autoimmune related symptoms?

[marigold22]

I've thought for quite some time that mental health conditions were closely related to thyroid, auto immune, inflammation, et al. I only said today in my reply to another post that mental health patients could surely be diagnosed by looking at their levels of vitamins, minerals, amino acids, thyroid, inflammation. I had severe mental health problems whilst very under medicated. I felt like I was going insane. However the two consultant psychiatrists I saw ten years apart gave zero help despite knowing I had been diagnosed hypothyroid.

[Raucous in reply to marigold22]

I know I was actually shouting at the TV when several of the medical pros, psychiatrists & doctors said what a revelation it was to discover that autoimmune disease could be the cause of some mental illnesses, when if they have more widely educated themselves and read/thought beyond their specific training they might have discovered than many experts in nutrition, autoimmune disease & functional medicine seem to have know this for quite a while!

[marigold22 in reply to Raucous]

They are incapable of thinking outside the box. Or working together instead of specialising in certain parts of the body!!! My hypo caused me to be as insane as my schizophrenic uncle.............

[BadHare in reply to Raucous]

Being aware that autoimmune disease begins in the gut, & reading articles like the one below, must be too much effort for most doctors. Much easier to bombard people with antidepressants, then more pills to counteract the side effects.

chriskresser.com/heal-your-...

[pandv in reply to BadHare]

Healthy people don't make money I'm afraid, they don't need 'magic' pills. I've reduced my antibodies right down through autoimmune dietary changes - endocrinologist said it was placebo effect -_- 5 stone weight loss, revitalised physical health and far more positive mental health - who'd have thought I could wish all of these improvements on myself (sarcasm). In fact he told me that my gluten removal should be stopped as my diet is now probably deficient. Also amazing whenever I get cross contaminated I have an inflammatory response - must be wishing that on myself too (sarcasm). So pleased I don't rely on this flawed system for my wellbeing.....

[marigold22 in reply to pandv]

I would be very interested to know exactly how you reduced your antibodies right down through autoimmune dietary changes. What did you cut out? Did you add a probiotic? If so, which make?

[pandv in reply to marigold22]

TLDR version - Hashimotos Protocol diet - cut gluten / dairy - better supplementation - Sauerkraut and H&B Highstrength Acidophillus probiotics.

Long Winded version below -

I basically have thrown the kitchen sink at it once I realised that my doctor / NHS would only mono treat me with Levo with the goal of managing TSH. TSH was in their 'ok' range yet I still felt awful (brain fog / tiredness like narcolepsy / massive weight gain). Read numerous websites (Chris Kresser / Mercola and of course the great info from people on here etc) bought books (Wentz Hashimotos protocol / Amy Myers), thought I would try dietary changes and ran it by my GP - who said I was wasting my time and that he could not advise me based upon 'Internet Quackery'. I took my wife as a witness tbh and she was appalled when he said It really doesn't matter what you do as far as I'm concerned -- you'll come back here and I'll either raise / lower or stop your levo based upon TSH bloods. He didn't want to acknowledge my Blue Horizon tests and the positive antibodies and refused to add them to my medical record.

So I started cutting Gluten / Wheat and within a few weeks saw great improvements and I've worked from there, I've reduced my carbs (or certainly more control over them) and limit sugar. I then moved on to eliminating dairy and this has yielded great results, and with this I seem to have stumbled across the trigger for my low moods that have plagued me for years. I've tried to re-introduce dairy due to being a Pizza-holic and general Cheese connoisseur but my mood drops through the floor very quickly so no dairy for me (for now) -- will try again in 6 months which seems to be the time it takes for the immune system to re-right itself. Added various vitamins / supplements to my regimen (lots of good advice on here) B12 sublingual / D3 / Zinc / Selenium / Folate / Probiotics (both fermented food e.g. SauerKraut - not that keen but what the hey, and Acidophillus capsules the max strength H&B ones), also recently some pre-biotics (inulin) added to my daily Wentz Green Smoothie. I can tell this is inflammation / auto-immune based due to the condition of my skin - when i get cross contaminated with Gluten or Dairy my skin puffs up, I also get a break out of spots. This whole thing has been a scary ride - going from feeling ok to being on the seat of my pants in a number of months but the positive is it has made me re-appraise what I eat from top to bottom. You wouldn't put diesel in a petrol car so why do we so blindly fill ourselves with for want of a better word 'crap' food. Problem is all the dietary advice has been wrong for so many years so what hope do busy normal people have...

Also I still have not adjusted to being the 'allergen weirdo' when I go out with family / friends for meals - the looks of derision. But hey at least I'm a happier and healthier weirdo!

[SilverAvocado in reply to pandv]

Thanks for this personal story Pandv! I found it very inspiring to get my arse in gear and make some of the changes I need to do

[Nanny23 in reply to pandv]

Good for you. Happy you have had sucess

[crimple in reply to pandv]

They really don't like it when you can "cure" yourself without their help!

One should also ask why isn't there a blood test for mental health issues. (I know there isn't because so many issues are caused by diet, lack of vitamins etc) but it is so much easier to hand out a prescription rather than investigate properly, but as we saw last week on here Dr Chatterjee(who talks a lot of sense) has actually been able to persuade the docs that they need to learn something about the role of the gut and vits etc in good health. Slowly, very slowly maybe the tide is changing!

[Baobabs in reply to crimple]

I absolutely agree, treat the symptoms not the cause seems to be too frequently the order of the day in the medical profession!

[Anniebokder in reply to marigold22]

I had a break down after they removed most of my thyroid

[marigold22 in reply to Anniebokder]

We get treated in such a disgusting manner. These so called specialists are so arrogant, think they know it all

[Treepie]

After watching GPs behind closed doors I needed a laugh so Doc Martin.

Will have to catch it on iplayer.

[Raucous in reply to Treepie]

I'm recording Doc Martin & was watching an episode before!

[marigold22 in reply to Treepie]

bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b...

Link to Trust me I'm a Doctor

[Zandy21]

I have had a bit of a hyper blow-out lately. I am lucky to have a switched on medical crew around me who are aware of the links between mental health and auto-immune disease. I was diagnosed with Graves after presenting to the local mental health clinic with panic attacks. I thought it was lovely that the psych nurse held my hand and looked into my eyes, and it was only after I got the blood tests that I realised he was checking my skin and observing the popping eyes. Clever lad.

[Crzygirl]

My daughter at 20 has had EVERY thyroid test done, including antibioties. All bloodwork is completely normal. Has had 2 thyroid ultrasounds, the second one a year later the radiologists can not agree. One said there was a 1 cm nodule with microcalcification and the other said the 1 cm nodule didn't show anything so they won't do a FNA due to the small size. She did have low B12 & has been getting injections about once a month after the loading doses. She also takes Deplin 15 because of MTHFR gene, she has been blood tested for celiac disease=negative....Not showing up as PA in blood. All other vitamins are good. She suffers from exhaustion, dry skin, hair thinning, lost 25lbs without trying and gained 30 back in the matter of 8 months, no reason why. Now that it is cold out again her hands and feet are always freezing. I'm in the US, so unable to watch the video posted. She also has a severe tree nut allergy, tried going gluten free but so many products are made in a facility that contains tree nuts, so that didn't work. We've been running around for 2 years trying to find answers. I'm still convinced her depression is due to something physical, she has tried a few antidepressants in the past and only had bad side effects. She cannot even take birth control pills as they make her depression so much worse......

[Cup-cake7]

I'm so sorry to hear this poor girl

Re Doc Martin!!!!! Did you notice the other week with the girl with a bald patch and he said about her hypo but the bald was caused by another type of antibody!!? Unsure what?

I saw doc today and after all her explanation that I was normal at 4.4 and it was dangerous to up my levo she couldn't answer my questions at that point then why did I have my symptoms,( I couldn't possibly have any symptoms because I'm a 4.4!!!). Aagghh

I asked about my t3 but she said emphatically that it would be perfect as I was in complete range now of t4 and b12 although lower half of b12 when I pressed her

Next visit il ask her how my antibodies are doing ...............