Since changing my diet I have seen a significant decrease in TSH levels (they have gone from 48 to 24), and yet my antibodies are still extremely high (I have hashimoto's). I am also slightly deficient in vitamin D.
Are you supplementing VitD - B12 - Iron ? You quite possibly have serious absorption issues so am not sure diet is the answer .... it of course part of the treatment - but only part. You need Levo 😊
I'm putting my low b12, vitmain D and Iron levels down to the fact that I was vegan until not so long ago. Is there any way that I can check if I have absorption issues?
I think your low results for vits and minerals indicate you are not absorbing well. Very common with Hashimotos sufferers who often have low stomach acid when good levels are needed to break down foods.
Are you now supplementing those low levels ?
There is a non scientific test to check stomach acid - have a google - sorry on my phone !!
As you have an autoimmune thyroid condition which I presume has destroyed some of your thyroid causing hypothyroidism, i would suggest that with a TSH so very over range you need to take Levothyroxine. Diet and supplements may reduce antibodies and slow progress of disease but are unlikely to eradicate autoimmune condition entirely and your body needs enough thyroid hormone to function properly.
My mum controlled hers through diet, but I believe she tapered her thyroxine down gradually until she was at a level to come off it (by that I mean she addressed her diet while on thyroxine, and it allowed her to reduce dose as she improved).
It would be good for you to maybe work with a nutritionist to work on healing your gut and addressing any nutrient deficiencies.
I doubt that you will be able to resolve your thyroid problem by altering your diet. Your antibodies are high because your imune system is slowly damaging your thyroid. Antibody activity can often be reduced by going totally gluten free, this will slow down the rate at which your thyroid is damaged but it will still have the damage from previous attacks. Paying attention to your vitamins and minerals will help optimise the output of your thyroid going forward but it is unknowable how effective this will be and how long it will take. In the meantime your body is screaming for more thyroid hormone, I would listen to my body.
I agree with Greybeard63. With thyroid disease, the concern is not the fact of having a high level of TSH/low levels of FT3/4 being determined by a blood test, as a sort of academic exercise, but what is happening meanwhile to the body as a result of having inadequate thyroid hormones available to the cells and that remaining untreated - not least to the brain and heart for instance.
You cannot heal your thyroid with diet once it is damaged. You may be able to improve conversion from t4 to T3 and decrease antibodies but you cannot restore the thyroid's function without taking exogenous hormones. Before thyroid hormone was discovered, hypothyroidism was a death sentence: heart failure and dementia followed by a slow lingering death in the madhouse. If you don't fancy taking thyroxine, you could look into Natural Desiccated Thyroid (NDT). You can improve your ferritin levels (need to be at last 70) by eating liver or taking an iron supplement; you can probably reduce antibodies by taking selenium and you can improve B12 (needs to be at least 500) by taking sublingual methylcobalamin 5000iu (but you might need B12 injections). You might be able to improve free T3 a little by NOT exercising, just walking normally.
A decrease in TSH from 48 to 24 means absolutely nothing, when you have Hashi's, because levels will jump around all the time. And to have a TSH of 48 means that considerable damage has already been done to your thyroid. No form of diet can repair it. And, as others have said, without enough thyroid hormone in your body, you will die a long, lingering, miserable death. You cannot live without thyroid hormone.
But, what exactly have you got against taking levo? It's not a drug, it's a thyroid hormone. Apart from the inconvenience of having to take a pill every day, what is so wrong with taking it?
thank you, very helpful. I'm told that taking levo will slowly damage my thyroid until it no longer works at all, I also just hate the idea of taking prescription drugs, as an ex-prescription drug addict.
Oh, that's rubbish! Whoever told you that? Taking levo might cause your thyroid to suspend production of hormone - but with Hashi's, that's a good thing. But, if you were unable to get hold your your levo for a few weeks, for some reason, your thyroid would step up and produce as much hormone as it could, to tide you over. No damage would be caused by the levo. It's your own immune system that is doing the damage.
And, if you take enough levo to suppress your thyroid, it will go a long way to prevent further damage being done.
None of us like taking pills. But, it's better than the alternative. Besides, as I said, levo isn't a drug. It's the thyroid hormone T4. All it does is replace the thyroid hormone that your gland can no-longer make in sufficient quantities.
This is one of those stories that doctors often tell. Thyroid hormone won't damage your thyroid. Doctors sometimes think it's addictive in some way, but that's just their ignorance about the nature of the illness.
Your thyroid will be destroyed by antibodies, though. That is what Hashimotos is, antibodies slowly attack your thyroid, so it's function reduces over time and you become more and more hypothyroid.
You are very hypo, with under range free T4 and rock bottom free T3. Low B12 can cause neurological symptoms so you need to get that sorted - you probably need B12 injections. Your ferritin is abysmal so you need to supplement iron and might need an iron infusion. Your antibodies are still high. Your poor pituitary is being flogged to death trying to get your thyroid to work - you need a decent dose of thyroid hormone.
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