Vitiligo and hashimoto thyroid

[Yohance]

I have vitiligo, an auto immune disease where you get white Patches on skin as well as hashimoto thyroid. My doctor advised me take 3 Brazil nuts everyday as well as carrot and beet juice. I don't want to start medicine. Just wanted to check opinion on the same

[SeasideSusie Remembering]

Yohance

Selenium can help reduce antibodies. Brazil nuts are often recommended for selenium. However, the reality is that the nuts need to be grown in selenium rich soil to contain any selenium. This needs to be stated on the packaging. But as selenium content varies even in selenium rich soil, there is no way of knowing how much selenium is in any Brazil nuts.

honey-guide.com/2012/11/19/...

The only way to know how much selenium you are getting is to supplement, the recommended form being selenium l-selenomethionine and 200mcg daily is generally recommended.

Some members with Hashi's benefit from a strict gluten free diet.

[greygoose]

You don't want too much carrot juice - too much vit A.

Reducing your antibodies will not get rid of Hashi's, because the antibodies are not the disease. Eventually your thyroid will be damaged to the extent that you have to start thyroid hormone replacement, I'm afraid.

[helvella Administrator in reply to greygoose]

Thing is, carrot juice contains the precursor of vitamin A - betacarotene.

Even people who resemble certain presidents seem not to suffer significant issues from high levels of carotene!

And, in hypothyroidism, it is common for conversion of betacarotene to vitamin A to be impaired. So consuming carrot juice might well not help much with vitamin A levels.

[greygoose in reply to helvella]

So, do you reckon the certain president gets his… unusual skin tone from drinking too much carrot juice? They say, in France, that eating carrots makes you a nice, friendly person. Didn't work with him, did it! lol

So, Yohance , looks like carrot juice isn't much good for anything - unless you want to turn orange!

[ShootingStars]

Hi Yohance. The only treatment for Hashimoto's is thyroid medication and that's what all of us take so that we don't have hypo symptoms. There is no cure for this life time disease. If Hashimoto's is left untreated, your thyroid hormone levels will drop even lower, your antibodies will increase, and you will feel much worse. Taking thyroid medication helps to keep your thyroid hormones in good range, which is what can also help take the strain off your thyroid and reduce your thyroid antibodies. There are only a couple of studies that show that taking selenium (best if taken with vitamin E) has any effect on antibodies.

Aside from taking our daily thyroid meds, many of us also find that we feel better going completely gluten free and some of us also eat an anti inflammatory diet. Because of the inflammation that goes along with Hashimoto's, I am also soy free, and only occasionally have a little dairy. I also avoid vegetables that cause inflammation.

3 brazil nuts a day is a big risk. I did that once and I ended up with selenium toxicity. 400 mcg per day is the maximum we can safely consume in one day, and this is the total combined amount from all of our daily diet. The problem with taking brazil nuts is that there is no way to tell how much selenium is in each nut, if it contains a safe amount or if it contains too much. Because of this, consuming daily brazil nuts can easily cause selenium toxicity. You have to take into account fall of the other foods that you eat that contain selenium. Always get a selenium blood test before starting to take brazil nuts as your source of selenium, and re-test a month or so after starting. A much safer route is to just consume one 200 mcg selenium capsule per day.

How 3 brazil nuts made me selenium toxic: Before I started eating brazil nuts as my source of selenium, I had had a few selenium tests along the way that showed mid range levels of selenium. I ate daily brazil nuts for about 2 months. I started to not feel well, so I had a bunch of blood tests. My selenium level came back as toxic. I immediately stopped the brazil nuts a few weeks later re-tested my selenium. By then I was no longer selenium toxic and I started taking 200 mcg selenium plus vitamin E, instead.

"Selenium is also found in our normal daily diet. A serving of yellowfin tuna provides almost double the RDA for selenium. Many types of fish, beef, pork and chicken supply more than 20 percent of the RDA in a typical serving. Other rich sources include cottage cheese, yogurt, brown rice, baked beans, oatmeal, spinach, eggs, whole wheat, grains and dairy products.

livestrong.com/article/5064...

"As discussed earlier, Brazil nuts contain very high amounts of selenium (68–91 mcg per nut) and could cause selenium toxicity if consumed regularly."

ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/S...

[Hidden]

I first started noticing my first white patch after I had my son I was aged 36years I have always eaten a healthy diet which for years has included 3 Brazils, 6 almonds, and 2/3 walnuts, organic of course. Over the years I have developed more and more patches plus gallbladder and thyroid removal. I believed that child birth altered my hormones and started an auto immune response. I still eat these nuts every day 40 years of more now.

They are a good form of fat too.

[Winnie2009]

I have had vitaligo all my life, it is auto immune however I have only had Hashimotos about 5 years and also suffer pernicious anemia.I believe they are not connected in my case.

[Winnie2009]

Forgot to say pregnancy can alter the vitaligo some people have unstable type and constantly changing pigment others stable but hormonal changes can affect it sometimes for the better but can become worse or even reverse into darker pigment.No amount of diet changes will cure the pigments however some people have had success with light pulse treatment.alternatively you can use cover up make up I have just embraced mine ,never known any different.Enjoy looking like a patch work person. Lol x