Hi
Can anyone help me understand how Hashi’s and psoriasis may interact?
Is it a case that when my psoriasis is flaring, Hashi’s would be too as there’s a general autoimmune flare going on?
Or can one be flaring whilst the other one isn’t?
Many thanks!
I don't think they do interact. And, it does depend on what you mean by 'flare'. I don't have psoriasis, but I would imagine a psoriasis flare would mean the psoriasis getting worse. But, a Hashi's flare is not a question of better or worse, it's a question of going from hypo to a false 'hyper', which may cause hyper symptoms, or hypo symptoms or - as in my case - just giving an over-all sense of well-being.
Given the different natures of these 'flares', I shouldn't imagine they are due to any sort of interaction. 
Hi I have been recently diagnosed with Hashimoto's and came across your comment
'Hashi's flare is not a question of better or worse, it's a question of going from hypo to a false 'hyper', which may cause hyper symptoms'
Please can you share more information regarding this? How would I know I am having a flare? What's causing it and how to deal with it?
Thanks
A Hashi's flare - aka Hashi's 'hyper' swing - is when the immune system launches an attack on the thyroid (mistaking it for the enemy) and kills off a number of cells. The dying cells dump their stock of hormone into the blood, causing levels of FT4 and FT3 to rise sharply, and the TSH to fall. These high levels will, eventually, drop by themselves, but whilst they are high, you could have hyper symptoms, but it would seem that not everybody does.
You might know - once you're experienced in the way your body reacts to hormone levels - by symptoms that you're having a flare, but you might not. Other than that, the only way to know is with a blood test.
There's not much you can do to deal with them - they might not even need dealing with. But, if you feel hyper, you could get a blood test, and if your levels are high, stop taking your levo for a few days. Restart taking it when you start to feel hypo again.
What causes them is anybody's guess. No-one really know - although there are theories. One of the theories is that eating gluten causes them, which is why Hashi's people are recommended to go gluten-free. But, even gluten-free people can still have flares.
Thank you for your reply, this is fascinating! When I look at the list of hyper I can identify more symptoms from this list than hypo! How long does a flare up can last up to? Are we taking hours and days or more like weeks and months? Thank you so much for taking time to reply x
How long it last varies from person to person. I have seen people on here who maintain the they have frequent flares that last hours. I've seen other who talk about many months. There's no real answer to that question.
This is all very new to me and soo confusing😢 On top of this I have developed terrible acne on my chin, never had problems like this, I am convinced it has something to do with taking Levothyroxine and fluctuating hormones.
I feel I am all over the place
Acne has something to do with low thyroid hormones. It can be a hypo symptom. I developed acne in my early fifties, before my diagnosis. I hadn't had it as a teenager.
Keep reading on here and asking questions, and soon it will cease to be confusing. The basics are pretty simple, really.
Thanks greygoose. It’s really useful to understand what a Hashi’s flare might feel like - I’m not diagnosed yet and not sure if I have it, but have experienced quite a big swing in blood tests recently so I’m wondering if that’s the cause.
I was trying to determine if a psoriasis flare (i.e. my skin getting worse) was likely to coincide with a Hashi’s flare (however that might make me feel!) and therefore might indicate that my antibodies could be higher at that time - just in case my upcoming blood tests don’t show high antibodies I was trying to work out if I can tell when they may be higher so that I can get blood tests done at that time.
Every autoimmune disease has its own antibodies. TPO antibodies and Tg antibodies will be higher after a Hashi's flare because they react to the TPO and Tg that escapes into the blood. They come along to clean it up because it's not supposed to be there.
I don't know what the psoriasis antibodies are called, but the TPO and Tg antibodies have nothing to do with psoriasis. And, I don't even know if all antibodies fluctuate the way TPO and Tg antibodies do. Sorry.
No problem! I understand they have different antibodies, just trying to understand if when your body is attacking itself through an autoimmune disease are all autoimmune diseases you have affected at that time or is it possible that one may be in the ‘attack phase’ but the other one isn’t 🤔
I had very bad skin on my lower legs, and sometimes arms for 20 years when I was on levothyroxine, I was very sensitive to the fillings and had to have a certain brand. Interestingly when I changed to Ndt, thyro Gold, and went gluten free, my skin cleared up. I don't have to cover up anymore. Good luck
That’s great! Unfortunately I’ve had psoriasis for about 25 years, and have only been taking levo for about 6 months and liothyronine for about a year so neither is the culprit! Have also been completely gluten free and dairy free for a few years. Only thing that really seems to help is being in the sun so if I could get a prescription to live somewhere sunny that’d be fab 😜
I’ve been completely gluten free for a few years. Psoriasis has been passed onto me from my dad, a lot of his side of the family have it. Both my parents have autoimmune diseases so no surprise I’ve ended up with them too 😕
My sympathies - I too have multiple autoimmune from both sides of family. Going grain free (not just gluten), and generally AIP (no nuts, seeds etc) has helped, although you may already have done that. How is your Vitamin D - deficiency can make psoriasis (and everything else!) worse and you do say sun helps you. Cheers
My sympathies to you too bookish! I rarely have any grains and haven’t done AIP yet but have been considering it for a while - problem is already being a gluten free, dairy free, egg free pescatarian (who’s currently doing veganuary and would like to continue ideal!) who doesn’t tolerate carbs very well, it’s already tricky to get a good balanced diet that doesn’t make me feel bad. Cutting out nuts, seeds, legumes and nightshades feels like it would be pretty hard for me but worth it I suppose it it makes me feel better and improves my skin. How long after starting AIP did you notice the difference?
My Vit D was low a little while back but is top of range now. Sorting that out definitely reduced the amount of pain I have.
Do you tend to find that your different autoimmune conditions flare at the same time? Or are they completely independent of each other?
Oh boy, yes AIP will be hard when you have so much going on already. To be honest, I have not been off the nuts and seeds for long (6 weeks maybe), just felt I had to try and do think it has helped, still on eggs as can digest very little and not sure what to replace them with. Eat fish but too much and get a histamine overload. Used to eat a lot of tomatoes and peppers and currently reacting to both so off nightshades. Sounds daft but have been using something called eat right 4 your type which is blood group based and although I try to be suitably cynical it does make some sense and seems to tie up with both the various tests I have had and what my body has been telling me about some foods, so bearing it in mind if not following it to the letter.
Being grain free has calmed down some of my AIs and I think that they were 'active' at the same time (Thyroid, Vitiligo, Sjogren's, Raynaud's) although not sure about flares. The new one, APS (Hughes' Syndrome Sticky Blood) just seems to be getting worse at the moment. The cold makes most of them worse, not a flare, just stronger symptoms. Just bought Autoimmune Fix by Tom O'Bryan and hoping that I'll have some more to work on when I've finished reading it! He is talking about testing for predictive antibodies so wondering which of the other family AIs might be lurking to appear if I haven't calmed it all down yet.
Best wishes.
Gosh, you have got a lot of AIs to deal with haven’t you?! Great news that you are finding some changes helpful.
Anything has got to be worth a try I reckon, thanks for all the pointers. Just need to psych myself up to give AIP a go, get well prepared in advance!!
Hope you carry on finding things that help and everything eases more and more 🤞
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