Research on antibodies - what I found out

[nnejy]

Hi everyone. I had really elevated antibodies, both TPO and TG antibodies. My TPO antibodies were 400 and my TG antibodies were off the charts (>4000).

Anyway, to cut a long story short I have managed to get my TPO antibodies into range by cutting out dairy and gluten entirely. However, my TG antibodies are still off the charts and I just can't work out how to get them down.

You have probably been told by medics that if you have hypothyroidism this is quite "normal" but it isn't. I have just read an article that is a bit worrying.

The article is titled: "Recent advances in understand autoimmune thyroid disease". What the article is saying is that because antibodies are elevated you can expect that you will not just have one autoimmune disease (i.e. hypothyroidism). You can expect that you will get more. This is called "polyautoimmunity".

This doesn't surprise me, I knew this already. Polyautoimmunity is not good, and it will increase your morbidity over the long term (aka we will die earlier). The reason for this is because antibodies increase inflammation in the body.

Does anyone here know how to get TG antibodies down? I have searched all the medical literature and I can find nothing.

[greygoose]

I have Hashi's, but I don't have any other autoimmune diseases, so it's not a given. It's just a possibility.

I think you should read this article about antibodies. It really puts things into perspective:

hashimotoshealing.com/under...

[retrieverk9 in reply to greygoose]

Great link GG

[greygoose in reply to retrieverk9]

You're welcome.

[nnejy in reply to greygoose]

Thanks a lot greygoose

[greygoose in reply to nnejy]

You're welcome.

[MaisieGray]

I don't know what "recent" means, but I think AI patients in health fora have understood for years, that having one AI disease increases the possibility, although not a given, of having another AI disease, or even more than that, but it's not a diagnosis, it's an altered risk. There's a meta analysis published in 2012 the title of which report is "Introducing Polyautoimmunity: Secondary Autoimmune Diseases No Longer Exist" which analyzed the presence of polyautoimmunity in 1,083 patients belonging to four particular autoimmune disease cohorts. Polyautoimmunity was observed in 373 patients (34.4%). Autoimmune thyroid disease (AITD) and Sjögren's syndrome (SS) were the most frequent diseases encountered of the four looked at, but there was definitely not a 100% incidence of what the researchers labelled with their newly proposed nomenclature of Polyautoimmunity, which they said encompasses the concept of a common origin for these diseases. In any case, it is also recognised that there are protective factors which prevent the progression of overlapping conditions towards a complete phenotype, so it is definitely not a given that for everyone, diagnosis of one AI condition will progress to a polyautoimmune situation, and we should guard against making assertions that aren't accurate but will stir up anxiety in readers.

You say that increased morbidity is also known as 'we will die earlier', which reads like you are perhaps confusing morbidity with mortality.

[nnejy in reply to MaisieGray]

You made some good points Maise, thank you

[Fruitandnutcase]

My Tg antibodies reduced steadily over the five years I have been on a totally gluten free diet. Still got s9me but not enough to flag up as being high. Reducing them isn’t something that will happen quickly for you and yes, unfortunately I’ve got several other AI conditions as well as Graves. They get lonely and like to invite their friends to the party.

[bookish]

Aside, just wanted to say thank you for Custard, really cheered me up and shall be humming all morning x

[Raucous]

I haven’t read greygoose ’s article yet but I had very high Tg antibodies- went gluten free & although there were benefits my antibodies had actually increased in my next blood test, so I feel there is something else going on. I wonder whether in regard to inflammation, it is a symptom, cause of AI or just associated with? There is quite a lot of talk about inflammation now especially in its link with disease from people like Dr Malcolm Kendrick as well as lots of autoimmune specialists. So I wonder if an anti inflammatory diet would have an impact? And has anyone done research in to the impact of improving gut flora on antibodies....?

[nnejy]

Hello. Yes I think an inflammatory diet would really help. I have already started this and I have noticed a difference. I found some fantastic information on both these two sites:

wholelifenutrition.net/ and nourishingmeals.com/

I found them because I was listening to an audiobook entitled: The Elimination Diet, discover the foods that are making you sick and tired.

I learned such a lot from these resources and I have noticed that my thyroid now feels much better. With my TG Antibodies being greater than 5000, I always felt like I had a slight fever, and noise would go right through me sometimes.

Anyway, to cut a long story short I am already starting to feel better and I am hoping it will have an effect on my antibodies. Even if it doesn't, I just feel so much better that I am happier anyway.