Is Hashimotos an actual illness? Can it be treated?

[imdelightful]

My doctor says no it is not an illness its a description of the adrenals attacking the thyroid gland itself. Is this right?

[Lora7again]

Yes it is an autoimmune disease where your own immune system attacks your thyroid.

[Jazzw]

Er, your doctor could do with reading a textbook...

Hashimoto's disease is a condition in which your immune system attacks your thyroid. Not sure why you’ve been told Hashimoto’s is caused by the adrenal glands.

[imdelightful in reply to Jazzw]

Thanks. I might have got the piece about the immune system attacking the thyroid not the adrenal. That was my mistake. This getting things mixed up is all part of my brain fog . I sux. Anyway thanks for the info.

[Jazzw in reply to imdelightful]

To be honest, many of us here wouldn’t have been at all surprised if that’s what your doctor had actually said. Unfortunately, thyroid illnesses are often poorly understood.

[imdelightful in reply to Jazzw]

Mentioning my doctor I asked her ' What do you know about the thyroid gland?'

Her reply ' Not much at all why,are you going to educate me?

I am learning a lot regarding the NHS doctors who know zilch about T3. Bless them, their hands are tied they can't go above and beyond what they are taught at medical college uni.

Who ever has the cure I will marry him or her forever ; -)

[shaws Administrator in reply to imdelightful]

Welcome to our forum, I'm sure in about 12 weeks you can give your doctor a statement 'Yes - I can educate you'.

You have an Autoimmune Thyroid Disease, commonly called Hashimoto's.

thyroiduk.org.uk/tuk/about_...

thyroiduk.org.uk/tuk/about_...

Treatment is the same for either condition. Going gluten-free may reduce the antibodies as it is these that attack the gland and wax and wane until you're hypothyroid. The following is the procedure to follow if having a blood test.

For blood tests, the earliest possible blood test, fasting (you can drink water) and allow a 24 hour gap between your last dose of levo and the test and take it afterwards.

Ask for B12, Vit D, iron, ferritin and folate to be tested. Everything has to be optimal.

Always get a print-out of your results, with the ranges for your own records and post if you have any queries.

[imdelightful in reply to shaws]

Great advice thank you kindly.

[JoVH in reply to imdelightful]

Bless them??? Lol it wouldn’t hurt them to self educate themselves so they can do their job and help people in need!

[imdelightful in reply to JoVH]

Hi JoVH . Astounded, I know more than my doctor on thyroid issues. I even loaned her two books on the subject to no avail. She is NOT willing to help me at all. Puk her I can do it myself with help from these wonderful forums.

[JoVH in reply to imdelightful]

Time to find a new doctor? 😁

[Hidden in reply to imdelightful]

The problem is that we are treading a fine line with doctors. Alienating them will make things worse, yet how do we convince them that on this particular subject we may well know more than they do? Not because we are more brainy than they are but from necessity.

And there is also the TSH fixation that they have nearly always been taught, and the assumption that if your test results are within range you either have to be OK (even if you aren't). Or there is something else going on that is nothing to do with the thyroid.

The better doctors will assume the latter and waste endless time and resources giving you various tests to try and find out what else is wrong.

That's the battle I'm in at the moment. And if you can't get even a good doctor on your side what hope for the rest?!

All you can do is cooperate to the hilt in everything else besides thyroid treatment (usually lack of) that isn't making you any better, or even making you worse. And keep politely but firmly insisting that you need help and why can't they give you a clinical trial to see if it helps?

[serenfach]

Illness =something that makes you ill. Simple. How your GP does not get this is a bit worrying. Hashi's untreated can kill.

I wonder if he would say a brain tumour is all in your head?

You do wonder sometimes if they have lobotomies when in training!

[imdelightful in reply to serenfach]

The bit about hashimotos if untreated can kill scares me to hell.

[serenfach in reply to imdelightful]

It does take a while....a few years I think! Old Victorian asylums were full of women with huge goitres and given iodine on sugar lumps as a "cure". If they did not get well, they were officially a lunatic. We have not come far....sigh!

[jgelliss]

Adrenals pick up the slack for an insufficient thyroid .

[humanbean]

If your doctor doesn't believe Hashi's is an illness I wonder what he thinks of the illnesses / diseases on this list of autoimmune diseases?

autoimmuneregistry.org/the-...

Does he tell people with (for example) rheumatoid arthritis or myasthenia gravis or multiple sclerosis that they are not ill?

[imdelightful in reply to humanbean]

Doctors' plead ignorance. They know all this but stand by what they are taught at pharma school. They know we are going to get worse before we get better and do nothing to encourage us to help ourselves. Shame on them all.