Hi All,
M 39, 260lbs, 60lbs overweight.
Diagnosed with Hashi' March 2019. 175mg Levo daily.
I've read extensively about the potential for Water Fasting to cure all sorts of ailments Dr Herbert Shelton, Dr Jason Fung.
I'm currently on Day 5 of a 10 day water fast. I've over the initial hump and thinking I might go longer ( 30 days). Is there anybody here with experience of prolonged water fasting with Hashi's?
Thank you
Sounds a bit extreme ! Not something I would consider !
You need calories to convert t4 to t3 so be very careful.
Sounds like a very bad idea, to me. It won't cure your Hashi's and could, potentially, make it worse. With Hashi's, you're probably already low in nutrients, and not eating would exacerbate your nutritional deficiencies.
What you are doing has potential dangers.
I am not convinced that it is ever safe to water fast for 30 days. Certainly there are many possible issues with doing this.
We are not fasting experts and it would be inappropriate to go down the route of discussing issues such as electrolytes, water, etc.
I am not aware of research into Hashimoto's and multi-day water fasting.
Don't know anything about water-fasting, so googled it ....
"During a water fast, you are not allowed to eat or drink anything besides water. Most people drink two to three liters of water per day during a water fast. The water fast lasts for 24–72 hours. You should not water fast for longer than this without medical supervision because of health risks." [source: healthline.com]
So it sounds quite dangerous to be in Day 5, let alone aiming for longer. And as other have said, this sort of extreme fasting isn't recommended for hypo's to start with
Thank you all for your input. There's plenty of research on fasting emerging. People have water-fasted for long periods since the dawn of time. We have an evolved mechanism 'autophagy' for clearing out the trash.
nobelprize.org/prizes/medic...
During the process of fasting the body is forced to use its reserves. The selection process chooses bad or currupted cells to burn first. Its an emerging science patricularly in the areas of cancer prevention and longevity. The idea being that a prolonged fast periodically 5,10 days allows the body to move into deep ketosis, engage in autophagy, increased stem cells, growth hormone etc
Check out Dr Valeter Lungo and go from there.
I haven't seen anything specifically relating to hashimotos. I'm going to keep going, listen to my body.
10 days is relatively short. The weight drop and reduced inflammation will have health benefits alone.
During fasting or starvation the body down-regulates its hypothalamic pituitary thyroid axis, it produces less TRH, less TSH with less potency and this lowers fT4 and fT3 levels. It induces a state of hypothyroidism to conserve energy. Thus, very low calorie diets are not a good idea for someone with a thyroid disorder.
Hi Jim, this was a big concern before I decide to go for it. My understanding is that yes, there is a down-regulatation but the bounce back post fast can have the effect of 're-starting' the thyroid. It's why the re-feeding period is critical. People mess up re-feeding and cause serious damage.
Hi All, Thank you all for your input. I'm going to break the fast today. I don't wish to do damage. I can't find reference data anywhere for people fasted on Hashimotos. From what I've read I think there is something to the process of autophagy in relation to resolve and restoring our bodies across a wide range of issues. In the short-term, I will tighten up my diet, AIP/Keto/Paleo, 3-5 day fasts until I reach a fit and healthy place. At which point I will re-visit the longer fasts. Thank you all for your input.
If this is the first time you've done it, I wouldn't even do a full 10 days, but stop at about a week, as the hardest bit can be returning to eating. Then wait a month or two and do it again. Although autophagy is very useful for many ailments, I don't think there is sufficient evidence for autoimmune illnesses, but I haven't really studied it - however can be useful if you are borderline type 2 diabetic
I don't have a science background. I'm reading authors, not medical published papers. From what I'm reading there is an anti inflammatory effect which I think could be a key to unlock a door if match with diet and lifestyle. What is the cause of Hasmimotos or any auto-immune? We don't know. But the body has identified the thyroid gland as something which needs to be attacked. Once that pathway is established it's impossible to stop. There are many cases whereby a deep water fast has reversed various types of cancer. The idea being that body will do as necessary to maintain the capabilities to hunt for food. This means the body will priorities heart, lungs, brain, good cells, bad cells are burned for fuel. Various lumps, nodules, cancerours growths are burned the deeper the body gets into a fasted stated . Dr Herbet Shelton regularly fasted patents for 40,50,60 days reporting all sorts of resolutions to a variety of isses. (The Science and Fine Art of Fasting Paperback ). He recommends that one should only break their fast with the clearing of the tongue and the return of natural hunger. Either of these triggers happened at different time for patients depending on their starting weight/ailments. The idea being the body burns everything it can and then triggers a need for external fuel. The problem is the Shelton book was originally published 1930's updated 1960s and is therefore dated. But the fundamental principles seem solid. Dr Valter Longo and many others have found their way to fasting through exploration of longevity and as a cure to different ailments. My bet is there will be positive research with regard to the possibility of fasting as a means to tackle autoimmine. Lastly, it seems that one is best advised to remain in a deeply rested stated during fasting allowing the body to use the energy saved from digestion towards this self-cleaning. I'm active, working, which means I could be stressing the body in detrimental ways. I'll break for now and remain interested. I'd like to give it a go again at some stage
Hello! I have a very good friend and a very good doctor, who specializes in fasting for health reasons. She has been part of many fasting studies so her opinion matters a lot to me, especially when to comes to fasting. According to her, fasting can be a miracle for other issues but on thyroid cases it doesn't help at all.
And based on my personal experience it may even make you worse (as other people suggested before me). Though she is reluctant to admit it.
Nevertheless, I think it is a given that fasting will not help thyroid and may even be very bad for it.
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