Reintroduction of gluten into my diet and possible iodine deficiency

[Caroline888]

Hi everyone,

Following on from my post about 4 months ago and suggestions made in reply by SlowDragon and Greygoose, I reintroduced gluten into my diet as an experiment after more than two years of being gluten-free. The plan was to see if I felt any different and if my antibodies would go up again - they had come down from 1300+ to about 300 over the two-year period.

Then lockdown came and I have delayed doing the blood test for measuring the level of antibodies because it’s certainly more convenient now to eat what the rest of the family are eating and I have had no obvious adverse effects.

However, I have very recently had two instances of pain in the thyroid area. This is not completely new to me and was in fact one of the symptoms that took me to the GP in the first place and led to a diagnosis of hypothyroidism. I have also experienced this kind of pain very infrequently whilst on a gluten-free diet so it’s possibly of no significance; nevertheless I am wondering if the reintroduction of gluten is to blame and if I should be taking this seriously.

Another possible cause could be low iodine. I have stopped taking my multivitamin which contained 150 mcg iodine. I am a vegetarian but do get about 75 mcg of iodine daily from natural yoghurt. Other vegetarian-friendly foods, such as cheese, do contribute a small amount of iodine but I doubt I reach the recommended daily intake of 150 mcg. Do you think I should top up with a supplement?

Sorry for the long-winded post and if you have got this far, thank you for reading.

Hope you are all keeping safe and coping well with the current situation.

All the best

Caroline

[Cooper27]

It could be due to gluten, but it also could not be. It's so hard to tell sometimes!

It took me a long time to realise my only symptom from eating gluten was a tiny patch of dermatitis on my legs, so it doesn't always affect is us in expected ways.

How long does the pain normally last before it goes away? I'd be inclined to think that if you keep eating gluten, and it goes away, you'll have your answer.

I don't think we're meant to supplement iodine with Hashimotos, someone will confirm shortly I'm sure.

[Caroline888 in reply to Cooper27]

Thank you so much for replying to my post.

I agree that it’s very difficult to know if gluten is responsible. The pain I feel around my thyroid is not severe, rather it is an aching discomfort, and it does tend to go away after about a day. I did have a similar pain before I was diagnosed with underactive thyroid but that lasted for a couple of months and resolved almost completely once I was taking levothyroxine.

Like you I’ve seen it’s not good to take an iodine supplement but I’ve also seen it’s not good for the thyroid if you are deficient. I have stopped taking a multivitamin because the advice on this site is to take what you need separately and I am doing that. However, a vegetarian diet might not provide an adequate amount of iodine especially since I don’t much care for eggs. I had wondered if a low dose iodine supplement would be a good thing in my particular case but maybe the 75 mcg of iodine from my daily yoghurt is sufficient when taking levothyroxine.

I guess I’ll just have to do a blood test and see what my antibodies are doing.

Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts, I’m grateful.

Best wishes

Caroline

[Cooper27 in reply to Caroline888]

I think it's a no-win situation. Iodine deficiency can cause hypothyroidism, but once hypo, iodine supplementation is bad for you. I suppose it's perhaps that your thyroid has learned to function on what iodine it normally gets, and to suddenly provide more, it can't adapt properly (that's just a theory though)

[Gemmab1982 in reply to Cooper27]

Also levo has small amounts of iodine in it too

[SeasideSusie Remembering]

Caroline888

Do you think I should top up with a supplement?

Not without testing first to see if you are deficient.

Do you drink milk? That contains between 50-100mcg iodine per 200ml.

And Cooper27 is correct, iodine supplementation is not recommended when Hashi's is present.

[Caroline888 in reply to SeasideSusie]

Hi Susie, hope you are keeping well.

Thank you so much for replying.

No I don’t drink milk at all, not even in my tea and coffee. I have a good serving of natural yoghurt every morning which I understand provides 75 mcg iodine and I eat a wide variety of cheeses. I don’t like eggs.

I do know that iodine supplements are not recommended but just a little concerned that my diet is deficient. However I do remember seeing that you need less when taking levothyroxine. Is that correct?

Thanks again for taking the trouble to reply.

Best wishes

Caroline

[SeasideSusie Remembering in reply to Caroline888]

Yogurt is said to give 50-100mcg per 150g. Cheese is about 15mcg per 40g.

Presumably you exclude all fish? White fish is a good source.

However I do remember seeing that you need less when taking levothyroxine. Is that correct?

Yes, levothyroxine doesn't contain added iodine but there are 4 atoms of iodine in T4 (Levo) and when it's converted to T3 one atom of iodine is removed (so T3 has 3 atoms of iodine). I understand there's about 62mcg iodine in 100mcg Levo.

[Caroline888 in reply to SeasideSusie]

No I don’t eat fish at all. I didn’t think cheese contained that much iodine so that’s good news! And the fact that levo contains iodine is good too. I only take 75 mcg levo daily but at least that will contribute some iodine. I probably also get minimal amounts from other foodstuffs so am probably just about ok. Thank you so much for your advice.

All the best

Caroline

[helvella in reply to Caroline888]

This document helps to explain the iodine content of thyroid hormones;

dropbox.com/s/5iz07xh8dr1n4...

[Caroline888 in reply to helvella]

Thanks very much.

Best wishes

Caroline

[Gemmab1982 in reply to Caroline888]

Also levo has small amount of iodine in it too

[Caroline888 in reply to Gemmab1982]

Thanks Gemma. That’s useful to know!

Best regards

Caroline

[greygoose]

Then lockdown came and I have delayed doing the blood test for measuring the level of antibodies

There's no point in retesting antibodies. Whether your antibodies are 1300 or 300 it doesn't change a thing. They don't indicate the level or seriousness of your Hashi's, they just tell you you have Hashi's. And, even if they went away completely, you'd still have Hashi's.

[Caroline888 in reply to greygoose]

Thank you so much greygoose for responding. I hoped you would!

I seem to remember you said that before about antibodies.

I won’t rush now to do my next blood test before around August. Hopefully the situation will have improved somewhat by then.

Thank you for taking the trouble to reassure me. Again! Thank you so much.

Stay safe,

Caroline

[greygoose in reply to Caroline888]

You're very welcome.