Is vitamin D deficiency the primary trigger of thyroid disease?

[HashiFedUp]

After, oh I don’t know, 10 years struggling with hashimoto’s, my consultant tested me for vitamin D deficiency - symptoms of Vitamin D deficiency feel very similar to hashimoto’s symptoms.

So I was low and needed a supplement, which thankfully I started in February just in time for Covid19.

Had my first blood tests back yesterday since and my T4 and T3 are high - too high - so my body seems to be making T4 and T3 at higher levels than before!

Could it be that vitamin D deficiency triggers autoimmune diseases to include the thyroid? There are a few research papers out there making a link. Would we all benefit from vitamin D supplements?

Some have even suggested that vitamin D deficiency causes all sorts of autoimmune diseases including cancer.

Anyone found any good articles?

What are your experiences with vit D?

[LiliAmsterdam]

btf-thyroid.org/vitamin-d-a...

[helvella Administrator]

Would we all benefit from vitamin D supplements?

There is a massive problem with that for some people. What if you cannot tolerate vitamin D supplements?

I see suggestions like this in very much the same light as medics who insist a TSH less than 10 never needs to be treated. That TSH is ideal for monitoring thyroid treatment. And that everyone (who finally gets diagnosed!) will always do fine on levothyroxine mono-therapy regardless any consideration of the make.

[MichelleHarris]

Yes Vit D really important.

Why arent we all being advised to check our Vit D level and take Vit D supplements and other vitamins if necessary to improve our immune system with a pandemic going about ?

[userotc in reply to MichelleHarris]

No £/$ in that for pharma who control advice from clueless, vote-seeking Governments!

Will Trump will take heed now while defenceless, US medics play with unproven drugs in trying to cure him? Probably not!

[helvella Administrator in reply to userotc]

Some of the largest pharma companies are very heavily involved in vitamin production and products. And that is most definitely for the benefit of their financial positions.

[userotc in reply to helvella]

Yes you're correct but it's relative. Total revenues ~1.5 trillion USD/yr for global pharma with a measly ~40bn for vitamins and minerals!.

But the covid battle has exposed pharma alarmingly, as the Trump situation highlights. With more acceptance and funding of naturopathic knowledge and treatment (including vitamins but much more), we would have had options to pharma which effectively relies on experimental drugs now. Oh and hopes of a possible, future vaccine whilst thousands are dying. As patients, surely we should have more options than that?

[SlowDragon Ambassador]

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...

Furthermore, accumulating evidence suggest that VDR polymorphisms and serum vitamin D status are both closely associated with disease risk of MS, T1DM, and SLE. Therefore, impaired vitamin D signaling and/or inadequate vitamin D intake caused by genetic predisposition (e.g. VDR polymorphisms) and/or environmental factors (e.g. insufficient sunlight exposure in high-latitude regions or during the cold season) may contribute to the onset and progression of autoimmunity. Because of the high prevalence of vitamin D insufficiency/deficiency in patients with MS, T1DM, and SLE, vitamin D supplementation has been considered a prospective candidate for the treatment of such autoimmune diseases.

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/286...

Vitamin D deficiency is frequent in Hashimoto's thyroiditis and treatment of patients with this condition with Vitamin D may slow down the course of development of hypothyroidism and also decrease cardiovascular risks in these patients. Vitamin D measurement and replacement may be critical in these patients.

endocrine-abstracts.org/ea/...

Evidence of a link between increased level of antithyroid antibodies in hypothyroid patients with HT and 25OHD3 deficiency may suggest that this group is particularly prone to the vitamin D deficiency and can benefit from its alignment.

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/300...

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...

Our results indicated that patients with hypothyroidism suffered from hypovitaminosis D with hypocalcaemia that is significantly associated with the degree and severity of the hypothyroidism. That encourages the advisability of vit D supplementation and recommends the screening for Vitamin D deficiency and serum calcium levels for all hypothyroid patients.

When I had my DNA analysis one of the most obvious issues I had was with most of the snips involved with vitamin D (vit d polymorphisms)

[Dorey69]

Is vitamin D with k2 ok for thyroid

[penny]

Dr Coimbra is of the opinion that people with autoimmune conditions have a resistance to uptake of vitamin D and therefore need high doses of vitamin D. (I think that I have that correctly.). I equate this to THR. Certainly from my reading of articles/papers on vitamin D (not a vitamin, more a hormone) low levels are linked to cancer and autoimmune conditions. Studies have also linked low vitamin D levels with Covid-19 severity. The official advice still seems to be that 600iu of vitamin D per day is adequate - what rot, this is a tiny dose and will not do much good IMHO.