Hi, I an unsure whether I can share my experience and what I am allowed to say. However, I went to a naturopath for 8 month and my antibodies went through the roof under his care. I had Hashi antibodies but only 50 before I started this journey.
I am trying to get an appointment with a qualified endocrinologist to sort out this mess and I don't know if it is reversable at all and I hope people can share their experiences.
My diet is perfect. I am gluten free and diary free for many years now, eat very clean, no alcohol. Take selenium.....all my vitamins are in check. I think I run out of all the tricks by now so not sure what else can be done with regards to antibodies.
Just ignore the antibodies - they will go up and down as they see fit - regardless of what you do.
Instead, concentrate on your blood results and how you feel. How DO you feel? You take NDT, so TSH is suppressed - which is what one would expect. Free T3 is relatively low at 32% through range and free T4 is also low. Did you leave a gap of 8 - 12 hours from your meds? Many of us like free T3 to be a bit higher than this, so if you don't feel tip-top you might want to add some levo to the mix (which will increase both frees). You are right to be wary of iodine
Thank you for the quick response fuchsia-pink! Yes, my last dose was at 5 pm and the blood test was done at 8 am. I feel tired and irritable. And also my digestion is really bad, not sure if it is connected at all. I might add levothyroxine. I will stop iodine now. I had periodic antibodies checks for many years and the highest it has ever been was 85, then I went gluten and diary free and it dropped. I do think there is a link with iodine.
I think most agree there’s no point monitoring your antibodies- numbers don’t mean much once they’re over range. More important is to monitor your symptoms - you seem to have many so a dose increase very likely to help. No need for extra iodine ad you’re right it could make things worse. You’ve plenty of scope for adding in Levo.
Hi, yes i noticed tgat my T3 is almost the same as when i was on Levothyroxine alone. Why adding Levothyroxine and not increasing Thyroid-s? What's the advantage? Trying to understand how this works. Thank you.
Why did you go from Levo to thiroid s? Do you feel better on it? Ithinkwere all individual and have to work out what works for us. By all means increase thiroid s if you fancy. Test in six - eight weeks and see how you feel. My experience is my T3 is low when my folate is low. Am supplementing folate and magnesium now and for me am focussing on getting both t4 and T3 at least two thirds to three quarters through ranges. For me best way to go is to take enough Levo and only a bit of lio, as taking extra lio just sends the T3 level down.
I don't know how that compares with the recommended daily intake of iodine which is 150mcg and that is easily obtained from food here in the UK if we consume milk, yogurt, cod, haddock and various other foods.
No prior testing as he said no tests were reliable and we were all deficient.
Well, I don't buy that and considering what you think of this practioner you may be thinking it wasn't a good idea.
Iodine is an essential trace element, vital for healthy thyroid function. Adequate levels are required to enable the production of T3 and T4 thyroid hormones, whilst also being required in other areas of health.
Deficiencies can lead to impaired heat and energy production, mental function and slow metabolism. Urine iodine is one of the best measures of iodine status. This test is not performed as a loading test, but can be used to establish existing levels or to monitor iodine supplementation.
Anti bodies are a results of problem not the cause.
Your immune system attacks your thyroid, releasing foreign substances into you system. The antibodies are “cleaning up”. The levels of antibodies fluctuate and don’t always directly correspond to the severity of symptoms either.
Most doctors don’t understand them and there no method known to manage them.
So really they are used for diagnosis & once a positive levels has been observed once a diagnosis can be made and often the test is never repeated.
Focus on good FT4 & FT3 levels.
You say your vitamin are in check but being in range is not the same as optimal? Optimal levels will ensure replacement hormone works well.
Thank you for your kind words! Ferritin 33 (30 to 200), Serum Iron 9.5 (11 - 36), transferrin saturation 15.8% ( 20% - 40%). GP prescribed ferrous fumarate 210 mg 3 times per day. Hopefully it's good.
Hi, I was taking 2 drops of 15% lugols iodine. No prior testing as he said no tests were reliable and we were all deficient. I have only myself to blame. I was warned here on the site against it. But he seemed to be so competent and reassuring. So here I am now. Thank you.
Hi sasha_nico , The thyroid peroxidase antibodies aren't really the problem. TPOab will go up and down. it's what they do when you have autoimmune thyroid disease.Less antibodies doesn't mean you're any better , and more antibodies doesn't mean you're any worse.
TPOab Antibodies going up is an indication that a part of your immune system has recently attacked a bit more of your thyroid gland ..... it's not the antibodies that have attacked it .. they are just markers that stick to thyroid peroxidase once it's been damaged and has ended up in your blood . They are effectively just labels saying " this thyroid peroxidase shouldn't be here, somebody clean it up please " ... and then another part of your immune system clears away the thyroid peroxidase and the antibodies.
Endocrinologists can't do anything at all about the auto -immune part of the problem . they aren't interested because nobody knows how to fix it yet .. or even how that part of the disease works ... they just treat the resulting hypothyroidism.
When you say 'you blame Iodine and treat it with caution' .. well caution with Iodine is wise if you have a thyroid problem,.... but what do you blame it for ?
Hi Tattyboggle, thank you for your reply. I think that iodine could have triggered autoimmunity somehow. Because apart from it, I don't see what else could do that. I appreciate that the root cause is unknown but since I took good care of myself including diet and stress management, this sudden hike took me by surprise. I am going to endocrinologist to help me manage T3. He is from TUK list and works with NDT and T3. I cannot go back to the previous practitioner as I don't trust him anymore.
This is just my gut feeling , but personally i think thyroid autoimmunity is just a potential we have inherited in our genes .... in my case 'being pregnant' was the trigger that made the difference between 'having the potential to develop autoimmune hypothyroidism ' and 'actually developing it '.
I also think that once 'autoimmunity to thyroid tissue ' has reared it's head , your immune system will keep damaging your thyroid no matter what you do .. the immune system has mistakenly decided that thyroid tissue is 'other 'and needs attacking , and the immune system has a long memory... and once it's decided something is 'other ', i don't think it changes its mind .
So i think it's equally likely that you would have had raised TPOab at some point regardless of your recent iodine adventure. even if you were doing everything perfectly .. i think it just keeps happening at random intervals .
But obviously we don't really know for sure because nobody's interested enough to measure them often, in enough people to have enough information to do any proper research .
I do know my TPOab went down from >3000 to 195 over several years without me trying to do anything at all about them. not gluten free , not selenium .not stopping smoking , not avoiding stress . nothing .. just took levo , and carried on eating far too much sugar ..... but they still went down massively.
Having said that .....I can well believe that iodine is implicated in the process somewhere, since it's so fundamental to thyroid hormone production.
Wow, from 3000 to 195! That is so reasuaring . I totally agree with you with regards to predisposition. It's like a loaded gun, might never fire unless there is a trigger. I did have Graves long time ago, also after a pregnancy. Then Hashi....I might as well treat myself with a piece of cake and a glass of wine tonight 😀
yes , you're allowed ,, call it "a reward for bravely doing some research on yourself with iodine." in the interests of science . Thankyou for your contibution to the knowledge pool
It's true that iodine can trigger Hashi's. There can also be many, many other causes that have nothing to do with diet or stress. But, you said that you had antibodies before you started on the iodine:
I had Hashi antibodies but only 50 before I started this journey.
Pretty sure 50 is over-range for TPO antibodies, even though you don't give the range. So, you already had Hashi's.
There are two schools of thought about iodine. I had one doctor who claimed to have cured the Hashi's of many of his patients by giving them iodine - and he's not alone. There are others who believe that taking iodine when hypo - especially with Hashi's - can make things a hell of a lot worse. I am of the latter opinion - not that I'm a doctor! lol
Sounds as if your private doctor was of the former school of thought. It happens. We're supposed to be able to trust these people, but where thyroid is concerned, I'm afraid we can't. They just don't learn enough about it in med school. So, we make mistakes. The important thing is to learn from them and not make them again.
As others have said in detail, don't fret about the antibodies. They don't mean anything much. But, I'm afraid no endo is going to be able to sort them out. They're just a fact of life - a pretty harmless one, as facts go - so we just have to live with them.
Because I had Hashi for years with antibodies going down from 85 to 50 gradually. After iodine they are higher by so many folds. And I blame him because he "prescribed" iodine. He knew I had Hashi. Autoimmunity can have positive trajectory as well. It doesn't have to go worse inevitably. I had really bad graves with eyes popping out, I couldn't move one at all but it then when to a remission for decade. I think I was stupid to take iodine but I decided to get more positive about it all as I think negative feeling towards oneself is the fastest track to Autoimmunity 😀
Iodine foods/supplements can push you out of underactive and into optimal range but if overdosed can then push into overactive thyroid. It's about being symptom led and finding your optimal.
Hi ThyroidalLinda , I don't think the relationship between iodine / hypo /hyperthyroidism is as simple as 'too much iodine = hyper '
Iodine can cause effects in both directions (hyper AND hypo) , and i don't think its understood yet , why/when it sometimes does one, and sometimes does the other.
But we do know High doses of Iodine were once used to LOWER thyroid hormone levels in the treatment of hyperthyroidism.
But it doesn't matter what level the antibodies are, whether they're 100 or 1000. If you have Hashi's you have Hashi's, and the antibodies fluctuate iodine or no iodine, doesn't mean your Hashi's is better or worse, it just is.
And, you cannot compare Hashi's with Grave's. They may both be autoimmune, but they are different diseases. Hashi's will end up with your thyroid destroyed.
If you already knew you had Hashi's, then you cannot blame the naturopath for giving it to you. That is just not logical.
I disagree here, sorry. I went to an expert and paid him money for his knowledge and guidance. I don't have to study the subject myself. He knew I had Hashi and yet he "prescribed" iodine. When I go to a dentist, I need to be able to rely on him knowing his staff and trust the suggested by him course of action. I agree with you that antibodies are perhaps less important than the symptoms but I am feeling way worse than before I started with him. It is sad there is no accountability for this so called health experts. And we, patients, seemed to lower our expectations. My messaged isn't aimed at you at all. but it would be nice if medical staff honoured the 1st rule of "do no harm" and we could rely on them to care more about their patients. Now, I did know about the iodine controversy so "jokes on me" as well. I posted mainly to let others know as my post before iodine attracted some attention. I don't know if iodine was the culprit or not but I suspect it. I mentioned Graves as an example from my own life when things can get better and damaged be reversed just like what happened to my vision and eyes. So the same positive outcome can happen with Hashi sufferers. Its not all doom and gloom 😉
Doctors disagree wbetber or not thyroid patients should take additional iodine. UK doctor Sarah Myhill recommends iodine not only for thyroid support, but also to prevent breast cancer among other things. It´s the first time I´ve heard about a connection between iodine and breast cancer...anyway, she also stresses that iodine should be taken by thyroid patients withoutautoimmune disease. Which doesn´t leave that many since ca 90% of all hypothyroid people have autoimmune disease.
Autoimmunity can have positive trajectory as well. It doesn't have to go worse inevitably. I had really bad graves with eyes popping out, I couldn't move one at all but it then when to a remission for decade.
I do agree with you about 'feeling negative towards ourselves being bad for us' , and the massive health benefits of positivity / over negativity.
And , yes, it is well known that Grave's is often triggered by stressful /traumatic periods in life.
But Grave's and Hashimoto's are very different when it comes to 'remission' .
In Graves , it IS the antibodies themselves which actually cause the overproduction of thyroid hormone (TRab Thyroid Stimulating Hormone Receptor antibodies ). They stimulate the TSH receptors on the thyroid in exactly the same way as TSH does.... and if they go away (remission), the thyroid is able to go back to being controlled by our TSH , and so it stops overproducing T4/T3 , and it can continue to produce normal amounts of T4/3 as required .
But in Hashimoto's, a part of the thyroid tissue had been permanently damaged , (but not 'by' the TPOab., they come along afterwards)..... so even if we find a way to prevent any further damage . or at least to slow it down ..... lowering the TPOab levels doesn't mend the already damaged parts of thyroid tissue . Those parts of the thyroid will continue to be unable to produce enough T4/3 .
Perhaps it may be possible to slow down the progress of Hashi's , or even stop it ...., but i've not seen any research showingreversal of the characteristic physical damage to thyroid tissue found in hashimoto's.
And realistically , most of us are only diagnosed with Hashimoto's when enough thyroid tissue has already been damaged to mean we aren't producing enough T4/3 to function well anymore.
And due to the feedback mechanism of the HPT axis, once we need to take 'some' replacement thyroid hormone , we usually need to take more or less a 'full' replacement dose ..... so arguably , it doesn't make much difference if we slow down hashimoto's damage at that point , because we are already on 'full' thyroid hormone replacement for life at that point anyway.
We do sometimes read stories of "remission from Hashimoto's" , but these can be explained by the action of another form of the TRab antibodies ('Blocking' TRab , not 'Stimulating' TRab )
There are several articles on thyroidpatients.ca which have a good explanation of this, and how it might affect a small proportion of thyroid patients without them even knowing they have any form of TRab.
Many so called "thyroid support" supplements contain iodine - often very high doses of it. It´s like it´s always assumed that iodine deficiency is the cause of hypothyroidism although that is rarely the case in developed countries. As others have said, you should only take iodine if a deficiency has been confirmed, not as a way to "cure" hypothyroidism.From previous posts here, it would seem naturopaths often put their patients with thyroid disease on iodine, sometimes without testing them first. But iodine is not a cure for hypothyroidism unless you have iodine deficiency. In that case, your condition should sort itself out once your iodine deficiency has been corrected.
One problem with thyroid support supplements is that they often contain iodine and some other ingredients which also contain iodine although people may not realise it....such as chlorella, bladderwhack, nori, seagrass, sea algae, sargassum, and kelp...so you may end up with several mg of iodine daily when the recommended upper limit is 150 mcg.
We hear stories of recovery with iodine & I'm sure some are true but the general consensus between people such as Datis Kharrazian, Chris Kresser & Isabella Wentz is to avoid because administration is tricky as so multifactorial dependant. Where you tested with iodine deficiency?
Our thyroid hormone replacement meds contain iodine, which with a little more from our diet is considered to be the correct amount. Iodine is needed in the synthesis of thyroid hormone & stimulates thyroid peroxidase activity (TPO enzyme) triggering thyroid hormone production, so quite useful as a pep-up for someone who is tired, not medicating thyroid hormone replacement and minus any TPO antibodies.
But for us Hashi sufferers TPOAb's are the most common type of antibody and supplementing iodine stimulates the exact site & surrounding tissue of previous autoimmune attacks. The immune system perceives this suddenly TPO stimulation as a further foreign invader to be eradicated and sends in the lymphocytes that raises the auto-antibodies. Even with little or no thyroid, paradoxically antibodies can linger for years or forever waiting for the next trigger because of elevated lymphocytes.
The body’s processing of iodine produces hydrogen peroxide and supplementing the correct amounts of selenium (& possibly glutathione) will help neutralise oxidative damage, so preventing inflammation and risking further autoimmunity. There is research evidencing selenium to dampen stimulated lymphocytes and reduce TPOAb’s.
Antibodies are a natural part of our immune system protecting us against infection, etc but auto-antibodies work against us destroying our body. Therefore, we strive to reduce thyroid antibodies (which are auto) to reduce inflammation that risks inducing further damage and other autoimmune conditions. Eating an anti-inflammatory diet & optimising immune modulating nutrients such as Vit D, fish oils, Vit C should all help towards reducing thyroid antibodies.
Elevated autoantibodies matter. They are just more considered in the functional world than in convention medicine because they aren’t bad enough to warrant immunosuppressants.
Pro-inflammatory cytokines (lymphocytes) and auto-antibodies can negatively influence how thyroid hormones perform, ie stop our meds from working effectively by impairing activity of DIO1 & DIO2 thyroid enzyme deiodinases.
These are enzymes that determine thyroid hormone cellular activity or deactivation. Therefore, not only do we need the correct amount of thyroid hormone meds but we need these deiodinases to be working best.
The easiest way to think about it is antibodies which raise to heal a cut (for example) are beneficial inflammation but inflammation caused by autoimmune activity (auto-antibodies) cause aches, pains, and destructive damage and if left unchecked can cause increases in further autoimmune antibodies. Common ones associated with Hashi autoantibodies are PA, RA, Sjogren's, etc.
Therefore, if we keep thyroid antibodies as low as we can through various ways, we have more chance of our meds working & less chance of acquiring further autoimmune conditions.
Auto- antibodies are mainly IgM that react with self-molecules.
TNF-a is a well known pro-inflammatory cytokine involved in systemic inflammation made chiefly of macrophages (type of white blood cell). Its primary role is in the regulation of immune cells but when high reduces blood levels of TSH, T4, T3 and TRH (thyrotropin-releasing hormone made in the hypothalamus).
If you are familiar with deiodinase behaviour you will know that D1 increases cellular thyroid activity by converting T4-T3. However, this can be suppressed & down regulated by autoimmune inflammation (except conversion in pituitary which acts differently) when cytokines IL-1, Il-6, and TNF-alpha significantly reduce D1 activity and so tissue T3 levels.
There is a direct inverse correlation between CRP and reduced tissue T3 levels, whilst D3 is stimulated by inflammation & so produces more RT3.
Hi radd, can i pick your brain ?"Pro-inflammatory cytokines (lymphocytes) and auto-antibodies can negatively influence how thyroid hormones perform"
I had very high TPOab at diagnosis (2499 / >3000 [0-50] ), but looking at records, at the same time i also had slightly below range 'lymphocyles' (on FBC), and they stayed below range for at least 5yrs afterwards. not low enough to cause the Doc any alarm, but about 1.1/ 1.2 ish when range was about [1.5-3 ]
.... some years later, when TPOab were much less (195). my lymphocytes were then at the top of the normal range. 2.9
I'd expected it to be the other way round .
Am i misunderstanding 'lymphocytes' .. e.g are there more than one sort. ?. or am i just 'odd'
Because we only need lymphocytes to drive the initial attacks. Once antibodies have made their mark if triggers remain, they become self-sustaining as both a cause and effect of the immune dysregulation.
Inflammation is chemicals and messengers that create irritation/swelling inside your body and a small amount is healthy as how the body heals itself using WBC to attack & kill pathogens, whilst withholding mechanisms transfer iron back into storage (ferritin). However, long term elevated inflammatory chemicals stimulates the immune system to release further chemicals that eventually interfere with the normal cell function by damaging blood cell walls, causing symptoms such as fatigue, puffiness, muscle or joint pain, etc.
Now the immune tolerance is lowered and where in the beginning we needed lymphocytes to directly instigate thyroid antibodies now they can remain raised by factors such as constant ingestion of gluten, living with mould/environmental toxins, ongoing infections/virus’, elevated oestrogen (immune cells carry receptors for oestrogen), or any one of the thousands of triggers, regardless of lymphocyte levels. Thyroid antibodies can even become elevated after emotional trauma.
Also it is the lymphocytes that reside in the thyroid (not lymphocytes in lymphoid organs) that initially produce the thyroid antibodies and many think that when the thyroid is removed/destroyed/atrophied all antibodies cease but research shows time & again this is not the case.
It is blinkered to imagine Hashi damage only in terms of TPOAb attacking TPO & TGAb attacking thyroglobulin as a result of lymphocyte infiltration because the resulting inflammation can directly or indirectly suppress the HPT axis (hypothalamus-pituitary-thyroid), decrease both the number & sensitivity of thyroid hormone receptors, and impair conversion of T4-T3.
Another example would be the changes seen in pregnancy where regulatory T cells increase so anti-thyroid antibodies decrease, but commonly rebound at about six weeks postpartum, all regardless of lymphocyte levels.
Yes, there is more than one sort of lymphocyte and some are more reactive than others but don't ask me to name them coz I haven't a clue! 😁
Many people live healthy lives with elevated auto-antibodies and occasionally they can even be useful such as in the removal of cancerous cells or cancelling out inflammatory cytokines (ie, having auto-antibodies against our own inflammatory cytokines)..
Some members including myself can now recall attacks during times in our lifes of hormonal turmoil, ie puberty, pregnancies, menopause and anything else in between. Therefore, you may have actually had Hashi for a lot longer than you think.
Hi. Fushia-pink.I have researched thyroid and all connected issues for 8+ years.
I have Hashimoto's autoimmune and been through 10 docs and 5 endocrinologists.
I believe that if you have too much iodine.. in salt, seaweed, supplements etc.. it can push you too high into the overactive thyroid spectrum.
This is reversible with food daily such as: peanuts/peanut based food, corn/corn based foods, raw kale in smoothies really lowers cooked in stir fries lowers too. All green leafy veg (any cruciferous veg basically)
+ Strawberries.
There is also a daily tablet (apparently)
PMG thyrotrophan 1 tablet at night to draw away the antibodies away from your thyroid.
I've only just heard about this from a respected doc in America.. so need to see if available in UK.
Hi, thank you for info . I will ask about PMG thyrotrophan next week. Unfortunately, the doctors' approach is normally " wait and see"...you wouldn't do that if a dog was attacking your leg for example....I somehow feel the same about antibodies
So it's not really clear what it is, except cow thyroid with most (?) of the T4 removed . and something else they've invented called 'Protomorphogen extract' which they won't tell us any more about.
Taking excess iodine does not lead to hyperthyroidism, because excess iodine is anti-thyroid. It used to be used to treat Grave's, before anti-thyroid drugs were invented. And, you cannot reverse hyperthyroidism with goitrogens - which I believe you're talking about when you mention strawberries and kale - that is a myth.
As for thyrotrophan, you are assuming that the antibodies are attacking the thyroid, but they aren't, that is not their job. See tattybogle 's comments above.
ThyroidalLinda .. & Mlinde do you mean PMG Thyrotrophin, rather than Thyrotrophan ?
To avoid any confusion:
'Thyrotropin' is actually another name for TSH (Thyroid Stimulating Hormone) , produced by the pituitary gland.( in response to TRH (Thyrotropin Releasing Hormone ) produced by the hypothalamus. )
'Thyrotrophin' is the name of this supplement.. which is presumably ? not Thyrotropin (TSH)
"PMG thyrotrophan 1 tablet at night to draw away the antibodies away from your thyroid."Apart from the ''PMG' bit (which we have no idea why they mean by other than "This features our exclusive 'Protomorphogen ' extract . (Trade Marked ) " )
..... they say it's cow thyroid gland with the T4 'substantially' removed +calcium + magnesium.
I'm very curious as to how this combination of ingredients could 'draw antibodies away from the thyroid' ?
sound a bit like a sales ploy to me , .. it they had any science behind the claim to 'draw antibodies away from your thyroid' . surely they 'd tell us what he mysterious PMG (protomorphogen extract) actually is .
And if it's TPO antibodies they mean ... these ones don't do any damage to the thyroid , so it's not at all clear how 'drawing them away from it' ..would help anything anyway .
it can push you too high into the overactive thyroid spectrum.But the OP is not hyper, she is hypo.
if you have too much iodine..This is reversible with food daily such...to draw away the antibodies away from your thyroid.
The OP already had out-of-range antibodies before she was put on iodine, so it has already been established that she had Hashi´s before taking iodine. You say that some food such as peanuts and raw kale can reverse excessive iodine, and then that there is a supplement that will draw antibodies away from the thyroid. But even if there was such a supplement (which i have never heard of), aren´t you talking about two different things here? First, you assume that the OP has excessive iodine levels and should reduce them by eating certain foods. Then, she should use a supplement to draw antibodies from the thyroid. But what is the connection here between iodine and antibodies since she already had Hashis when she was put on iodine? Iodine may have worsened her symptoms if she wasn´t iodine deficient to begin with, but reducing iodine levels should not stop the autoimmune attack if it was not caused by iodine to begin with.
I may be wrong as I have no personal experience of taking iodine, but from what I´ve read, it´s people with working thyroid glands who take iodine when they don´t need it who can end up with hyperthyroidism. I don´t know if people with Hashi´s so already having suboptimal thyroid function can really end up hyperthyroid from taking iodine...that would require their damaged glands to go from not working normally into overdrive. Is that even possible...?
sasha_nico I totally get the worry, my antibodies have been 1300 for over 6 months (range 0-60) since diagnosis. I do worry about it, but nothing I've done as yet has made them budge and compared to most people's numbers, mines are very high.
I think one thing I haven't explored enough just yet is the grief attached to autoimmune. Ie. The concept that my body is rejecting itself, making itself ill, and the psychological hurt that causes. I was talking to a fellow hashi suffer about it the other day, and certainly the medical and nutritional stuff is critical, but the psychology of losing an organ to self destruction (I summarise, but basically that) has a significant grief attached to it that we should all allow ourselves time to recognise. My antibodies are raging, and yeah, it makes me sad!
Hi, I do have a history of traumatic loss and PTSD. I got EMDR on NHS and it did help a lot. I do believe that what you mentioned is indeed the real root cause in many cases, especially mine.
Hi. I have Hashi's and was not taking iodine at the time I was diagnosed. My TPO and TG antibodies were higher than yours. Like you I thought lowering them would be a good idea and tried both gluten free and dairy free diets - neither had any effect. I began to understand I'd always have those antibodies regardless. In the past 18 months I've begun taking iodine as potassium iodide - 300 mcg daily. Prior to that I'd tested iodine in blood, urine and hair samples. I showed below range in all. My antibodies haven't budged despite taking this iodine so I conclude it isn't having an effect on them. That's just my experience.
Well I was admittedly nervous as I'd previously read Izabella Wentz's thoughts and she's against it. Other authors are divided on the issue. So a cautious approach was needed! I wouldn't take megadoses, though.
I had the same question about the DRas you, but theres no reviews anywhere, must be a reason why so.
Ive done Iodine patch test on the skin, which disappeared in 5h. The Dr told me to take 4 drops on 15% Iodine throughout the day. I did, im new to all this ( have Hashi). I had terrible side effects, horrible panic attacks, palpitations, body jerking at night like being hit with electricity, muscle tension and many more...When I reported this, he just said add the salt. I dont feel my Thyroid getting worse, just me totally dead tired.
I must admit the Dr doesnt seem to care to explain anything or to offer alternatives, which is sad. Any more feedback about this Dr would be much appreciated, as im not sure if I should carry on with him-theres few red flags, but i dont know where else to go, as i want to try the natural way.
KKristine .. any Doctor using the skin patch test to test for iodine is a definite 'red flag' ... this is not a very reliable way to test iodine levels.. and if giving Iodine to Autoimmune Thyroid patients which is a bit risky anyway , then it's important to know if iodine really is high or low to start with .
list of useful info about Iodine on this post : healthunlocked.com/thyroidu... /iodine-a-collection-of-useful-information-because-the-search-facility-on-health-unlocked-is-totally-pants
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