Stomach problems: I recently wondered about my... - Thyroid UK

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Stomach problems

Soundwell1 profile image
18 Replies

I recently wondered about my hashi's underactive that I've had for many years.

I've always had ibs Now I have diverticulosis and four sessile benign polyps in fundus of my stomach. My problem is that my upper stomach swells about an hour and a half after eating and I cant breathe easily Also my blood sugar, type 1, is extremely hard to control. Has anyone any experience of this and would the diverticulosis have anything to do with my very uncomfortable state??

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Soundwell1 profile image
Soundwell1
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18 Replies

yes! I’m just about to contact my GP as I have very similar symptoms to the ones you describe. Had a horrible flare up of extreme bloating and pain on the left hand side of my stomach. Fluctuate between constipation and diarrhoea. Very uncomfortable.

greygoose profile image
greygoose

You probably have low stomach acid - most hypos do. And, that will mean that your food doesn't get digested properly, and sits in your stomach fermenting, causing gas and bloating.

Have a look at this article, and try the home test at the end:

healthygut.com/3-tests-for-...

Regenallotment profile image
Regenallotment

yes all of this, for many years, thought it was anxiety. I started an exclusion diet in July 2022, followed an 90 day autoimmune diet plan and also take lots of supplements. I’ve treated myself for parasites and also for H.Pylori, I’ve upped my supplements (based on blood test results) and introduced liver once a week. Did my first normal poo in years this week.

Routine:

Waking 50mcg Levo with water

1 hour later L Glutamine amino acid powder in water.

Isabella Wentz root cause green smoothie made with collagen protein.

Basic B Complex from Thorne

5ml Black Seed Oil (only for 8 weeks)

Lunch - meat and veg, fish and veg, egg and veg type meal

Afternoon - Better You VitvD3 with K2 MK7 oral spray

Dinner - meat and veg, or fish and veg

Saccromyces Boulardii supplement or pro biotic or betaine with Pepsin of protein rich and stomach acid low (causing bloat) depending how I feel on rotation

Snacks - fruit, bone broth, lactose free cream cheese on a GF cracker.

Bedtime another scoop of L Glutamine in water

Magnesium spray (now alternate days)

25mcg Levo

Exclusions; gluten, dairy, soy, maize in particular maize starch, sodium metabisuphate, processed sugar, most alcohol, caffeine. I have a suspicion on tapioca starch and other sulphite additives. I also avoid most commercial gluten free breads and baked goods now. Nairns crackers and homemade seem ok.

Inclusions: I eat more sea salt in my cooking than before. Use more animal fats, eat fewer carbs.

Once a week, in a gap 4 hours from Levo I take Selenium and on a different day half a tablet of zinc with copper. (If I take these daily I don’t feel right).

Hope this info helps, I didn’t believe it was possible. Just had a meal out in a restaurant with relatives, met the manager before the booking and was helpfully guided through their menu, had a delicious steak with salad. At least 3 of the party felt unwell /bloat/tummy pains having gnocchi, sticky toffee pudding, family looked to me expecting a reaction and nope, was 100% good not touching that stuff. Wishing you well 🦋💚🦋

Soundwell1 profile image
Soundwell1 in reply to Regenallotment

Wow, are you in the uk? I cant do much because a, I'm old b, broken wrist .

It sounds to me like you have put great effort into your gut

Are you celiac or hashi or both ?

I also have type1 for 50yrs . Plus big heart attack at 50 had to have op called cabg using mammary artery. High bp systolic too. And lichen sclerosis . If theres a simpler way to start off with I'd be very grateful. Yes, gf bread seems to be full of unwanted bits .

Regenallotment profile image
Regenallotment in reply to Soundwell1

Yes I am in the UK. I have Hashimoto’s. I gave up gluten before testing so don’t know if I’m Coeliac but probably not, I expect Non Coeliac Gluten Intolerant. I can recommend reading Izabella Wentz, she mentions Lichen Sclerosis, my Mum (86) has that, as does a good friend who is Hypo but not Hashi’s.

Simplest way to start off is focusing on eating meat and veg, drop all cereal grains and dairy, soy too. Do that for 2 weeks and see how you feel. Cut back on fruit and focus on berries as some are very high sugar. Chuck some chicken legs in a slow cooker filled to the top with water, teaspoon of salt and a few carrots. Leave it on overnight or all day 12 hours plus. Strain and save/freeze the broth, sip a mug full between meals. Use the meat in a meal. Add gelatine to gravies. All this soothes the small intestine. I order L Glutamine elite from Myprotein website in powder form. Others take a tablet, this amino acid taken before breakfast and last thing at night, helps rebuild the mucus layer in your small intestine that is damaged from a lifetime of food intolerance. Giving up cheese has been the most annoying element but I honestly feel so much better that I’d rather not go back. I’ve tried everything over the years so am so delighted to have my health back. This time last year I was thinking I’d need to consider giving up work, was in a mental health mess, having CBT therapy via zoom, recovering from Covid too. Good luck finding what works for you 🦋💚🦋

bookish profile image
bookish in reply to Regenallotment

Just brilliant to read someone who has managed to make such big improvements, I'm so happy for you! I do the carrot and chicken broth, in fact that was all I could eat for a while, and also avoid all grains (corn and other starches don't suit me either). Like you, suspect NCGS but only tested for Coeliac after going GF and getting an obvious improvement, so didn't and won't go back to gluten. More salt, more good fat, less carb, plenty of magnesium. Best wishes.

Regenallotment profile image
Regenallotment in reply to bookish

amazing, well done figuring it out, finding what works for you. I have to say I’d never have got here without this wonderful forum or Izabella Wentz. Just need maintain this now 🦋💚🦋

limonene7 profile image
limonene7 in reply to Soundwell1

You might find this helpful too… I loved this interview… this heart surgeon has had life changing results with his patients by getting them to incorporate fasting….m.youtube.com/watch?v=Yg6Uh...

SlowDragon profile image
SlowDragonAdministrator

if not already on strictly gluten free diet, get coeliac blood test done BEFORE trialing strictly gluten free diet

Regenallotment reply is excellent……so many autoimmune patients have underlying food intolerances …..working out which affect you can take time and patience

Gluten intolerance extremely common, dairy almost as common

Have you got recent vitamin D, folate, ferritin and B12 results

What vitamin supplements are you currently taking

Soundwell1 profile image
Soundwell1 in reply to SlowDragon

Yes, I've been tested but not celiac. Thank goodness. I do not eat gluton because of hashi.

I do have inflamed and irrirable bowel,

Gastritis , and of course the four polyps which they refuse to remove . I've never heard of regenallotment.

SlowDragon profile image
SlowDragonAdministrator in reply to Soundwell1

I've never heard of regenallotment.

Regenallotment is the other member who replied to you

So you are saying you are already on strictly gluten free diet

Have you tried cutting dairy?

Soundwell1 profile image
Soundwell1 in reply to SlowDragon

Silly me. I do still have dairy butter and cheese and milk ive tried,oat and,almond but they arent to tast. I hace also tried lactose free. Maybe i should try lactose free again cause that wasnt too bad

Regenallotment profile image
Regenallotment

I should add that all the supplements were added in stages, each one 2 weeks apart as per SlowDragon ’s advice. This not only helped work out which supplement didn’t suit me, it spread the cost over months. 🦋💚🦋

CdnMom profile image
CdnMom

Hello Soundwell;

I had these exact same symptoms after Covid. Here is what I’ve been able to figure out via research and what has worked for me. I am on Cortef, Florinef and T3. To get at my pregnant looking bloated belly, I had to raise Florinef and T3. Doing this raised my sodium. This seems counterintuitive but does make sense if you consider that sodium suppresses the sympathetic nervous system, which if overactive, will raise your BP, pulse and sugars. No amount of insulin was working because that overactive sympathetic nervous system led to a release of adrenaline. My sugars were worse than they had ever been.

So here is the connection - without enough salt (sodium chloride), my body was unable to produce enough hydrochloric acid in my stomach. As a result, my stomach was unable to digest food and especially protein and fats properly. This resulted in extreme belly bloat, belching, stinky gas, extreme diarrhea and heartburn. This can also be related to dehydration, which the increased sodium addressed.

This may not be everyone’s answer but cheap, easy solution to try;

1. Buy unsalted chicken broth - heat up and then add your own Himalayan salt and apple cider vinegar. Drink between meals - either half hour before meals or one hour after meals. Add as much unrefined salt as tolerated to all food

2. Add Betaine Hcl (hydrochloric acid) supplements with Pepsin with food at each meal I started out with about 650mg each meal and ended up needing 2 capsules at each meal. Without enough stomach acidity, bacteria; viruses, yeast cannot be killed and therefore allows SIBO to form.

3. NAC 600mg three times per day on an empty stomach. This helps to kill the biofilm of bacteria, viruses and pathogens It also helps to normalize hormones and sugars

4. I also remain gluten free but still have occasional dairy. This did help too but did not resolve the IBS until adding the salt and hcl

5. I also take a daily probiotic, which helped but did not resolve the IBS until adding the salt and Hcl.

I did a lot of research to get to this point and it is finally working for me. My BP, pulse and sugars have normalized. Maybe it’s worth trying and see if this works for you too.

Best of luck on your health journey!

Soundwell1 profile image
Soundwell1 in reply to CdnMom

Well youve xertainly put the work in.

A few qeeks ago I felt very confused and with it high bp fast heart rate over 100 and it was low sodium that caused it . Docs infused 500g sodium . Soo that makes sense Also I read about pancreas needing it for convertion to insulin. Did you obtain yourpills etc in uk?

CdnMom profile image
CdnMom in reply to Soundwell1

This sounds like it could work for you then! My BP and pulse was 220/110 and pulse in the 160s right after Covid leading to shortness of breath. I ended up in the hospital with flash pulmonary edema a few times. I could not breathe at all. And btw BP meds did not work because they work by reducing aldosterone and therefore sodium. I’m fact any drug that reduces my sodium wreaked havoc with vomiting, diarrhea, severe migraines. Metformin increases urine sodium excretion. So does Ozempic. So please check all your meds mechanism of actions to help you find better alternatives for what you need.

Another thing to note is that aldosterone is actually not a part of the HPA axis and this means that if this is your problem, you do have primary adrenal insufficiency or Addison’s Disease. I would ask your doctor to run a 24 hour urine collection test to see how many sodium, potassium, chloride, urea, creatinine you are losing. My test was very telling I was losing more than double the normal sodium and chloride. So of course I couldn’t produce stomach acids. This is a vicious cycle Without the sufficient stomach Hcl, I was not only not absorbing my food, but also not my meds!! So yes, became more and more hypothyroid, more adrenal and more diabetic.

If possible, spend hours in ocean water too to increase your sodium This works wonders!

No, I am Canadian. I order Himalayan salt, size 00 empty capsules and Sodium Chloride tablets from Amazon. But if you don’t have sufficient Florinef and T3, you will not retain the sodium you need. Like me, you will be peeing it out all day and all night long.

One final add, this entire time I was low sodium, my blood work always showed normal sodium. This is because your body finds a way to normalize it because this is life saving. For me, it did this by the non stop peeing and diarrhea. My body was removing the extra fluid to effectively normalize my serum sodium concentration. In order to do this, it dumped potassium too, which will raise BP. I had to raise my sodium and magnesium first before I was able to raise my potassium back up.

So please consider doing the 24 urine collection test. Very useful information came out of that.

Soundwell1 profile image
Soundwell1 in reply to CdnMom

Well you've been to hell and back so well done you.!!

I'll have a look at amazon too.

Don't think my gp will do wee test though. Ill have to wait till i get my next appt to aee endocronologist .

Thank you

bookish profile image
bookish in reply to CdnMom

Useful info about NAC, thank you. Will try increasing my dose for a while.

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