I have Hashimoto’s and have lots of food and digestive problems. I have identified gluten ( including oats & rice) and dairy as culprits but also have porosity lots of vegetables. Followed FODMAP for a while but lost so much weight, i am struggling to eat enough foods that don’t affect me. I have seen digestive enzymes can be an issue, can anyone advise on this please. Getting really concerned about food limitations. Also have had to come off liquid thyroxine as burning my throat and stomach, I’m unable to tolerate tablet form as I have a genetic issue with lots of medications where I get extreme side effects. Doctors running out of ideas and because my TSH is only 5.9 they don’t understand why I have so many symptoms, hair loss, stomach: bowels problems, anxiety, cold, dizzy, low mood , extreme tiredness, dry skin.
advise please: I have Hashimoto’s and have lots... - Thyroid UK
advise please
This is quite a common problem, due in part to low stomach acid and leaky gut. I just wanted to check that you’re not on PPI medication?
I myself have had to restrict what I eat, seemingly developed food intolerances last summer, out of the blue. I now completely avoid gluten and dairy. I’ve tried numerous things to help include probiotics, slippery elm and marshmallow root. Bizarrely one of the things which really helps when I had a flair was cabbage juice! Surprisingly tasty too. Bone broth might be helping too: we have roast chicken today and, at some point I’ll slow cook the carcass and drink the stock over the next week or so, as well as using it in cooking. I eat sauerkraut (fresh, not pasteurised). I’d drink kefir but nowhere local stocks gluten free/dairy free kefir.
I tried apple cider vinegar and Betaine but they seemed to make things worse - others have reported success.
Things have, thankfully, really settled down.
Yes GP shave prescribed PPI s as my reflux and pain is terrible. If I don’t take it I’m worse. They dismissed low acid when I suggested it.
That’s the normal response in my experience! I think the PPIs could be exacerbating your symptoms. Have you tried the low stomach acid test? m.youtube.com/watch?v=6jyAb...
Have you tried making dairy free kefir? Really easy .. but I’ve found despite not tolerating cows milk I can eat butter and dairy kefir. I make it with organic milk . Some tolerate goats milk better…..
Are you on thyroxine
Yes and T3. I started Levo in August but my gut issues started a couple of months prior to that.
I’ve recently realised that tomatoes cause me upset. I’m now eating a protein-heavy diet with minimal carbs, because my blood sugar has also gone awry (I’m not diabetic).
How are you maintaining weight?
Good question. I feel like I have lost a bit of weight (I don’t weigh myself) which is probably to be expected having cut back on carbs, but, my big concern is is muscle loss.
Yeah how are you addressing that?
Addressing what?
I’m not anything like optimally medicated and my hope is that some of the issues will resolve once I am.
As for the muscle loss, it’s difficult to ascertain what exactly the problem is. It could be one of perception. It could be due to the fact that I’m unable to exercise anything like I could previously. This time last year I’d just had to stop playing hockey every week. Having played weekly for more than 35 years I was more muscular than someone who had not.
I hear you!... I have whittled it down to all dairy, nightshades and low histamine tolerance... I'm ok with gluten but not barley, took me years to work out the histamine bucket conundrum, it wasn't till I joined the forum someone pointed it out to me!
I've tried adding in DAO enzymes to help but I didn't find it much use, I have found TUDCA rather good as it aids the gall bladder
In the end I stopped trying to add things back in and stuck with the safe foods and added in supplements for the known shortages... I was concerned for my gut health and did the Zoe gut health tests only to find that I have a pretty health gut nearer the top of average than bottom! Phew and leaky gut is much improved
I do still make my own sauerkraut which I take a little regularly (high histamine) used to make kefir, kombucha.... but gave up as a lot of faff for no real improvement
my fear is if I can’t take the medication
How did you work out all your intolerances?
With dairy and nightshades it was a marked reaction... favourite easy comfort supper would have been a buttery baked potato with strong cheddar... soon realized that made me feel utterly awful! Tried gluten free but would often react to that too...
So tried the exclusion and reintroduction which was hit and miss
Cut out milk and felt much better then cheese got the chop... I'd never liked peppers and this aversion increased, I did do an IgG4 intolerance test which turned out to be really accurate and I was able to re-introduce most glutenous grains, barley being the issue along with a few of the gluten free options like buckwheat and amaranth!
The histamine reaction was often after avocado or olives which it turns out are high histamine and also histamine releasers 😕
Also found that being blood group A meat really wasn't all that good for me! So stopped trying to add that back in... used to go to the butchers on kill day to get fresh hangar steak which I could manage a little.
Even with added DAO enzymes I still can't tolerate legumes which is a laugh when the enzyme is made from them 🙃
I've spent the last 6 months just eating 'safe' food and feel a whole lot better for it as it's a lot less stressful, cheaper and far less repercussions to deal with 😅
Hi Eeyore,
Would you please be able to expand on the histamine angle? Would you get reactions similar to, say, someone with hay fever?
Thanks
Sure, histamine for me means feeling like I've been poisoned starting with a pain creeping up through the back of my neck (only recently found out we have a histamine relay thingy there!!) then a trippy headache / migraine, nausea, IBS... takes around 24-36 hours to clear my system... I just have to crawl into bed and let it pass
Not yet as they thought I would be ok on the liquid but they are concerned about my stomach as I cannot take s lot of meds. I have a couple of gene issues where I am an ultra rapid metaboliser and a poor metaboliser. I cannot take any droresssnts Ordl contraction or HRT as I am in agony and throwing up even on patches. The same happened on thyroxine tablets.
I wonder if T3 or NDT wouldn't be kinder on your system... some people manage to get enough sublingually certainly when I started on T3 if I was out without water I'd put it under my tongue and it worked well enough though others say it shouldn't? Some people chew on the NDT before swallowing
During your time on Levo have you been testing and supplementing low vitamin levels?
Being hypo in iteself causes low vitamin levels due to low stomach acid and not being able to absorb vitamins froom the food we eat well. That combined with a restricted diet is going to make matters worse.
I suggest you ask your GP (find a kind one) to test ferritin, folate, B12 & D3. When you have the results start a new post and post the results for members to comment. See link for companies offering private blood tests & discount codes, some offer a blood draw service at an extra cost.thyroiduk.org/testing/priva...
There is also a new company offering walk in (includes free blood draw) & mail order blood tests in London, Kent, Sussex & Surrey areas. Check to see if there is a blood test company near you. onedaytests.com/products/ul...
Only do private tests on a Monday or Tuesday to avoid postal delays.
members here need to supplement vitamin levels continuously for their thyroid hormone to work well. Low vitamin levels can make food intolerances worse.
have had b12 and d test fine the only marker in bloods was high ferritin serum which is reducing on zGF and DF diet
You can still have ow iron even if ferritin is high, its odd like that.
Exactly what were your B12 & D3 results with the reference range for each test? What the NHS says is OK is likely not optimal which is where we need it to be.
Suggest you get some fresh tests run for all the key vitamins, start a new post with results.
Started thyroxine liquid in September 2023 and felt much better got approx ) weeks then started with burning mouth and more heartburn until realised levothyroxine was causing lot of burning in throat and stomach,
This simply indicates you are ready to increase the dose
It doesn’t necessarily mean you can’t tolerate it
Bloods should be retested 6-8 weeks after each dose increase
ESSENTIAL to maintain OPTIMAL vitamin D, folate, ferritin and B12
high ferritin due to inflammation…..you can still have low iron
What are your most recent vitamin results and ranges
What supplements are you taking
But what caused the burning in the stomach and under the ribs it was so bad for an hour after taking it , and I didn’t feel well til mid afternoon?
Your taking liquid Levo
Which one?
Are you splitting the dose
Half in morning and half late afternoon
What’s the dose
Levo doesn’t “top up “ failing thyroid it replaces it
Very quickly, within 6-8 weeks, Levo reduces TSH and your own thyroid takes a holiday
So you actually end up more hypo if dose isn’t increased
Typical hypothyroid symptoms include low stomach acid, acid reflux, bloating, indigestion, low vitamins etc etc
I was splitting the dose but struggled to time it with vitamins and omeprezole. Ended up on omeprezole because I had sour rtaste and waking in the night with burning mouth and rib pain. However looking back I was not opening my bowels for days at a time and now wonder if the acid reflux was caused by my system being sluggish and backing up. I also am not sure if digestive enzymes are balanced but am unsure how I could check this.
LOW stomach acid can be a common hypothyroid issue and can cause acid reflux
Thousands of posts on here about low stomach acid
healthunlocked.com/search/p...
Web links re low stomach acid and reflux and hypothyroidism
nutritionjersey.com/high-or...
stopthethyroidmadness.com/s...
thyroidpharmacist.com/artic...
How to test your stomach acid levels
healthygut.com/articles/3-t...
meraki-nutrition.co.uk/indi...
huffingtonpost.co.uk/laura-...
lispine.com/blog/10-telling...
Useful post and recipe book
healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...
Ppi like Omeprazole will lower vitamin levels even further
gov.uk/drug-safety-update/p...
webmd.com/heartburn-gerd/ne...
pharmacytimes.com/publicati...
PPI and increased risk T2 diabetes
gut.bmj.com/content/early/2...
Iron Deficiency and PPI
medpagetoday.com/resource-c...
futurity.org/anemia-proton-...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi...
sciencedirect.com/science/a...
But never just assume you have low stomach acid
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