Going gluten free - how long until antibodies reduce?

[Blueberries1934]

Hello,

I was been taking 100 levothryoxine for Hashimoto’s for approx 10 years and I test my antibodies with medicheck every year or so (levels are roughly 590, normal range is 0-34)

Due to infertility, I was advised by a nutritionist try a gluten free diet to reduce inflammation, and hopefully reduce my antibodies. After following this diet strictly for 3 months, I immediately felt the benefits but I was disheartened to see my antibodies had only reduced slightly to 550.

I wondered how long it takes to see a reduction in antibodies? Do I need to wait longer or do I need to try something else to reduce inflammation?

Ps- so nice to find this community of like minded people!

[Buddy195 Administrator]

Welcome to the TUK forum; I believe this is your first post with us.

My antibodies reduced when going GF within 6 months, but still remain over range several years later. Yours may still remain over range too.

My overall inflammation, gut health and wellbeing significantly improved by adopting a GF diet, so I personally wouldn’t touch it again. It’s important to remember that thyroid antibodies may always be high, despite optimal thyroid medication, key vitamins & a GF diet.

Can you share your recent test results for FT3, FT4 and key vitamins (folate, ferritin, B12 & vit D)? Also include ranges in brackets (as these can vary between laboratories).

[Blueberries1934 in reply to Buddy195]

Thank you for the welcome, it's great to be here. I'm pleased to hear your overall wellbeing has improved since you adopted a GF diet. I also feel that my gut health and wellbeing has improved and I'm also not sure I would touch it again

Thank you for responding. As requested:

FT3 is 4.2 to 4.9

FT4 is around 17.6 to19.8

Folate is 31.7

Ferritin is 107

B12 is 38 to 61 (low side)

VitD is 62 to 67 (low side)

I am taking a lot of supplements at the moment for infertility, including Vitamin D, B12 and Folate. Frustratingly, despite taking so many vitamin D supplements, I'm still on the low side but that might be a conversation for a separate thread.

[Jazzw]

They may not come down. There’s a misunderstanding about what’s causing the issue. The disease is the problem, not the antibodies. Antibodies are the good guys. They sweep in to mop up a problem, to attack misbehaving cells.

And it’s not always clear whether the level of antibodies corresponds with the amount of disease. It’s likely that it does to some degree but we’re all different and some bodies’ reactions are more extreme than others.

It may be of course that your body deals perfectly well with gluten. Many people don’t have issues. Or—it doesn’t, but there’s something you’re still eating that has been contaminated by gluten (oats for example need to be grown well away from wheat). On the subject of oats, some people are intolerant to avenin, the protein in oats, so it wouldn’t matter whether they were gluten free or not.

Do you feel better for having cut out gluten, or is there no evidence it’s made a difference?

[greygoose in reply to Jazzw]

Totally agree with you about the antibodies - although a lot of people disagree and there's a lot of different opinions on the subject.

My personal opinion is that it's not the antibodies causing the inflammation. If it were, people with high levels of antibodies would always have high inflammation markers. And, if you read enough lab reports you'll see this is just not the case.

[Blueberries1934]

Hi both, thank you for replying. I'm on a mission to try and reduce my autoimmune response, and I believe the best way to do this is to work out what is triggering my body. Gluten was an experiment, and you're right that the underlying issue might not be gluten.

I'm open to other ideas to reduce the inflammation. What are the other common triggers?

[Jazzw in reply to Blueberries1934]

Well, the other biggie is dairy. You may be lactose intolerant or casein intolerant.

Easier these days than it ever used to be to try going dairy free… but it does limit what you can eat unfortunately.

[Forestgarden]

If you want to reduce inflammation caused by diet, then, as well as eliminating any foods that may be triggering, you need to heal your gut. Increase stomach acidity if it is low, take enzymes with meals to enhance digestion, take probiotics to improve your gut microbiome, eat prebiotics to feed those 'good' bacteria, eat/drink bone broth to help heal your gut wall. Cut out caffeine, alcohol, refined sugar. Over time you should be able to improve your 'leaky gut' and then, it may be that you can start tolerating certain foods again.