hashimotos food changes

[AppleTreeG]

First post looking for guidance. I was diagnosed with Hashimotos many years ago but have arrived very late to all this info.

There is a lot of advice about trying dairy free and gluten free. I’m willing to try this to see if it helps me. I feel like I’m really puffy in my face and my eyebrows have big gaps all the way across (more than the outer 1/3). I’d like to try to reduce these symptoms. I’ll get my blood work done privately, have only ever had tsh on nhs so I’m curious what’s going on.

My question is-does dairy free mean the same as lactose free?

My go-to breakfast is Greek yogurt and fruit and I’m wondering if I can keep it and switch to lactose free or if I need to change it all together?

Many thanks

[Regenallotment Ambassador]

hello and welcome!

I have Hashimoto’s too. The most useful resource for me was Izabella Wentz books, if you haven’t come across her, she’s a pharmacist in the US. Website is thyroidpharmacist.com but that’s very much angled towards buying her supplements whereas her books aren’t.

I followed her 6 week protocol for autoimmune diet which knocks out all gluten dairy soy etc etc. it was easy to follow with plenty of lovely food but rather a lot of leftovers so we had to adjust a little. I felt improved after 6 weeks. She then suggests you introduce one thing at a time for 3-4 days leaving a gap, eg try toast then a few days later try Greek yogurt. My reactions were instant.

It’s worth asking the GP to test for coeliac before giving up gluten (I did it the wrong way around and will never know 🤦🏽‍♀️)

Gluten makes me feel hungover and my cheeks itch and I get a pain between my shoulder blades. (My 86 year old Mum now tells me she spent a fortune on osteopaths and massages for me as a child to try and figure out the pain between my shoulder blades.🤦🏽‍♀️🤦🏽‍♀️)

Lactose /all dairy so probably casein too, gives me awful burps, gurgling, wind that feels like I might follow through. 8-10 bowel movements a day.

that’s said giving these up is only part of the story, testing just TSH won’t tell you much. I test FT4 and FT3 privately every 3-4 months and test B12, folate, ferritin, D, annually and GO ran zinc and selenium for me too last round.

Once you have FT4 and FT3 results post again and fold will help you optimise your thyroid hormone replacement.

The eyebrow thing, thinning hair, puffiness, swollen around my eyes were all signs of under replacement for me. Alongside crushing fatigue and awful anxiety. I didn’t have the classic constipation because of the lactose /dairy reactions I was having.

I hope this helps, please ask questions and we’ll done for finding the forum and advocating for yourself 🙏🌱

[SlowDragon Administrator]

personally I would cut either dairy or gluten first…

Not both at once

Get coeliac blood test via GP first before cutting gluten

See how you get on

If it helps stick on it

Then 2-3 months later try dairy free

You can get lots of vegan alternative “yogurt”

What are your thyroid and vitamin levels like