How I Put My Autoimmune Disease (Hashimoto’s) On Hold

This is the story about how I successfully restarted my thyroid and stopped my thyroid medication! I can’t say what I did will work for you, but perhaps it will get you thinking about ways to treat your autoimmune disease. Here’s what happened…

In January of 2018, I developed symptoms that eventually led to a diagnosis of Hashimoto’s autoimmune thyroid disease, resulting in a low-functioning or non-functioning thyroid gland. (You can read my post about my diagnosis). I was immediately put on thyroid medication and my symptoms improved. I was relieved, but I also started doing research on how to naturally change this course my body was on. I wanted to restart my thyroid if possible so that I would not be dependent on medication for the rest of my life. I was also worried about another autoimmune attack and which organ might be next!

In autoimmune disease, the immune system produces antibodies that attack healthy organs. My anti-thyroid antibodies were sky high which meant that my thyroid was being attacked. I wanted to find a way to stop my body from producing these antibodies, and stop attacking my thyroid. Was it possible that I could even restart my thyroid? I hoped so.

My doctor suggested I take probiotics and L-Glutamine to heal my most-likely leaky gut. She also suggested I take a multi-vitamin containing zinc, selenium and B vitamins, and avoid iodine. And, she suggested I follow the Auto-Immune Protocol (AIP) Diet. I found the AIP Diet to be quite overwhelming and restrictive and decided to cut out a few key foods first.

I began researching Hashimoto’s and found Izabella Wentz’s information to be very helpful. In her research, she found that the majority of people with Hashimoto’s felt they reacted to gluten, soy, dairy and sugar. I was already gluten and soy-free; I decided to cut dairy and refined sugar. Dairy had come up on a sensitivity test for me a long time ago, but I had continued eating it. I knew it was time to let it go! And sugar, well… once I cut it out I really didn’t crave it.

Stress is a huge trigger for autoimmune. I decided that in addition to changing my diet, I would consciously try to lower my stress. For me, this meant giving up some control in my life. Battling with teenagers, rushing around in traffic, worrying about work relationships — I needed to reduce these and other stress-inducing triggers as much as I could. I did a lot of deep breathing!

All of this worked. To give you an idea of the change I (and the doctors) saw, first you need to understand the normal reference intervals for the thyroid tests, and where I started:

NORMAL RANGE:

• • Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH) = 0.450-4.500 (if TSH is too high, you have a low-functioning thyroid or hypothyroidism; if TSH is too low, you have a over-functioning thyroid or hyperthyroidism)
  • Thyroid Peroxidase (TPO) Antibody = 0-34 (if high, you are producing antibodies that can attack your thyroid)
  • Thyroglobulin (Tg) Antibody = 0.0-0.9 (if high, you are producing antibodies that can attack your thyroid)

MY RESULTS, March, 2018:

• • TSH = 101 (yikes!!)
  • TPO Ab = 171 (yikes!)
  • Tg Ab = 6.8 (and another yikes!)

I went on thyroid medication to lower my TSH right away on doctor’s orders, but at the same time, I made the lifestyle changes I mentioned above.

The success of my lifestyle changes was evidenced by the results of the antibody tests. After just one month, I had lowered my antibodies (TPO = 123 and Tg = 5.5). They were still high, but coming down. After six months, they were even better (TPO = 15 and Tg = 3.7). I then became overmedicated because I had turned my thyroid back on and didn’t need the medication anymore. Though my doctor kept lowering the dose, it was still too much. I had lost too much weight and felt like I was on speed. I had trouble sleeping and was anxious. At nine months, my doctor suggested I could just stop taking the medication altogether. I did and haven’t taken it since. My TSH finally landed in the normal range, and by about 15 months after my diagnosis, my antibodies were gone! (TPO = <9 and Tg = <1.0)

Most importantly, I feel great! Today, I am gluten-free, soy-free (except for tamari once in while), dairy-free (but I can tolerate small amounts if necessary or accidental) and sugar-free (though I can cheat a tiny bit on this). Though my path won’t work for everyone, I hope that it might inspire people to think about lifestyle changes in the treatment of autoimmune disease. There are many doctors who do not believe that diet can affect, even reverse, autoimmune disease, but there are doctors who do. I was lucky enough to be supported by doctors who did believe it was possible.

What treatment has worked for your thyroid disease?