Best products from r/Hashimotos

Wow my heart goes out to you! I love your attitude though. Is your connective tissue disorder like Marfan? My son has Marfan.

I asked about the differing autoimmune issues because I believe my under treated hypothyroidism has been the catalyst to my autoimmune diseases. I am not sure I have Hashimoto’s though. I had an endo tell me that I should just consider myself Hashimoto’s but she didn’t test my antibodies. My NP did last fall and my antibodies were normal so I don’t think I am. But anyway enough about me.

Here’s what I know about Hashimoto’s and hypothyroidism: the main triggers are nutrient deficiency, allergies and other hormone imbalances. I would recommend that you look into these things. Having your thyroid working optimally is a good goal. I’m glad you don’t have any nodules but the enlarged gland is concerning. I believe getting your antibodies down should relieve so the swelling.

Have you ever read the book The Inflammation Syndrome? I high recommend it. Most prescription drugs cause inflammation and according to the author autoimmune = inflammation. It’s pretty interesting. The Inflammation Syndrome: Your Nutrition Plan for Great Health, Weight Loss, and Pain-Free Living https://www.amazon.com/dp/0470440856/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_.ff1CbSDWQ4RF

Best wishes, Twink 😘

Rediculous cover design but my naturopath gave me this when I was diagnosed:

Why Do I Still Have Thyroid Symptoms? when My Lab Tests Are Normal: a Revolutionary Breakthrough in Understanding Hashimoto's Disease and Hypothyroidism by Datis Kharrazian

It has great references towards self help, learning about your body, and really focusing on food and what you put in it then listening to how your body responds.

Speaking of food, there are cookbooks to help get over the humps of refocusing nutrition:

The Whole 30

• I lasted 25 days with a friend, felt my body positively respond after day 5
  
  Hashimotos 4-week plan
  
• this isn’t the simplest, I just took small elements of it as guidance since I’m not ready to fully commit to the 4 week full plan
  
  Hope this helps, thanks for asking the question.

From what I am reading, gluten perpetuates the autoimmune response from your body, and you'll keep having issues unless you drop it. My Dr, who has hypothyroidism himself, says its okay to go gluten-less and not gluten-free, but I'm still having serious muscle and joint pain and am still tired, so I'm working all the food/ inflammation angles.

Dropping "goitrogens" (uncooked broccoli, all soy, etc), taking some supplements to boost immune system and gut health (turmeric, zinc, fish oil, probiotics, and when I finally find it cheap, selenium)... I've been feeling like shit for a long time and after getting past the shock of having an autoimmune disease I'm in full on "fuck this shit" mode.

I recommend two things! If you are struggling with cooking better for yourself, I recommend an app called Mealime. It's honestly great for any human, despite diet issues, but you can tell it to remove gluten from the recipes it gives you, and holy crap they're all good and fast! If you like to bake and cook like I do, a friend who's little girl has celiacs told me about a book called "How Can It Be Gluten Free", which is written and recipes tested by America's Test Kitchen (and has a second volume, also!).

Second thing, is go out and buy this book cause it's written by a pharmacist who is currently in remission from Hashi's and she talks about all the bull crap she went through with drs and medicine and supplements and food. I haven't read through it all but what I have has been very insightful and had great reviews on Amazon from people like us.

I hope this helps!

I would definitely recommend thyroid medication sooner rather than later; it can take time to find your right dose. I went untreated for years and ended up pretty anemic. The thyroid has a hand in pretty much every process in your body, and it's incredibly important. There are definitely lifestyle changes you can make that can help - I totally recommend any book by Izabella Wentz (I started with Finding Your Root Cause) - but the first step to feeling better is getting on meds.

What were your thyroid lab results (TSH, Free T4, Free T3, TPO/TG Antibodies)?

Sounds like she should look into NDT (naturally dissected thyroid) meds like Armour instead of synthetics like levo. NDTs work better for the majority of patients. I had the same symptoms as your wife when I was on levo and after switching to Armour it was like night and day, as did my mom, my aunts, and various other coworkers and too many people to count that I've talked to online. Her symptoms aren't normal, they mean that the medication isn't working for her.

Check out Stop the Thyroid Madness and Hypothyroid Mom and if either of you like to read, get the two Stop the Thyroid Madness books (first book on Amazon) (you can even request them from your library). Both sites have a lot of good information for people who weren't helped by synthetics like levo.

> "The participants were “blinded” during both phases – they did not know the type of pill they received. After each treatment period patients were weighed, had blood tests, underwent psychometric testing and were asked which therapy they preferred. The researchers report that 49% of the patients preferred desiccated thyroid extract, 19% preferred levothyroxine and 23% had no preference. Desiccated thyroid extract use was also associated with more weight loss." - Thyroid.org: Summaries for Patients from Clinical Thyroidology (from recent articles in Clinical Thyroidology): Desiccated thyroid extract vs Levothyroxine in the treatment of hypothyroidism

• Jeffrey Dach MD: Why Natural Thyroid is Better than Synthetic
  
  
• Stop the Thyroid Madness: T4-only meds like Synthroid do NOT work, exclaim patients!
  
  
• Stop the Thyroid Madness: Natural Thyroid 101
  
  
• Amy Myers MD: Which Thyroid Medication is Best?
  
  
• Hypothyroid Mom: Which is Better, Synthroid or Armour Thyroid Medication
  
  
• OP-ED News: New Study Shows Natural Thyroid Better than Synthetic

God I hate doctors. especially endos. I strongly suggest you join the Stop the Thyroid Madness community and find a "good doctor" that way. endocrinologists are typically the worst choice for thyroid treatment. I know that sounds crazy but they're hideously miseducated and biased. you will rarely get what you need from them. I can guarantee your anxiety isn't psychological. it's physical. don't accept that crap. you are absolutely right to be questioning your symptoms changing with your labs.

I think you should reach out to some of these patient resources for advice. talk to Janie Bowthorpe who wrote the Stop the Thyroid Madness books or email the yahoo group or talk to the mods in the Adrenal Fatigue and Thyroid Care facebook group. https://stopthethyroidmadness.com/talk-to-others/

if you have elevated antibodies I'm pretty sure that means you have Hashimoto's. especially if you are positive on both of them. I would get some Kavinace for the time being so you're not overwhelmed by anxiety and go ahead and reach out to the patient community and get that saliva cortisol test so you can address any cortisol issues because that will interfere with thyroid function and cause a lot of insomnia etc. and you need a FULL thyroid panel with T3, T4, RT3 etc and probably a full iron panel too https://stopthethyroidmadness.com/lab-values/

you can order your own labs if you need to! just search any question followed by "sttm" to find it on their website. so like "insomnia sttm" "anxiety sttm" "hair loss sttm" etc.

I hope you get some answers and improvement soon! I know how frustrating it is! I went undiagnosed for 17 YEARS!! it's horrible! we deserve better!

///

I do not take any tryptophan from Asia because of past issues with quality that ended up being very dangerous. I use NOW Foods Tryptiphan which is pharmaceutical grade and made in the USA. https://www.amazon.com/NOW-L-Tryptophan-1000-60-Tablets/dp/B002JNIAQW

there is also a 500mg capsule. but I take 1000mg a day so that's what I use.

I use Kavinace from ovitaminpro.com but it looks like phenibut in general is becoming an issue to acquire so when I find out what's up with that I'll let you know. you may need a prescription to get it or something. it's becoming harder to get since it has become more popular. and like I said try CBD because if you have Hashimoto's that means inflammation and CBD helps that as well as anxiety.

I wish I didn't have to do all this stuff just to function. it sucks. but I'm thankful for anything that helps.

Ok. You labs look pretty good. If you were on meds I would suggest the doctor add a small amount of T3 or cytomel. Ideally Free T3 should be in the top quarter of the normal range.

With no meds there are things you can do to improve your conversion. T4 hormone converts to T3 hormone in the liver. If you google "improving thyroid hormone conversion" you will find lots of suggestions.

Some basic ones are...no soy, no iodine or iodized salt, no uncooked goitrogenic foods, no chemicals or processed foods, no caffeine or alcohol. Eat as clean as possible. If you cannot eliminate something then try to minimize it.

There are several vitamins and minerals that, if deficient, can impair conversion. The big one is selenium. It is best to have it tested or you could try a low dose selenium tablet to see if it helps. 100 mcg. Others are Vit D, Zinc, Vit A, B12, Iron.

There are lost of thyroid support pills for sale but many of them contain herbs etc that are no good for the thyroid so stay away from those.

If you want a good multivitamin that might cover all of the above you could try Pure Encapsulations Nutrient 950 with no iodine, copper or iron. It is always best to supplement iron separately if you need it.

https://www.amazon.com/Pure-Encapsulations-Nutrient-Hypoallergenic-Multi-vitamin/dp/B0017CV50Y

I think diet is the most important part for that based on my whirlwind research in the past few days.

I also found this page: https://www.restartmed.com/tpo-antibodies/

I think besides eliminating gluten, dairy, sugar, and alcohol from your diet (and probably some other things, too), the next important step are these nutrients that repeatedly come up like Selenium, Zinc, etc. I found this supplement that has 4,000+ positive reviews on Amazon. I ran it through fakespot and review meta to make sure the reviews are not fake. It got an A grade, passed with flying colors. Searching through the reviews, I found a lot of references to "hashimoto's," "anxiety," and "hair" regrowth. If you search for these quoted terms, you will find the reviews yourself. It appears to be a very good supplement that really helps. I've just ordered it yesterday, so I haven't actually tried it yet.

As far as diet and explanation goes for auto immune diseases like Hashimoto's, this book came highly recommended along with this cookbook. I will probably only get the first book because I never use cookbooks. Just tell me what I can eat and I will make my own meal no problem.

GF non-keto you still get rice and potatoes which helps and is easier. And there's some decent gf bakeries out there for special treats. The cake mixes are pretty decent too. https://www.amazon.com/Cake-Mix-Doctor-Bakes-Gluten-Free/dp/0761160981 is a good book that makes some easy, delicious cakes. Kids need treats and that's one of the hardest part of gf, so this does help a lot.

> Ever since I started this I have felt awful. Throat fullness/tightness, headache, fatigue dizziness & nausea. Anyone else have this problem?

Iodine alone without cofactors can make for an unpleasant experience, what you're experiencing isn't unusual.

I have a few suggestions, but I do not know what is in your chaste berry supplement and multivitamin so be sure to check them for selenium/selenomethionine so you don't take too much.

300-600mg magnesium (malate and taurate are good ones)

100mg B2 riboflavin twice a day (the yellow component of a b-complex)

500mg niacin twice a day (use inositol hexanicotinate, usually called "no flush" niacin, 500mg of true B3/niacinamide/nicotinic acid will ruin your day)

200mcg selenomethionine (be sure to check the multivitamin and other supplement for this, you don't want more than 400mcg in a day)

1,000mg Vitamin C (3 times a day)

1/2 tsp Celtic sea salt (Redmond Real salt works too)

I believe these will help you see a welcome improvement, this is a great baseline to start out with.

More info available in [Iodine by David Brownstein M.D.] and [The Iodine Crisis by Lynne Farrow]

Quick links:

[Magnesium malate]

[B2/B3 cofactors]

[Selenomethionine]

[Vitamin C]

[Celtic sea salt]

[12.5mg iodine](what you're taking now is probably great, though the books recommend 50mg)

A lot of this is trial and error to see what works for you. The Root Cause might help you figure out where to start to discover triggers and reduce the antibodies. I'm still working on it too! My peroxidase is down to 124 and thyroglobulin has stayed steady at 2. Currently on T4 and T3, taking various supplements (multi-vit, Vit B and D, probiotic, calcium, fish oil), soy and dairy free (gluten free didn't seem to help, but I may try GF again depending on how things go).

​

Edited to add: I had a food sensitivity test done in Dec, which revealed that I am highly reactive to casein and whey and eggs (yolks and whites), which is why I went DF in January. I had severe GI issues and have felt way better DF. Working on healing my leaky gut to try to reduce my autoimmune response.

What you were experiencing is most likely detox. There's a protocol to follow in order to safely remove the toxins. Joint pain is a detox symptom. There are Facebook groups for iodine and C to support you.

http://www.lynnefarrow.net/
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/098603200X/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1503066353&sr=1-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=iodine+crisis&dpPl=1&dpID=41ZrJUypCSL&ref=plSrch
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0966088239/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1503066371&sr=1-2&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=iodine+crisis&dpPl=1&dpID=51BcNXj18wL&ref=plSrch
http://www.orthomolecular.org/
http://www.boweltolerance.org/

The Root Cause was a good read: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0615825796/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_U_TxLEDb3BTK09X

Check out this book.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01HXK6GVQ/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

It makes so much sense and has answered a lot of my questions.

For less messy amazon links you can extract the part after "/dp/" in

https://www.amazon.com/Thyroid-Support-Supplement-Vegetarian-Ashwagandha/dp/B00M13NHFY/ref=sr_1_1_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1484843899&sr=8-1&keywords=thyroid

and make it:

https://amzn.com/B00M13NHFY

Or via smile link:

https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B00M13NHFY

___

BEEP BOP

Plz send any recommendations to my owner via PM