hashimoto's and gluten

kiffypooh

Hello everyone,

I'm not sure if I posted this in the correct place or not, so sorry if it's not.

I was diagnosed with a hashimotos YEARS ago and was told my by doctor to take my medication and everything will be ok

Well, I was recently talking to an acupuncturist and she told me that there is an increased amount of information out there about gluten and its affects on hashimoto's. So I googled "gluten and hashimoto's" and there are a lot of blogs out there with a lot of great information. I, however, wanted information from you and your experiences as well. Has anyone else heard of this? Have you tried it? Did you start feeling better?

Thank you! :flowerforyou:

stephabef

Have you been feeling crappy? If so, in what ways?

If you haven't been and your meds are working, I wouldn't worry about it. Those of us with issues with gluten feel like hell when we consume it. True, Hashimoto's and Celiac can go hand in hand, but that's because Celiac is an autoimmune disease - if you don't properly maintain, you ARE more susceptible to other autoimmune diseases.

Once again, though - if you aren't haven an issue, I wouldn't worry about it unless you've spoken with your doctor.

lizard053

No connection as far as the research I have done goes. But I haven't been keeping up to date on it.
I don't have hashimoto's, but I am hypothyroid. I don't eat gluten as much as I can because it does make me feel kinda icky. But I don't think it has anything to do with each other unless your gluten sensitive or have Celiac's.

serene00

I have Hashimoto's and have no problem with gluten. I also had estrogen + breast cancer and was told by my nutritionist to avoid anything with phytoestrogens due to estrogen-like activity. So, no soy, flaxseed, etc. My Hashimoto's is well-controlled by meds.

tbresina

I have hashimotos and I am fine as long as I take my levo........I think you would know if you have an issue with gluten, I hear it is hard to ignore!

kiffypooh

For the most part I feel fine, I'm just always tired. We were talking about it for fertility issues. The other issue is that my doctor hasn't been able to get my TSH numbers to stay the same for 4 years. When my numbers are where I feel good they feel they are too low and when they think I should feel good I feel like poop. I don't want to go gluten free, but I was willing to try it if there were people out there who have had great results from it. From what the acupuncturist says (which I think sounds silly) I may not feel any different but my body will be working more efficiently. To me, that would mean I would feel better.

Thank you all for your insight and information, it's been very helpful!

jessiew0

Ok so I have hashimotos also and my dr strongly advised going gluten free ....DESPITE having no symptoms.
Upon learning this I have been doing research and there is lots of evidence to support this. Basically all hashimotos patients are shown to have a gluten sensitivity, which is not the same as celiac therefore may not present with symptoms. The idea here is that whenever any gluten gets into your system your antibodies attack the gluten and also your thyroid gland. If you cut out gluten you will reduce your antibodies and also your risk of other autoimmune disease and slow your body attack in your thyroid. Read a book called " why do I still have thyroid symptoms? " by dr kharrazian. Very helpful an informative.

kiffypooh

Ok so I have hashimotos also and my dr strongly advised going gluten free ....DESPITE having no symptoms.
Upon learning this I have been doing research and there is lots of evidence to support this. Basically all hashimotos patients are shown to have a gluten sensitivity, which is not the same as celiac therefore may not present with symptoms. The idea here is that whenever any gluten gets into your system your antibodies attack the gluten and also your thyroid gland. If you cut out gluten you will reduce your antibodies and also your risk of other autoimmune disease and slow your body attack in your thyroid. Read a book called " why do I still have thyroid symptoms? " by dr kharrazian. Very helpful an informative.

That's pretty much what the acupuncturist said. I think I’m just being a baby and throwing a bit of a tantrum because I don't wanna :sad: So have you gone gluten free? Has it done anything to your TSH numbers? Thank you so much for your response.

PeekABooGirl

I have Hashimoto's. TO my knowledge I don't have any issues with gluten. What issues are you having. I tend to get Iritis alot (unrelated obviously...) but I was told the frequent Iritis was due to Hashimoto's.

cjw6

You are taking an acupuncturists advice on this?Seriously?!
Why don't you talk to your doctor?

There is a link with other autoimmune diseases certainly in people with hashimotos thyroiditis. I am not familiar with a link to gluten sensitivity, but this isn't really my field of expertise. But please don't cut out an massive food group on the basis of advice from a flipping acupuncturist- speak to your doctor!

qreiter

After years of feeling like crap, I made the decision to leave endocrinology altogether and search out someone who actually cared about my healing instead of gaining more money from me. Diagnosed with Hashimoto's Disease in 1994, I took synthroid for 12 years and still felt horrible. Tired, fat, and frustrated, I read up on Armor Thyroid and its involvement in the T3/T4 conversion. Synthroid was not cutting it. It wasn't giving me what I needed to complete the conversion. My then-endo finally agreed and prescribed me Armor. Within weeks, I felt a TON better, however, I would feel good for a while and then start feeling sluggish again, SO she would increase my meds and the cycle would continue. I started reading up on goitrogens and how they blocked absorption of thyroid hormones and meds, so on my own, I stopped eating raw cruciferous veggies, peaches, peanuts, etc. I asked my endo about them, and she offered NO education on them or even what my diet should comprise. In fact, every endo I ever saw treated me the same way: TAKE YOUR PILL. YOU WILL BE FINE. EXERCISE. EAT 1200 CALORIES A DAY. YOU WILL LOSE WEIGHT. To me, that equaled starvation. And no matter how hard I tried to lose, I could not. I failed at every way of eating. Even when I ate nothing, I gained. Two years ago, I just so happened to get a new hairdresser who told me she had Hashimoto's. No way. She was skinny and her hair was fabulous and skin glowed. She began telling me about her struggles with the disease and how her doctor had changed her life. I got the name of number of her doc. I held on to it for a whole year, struggling with the notion of leaving my all-knowing endos. It scared me to death. (Somewhere in between there, I began reading about the effects of gluten on the thyroid gland. I couldn't find much on the subject. I took the chance and I went gluten free for a month and lost 10 pounds.) But I did it. I made the appointment to a doctor who was not an endocrinologist. She was a breast surgeon. Hmmm... She sat with me for two hours, explaining to me scientifically how are bodies are designed and how nutrition is a real science and how jaded we are with the food and drug industry. I knew all she was saying but it was never set in me to enforce it. As she spoke, it was like some kind of invisible wall fell around me. My mind was cleared of everything I had ever been taught or was raised to believed. My comfort foods were essentially killing me. In a nut shell, she said that we are designed to eat like the natives: meat, veg, fruits, eggs, nuts. All the rest is garbage. The big thing is that we are an inflamed society, meaning inflammation is killing us. It starts in our bowels, whether we feel it or not, and causes autoimmune diseases. Some people are sensitive to dairy or grains or certain dairy or grains for example. "Gluten" is considered a major culprit that causes inflammation, especially nowadays because it is mostly all genetically modified. Wheat, barley, rye, and triticale are mostly GMO, where they are missing a major component of their original ancestors. Those grains that we eat now are considered to be nonconsumable foods. In other words. humans should not eat them. Compare the original grains to the GMO ones like butter verses margarine. Yeah, it is THAT bad. So it is not even a gluten issue, but the term gluten is generic in keeping people from consuming the foods that contain gluten. What happens is the gluten gets digested and travels to the small intestine, where it irritates the bowel so bad that the villi that line the bowel and take in nutrients to the blood stream get destroyed. It might seems that a Hashimoto's patient is not affected by gluten, but they probably are because they cannot absorb nutrients efficiently. Celiac's patients have little or no villi. It's pure starvation. Most Hashimoto's patients I know are vitamin D deficient. Heal the villi and start absorbing nutrients. Stop eating gluten and heal the villi. Some folks might be gluten intolerant and intolerant to other irritant foods. They have to experiment by refraining from eating these foods for weeks at a time to figure this out. I feel so much better and I am not considered a likely candidate for other autoimmune diseases now. In fact, I have told my story to people with diabetes and other AI diseases and they went gluten free, only to get great results. The healing starts with diet. Find out what is causing inflammation and take it out of your diet. And according to my new awesome doc, I can heal my Hashimoto's if I completely eradicate the inflammation from my body. I am still on Armor but she dropped my dose and added 15 mcgs of Cytomel (T3) A DAY. I FEEL FABULOUS! So far, so good. We will see...

editorgrrl

MFP has a Hypothyroidism and Hyperthyroidism group: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/forums/show/770-hypothyroidism-and-hyperthyroidism

I have Hashimoto's (autoimmune thyroid disease) and take Synthroid & Cytomel. I lost way more slowly than most MFPers, so be patient. But I did it just like everybody else—by eating at a deficit. Per my endocrinologist, I did not avoid any foods.

Read this: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants

funkycold78

OMG I have Hashimotos and have been gluten free for a little over a month and it has helped soooooo much! I also dont take thyroid meds. I feel so much better! Try it for a month if you haven't yet, you wont regret it. Avoid Goitrogenic foods too.

gaelicstorm26

I have Hashi's and had not had a problem with gluten until about 2 years ago. I'm not intolerant of it, but I noticed a sensitivity to it when eating a certain amount. Since that time I have been diagnosed with diabetes, which has forced me to make many gluten-rich foods a much more minimal part of my diet. I cannot tell you how different my body feels. I feel lighter and there have been...uh...changes in my bathroom habits that have been quite positive. No more having to RUN to the bathroom after a meal. Interestingly, I just had my levels checked. My little bathroom and pain problem had been getting worse. To my surprise, my TSH levels were at 20. I've since increased my dose of levo.

Honestly though, I've never felt great on levo. I was diagnosed pretty young (I was 11). I'm 31 now and have been exhausted and symptomatic for all 20 years of this disease. I have noticed a huge change in my energy level by going lower carb.