Gluten-free for thyroid ... anyone?

[staceychev]

Has anyone gone gluten-free to support their thyroid issues? I'm technically hypothyroid, and two docs have said I've got hashi's, but I was never tested officially. (Tested for hashi's, that is. Hypo obviously has been tested a lot.)

Anyway, have been reading about going gluten-free to support and/or try to reverse autoimmune hypothyroidism. Has anyone done this? I'm already very low gluten anyway, so it wouldn't be a huge feat to pull off. The big question I have is whether I have to just avoid the big stuff, or whether I have to be ultra cautious like my colleague who has celiac and has to even be careful about things like flavored coffee. (Not that I drink flavored coffee... ick! )

Also, if you have done this, what are your experiences? Did you feel good? Are you one of those lucky people who actually reversed the disease?

[leafwood]

this is a really interesting thread for me. i was dx w/ Hashi's when i was 17 and have been on synthroid ever since. after both children i was hyper for a short time and then regulated again (w/o a med change). this time i needed less meds but probably b/c i lost a ton of weight after ds. 5m ago i went gluten free (b/c we thought ds was sensitive). 2m later i felt like a nut and my TSH levels were undetectable. I needed less meds and i go back next week to get checked again. never thought that gluten-free may have reduced my reliance on synthroid but could be....i'll see what happens when i go back next week.

[HappyMommy2]

I'm interested in this too. I have hashi's... and have read a little about going gluten-free. I'm not sure I could actually do it!

[JaneS]

I know about this b/c my friend does this for her Hashi's. (Her antibodies have calmed way down to non detectable.) As she explains it, and other dr's explain it, the thyroid protein is similar to the gluten protein. If your body has decided to attack the gluten protein (don't have to be celiac to be gluten intolerant), it also mistakenly attacks the thyroid and thus the autoimmune disease is born.

For her, she does need to be careful of trace amounts. Recently she said she had a trace amount and had arthritis problems for days.

Sadly, for people with Hashimoto’s, gluten must be avoided for life. The gliadin portion of the gluten causes the immune system to flare up and attack not only the gluten in the blood stream but also the thyroid gland, due to the similarity of gliadin and peptide fragments associated with the thyroid gland...

once the gluten-sensitive genes are turned on, they cannot be turned off, and therefore gluten must be avoided for life...

Each time a person with Hashimoto’s consumes gluten, he risks a possible six-month attack on his thyroid gland.

http://www.westonaprice.org/book-rev...harrazian.html

[yogabird]

gluten free for thyroid

I have been gluten free for many months now due to high thyroid antibodies-Hashi's. My ND noticed a goiter when I was pregnant and ordered a thyroid panel. When I retested after my baby was born my antibodies were actually higher, a second retest showed they decreased slightly but not by even 100 points. I know that being on a gluten free diet has helped tremendously-even with my digestion. The gas and bloating I was prone to almost daily has gone away-also with the help of some enzymes! I have another retest scheduled soon and I'm excited to see if the antibodies have gone down even more. This is a tricky diet to follow, especially when out & about, but I HIGHLY recommend it if you have any thyroid issues!

I have a question for those of you that do avoid gluten. I have recently started wondering if the gluten/wheat in some of my body care products could contribute to my antibodies being high. Any ideas or experiences with the same thing? I really hope this is not the case because that will mean spending more money on replacing all the stuff and I'd have to give up my beloved Aveda hair products-boo. Any suggestions/advice would be greatly appreciated!

Christy

[tanyalynn]

Christy, I don't think we've ever reacted to contact gluten, some people have, though, so it may be worth a trial. Not convenient though, I agree.

staceychev--We're gluten free, I think it's been one of several important things I've done for my thyroid. I was hypo, just finally got to the point where my bloodwork was bad enough that my doc would pay attention to my long list of symptoms. GF is important, though I didn't figure that out for a while. There are a lot of nutrients involved in thyroid function, that was an important part for me, I did reading at ithyroid.com and took a probably excessively long list of vit/min supps, but they did help.

There's a study around on selenium, 200mcg measureably reduced thyroid antibody levels, sometimes normalizing them. Google for the study. 200 mcg is a pretty reasonable amount of selenium IMO--hard to get from food unless you find a good source of brazil nuts.

Early on I reacted to trace amounts of gluten, I had to replace the gladware-type plastic food storage containers I had. I don't react to trace gluten like that anymore, but I'd think it would take experimentation to see how sensitive you are.

[staceychev]

Originally Posted by tanyalynn

Early on I reacted to trace amounts of gluten, I had to replace the gladware-type plastic food storage containers I had. I don't react to trace gluten like that anymore, but I'd think it would take experimentation to see how sensitive you are.

What kind of reactions would I be looking for? I'm pretty asymptomatic with my thyroid at this point.

[tanyalynn]

Originally Posted by staceychev

What kind of reactions would I be looking for? I'm pretty asymptomatic with my thyroid at this point.

It was run-over-by-a-truck fatigue. Cutting out gluten and dairy reduced my fatigue noticeably quite quickly, and getting trace gluten, back then, made it come back with a vengeance. My fatigue's been both thyroid and adrenal, and looking back it's hard to tell them apart at times, but being GF was important to getting healthier overall, and my thyroid function seems a lot better based on my symptoms, so there's a link even if it may be indirect for me.

[HappyMommy2]

This thread makes me want to cry. I think going gluten and dairy free would be so good for my hashi's and my rosacea. But I honestly think I would die, or become a total Biatch that nobody would want to live with, if I couldn't have my toast with butter or my noodles and butter. ugh.

[Drummer's Wife]

Originally Posted by HappyMommy2

This thread makes me want to cry. I think going gluten and dairy free would be so good for my hashi's and my rosacea. But I honestly think I would die, or become a total Biatch that nobody would want to live with, if I couldn't have my toast with butter or my noodles and butter. ugh.

You can buy GF bread and noodles - even my Albertson's sells them. It's not as hard as it seems, IMO. There are still plenty of things you can eat, and there are tons of GF products available now. Amazon is a good source that helps with the cost of things such as GF flours. I still eat muffins, crepes, waffles, etc., I just learn to make them w/o gluten.

If you start to feel tons better, you'll really feel like it's worth the slight inconvenience.

[tanyalynn]

Originally Posted by HappyMommy2

This thread makes me want to cry. I think going gluten and dairy free would be so good for my hashi's and my rosacea. But I honestly think I would die, or become a total Biatch that nobody would want to live with, if I couldn't have my toast with butter or my noodles and butter. ugh.

It seems so unfair that sometimes we need to make big changes and learn new things in order to feel better when we feel so tired and rundown and just plain bad.

It was difficult to cut out gluten and dairy at first, I did it cold turkey without doing a lot of planning for substitutions like the PP mentioned. Planning would've made it a bit easier. But it's been 3 years now and it's really worth it, for the kids too. I did it for me at first and since I was not capable of different meals for different people, the whole family went gfcf. And I saw improvements in the kids, things I didn't expect to see, and that helps make the effort worthwhile.

Many people in the Allergies forum don't consume gluten or dairy, there are quite a few grain-free and paleo/primal threads around in various forums (and I always figure, if they can fee themselves without grains, and some without legumes either, I should be able to do gfcf, right?), but you can get quick ideas there too. And more gfcf food blogs than I realized are out there.

[FireWithin]

I'm strongly suspecting I have Hashi's. I'm hyper right now and I can visually see my thyroid whenever I have the (rare) bit of gluten or when I'd taken iodine above what my multi has. I've been gluten free for 4 years for my now weaned nursling.

It is kind of heart breaking to hear the gluten free might need to be a life long thing. I've known I will needto go fully gf again in the next few weeks because I'm approaching my due date and I've anticipated another 4 years of gf for my baby. The idea of forever is hard to hear, even for this multi-allergy pro.

[camprunner]

I was dxed with Hashis. I started out on the Maker's Diet and when I tried to reintroduce gluten began to have major digestive issues. Being gluten free has helped tremendously with my antibodies though they are still going down.

Because I was on the diet, we also found that dd (age 7) also have a gluten intolerance and a lactose intolerance. She started breaking out in spots when she had it on her face. When we took lactose and gluten out of her diet, her bedwetting also stopped within weeks (and if she reacts it starts again ).

It's definately worth a try.