Hashimotos Thyroiditis?

[Live2BWell]

Hi Guys, I posted on the pre-diagnosis board, but I thought I'd come over this way and see if anyone else has Hashimotos [i was Dx with Insulin Resistance in 2006 and Hashimotos about 6 months ago]

I have not yet been diagnosed with Celiac, but am fairly certain I have something going on

[ShayFL]

Thyroid disorders/Diabetes/Insulin Resistance go hand and hand with Celiac/Gluten Intolerance.

I am hypothryoid and doing well on Armour.

[mommida]

I have Hashi's too.

L.

[ShayFL]

I cannot say if I have Hashi's because my tests were neg for antibodies. However, my Mom tested neg for antibodies for years and when they removed her thyroid, they found out why. There wasnt much left of the organ to attack. Not everyone shows antibodies unfortunately.

[Live2BWell]

Thanks for your replies everyone! I am so new to being diagnosed and understanding Hashimotos (and unfortunately the doctors who are supposed to be treating me, aren't aiding in my becoming well) so ... I am not only still sick, I am also really confused and frustrated. What is the correlation between Hashis, Diabetes, and Gluten/Wheat intolerance? And why is it overlooked so easily?

I have tried being pro-active about my health, researching on my own, and asking questions, yet that has gotten me nowhere but now having a bad rap with my docs for being dramatic and even a hypochondriac

Despite it all, and things continuously coming up abnormal, I am not getting very far in understanding, being informed, learning, or action towards actually getting better, and I've just been running in circles

I am currently on Synthroid and Cytomel, yet my tests keep showing that I am hyperthyroid, so she keeps decreasing my doses, and for whatever reason I am still as sick as ever (and keep getting sicker) and my antibodies have quadrupled. ShayFL, I had talked with her about Armour Thyroid and I had also tried the pro-active stance with her, asking questions, yet that has not gone over well (it hasn't gone over well with many of my doctors thus far, sadly enough) I dont care how I get better, I just care that I DO get better - and I am not getting better, I am getting worse.

Can you all enlighten me as to the correlation between the three, and kind of how everything goes hand in hand?

I feel so ill equipped, and am frustrated because those who I pay to give me a hand in that area.... aren't

[nutralady2001]

I have Hashi's

She is decreasing your dose based on what?................the TSH? It's the most common mistake doctors make With Hashi's the aim is to suppress the TSH to reduce the antibodies attack. My TSH has been <0.01 for about 10 years

What you need to do is look at your Free T3 and Free T4 and where they are in the range, do you have those results?

I have escaped Type 1 diabetes my grandmother had it as did my aunts and DS , 32, was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes last year, not sure of the link other than they are all auto-immune and undiagnosed Celiac Disease can lead to other A/I diseases

[rumbles]

I'm going to try to explain . . . (it's not easy to explain, as it's quite complicated, but I'll give it a shot).

The correlation or relationship between Hashimoto's, Diabetes and Celiac isn't so much that it's necessarily

overlooked, it's that it's not fully understood yet. Until medical science can complete more of the puzzle,

and then present it to doctors with scientific proof, the correlation is suspected, but still considered only

a theory.

These three conditions (I don't like the word disease!), along with quite a few other conditions, share

some genetic markers, called alleles. An allele is kind of a genetic instruction. It usually takes multiple

alleles to create a dominant trait or feature, such as brown eyes or brown hair, - even though a

person has brown eyes and the allele for brown eyes, they may also have an allele for green eyes, but

since the brown eye alleles are dominent, the green eye alleles are recessive - they're still there, but

they just don't show in the eye color.

In most cases, it takes multiple genes and gene variations to create a disease condition. Hashimoto's,

Diabetes and Celiac have some, but not necessarily all, of the same genetic markers, residing at

common locations on chromosomes. (Think of it like each is a map, - all three are very similar, but

they are not identical.) Not all of the markers are currently identified, so only part of the map has

been written for any of these conditions. - That last sentence helps explain why some people have

negative test results for some of these disease conditions, but have the disease symptoms, and are

eventually diagnosed with the disease.

Medical science knows that most autoimmune diseases can occur in multiples, - by that I mean when

a person has one autoimmune disease, they often develop another autoimmune disease; it's believed

at this point that that is because of the common alleles, or genetic markers that the diseases share.

Not enough is known yet about the markers to know which ones are dominant, and why one person

gets one disease and not the other, while another person with what appears to be the same markers

gets a related disease condition; nor do they know what the trigger is that causes these genes

to become active in some people, and not in others.

Sorry if this has given anybody a headache! I hope it helped.

Pat

[ShayFL]

Whenever you are on T3 (Cytomel or Armour) your TSH will be suppressed. Mine has been fully suppressed for over a year. I feel horrible otherwise. My doctor ignores the TSH and looks at the FREE T3 and Free T4. And for me, my FREE T3 has to be slightly over normal for me to feel well.

Your doctor should be assessing your symptoms and not just your labs. It is easy to know when you go "hyper" from a "hypo" state. It happened to me when I had my daughter. I got post pardum thyroiditis and was hyper for awhile.

Anxiety

Heart Beating Fast

Sweating when you shouldnt be

Insomnia

Aggitation

Hunger

Weight Loss

Loose Stools

Feel Hot

Do you have these types of symptoms?

OR ARE YOU STILL

Fatigued

Depression

Sleep a lot or wish you could

Constipated (if you have celiac also you can have D and be hypo)

Dry Skin

Water retention/weight gain (although some hypos can be thin like me)

No motivation

Hair Loss

No Libido

And the list goes on.........

Feel Cold

[Di-gfree]

I was diagnosed with Hashimoto's a couple of months ago. I feel I've probably had it most of my life, actually. I've been diagnosed with celiac for more than a decade. Of the symptoms that Shay just listed for both hyper and hypo - I'd say I have symptoms of both at times. I'm hypo - constipated, slow digestion (slow everything!), feel cold, depression, etc., - yet underweight; but I've got hyper symptoms, too - fast heart rate, anxiety, agitation, insomnia.

You guys are lucky that you can even take medication. Right now, after not tolerating synthroid, or dessicated thyroid, I am going to pick up my prescription for a compounded medication (I had to go the Compound Pharmacist route) today. Fingers crossed.

All I know about the correlation between celiac and hashimoto's is that auto-immunes diseases do seem to come in groups instead of 'just' having celiac, as was mentioned above. I've got enough on my plate right now with these two, and can't even contemplate dealing with more. It's overwhelming, to which I think the OP can attest.

[ShayFL]

Yes, hashis can cause swings in both directions as the thyroid "sputters" whilst dying.

I hope your compounded meds work better for you.

[Di-gfree]

Yes, hashis can cause swings in both directions as the thyroid "sputters" whilst dying.

I hope your compounded meds work better for you.

Thank you for your well wishes about the compound medication.

[loraleena]

I have Hashis. It is common for your TSH numbers to be supressed when on thyroid meds. However most docs do not know this and freak out and lower your meds. Luckily I work with an alternative doc who gets it. Please check out dr.lowe.com and you'll find tons of info.

[Live2BWell]

Hey Guys! Wow thanks for your replies, they were very helpful and informative

ShayFL I have mostly hypo symptoms ~

Fatigued

Depression

Exhaustion

Constipated/Diarrhea

Dry Skin

Water retention/weight gain (although some hypos can be thin like me)

No motivation

Decreased Libido

Feel Cold

.... and more

I do have some hyper symptoms, but I don't know why, or if they are from feeling miserable or being hyper, or what. They include ~

Anxiety

Hot/Cold Flashes

Insomnia

Aggitation

So, I dunno! Any thoughts?

JerseyGirl Wow, JerseyGirl your explination was awesome! Thanks !!

nutralady2001 Good question, she keeps decreasing my medication based on my labwork. She keeps saying "your thyroid levels are high" and then shuffles me out of the office like I'm an idiot and I just need to deal with feeling bad and trust her because she's the doctor. Anyway, I started seeing a NEW doctor (long story, but I was beyond unhappy with that endo!) and he INCREASED my Synthroid (I was on 50mcg and now I am on 100mcg) and had me stop the Cytomel all together. He will re-evaluate me in 6 weeks and we'll go from there. He says it takes 6 weeks for the Thyroid to get regulated at all on any dose (which my endo was scheduling bloodwork every 3 weeks, I was seeing her every 4 weeks.) I do have my results, and can post them for you. She did my free T4 but I don't think she did my free T3 (she did my T3 uptake I believe?) and didn't like me asking questions about results or one test over another, etc. It's been a mess, much more than I'm posting about, but yea

[Martyg]

Glad I found this topic although I am not sure if anybody will come back to it. I also was diagnosed with Hashimoto's in 1999 and on Armour until last month when they put me on Thyrolar because of extremely high antibodies. It seems the lactose in the thyrolar has upset my stomach, because I am have constant loose bowels, but then again with the thyroid I never know what state it might be in and hot/humid summer does not help.

Having two auto immune issues are overwhelming at times and I often wonder if being on a limited diet causes more food allergies (I am also a vegetarian). Any suggestions, feedback would be greatly appreciated.

I sometimes think there is a feeling of "aloneness" associated with these illnesses.

MartyG

[ShayFL]

You arent alone Marty.

I never registered abnormal antibodies.....but neither did my Mom...who got dx Hashi's when they were removing her thyroid for cancer. She had little thyroid left for the body to attack!!! So her antibody tests came up negative.

I should test again soon.

[Live2BWell]

Ok, so I saw a new doctor, and he actually increased my T4 (Brand Synthroid) to 100mcg (she had me decreased to 50mcg) and he took me off the Cytomel all together. So far it's been about a week and a half, and to be honest I am seeing very small (tiny) improvements (but they are improvements none the less, so I suppose that's a good thing?) Needless to say I cancelled my next appointment with the endo I had been seeing, and now am seeing this new doc (an internal medicine doctor) My follow up appointment is in about 4 weeks or so.

Just wanted to give you an update.

P.S. Interestingly enough my endo's office never asked about my canceling or any inquiring as to if I'm even being treated, and they sent me a bill with a bright neon sticker saying that my account is past due payment of $5.60 and to pay immediately. I had to LoL at that one

[klynn]

I was diagnosed w/Hashimoto's 11 years ago. I've been through regular doctors, osteo's & other holistics, as well as nutritionists. I've suffered from monthly hard depressions for over 10 years, along with horrible allergies and just simple fatigue to the point I worked part-time for many years. I spent a good three-quarters of those ten years just struggling to get through the basics of life with many ups and downs. Only in the last 2 years when I really started applying what I have researched have I found out how valuable that information can be. I've been through borderline hypoglycemia, blood sugar problems, food & air allergies, and just plain exhaustion for long periods, as well as low libido. I hope that my experiences save others some time as others have given to me by sharing their information.

My best information has come from a combination of them all and a number of books have provided excellent insights to guide me.

For autoimmune, diet and vitamins are more important than others without the conditions we struggle through. Dr. Richard Shames (& his wife) have a great website and a few books on thyroid. It has been his primary focus for many years. Thyroid Power and Feeling Fat, Fuzzy or Frazzled are two that I found quite informative and useful. Mary Shomon has a book called Living Well with Autoimmune Disease and the info in there is awesome for general conditions and especially for explaining diet and nutrition as it relates to autoimmune issues. In regard to depression that is often experienced with hypothyroidism and other autoimmune conditions, Dr. Pricsilla Slagle has a website and book called The Way Up, which resonates along with the things I have read in the other books. She practices Orthomolecular medicine (nutritional medicine). The amino acid therapies she referred to along with the other diet/ nutritional management, and hormonal management has brought me up to a point of no more depressional episodes (not even the generalized overall down feeling anymore), along with a renewed energy for life.

Everyone is different, but I think you can find your answers if you keep looking.

Wishing good health...