Gluten Withdrawal And The Thyroid

[Marz]

So as a quick update to my progress, I started the gluten free diet on Saturday, felt fantastic on the weekend, and then hit a wall on Monday.

My "gluten withdrawal" symptoms (some of which overlap with my gluten-poisoning symptoms marked with *, but I'm fairly sure I've been strictly gluten-free) :

- Nausea*

- Depression, irritability, crying over nothing, anxiety*

- Stomach upset* (to be expected, but stomach is otherwise a *lot* better).

- Sore throat/feeling like I have something caught in my throat/swelling.

The sore throat was interesting - the pain/swelling feels like it's coming from my thyroid gland, I swear! I've never had pain in that area, it's right by the adam's apple, and apparently that's where the gland is. I can even feel it, feels like it's a bit swollen. No other symptoms of a cold, I'm not feeling "sick", so I don't think it's an infection.

Was reading up on hypo/hyper thyroidism, and thought it was interesting how many symptoms of hyperthyroidism correspond to gluten-withdrawal symptoms. From reading through this forum, I've seen a number of similar complaints after going gluten-free, except maybe weight loss, hair loss.

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Major clinical signs include weight loss (often accompanied by an increased appetite), anxiety, intolerance to heat, hair loss, muscle aches, weakness, fatigue, hyperactivity, irritability, apathy, depression, polyuria, polydipsia, delirium, tremor, pretibial myxedema, and sweating. Additionally, patients may present with a variety of symptoms such as palpitations and arrhythmias (notably atrial fibrillation), shortness of breath (dyspnea), loss of libido, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea.[citation needed] Long term untreated hyperthyroidism can lead to osteoporosis. These classical symptoms may not be present often in the elderly.

So this is my theory - initially when going off gluten, your thyroid gland which was previously being under-regulated/suppressed by gluten-poisoning, now suddenly is released from this suppression. All the up-regulating mechanisms in your body goes into overdrive (There's a number of hormones involved in this, too long to explain!), results in temporary *hyperthyroidism*.

Hyperthyroidism is also associated with an enlarged thyroid. Not sure if pain comes into it.

Good withdrawal symptoms:

- Had the best sleep of my life on Saturday evening. Awoke on Sunday completely awake and refreshed. It's crazy that I've felt so groggy in the morning for so long, I forgot what it's like to feel normal!

- My intermittent nose bleeds have suddenly stopped, which is weird.

- Other than the mild nausea and moderate stomach pain my GIT system seems a lot more stable.

[maile]

So this is my theory - initially when going off gluten, your thyroid gland which was previously being under-regulated/suppressed by gluten-poisoning, now suddenly is released from this suppression. All the up-regulating mechanisms in your body goes into overdrive (There's a number of hormones involved in this, too long to explain!), results in temporary *hyperthyroidism*.

Hyperthyroidism is also associated with an enlarged thyroid. Not sure if pain comes into it.

Hypo/Hyperthyroidism is definitely associated with gluten intolerance however, it's really hard to go hyper on a temporary basis. Hyper is usually recognised by rapid heart rate/pulse, increased temperatures, shakiness and many loose stools in a day (which as you pointed out are also classic gluten poisoning symptoms)

what you may have experienced is a "thyroid dump" where the body dumps a whole bunch of stored thyroid into the system in a short while, what you want to look for after that is whether your thyroid begins underperforming (constipation, inappropriate weight gain, FATIGUE, hair loss etc) which is what usually happens when one has an inflamed thyroid gland.

[Marz]

Thanks for the info, my theory was wrong Swelling is down so it must've been a temporary thing, and still not sure if it was even thyroid related.

[beansmom]

Thanks for the info, my theory was wrong Swelling is down so it must've been a temporary thing, and still not sure if it was even thyroid related.

Hi. Found your theory interesting. Actually, I have thought something quite opposite. I just started a gluten challenge and a week into it have noticed that my thyroid hurts to touch. I have autoimmune thyroiditis and have been on thyroid replacement for some time. I was thinking that the antibodies to the gluten may cross react with the thyroid antibodies...