Friends!!

Just writing a quick note to let everyone know that I've received their messages and questions. I've been super busy recently and haven't been able to get back to everyone as fast as I'd like to. I will try and answer every ones messages as soon as I can. I know when you have hashimoto's you want to figure out what can help you as fast as you can so you don't have to keep suffering. Thanks so much for writing to me. Crystal :)

Copper to Zinc ratio

In an earlier post I noted that I was taking 37mg of zinc and 1mg of copper. For every 15mg of zinc you should take 1mg of copper so I just bought THIS supplement to add some extra copper so my ratio is better. I'm now taking 37mg of zinc and 3mg of copper. The early doses helped me raise my Free T3 from 2.2 to 3.5 the normal range for Free T3 being (2.2-4.2)
It is best to be as close to 4.2 as possible so we shall see if adding this extra copper will do the trick! All in all I still feel really good with my Free T3 at 3.5 . I was feeling horrible and still had major hypothyroid symptoms when my Free T3 was at 2.2 even though my TSH was 2.3
Most doctors will tell you you are fine if your TSH is below 3.0 I can not stress enough how important it is to have your Free T3 tested and get it up to at least 3.5

Hypothyroid without Hashimoto's

I've had a lot of people ask if taking selenium mineral and vitamin E will help them if they are just hypothyroid but do not have hashimoto's disease.

Regarding the thyroid, selenium is a component of the enzyme that helps
convert T4 to T3 peripherally, so deficiencies of selenium may impair
thyroid function and promote hypothyroidism. According to the New England
Journal, "selenium deficiency can result in thyroid injury and decreased
extrathyroidal triiodothyronine production" (reduced peripheral T3
production.) Some experts believe that low T3 levels may be characteristic
in areas with insufficient selenium.

The mineral selenium also proves itself as a powerful anti-cancer medicine. THIS is a very interesting article on the benefits of taking selenium. I think it is definitely worth taking as a supplement.

Leaky gut!

Sounds nasty right?

Well when my doctor found out that I was allergic to dairy he talked to me about something called leaky gut syndrome. He went on to explain how this is connected to food allergies and autoimmune disease. A woman wrote a great post about this in her BLOG. Give it a read!

After I found out about my dairy allergy over a year ago I started taking a vegetarian pro biotic. 3 months after I started taking it I noticed I was digesting food better and was not getting nauseous anymore.
I'm sure people who are reading my blog are thinking that I take a lot of supplements. All I know is that they have worked for me and I'd rather be taking supplements and allowing my body to heal and work on it's own then taking medication that has to be continually adjusted to the correct dose.

Supplements!

Just a quick not for anyone who is interested in taking the supplements I mention in this blog:

I take the selenium and vitamin E in the morning with breakfast. Vitamin E maximises the absorbtion of selenium.
Taking selenium with other vitamins can counteract the absorbtion of the selenium. A lot of people get small amounts of selenium in their multi vitamins but becuase it is mixed with other vitamins it usually will not be asorbed properly in the body.

I take all my other vitamins and minerals at night after dinner.
It's good to put a space of 4-5 hours inbetween taking selenium and any other supplement.

Don't you dare say "Cure"

My blog has been open to the public for a full 5 days! I've had tons of amazing, supportive messages sent to me. I've also had the complete opposite, not that I'm surprised.
If you've read my blog you will noticed that I never once use the word "cure."
I know how this word tends to ruffle some feathers. In a nutshell I've been told, "This is nonsense! You can NOT cure hashimoto's disease! Once you have it you will always have it!"
Even if people are only able to lower their antibodies and get their hashimoto's disease into remission isn't that better than continuing to let your thyroid be destroyed!?
To me that is like saying "there is no cure for cancer so don't bother with treatment, just let it kill you."
I'm sorry I don't have that sort of defeatist attitude. It's not who I am and I never will be that way.
I've often thought what the world would be like if everyone always thought "this can never be done."
The world changes for the better when strong, dedicated people choose not to be defeated and fight for what they believe in.
That's all I'm trying to do. Even if people completely disagree with me I still wish them all the best in their fight against this disease. :)

Readers!

Please read my blog from the beginning(the oldest post first) That way you will have a full understanding of my story. I tried to keep the blog as short as possible because the last thing you want to do when you are feeling unwell is read a long blog full of medical jargon.
Happy Reading,
Crystal :)

V is for Victory!

April 12th 2011:
It's been 3 1/2 years since I was first diagnosed with Hashimoto's disease and 1 year, 1 month and 19 days since I've been off dairy. I have to admit I wasn't perfect at staying off dairy the whole time. I couldn't resist having a wee bit around the holidays and during special occasions. I went to get labs done again because my last blood work was over 6 months ago. Knowing that I had cheated a few times here and there on my diet I told myself not to be too disappointed if my blood results were not where I wanted them to be.

Results:

TSH (1.1) = Freaking Perfect!

Free T3 (3.5)= GREAT!


Pièce de résistance! I am no longer testing positive for Hashimoto's disease!!
I managed to get rid of those horrible little TPO antibodies.

Crystal's thyroid 1 Hashimoto's disease 0

It's been a difficult journey and I feel so blessed to have a supportive husband and family that encouraged me and knew that I could overcome this disease.

I'm most thankful to a kind and loving Heavenly Father that listens and answers prayers and who gave me strength and guidance.

I truly hope that this blog may be of some help to others. I know there will be some naysayers out there, but if this info helps one person to overcome this disease or give them hope then I will be extremely happy! Feel free to write me and ask any questions.

Bingo!

End of September 2010:
I was super strict for 6 months. I ate absolutely NO DAIRY. I read every label and made sure nothing had Casein in it. I went in for more blood work and asked it they could test my milk antibodies again just so I could compare them from before and the results were:

My milk antibodies dropped from 89 to 42 and even more impressive was that my TPO antibodies that I could never get to drop lower than 290 were now 214. Every little bit counts and this gave me hope that I could get them to drop lower over time. It took me 26 years to build up the milk antibodies so I didn't expect a huge change within 6 months. I know that the body needs time to heal.

Another huge plus was that a lot of the symptoms I equated to Hashimoto's disease like heart palpitations, nausea and headaches started to lessen.

I had a strong impression that I was on the right track finally.
Around the same time I also found out I was severely deficient in Vitamin D and had low B12 levels.

I started taking 5000IU of Vitamin D a day and 5000mcg of B12 one every 2 weeks and noticed a huge difference in my overall health.

Side note: When I was diagnosed with Hashimoto's disease in 2007 I also stopped eating anything with soy in it including soy bean oil because soy is toxic to the thyroid.

Et tu Dairy?

24th of February 2010:
The results are in! I'm allergic to MILK!! Sad sad day! I'm a Chef and like most people I'm in love with dairy...creamy, rich ,wonderful dairy! How could this be!? The blood work showed I'm a case 5 (the worst) with my antibodies against milk protein at 89. The test only goes to 93.

After finding out the results part of me was mad that it was dairy and part of me was relieved because this could be the answer to my Hashimoto's disease. I always felt sorry for people who couldn't eat dairy and thought "I'm glad that's not me!" Well now it is me! I never would have thought that I was allergic to milk. I would drink at least 2 glasses a day and dairy was the main staple in my diet. I had noticed however that the last two years I was having trouble digesting food and feeling nauseated more often. I decided to go off dairy for 6 months to see if it would effect my TPO antibodies and general all over gnarliness I'd been feeling. Fingers crossed!

Milk it does a body good?

End of February 2010:
After doing more research (the story of my life) I came across this interesting article online. The doctor who wrote this article mentions:

" Milk proteins contain amino acid sequences which are also present in some proteins which are present in the body. If antibodies are formed which recognize these sequences in the body's proteins then these antibodies attack the body causing a series of diseases called "auto immune diseases". This often occurs in the synovial tissue of joints attacking it and causing Rheumatoid arthritis. Such reactions can also cause diseases like cardiomyopathy, amyloidosis, Hashimoto's disease which affects the thyroid gland causing hypothyroidism, and breast problems like fibroadenosis which may progress to breast cancer. When it affects the ovaries it can cause poly-cystic ovarian Syndrome (PCOS), in the uterus it can cause fibroids and endometriosis."

Interesting right?
Come to find out that the TPO(thyroid peroxidase) protein that is in the thyroid has almost an identical amino acid chain as the protein in milk. I put two and two together and thought, maybe if I'm allergic to milk protein that could explain why my body is having an allergic reaction to my own thyroid tissue and making me have high Anti-TPO antibodies. I made an appointment with my doctor to have a full food allergy panel done through blood work. Here's hoping this is the answer!

Time to nip this in the bud!

Still February 2010: Oh Autoimmune disease how I loathe thee! On this journey I've been told by multiple doctors and Endocrinologist that there is NO CURE for Hashimoto's disease. They have even gone as far as to say that there is nothing you can do to lower TPO antibodies. Really?? That's not what my blood work has shown! Sadly most patients want a quick fix to the problem and the doctor is more that happy to give it to them in the form of a pill! The easy way for doctors to deal with Hashimoto's Hypothyroid is to put you on thyroid replacement therapy(a pill you have to take everyday for the rest of your life) and believe me that's not the end of it! Most people never feel 100% normal again and continually have to have there medication dose upped. When you take thyroid replacement hormone your thyroid eventually stops working on it's own and you become dependant on the medication. This was not an option for me! I knew there had to be something that was causing my immune system to attack my thyroid and I was determined to STOP it and give my thyroid a chance to live!

Hop, Skip and a Jump ahead!

February 2010: I know! A few years have passed and guess what!! I'm still ONLY taking Selenium and Vitamin E and My TSH is 2.0 and my TPO antibodies are 290. At this point I'm feeling pretty good but not completely normal. I'm still having some Hypothyroid symptoms like:

• Fatigue


• Headaches


• Nausea


• Heart Palps

All these symptoms are no where near as bad as they were in 2007 but they are still not pleasant and I'd like to get rid of them.

After doing some research online I find out that one of the most important test to get done when you are hypothyroid is Free T3 .I decided to see a holistic doctor to see why I'm still having symptoms when my TSH is in a normal range and to find out what my Free T3 level is.

RESULTS:

• Free T3 is 2.2 ( Normal range is 2.4-4.4)

Aha!!! This could be why I'm still having hypothyroid symptoms.

I started taking 37mg of Zinc and 1mg of copper after reading THIS article.

I'm taking THIS supplement and THIS supplement.

One month later my Free T3 is up to 3.0 and I feel so much better! Now onto dealing with those pesky TPO antibodies!

What a blessing!

End of December 2007: I'm finally starting to feel normal again. I'd been taking selenium and vitamin E for about 2 months. Time to get my blood tested again!

RESULTS :

• TSH 2.3 (6.9 back in September)




• TPO Antibodies 309 (602 in September)



• TgAb Antibodies are completely gone!
  
  
  

I'd say I've made some progress! Now I will have to wait and see if this was the answer I was praying for and if I can keep my thyroid stable on Selenium and Vitamin E or would I have to eventually go on Thyroid hormone replacement? Time to defy the odds!

If you want something done right..DO IT YOURSELF!

October 2007: After weeks of researching natural remedies for Hashimoto's Disease I came across hundreds of herbs,vitamins and minerals that could possibly help. The problem is where do you start? I didn't want to try tons of different things and waste money on something that might not work. More than anything I didn't have the time to play trial and error with all these options as I was far too ill to have to wait for months to see what would work. One day I came across and random article about the trace mineral called Selenium. I had been praying for a natural way to overcome this disease and when I read this article I had a overwhelming feeling that I should try it. The article suggested taking 200 mcg of Selenium with 400IU of Vitamin E. So I went online to the Vitamin shop I use and purchased some. BEST DECISION OF MY LIFE!! In 4 days of taking it my panic attacks stopped! 8 days later I had an appointment with a new Endocrinologist who retested my blood. My results were that my TSH had dropped to 5.3 The Endo warned me that this probably was just a fluke and that it could have dropped because I took Synthroid for 5 days the month before and not to get my hopes up। Well...I got my hopes up!
Side note: People with hashimoto's disease should not take iodine supplements. Iodine is very inflammatory if you have hashimoto's disease.

Endocrinologist..Blah..blah..blah..

Still September 2007: So here's what I know. I have Hashimoto's Disease TSH of 6.9 (nurse practitioner retested to make sure the numbers were the same as they were in June) I have TPO antibodies at 602 and Synthroid did me no favors and I feel like utter crap! So off to the Endocrinologist that my nurse practitioner referred me too. This Endo is suppose to be "one of the best" in the state I live in, so I figure I'll give her a try. To make a long story short I drive an hour to see her only to get told that I have Hashimoto's Disease!! YOU THINK!! and there is nothing I can do about it. When I tell her that the Synthroid made me sick, she says " It's because when your thyroid is being attacked and in the process of dying you will have points where you are hyperthyroid." So I ask "then what am I suppose to do!" She says " We will just have to wait until the thyroid dies, then we will medicate you." I ask " How long will I have to wait for my thyroid to die?" Her reply " I don't know." ME: "Well I want to have children,will this effect me having children." HER: " Kids are overated anyways Hahahah!" Someone shoot me now!! I actually stood up and walk out of her office! I got into the car with my husband and started crying. It was official...NO ONE COULD HELP ME!

Ding Ding Ding!! Stinking Hashimoto's Disease!

After weeks of research I went back to the nurse practitioner and asked her to please run some labs to see if I had TPO or Thyroid Peroxidase (Hashimoto's) antibodies and wouldn't you know it! Those darn little antibodies were attacking my thyroid! The normal TPO antibody range is under 60 mine were 602! I also tested positive for TgAb antibodies. They were slightly elevated 24.6(normal range is under 14)Finally I knew what was causing my thyroid to die! Now I needed to find a way to fight back!

Wow!! Someone actually knows what they are doing!

September 2007: I went back to the hospital to see a nurse practitioner that worked in the women's center. After telling her about all my symptoms she said it sounded like I had a thyroid problem. I told her that I had my thyroid tested in June. She asked " Where did you get the blood work done for your thyroid." I told her " Here at this hospital in the ER, but they told me nothing was wrong." She immediately had her nurse pull the lab reports. She came back in the room and said " No S*&# you don't have a thyroid problem!" You know something in wrong when your doctor swears in front of you. She said that the lab results from June showed my TSH( thyroid stimulant hormone) at a 6.9 The normal range for your TSH is (0.3-3.0) If your TSH is over 3.0 it is a sign that your thyroid is struggling to produce the proper amount of T4 and T3 needed to run your body correctly. So the pituitary gland has to put out more stimulant hormone to make the thyroid work harder. You would think the ER doctor would have caught this! One of the many things I've learned through this process is to always second guess everything you are told and to always do research on your own! My doctor could not believe that I was sent home from the ER without being notified that I had Hypothyroid. She proscribed me synthroid ( synthetic T4 hormone replacement) and told me I needed to go to a Endocrinologist because she was not really qualified to treat hypothyroid. I didn't want to go on a pill that I had to take everyday for the rest of my life that also came with a long list of side effects, but I thought I would give it a try for a few weeks. After 5 days of taking synthroid I felt worse than ever! My heart was racing and I couldn't keep any food down. I was constantly praying that I would feel better and that I would be able to know what to do to overcome this disease. I had a strong feeling that synthroid was not the right thing for me so I stopped taking it and started hours upon hours of research to determined why my thyroid was failing and if there was a natural way to fix it.

Let's start and the very beginning...it's a very good place to start

May 2007: I was sitting in a movie theater with my family, minding my own business when a little gland that I never paid any attention to decided it was time for it to be the center of attention. Enter THYROID with some major attitude problems. Within minutes I went from enjoying a nice day out with the family to having a horrible pain in my chest, heart palps and the left side of my body going numb. I quickly stood up and told my sister "I think I'm having a heart attack!" then passed out. Pretty darn embarrassing thing to do in a movie theater. An ambulance was called and I was taken to the ER. I was told that my EKG looked normal and there was nothing wrong with my heart. The ER doctor wasn't sure what had happened. A month later I realised that it was a panic attack!( a nice little way of my thyroid telling me it was ready to give up the ghost) I had another panic attack in my local mall and that was it for me! NO more going out of the house! Over the next few weeks I began to have panic attacks at night and during the day I could hardly eat because I was so nauseous. I knew something was very wrong so one night I went to the ER. They told me nothing was wrong and asked if I smoked or drank alcohol or caffeine. When I told them I did none of the above. The doctor said " Do you eat chocolate?" I said "Well I'm a woman..of course I do, and a lot of it!" And she said " That could be what's causing the heart issues!" With that being said they told me to go home and just try to relax. As you probably guessed, I was back in the ER a few nights later! I had been doing some research and thought I had a lot of symptoms of Hypothyroid. I asked the ER doctor to please test my thyroid. About an hour later he came in with the results and said "Everything looks great!" I was shocked! Then he said "Maybe you are just overly worried and it's making you feel unwell." A nice way of saying " You're mental and just think your sick!" I went home and cried,something I do not do too often. I felt hopeless! No doctors seemed to know why I was ill or care about what I was going through. The next 3 months were a nightmare! Every week new symptoms started showing up and the panic attacks had become so bad that I couldn't even walk to my mailbox to get the mail. I went to my local doctor and he ran a few blood test ( I passed out in his office) he told me that all my blood work looked good. By this time I'm tired of passing out in public places and I've decided I'm not going to see anymore doctors! When the summer was over I decided that I would give seeing a doctor one more try. I told my husband that this doctor was my last hope and if she can't figure out what is wrong with me I was just going to have to live with it!