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.
Hi Crystal! I also suffer from Hashimoto's, just diagnosed last December, but have been dealing with it for the past four years or so. I am excited to have found your blog (somebody on the Living with Hashimoto's Disease Facebook page posted a link).
ReplyDeleteI wanted to ask first, how difficult was it for your doctor to allow you to have the allergen panel done? It sounds really promising and I will bring it up to my endocrinologist at my next appointment. Second, now that your antibody levels are low, how do you feel? After having read the recent article by Ott et al. in the journal Thyroid, I am certain that my symptoms (mostly chronic fatigue and brain fog, along with an inability to lose weight) are caused by my very high anti-TPO concentration. I am therefore very excited to learn that you were able to eliminate your antibodies just by changing your diet! So, there IS hope! :)
Thanks so much for this blog. I'll let you know what happens with me!
Amy
Hi Amy!
ReplyDeleteThanks for writing!
If you read my blog from the beginning you'll get a good idea of my symptoms and what natural vitamins and minerals I've been taking the last 3 1/2 years. I put links to all the ones I'm taking. The major suplement I'm taking that lowered my TPO antibodies in half and got rid of my TgAb antibodies in the first 2-3 months was Selenium Mineral and Vitamin E. It really helps with brain fog because Selenium is considered a "brain food" that helps brain health. Here's a link on selenium http://www.nutriherb.net/selenium.html
For the cronic fatigue I take Vitamin D and B12. I also mention this in the blog.
I feel so much better now the antibodies are gone! There were points when I first got Hashimoto's disease that I thought "If I continue to feel this way then what's the point in living?." I think a lot of people with this disease have felt this way, especially when you don't feel any better on medication. That's why I wrote this blog to let others know there is another option.
It wasn't hard for me to get the doctor to do the food allergen panel.
I've gotten to a point that I tell my doctors what to do and if they don't like it I tell them that it's my body and I know when something isn't right so they better run the test! They tend not to argue with me! LOL
Oh and I lost 36 pounds 8 months after I started taking the selenium in 2007. Please keep me updated on how things work out for you. Hope this helps and feel free to write me anytime. :)
Hi Crystal, I have been taking selenium and vit.e after morning breakfast and vit. d at night after dinner. I have always been a late sleeper but even though I am supershort on sleep these days due to waking up early to get my kid ready for school, I am unable to fall asleep early. I just read on a website that one should take vit.d in daytime as it reduces melatonin to some extent which causes to sleep. Could you please let me know when you used to take vit.d and did you have difficulty falling asleep early at night? Please I would really appreciate your reply. Thanks
DeleteHi Crystal!
ReplyDeleteThanks for letting me know about your blog, I haven't read it all yet, just the latest post, but will go back to the start and work my way through. Looking forward to learning your story and so glad it seems like you have had some great success!! Hurrah!!
Lorraine
(Thyroid Hope blogger)
Thanks Lorraine!! I really enjoyed reading your blog! Thanks for writing and I hope you find my blog to be of some help.
ReplyDelete:) Crystal
What test do they do for milk allergen? I showed positive to gliadin, the wheat protein, so have been off wheat and gluten since before Christmas - immediate improvement, but still not 100%. Maybe I should try avoiding milk too??? I have Hashimoto's too.
ReplyDeleteMarg
Hi Marg,
ReplyDeleteYou can ask your doctor to run a full food allergen panel. It's just one blood test to check for all common food allergies. Glad to hear that going off wheat has helped you. Good luck and keep me updated!
Crystal
Thanks for sharing your experience! I have eliminated a lot if foods on my journey with Hashi's, but I have been resisting getting rid of dairy. I'm definitely going to try it. Love the info you posted about the way it causes your body to attack the thyroid. Makes perfect sense! Why do doctors seem so oblivious to anything thyroid related? It would be funny if it wasn't so serious.
ReplyDeleteAmber
Amber,
ReplyDeleteYou are welcome! Thanks for commenting! I thought the same thing when I was first diagnosed with Hashi's. I didn't understand why doctors where not interested in finding out what causes the disease. They just wanted to treat the symptoms. Luckly I have 2 great doctors that were willing to let me continually test my antibodies. I figured I'd be a medical "guinea pig" and go through what ever it took to find the cause. I tried many different things but taking Selenium and going dairy free are the main things that helped me. I think it can be a lot of different things for different people. It's an autoimmune disease so it only makes sense that it would be being caused by some sort of allergic reaction in the body, either by food or environmental causes. I hope this blog encourages people to find what is causing their Hashimoto's disease and to fight it head on! :)
hi thanks for your answer i am not sure how many different vitamins was you eating after feb 2011 and since now you are fine are you still eating all these vitamins if you are please let me know the name of all and timing between them and i am not sure when u started eating calcium citrate m/minerals. i have started the calcium citrate,copper,and zinc picolinate.i just want to if i should start eating natural vitamins E and swanson seleno excell because i think your thyroid antibodies mostly descrease because of vitamins E and selenoExcell thanks if you can tell me
ReplyDeleteI started taking the Calcium citrate w/ minerals and the extra zinc picolinate in order to raise my free T3 from 2.2 to 3.5 and it did that in a month. I just started taking the extra copper last month. All the vitamins and minerals I mention in my blog I am still taking everyday. The selenium and Vitamin E are the most important two for Hashimoto's disease. They lowered my TPO antibodies from 602 to 290 in less then 3 months. I got rid of the rest of my TPO antibodies by going strict off dairy for a year and I don't really eat dairy anymore. Hope this helps! :)
ReplyDeleteHi, by no dairy, do you mean no dairy? LOL, no cow milk, no goat milk, no yogurt, no cheese? How did you discover - no dairy?
DeleteTHanks
I am so happy that someone could recover from Hashimoto, you gave me big hope. I was diagnose with Hashimoto in August this year. Two months ago I started diet dairy free and wheat free, steel I don't know if it is working. I started with TPO 981 and after 3 months and on diet for 2 months my TPO is 752 but steel it is too early to know if it is working, I will need another blood test. I am worried because I am allergic to grass and mold and soon I have to start injection again, I am going to receive small amounts of the allergen to build immunity to the allergens and I started to think that this could cause my TPO to grow, my doctors are telling me that it can't cause problem.
ReplyDeleteI would like to let you know that my TPO went down and it is now 567 so I am staying on my diet dairy and wheat free. I started with TPO 981 five months ago.
ReplyDeleteThat is great news! It takes along time for us to damage our bodies with the things we eat so it can take some time to heal it. I am so happy to see you have had such progress in only 5 months! Hope you are feeling better with the drop in your TPO! Please keep me updated! Take Care!
ReplyDeleteHi. Am into Internet research as new hashimotos convert. Have read that candida can cause big probs so may be partly why no dairy and gluten diets work. Ah if only we didn't need to do all the work ourselves. That like Drs knew exactly what to do! cheers, merry
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for sharing your experience. I have been diagnosed with Hashimoto's in 2009 but I did not read about it or worry about it until last week. My new endocrinologist is an insult to the term 'doctor' I need to find a new doctor who will support me on this journey that I am starting today, thanks to all the information I have gotten off your blog. I will come back and let you know my results.
ReplyDeleteRisha
What about Yogurt? Is that also a problem?
ReplyDeleteHi Crystal,
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for sharing your story!!! Absolutely love the Theodore Roosevelt quote! Ha ha! I have also been diagnosed with Hashimoto's after many misdiagnoses, and have had very similar panic attack episodes, trips to the ER, multiple food allergies, etc. I have also been told that there is no cure, despite a growing number of amazing people like yourself who have defied the odds despite the naysayers.
One thing that I found very significant is that you are the first person I've found that has cured your Hashimoto's without the use of natural or synthetic thyroid hormones. I was considering the Dr. Haskell method of lowering antibodies, which includes synthetic thyroid hormones for a brief period, but your blog has given me a new sense of hope. May God continue to bless you with amazing health and really great kids!
P.S. I just started a soy-free vitamin E supplement from North American Herb & Spice today. I had read that selenium could cause problems without sufficient iodine intake, but I will take a second look at that now. Thanks again!