As a Chiropractic Nutritionist I am a member of many online group discussions on Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis and see the confusion and fear and lack of knowledge on how to improve it from the “newly diagnosed” people out there. Hopefully this post will explain what Hashimoto’s is, where it came from and how a person can improve their health while living with it.
#Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis is one of many #Autoimmune diseases or syndromes. All or most autoimmune diseases come from digestive issues that got out of hand. What symptoms a person has depends on their genes. That is why one person can have Rheumatoid Arthritis and one can have Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis from eating or being exposed to a food and or envoirnmental toxin like Aluminum, Arsenic or Mercury, etc.
Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis. How did I get it?
- Food sensitivity. Example; you are not allergic to gluten or dairy but you are sensitive to one or both. Eating these foods regularly irritates the lining of your gut which becomes chronically inflammed. This is called Leaky Gut Syndrome.
- Now partially digested food “leaks” between the cells of your intestines directly into the blood stream where it doesn’t belong and cannot be used by the body so it is treated as waste or “poison”. Now your immune system is activated to clean up the “waste”.
- Repeated Leaky Gut instances from eating the offending foods continues to weaken the gut making it more easily irritated by other foods. Now your immune system is “on” all the time and gets “tired”, it starts to make targeting mistakes.
- Now your immune cells start mistaking your own body tissues for these toxic undigested food particals or “foreign substances”. It attacks your thyroid or your intestiines or your cartilage or your heart valves or your nerves, etc. It does this everytime you eat a food you have become sensitive to.
- Eventually the organ or joint cannot repair itself fast enough from the damage caused by your immune system attacking it and that organ “wears out” becoming weak and it malfunctions. If its your thyroid you stop making thyroid hormone appropriately and a lot of bad things happen in the absence of this vital hormone.
- Based on your genetics you now start to exhibbit symptoms of autoimmune disease. Your thyroid can stop working in Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis. Your nerves stop working efficiently in Multiple Sclerosis. Your joints are permenantly damaged in Rheumatoid and Psoriatic Arthritis. And so on.
What can you do for Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis
- Food Sensitivity Testing at a Functional Medicine doctor (chiropractor, Naturopath, MD, etc) or Nutritionist’s office
- Detailed Nutritional follow up visits to make sure the gut is healing
- Regular Exercise
- Supplements to help the injured organ heal faster
- Learning form your nutritionist what you can and cannot eat to keep flare-ups to a minimum
- If it is severe an MD (Endocrinologist) visit may is needed to prescribe artifical thyroid hormone, (Levothyroxine) to replace the hormone you are NOT making any longer.
Most people catch this issue before the thyroid is completely shut down and call their medical doctor for symptoms of fatigue, weight gain, and hair loss. If you can manange your diet and have good will-power it is possible to have a normal life with some nutritional supplements to get your thyroid on track again and not need artificial hormones to manage it. Or at least be on a low dose of Synthroid. With the right personalized nutritional care your thyroid can start back up with the help of a qualified nutritionist that understands autoimmune. Unfortunately most MD’s and even endocrinologists do not understand how to help you without drugs and many aren’t even aware of the dietary triggers in Hashimoto’s like a “natural doctor” or chiropractor would.
Dr. Demetrios Kydonieus is a chiropractor with advanced degrees in Nutrtion and has been practicing Functional Medicine and Nutrition Response Testing for over 35 yrs. He specializes in Autoimmune issues of all types and has taught nutritional approaches for Health and Wellbeing to other doctors over his career. He has helped many thyroid and other autoimmune people have relatively normal lives, getting most of them off their meds or on a low dose! He sees patients via the internet or TeleHealth Visits and at his office in Central Virginia.
Call for more information, 434-481-2012