Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis

Hashimoto’s thyroiditis. Yes, that’s a mouthful. I told someone I had that once and they burst out loud laughing. I guess they found the name funny. It wasn’t funny to me or to anyone who has been diagnosed with HT but unfortunately that is what I have. What is it?  It is an autoimmune disease that is attacking my thyroid and making me hypothyroid. You have heard of that, I am sure, and of all the symptoms such as :

• Fatigue
• Brain fog
• Hair loss
• Infertility
• Dry skin
• Sore throat
• Aches and pains
• Panic attacks
• Depression
• Insomnia

It was discovered by a Japanese physician named Dr. Hakaru Hoshimoto in 1912.  It occurs between eight and fifteen times more often in women than in men. Though it may occur at any age, including in children, it is most often observed in women between 30 and 60 years of age.

Terry Ryan

For years I suffered with the symptoms but went undiagnosed as having an under-active thyroid until it finally showed up on a lab test about 10 years ago. I thought now that my doctor knows what I have they can cure me. No! Sorry. That, unfortunately, is not the way it has played out.

After taking hormone replacement therapy as in the form of Armour, Synthroid and then adding Cytomel, I still wasn’t seeing any relief from my symptoms. What the heck? I remember one day after I had taken more blood work done for a checkup with my endocrinologist, my doctor called with the results. He said I was so hypothyroid that I was close to going into a coma. “You must have felt horrible. Why didn’t you call me? he said.

“Because I always feel terrible,” I replied. And I did no matter if I was on Synthroid or not on Synthroid. It may be changing the numbers on my lab tests but it wasn’t changing my fatigue or constant weight gain. I knew I needed more answers so I started to research the Internet and that is where I found most of my answers.

HT is caused by an autoimmune disease and until you take care of the cause you will not find the cure. How do you know you have HT and not just hypothyroidism?  You have high antibodies. That’s right have your doctor run a test called an TPO test. If the test comes back high…you have HT.

• Now, what to do about HT.
• Take D3 as much as 10K a day.
• Take selenium and magnesium
• Do not eat gluten (It’s protein mimics the thyroid protein further causing inflammation.)
• Avoid dairy.
• Eat 10 to 15 servings of veggies and fruit per day.
• Drink lots of water.
• Eat organic as much as you can.
• Skip sugar.

To learn more about Hashimoto’s thyroiditis please read my ebook which you can order here. Hashimoto’s Thryoiditis: What is it! What causes it! How to manage it!

Thanks for reading!

Terry Ryan is a health blogger and lives in Sarasota, FL with her husband, Kenan.