Hashimoto’s thyroiditis
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You Are Not Crazy…It’s Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis by Terry Ryan
I have Hashimoto’s thyroditis
Been there and will always be there. I have Hashimoto’s thyroiditis. It is an autoimmune disease. Plain and simple. AUTOIMMUNE DISEASE! An autoimmune disease is a syndrome where the body senses an invader and goes on immune attack. In my case, it attacked my thyroid. My autoimmune disease is named after the doctor who discovered the disease. Hashimoto’s is diagnosed by a high TSH (thyroid thyroid-stimulating) lab test and high TPO, thyroid peroxidase . Hence, I am hypothyroid. My thyroid is not producing enough of the thyroid hormone, T4. When that happened, I felt extremely fatigued, suffered with hair loss, aches and pains, DEPRESSION, just to name a few. And what do your doctors, friends and family think after your complaints about symptoms month after month and year after year? That you are crazy. You are not crazy…it’s Hashimoto’s!
It takes years to develop
Hashimoto’s thyroiditis disease. This happened slowly. My symptoms started showing up one by one. First, I noticed my energy reducing, I started dragging myself through the day. I went to the doctor. He ran lab tests, but everything looked “fine” including my TSH. If it is high…usually over 3, it means you are hypothyroid. The TSH lab test is the standard test that endocrinologists use to determine if you are either hyperthyroid (too much thyroid hormone) or hypothyroid (not enough thyroid). Sort of goes against reasoning. If you have a high TSH reading, this means you are HYPO (I have been as high as), and if you have a zero reading, it means you have too much thyroid hormone and you are HYPER. Why is this?
How it works
The pituitary gland itself is regulated by another gland, known as the hypothalamus. The hypothalamus is part of the brain and produces TSH Releasing Hormone (TRH) which tells the pituitary gland to stimulate the thyroid gland (release TSH). The pituitary gland located in the back of your head regulates when the body needs thyroid hormone. When it needs more, it sends a message out to the thyroid that it needs more hormone. When this happens, your TSH goes up, When there is too much hormone, it will do the opposite. By the way, in the beginning I swung back and forth between hyper to hypo. I miss the hyperthyroid times when I had more energy and could lose weight easily. This happens as my thyroid gland was sputtering to a dead stop at producing hormones.
What happened next to me? I said this happened slowly; my decline in health did not happen overnight. It wasn’t one day I woke up and I had all the Hashimoto’s symptoms. No, it crept up on me like a monster stealing my life force. Horrible and insidious.
I lost count of the doctor visits where I plead my case of I DON’T FEEL WELL, only to be dismissed as, I would guess. a hypochondriac, or a overworked and stress out middle-aged woman.
As the days, months and years went on, I felt worse and worse until I was not able to do normal activities, and I even became antisocial. Sound familiar? You are not crazy…it’s Hashimoto’s thyroiditis.
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Here are some symptoms associated with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis:
- Anxiety
- Panic attacks
- Weight gain
- Extreme fatigue
- Dry skin
- Headaches
- Sore throat
- Muscle aches and pains
- Temperature sensitivity
- Hair loss
The lost years…
I suffered for many years. I call them the lost years. No doctors helped me. They didn’t have the knowledge or if they couldn’t throw a pill at it, they didn’t know how to treat me. By the time I was diagnosed, my thyroid was a shriveled up gland with nodules. No worries, they weren’t cancerous. I have a ultrasound every year and they are getting smaller.
Yes, I will be on thyroid prescription for the rest of my life and I have tried them all. My greatest results are with the prescription Tirosint. It is expensive but I switched years ago when I learned that Synthroid used gluten as a filler, and I am anti-gluten. Gluten is a no-no if you have an autoimmune disease.
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The good news
The good news is that I no longer suffer with symptoms even though I still and always will have Hashimoto’s thyroiditis. I have figured out how to put my Hashimoto’s into remission. Some people call it that, but all I know is that I now have energy and no pain. How did I achieve that? By taking a lot of junk out of my diet. Clean living and eating. My entire life changed…and for the better.
Now I exercise for 3 hours per day, and then come home and run errands, clean house, make dinner, blog, write, read and all the things that go into a normal day. And I am so happy. So happy. I have my life back.
I have written one book on Hashimoto’s thyroiditis and it has a lot of medical information, and maybe too much medical mumbo jumbo. A lot of people have purchased it on Amazon, which surprises me because I do very little promoting. Right now, I am in the process of writing another book which will be available soon.
If you want to be on my mailing list, I send out healthful tips, recipes and updates on when my books will be available, you can sign up here.
I want you to know, that having a normal life is possible when you have Hashimoto’s. I am the proof.
Thanks for reading!
Terry Ryan, Health Blogger, Pickleball Competitor, Mom of 2 adorable chihuahuas, wife, good friend to many people, and Hashimoto’s recover-er.
What the Heck is Gluten? by Terry Ryan
What the heck is gluten? by Terry Ryan, Health Blogger
Gluten, gluten, gluten. That’s all you hear about if you are on social media sites like FaceBook. It’s bad for you, or it’s not bad for you. What the heck is it?
Gluten is the glue that keeps bread together. It gives it the chewiness that we all have come to know and love. Gluten is a mixture of hundreds of distinct proteins within the same family, although it is primarily made up of two different classes of proteins: gliadin, which gives bread the ability to rise during baking, and glutenin, which is responsible for dough’s elasticity.
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Sounds great doesn’t it? Here comes the problem. Your body may not like this protein. It views it as an invader and send out the attack squad, your immune system, and goes into red alert.
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Who does this affect?
About 18 million people are gluten sensitive. And these are not just celiac disease patients where the villi is destroyed and makes the assimilation of nutrients from the food difficult. I’m referring to the average person who has heartburn or IBS (irritable bowel syndrome). They most probably have a gluten-sensitivity and don’t even know it.
Do you have bloating, cramping and/or diarrhea? You may be gluten sensitive.
Does gluten cause autoimmune disease?
First of all, what is an autoimmune disease?
Autoimmune disease is the body attacking and damaging its own tissues In the case of Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, which I have, it is an autoimmune disease that attacks the thyroid. The protein in gluten causes the immune system to go awry and it attacks the thyroid. Thereby destroying the thyroid’s ability to produce thyroid hormones. I’ll be on synthetic hormone replacement for the rest of my life.
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Should people avoid gluten?
I think so. As people say, the bread today is not your great-grandmother’s bread. What is so different? First of all, all the pesticides, herbicides and fungicides sprayed on wheat used by farmers to protect the wheat from insects, and then Roundup is sprayed on the new wheat to force it to mature faster for a quicker harvest, and therefor, more money in the farmer’s pocket. Avoiding wheat for the purpose of just avoiding chemicals is a good reason alone not to eat bread…therefore, gluten. And you may not have an autoimmune disease set off by gluten right now, but it is something that might be destroying your body slowly overtime, so why take the chances.
Giving up gluten has improved my health, eliminated my aches and pains in my joints, and helped me lose weight. It has also helped my friends with other autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis.
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What to do to avoid gluten.
Avoid completely bread, crackers, cookies, and pasta are obvious ways, but did you know that a lot vitamins and prescription drugs use gluten as a filler? I switched my thyroid prescription from Tirosint to Synthroid after I found out that Synthroid had gluten as a filler. Yes, even a little gluten will harm you if you are gluten sensitive. You can’t go half way with being gluten. You should not eat any for best results.
Here are some other hidden gluten:
- Barley (flakes, flour, pearl)
- Breading, bread stuffing
- Brewer’s yeast
- Bulgur
- Durum (type of wheat)
- Farro/faro (also known as spelt or dinkel)
- Graham flour
- Hydrolyzed wheat protein
- Kamut (type of wheat)
- Malt, malt extract, malt syrup, malt flavoring
- Malt vinegar
- Malted milk
- Matzo, matzo meal
- Modified wheat starch
- Oatmeal, oat bran, oat flour, whole oats (unless they are from pure, uncontaminated oats)
- Rye bread and flour
- Seitan (a meat-like food derived from wheat gluten used in many vegetarian dishes)
- Semolina
- Spelt (type of wheat also known as farro, faro, or dinkel)
- Triticale
- Wheat bran
- Wheat flour
- Wheat germ
- Wheat starch
These other ingredients may be less familiar to you, but they also contain gluten:
- Atta (chapati flour)
- Einkorn (type of wheat)
- Emmer (type of wheat)
- Farina
- Fu (a dried gluten product made from wheat and used in some Asian dishes)
Gluten Foods
Double-check the ingredients label on these items, as they’re possible sources of gluten:
- Beer, ale, lager
- Breads
- Broth, soup, soup bases
- Cereals
- Cookies and crackers
- Some chocolates, some chocolate bars, licorice
- Flavored coffees and teas
- Imitation bacon bits, imitation seafoods
- Pastas
- Processed foods
- Salad dressings
- Sausages, hot dogs, deli meats
- Sauces, marinades, gravies
- Seasonings
- Soy sauce
I was shocked to find out that even my hair dye had gluten in it. That’s right, hair dye. For years I have been sensitive to hair dye/hair color. It would last a day and I would have to take Benadryl to control the itching. Then a hairdresser suggested I try putting Sweet N Low (sugar substitute) in the dye mix. That did calm it down a little, but I still had the hives for a day after. After I told my latest hairdresser about my allergy to hair color, he suggested I use a GLUTEN FREE hair dye. What? Gluten is in hair dye? I didn’t think it would work but it did. No more itching or rash.
What other products have gluten in them?
- Shampoo
- Toothpaste
- Lipstick
- Facial Cleansers
- Lotions
- Shaving gels
- Hair spray
- Soap
These products can contain grain and gluten based ingredients that you should be aware of so that if necessary, you can switch to a new product line. Some of the most common terms (yet not obvious) you will see on products include:
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- Wheat germ
- Hydrolyzed wheat protein
- Hydrolyzed vegetable protein
- Avena sativa (oats found commonly in lotions)
- Triticum aestivum (another name for wheat)
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Do I miss bread?
No, not at all. I get along just fine not eating bread or gluten. Last night I made “pasta” with butternut squash noodles (I bought them already spiralized) and used marinara sauce on top with a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese. Loved it. Now the family prefers it to regular pasta. (And I was trying to keep it for myself.) Instead of crackers I bake rounds of grated Parmesan cheese on parchment paper. Let them cool a little and use them like crackers. I like to add a dab of guacamole on mine. Delicious and guilt free.
I even eat chocolate cake gluten free. I make it with almond flour. And it takes 2 minutes to cook in the microwave. Then I serve it with mounds of whipped cream.
I’m putting together an eBook of my gluten-free recipes so if you want to receive one send me your email to TCRryan@gmail.com. FREE..just spreading the gluten-free love.
Why are so many people AGAINST gluten-free?
Well, it’s big money for the wheat industry. Huge money. Do you think they want to see their sales go down? Plus all the chemical companies that supply the farmers. Money, money, money. My opinion…they shoot themselves in the foot. If they constantly serve us a product that is going to make us SICK what do they think? We are going to keep buying bread and pasta?
Do I get a lot of flack from not eating gluten?
Yes, I do get a lot of evil looks when I tell someone that I don’t eat gluten. Kind of like the same look vegetarians get when they say they don’t eat look. What I say to them…Hey, eat all the gluten you want. Enjoy! I don’t judge people if they want to eat bread or pasta. Oh heck, no! And if you are at my house for dinner, I’ll serve you bread.
Here are some products I use with my gluten-free recipes.
Swerve (Sugar substitute)
Almond Flour
Coconut Flour
Thank you for reading.
Terry Ryan
Atkins Diet Cure for Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis
By Terry Ryan, Health Blogger and Hashimoto’s thyroiditis patient
I wasn’t too surprised to see a recent article in Woman’s World titled “Atkins Thyroid Cure.” After all, this is a hot topic as millions of women and men are being diagnosed with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis. Hashimoto’s thyroiditits (HT) is an autoimmune disease that attacks the thyroid eventually rendering it ineffective at producing thyroid hormones. Your body needs thyroid hormones T4 and T3 for proper metabolism. It controls your body temperature, energy, thinking, etc. Usually, first symptoms a HT patient will complain about is fatigue, digestive problems, weight gain, hair loss and dry skin. Your doctor can determine that you are hypothyroid (not enough thyroid hormone being produced) by a TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone) blood test, and a TPO (thyroidporoxide) antibodies test will detect if you have HT. I have seen many headlines on magazines whose topic is about the thyroid. People are suffering and looking for answers, so it is selling magazines.
Here is Keto Friendly Chocolate Mug Cake I made last night.
Normally a treatment plan for someone with thyroid disease is a prescription for thyroid replacement. Synthroid for example; is a synthetic hormone.. There are other medications, for example: Armour and Tirosint. Talk to your doctor for the best prescription he/she would recommend for you.
However, while the prescription will add the missing thyroid hormone, it will not treat your autoimmune disease resulting in many patients finding no relief from their symptoms. This happened to me. Frustrating!
After many years of suffering, I started researching for unconventional ways to deal with my HT. It all came down to diet. Out went the junk food, gluten, white sugar, grains, fluoride and alcohol. Then I watched Joe Cross’ movie “Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead” and started juicing organic vegetables and fruit with a juice extractor, and drinking 16 ounces everyday along with eating a healthy diet. I also added a good multivitamin and D3.
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It took months to feel better but slowly I started to regain the energy I once had years ago before my thyroid disease. Life was good again. However, I was not losing any weight, so I tried different diets including vegetarian but to no avail, I didn’t lose any weight. In fact, I was continuing to put on weight. I am short (5’2″) and I was wearing size 16 clothes. There seemed to be nothing I could do to lose weight.
I even tried the HCG diet. This required injecting myself with HCG, a pregnancy hormone, and reduce my calorie consumption to 600 calories per day. That was crazy and I didn’t do that long. Expensive and I felt terrible.
Next I tried going to a weight loss clinic and was prescribed phentermine, a weight loss drug. That sent me into a horrible and long HT crash, (means my symptoms intensified) and my blood pressure climbed to a dangerous level. Also, the clinic required me to come back every week, and it was very expensive. I became too ill to continue.
For a couple of more years, I continued to get heavier and heavier. My endocrinologist suggested weight loss drugs but the side affects were scary, and that was not the method I wanted to use for long term weight loss. What to do?
I discovered the ketogenic diet, a high protein, high fat, low carb diet. This diet was originally developed for children with epileptic seizures. Then doctors discovered it was a great weight loss diet. Ketogenic diet, also know as the keto diet is very close to the Atkins diet. Dr. Atkins wrote a book based on this diet called “The Atkins Diet.” It is also great for thyroiditis and HT.
I embarked on the keto diet (Atkins) the beginning of October and not only have I lost 20 pounds (and losing) my energy level is sky high! I just had a blood test and my TSH is in the normal range (I have been too high for many years.), and my antibodies are continuing to come down. The last blood test I had my TPO was 125 (under 9 is normal) but the test before that it was 275. I heading in the right direction.
So, when at the checkout counter at the grocery store I saw this heading on the front of Woman’s World, “Atkins Thyroid Cure: Heal your “metabolism gland” and LOSE 45 LBS THIS MONTH!” (Okay, losing 45 lbs in one month is a grandiose and unrealistic statement.). I had to grab a copy. It is a two page article explaining the benefit of a low carb diet in relationship to your thyroid. I think calling it a “cure” is a bold statement.
The article has some suggestions for a thyroid-revving Atkins menu.
Breakfast: Eggs and bacon
Lunch & Dinner: Seafood, chicken with cucumber slices. Raspberries with zero-calorie sweetener
Snacks: jerky or almonds.
Page 20 in the January 22, 2018 issue is where you can find the article.
My version of the diet is a lot more liberal. I do not count calories but I do count carbs. I always looking at the carb content on the labels. For example: some pasta sauces have less carbs than others. Try to keep carbs under 21 grams.
How cutting carbs slims
Scientists have long ago known that the body converts carbs into blood sugar and then uses that sugar as its go-to fuel. Trouble is, when we eat carbs in excess – which is easy to do these days – it causes us to overproduce insulin, a hormone that promotes rapid fat storage. Restricting carbs. Atkins forces the body to stop burning blood sugar and start burning fat as its main fuel. Bonus: Burning fat as your main fuel releases natural compounds called ketones that dramatically reduces hunger!
This diet also revs up your thyroid. Possibly, that is why my TSH is in the normal range first time in a long time. You can read the article for more info.
What I eat on the keto diet:
I concentrate on eating protein, usually meat or cheese. A typical treat is to take Parmesan cheese shredded and place mounds on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper in a 350 degree oven for 3 minutes or until melted and brown around the edges. I let it cool for few minutes then I place a dollop of guacamole on top.Yum!
Eggs are allowed, small portions of meat, full-fat dairy, vegetables but no fruit except berries. Absolutely no grains, sugar, bread, alcohol.
Dinner is hamburger without a bun, salad with low carb dressing, a side of sauteed summer squash. For dessert I make 1 Minute Chocolate Cake Keto Friendly with lots of whipped cream sweetened with Swerve and a couple of raspberries on the side.
I always have Keto Friendly Chocolate Almond Bark in the refrigerator for a quick snack. So good and so satisfying because I add a protein powder.
My Ricotta Stuffed Chicken Breasts is a hit in my house and I serve it with zoodles. Zoodles are zucchini ribbons used in place of pasta. I saute the zoodles in butter for a couple of minutes before I serve. You can now buy these zoodles at the grocery store in the produce section or you can make them yourself with this spiralizer.
So, I give the Atkins Thyroid Cure a thumbs up. It has worked for me and I would suggest that you give it a try if you want to feel more energy and lose weight.
Thanks for reading,
10 Great Thyroid Health Books to Read
Here are 10 of my favorite thyroid health books that I recommend for everyone who has Graves disease, Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, hypothyroidism, or low level hypothyroidism.
- The Thyroid Connection: Why You Feel Tired, Brain-Fogged, and Overweight — and How to Get Your Life Back by
- The Thyroid Solution Diet by Ridha Arem, MD Has a diet program that helps you re- balance your hormones with food; learn how to control cravings; drop pounds with easy to follow eating and exercise plan.
- Thyroid Hormone Breakthrough by Mary J Shomon, Overcoming Sexual and hormonal Problems at Every Age.
- Thyroid Power: 10 Steps to Total Health by Richard l. Sames, MD and Karilee Halo Shames, RN, PHD. The amazing program to help millions conquer fatigue, depression, weight gain, and other chronic conditions.
- Root Cause by Isabella Wentz, PharmD, FASCP with Marta Nowosadzka, MD. Lifestyles interventions discussed in this book aim to dismantle the vicious cycle piece by piece of thyroid disease. We start with the simplest modifications, by removing triggers, and follow with repairing the other broken systems to restore equilibrium, allowing the body to rebuild itself.
- Why Do I Still Have Thyroid Symptoms? when My Lab Tests Are Normal: a Revolutionary Breakthrough in Understanding Hashimoto’s Disease and Hypothyroidism by Dr. Datis Kharrazian- This book addresses the true causes of hypothyroidism in this country and how to manage them. The vast majority of hypothyroid cases are being treated inappropriately or misdiagnosed by the standard health care model. Through exhaustive research and clinical experience, Dr. Kharrazian has discovered what really causes hypothyroidism and how to manage it.
- Medical Medium by Anthony William (Read my blog on the Medical Medium here) He has helped tens of thousands of people heal from ailments that have been misdiagnosed or ineffectively treated or that doctors can’t resolve.
- Overcoming Thyroid Problems by Jeffrey R. Garber, MD – A complete guide to understanding, treating, and living with thyroid disease, from Harvard Medical School.
- The Physician Within You by Gladys Taylor McGarey, MD – Dr. Gladys Taylor McGarey shares the guiding philosophy of her 50-year medical practice. The real-life stories of her patients dramatically illustrates the potential of Dr. McGarey’s humane and wise approach to medical care and gives you an exhilarating glimpse of the future of medicine. This book tells the real stories of real people, their living experiences as they have enriched my life and as I have influenced theirs. This book is for all people, physicians and patients alike. There is no physician who, at one time or another, will not be a patient and each of us has within us that divine spark which we have chosen to call “the physician within.”
- Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis: What is it? What causes it! How to manage it! by (yours truly) Terry Ryan-A book that explains what Hashimoto’s is and how to treat that and other autoimmune diseases. My first book. Yes, I cured myself!
Here are the most recommended supplements for hypothyroid patients.
- Probiotics-Garden of life 30-50 Billion per day TO ORDER CLICK HERE
B12 TO ORDER CLICK HERE per day, Country Life and take with Co-Enzymy B Complex - D3
- Zinc
- Selenium
Thanks for reading! Knowledge is power.
Terry Ryan, Health Blogger