guest post: healing auto-immune disease #6
Another week, another installment. A month or so ago I posted my musings on my not-so-amusing journey with hashimoto’s.
This week, I’ve invited Melbourne personal trainer, BioSignature practitioner and blogger Kat Eden to give her comic – or otherwise – input.
thyroid disease can feel like you're hovering in a pool of sludge
I came across Kat on the site Dumb Little Men and loved her tips on living life better. I contacted her cold (it’s one of my favourite things to do – contact someone I find interesting and just start talking) and found her advice very sound, especially in regards to hormones and digestion.
Over to Kat:
What causes this whole caper?
From my way of thinking, and based on clinical experience I’d say stress has to be one of the biggest players in sparking auto-immune disease. In particular chronic stress. It doesn’t really matter where the stress comes from, or even if it’s a whole bunch of little stressors rather than one great big life-changing event. Your body doesn’t separate one type of stress from another in terms of the way your nervous system and hormones respond, so the accumulation of stress can be (often quite suddenly) very toxic.
What makes it worse?
When auto-immune sufferers (particularly those with thyroid dysfunction) fail to include enough protein in their diet things tend to get worse. Low protein intake is actually one of the prime reasons women tend toward hypothyroidism more so than men, and typically higher soy intake by the gals is another risk factor. As a health practitioner I’ve done a full 360 on soy and do not recommend that anyone with thyroid concerns include it in their diet. If you do choose to eat soy, fermented (tempeh) is definitely the way to go. It’s known to be less toxic.
If I had to give you a snapshot plan of action?
It all comes back to giving your body the tools it needs to detoxify stress – that’s definitely the best place to start. For many people that will mean improving quality of sleep (perhaps by taking regular time to wind down before bed, avoiding stimulants in the evening and using a magnesium supplement to aid relaxation).
For others it will mean eating some protein at each meal.
For some it will mean other forms of supplementation such as selenium, an essential mineral with potent antioxidant properties, and known to boost the thyroid.
Other natural approaches to boosting the thyroid include the herb guggul, seaweed salad, and iodine. All tricks and techniques aside, the truth is that different things will work to different degrees for different people – but one of the most powerful things you can do is share your story with others, learn from those who understand what you’re going through, and find an outlet for the things which cause you the most stress, whether physical, emotional, mental or all three.
Thanks so much Sarah, for writing about this issue. I too have hashimotos. I was on oroxine for 10 years than switched to dessicated throid extract as the T4 only medication stopped working. I wasn’t wise like you Sarah, so didn’t take it as a wake-up call as the oroxine made me feel fine for about 7 years.I kept up bad habits that have probably made things worse and only really done research and changed my habits in the last year.
The web sites Stop The Thyroid Madness and Real Thyroid Help have been invaluable to me.
I agree with everything that Kat says, except that taking iodine can aggravate hashimotos – it has with me.
Thanks!
Really, really appreciate the weekly posts about this subject. Thanks Sarah. My naturopath has me working on improving my liver as its under stress – most probably from 10 years of medication. I’ve also been given a list of unfriendly thyroid foods. There are a few that you would expect, like gluten, soy but others like broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower are surprising. It really is a case of tapping into your body and working out what works and what makes a difference for you.
Hi Sarah
As the President of The Australian Thyroid Foundation http://www.thyroidfoundation.com.au, I would just like to let you know our organisation is the Australian authority on thyroid disorders and iodine deficiency.
We are a member based volunteer organisation which supports and educates our members with up to date research, treatments and information through our newsletter “Thyroid News”. The ATF is very proud to work with Australia’s leading medical specialsts and researchers. The ATF also holds Member Meetings, Thyroid Information Sessions and events to educate members and the Australian population about the benefits of Good Thyroid Health and How to Achieve It.
For information and support, please contact The ATF on (02) 9899 6962 or info@thyroidfoundation.com.au
Beverley
Hi Sarah and Kat,
There was an interesting article by Dr. Marcola on HuffingtonPost about bromine in plastics, which emulates iodine and keeps the thyroid from utilizing iodine: http://bit.ly/c7Mr2F
I don’t know if anyone in AU studies Donna Eden’s work, but her drills are fabulous for taking down stress response and turning on the joy circuits. Just do a Donna Eden Energy Medicine search on youtube if interested. The routines look a bit strange, but really work. I’ve used in for years and completely changed my reactions to stressors. (And we work in the wedding business, so the triggers are constant!)
Of course, the right organic food, sleep, kind self talk, and exercise are a given
Best to you !
Helen
Thanks for that article link Helen, that adds a lot of detail to a topic I only had a limited understanding of.
I second the recommendation of Real Thyroid Help and Stop the Thyroid Madness (the book is also great). I would have really been lost without those two resources.
FYI, goitrogens (eg. broccoli) are only an issue if they’re not cooked and eaten in large quantities.
And, yes, I have also heard of many people with Hashi’s who can’t tolerate iodine so a blanket recommendation to take it is not ideal. I am lucky in that I’m fine taking iodine.
Hi, I have high antibodies and also had terrible issues for 2 years. I finally took control and found a naturopath/GP who had me do very extensive bloodwork.
My adrenals were exhausted which increased the antibodies but moreover my hormones were out of wack for someone my age (32).
I have been doing bio-identicals now for 1 year. My body weight is returning to where it should be, my sex drive is slowly coming back (good for my poor husband), I feel days when I am myself.
This is a long process, but I recommend to everyone to test out your hormones as well.
Cat
@theabcblog
No no NO!
No iodine for Hashimoto’s people. I do not know one Hashi’s person that does well on iodine. It makes you ten times worse!