A Mother's Journal ~ A Bit of Birdsong

It’s time for an update on the thyroid struggles here.  I know this may be boring reading for many, so feel free to skip this post.  It’s just that when your thyroid quits working and you are looking for information, reading valid personal experiences is of great help.  It reassures you that you are not losing your mind, for one thing, and it is for that reason I am posting about my own experience.

Carrots cooked in an iron skillet with olive oil, ground ginger, brown sugar and a dash of sea salt, basically cooked over low-medium heat until they are candied.  That black stuff you see is just like candy.  Yum.

Where in the world do I begin?  There’s so much — so much information to choose from and so little known about why my body decided to attack my thyroid.  I’ll start here:  food.  We truly are what we eat and before overindulging in any one thing, it might be a good idea to find out exactly what we are eating and what it’s doing for us — good and bad.

My mind keeps going back to one question:  when did this begin and why did it happen?  I look back through the years and remember vague symptoms, not realizing at the time that they were pieces of a larger puzzle that would not be clear until years down the road. 

Roughly two years ago I worked for a year in the bakery at Whole Foods.  It was a job that I loved and I would happily work there again, but it makes more sense for our family for me to work from home (not to mention the money and benefits are better here).  That said, the last few months I worked at Whole Foods my nose would run frequently.  You know, the clear sort of runny nose that comes from allergies.  I was constantly exposed to wheat, slicing 100s of loaves of bread each week in a huge slicer.  Stocking bread shelves, sweeping floors and wiping down counters exposed me to a steady stream of wheat dust.  On top of that, I consumed more wheat.  I have always loved and eaten whole grain breads, but I can easily say my wheat intake increased greatly while I worked at Whole Foods. 

Here’s an article I find signifiicant.  It mentions the link between gluten (a protein found in wheat, barley and rye) and Hashimoto’s disease. 

Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis

I probably don’t even need to tell you that I am now eating a gluten-free diet.  Do I feel better?  Yes.  Why?

Well, now let’s talk about skin. 

Over the past three months my skin has gone haywire.  If you have never seen the rash known as dermatitis herpetiformis (DH), you can google it and see how horrible a rash it is.  My rash began on my shins, moved to my arms, then to my shoulder blades, and then to my hip bones/sides.  I cannot overemphasize how itchy this is.  It looked remarkably like DH.  So much so that my dermatologist did two skin biopsies, one just a regular biopsy and one for immunofluorescent staining to test for DH.  Surprisingly to me, the results were negative for DH and positive for atopic dermatitis/eczema.  BUT, my dermatologist talked to me about how revved up my immune system is and how that any protein I consume is likely to be perceived as an invader and therefore staying away from gluten may make me feel better.  I also want anyone who finds this post to know that you can have a mean, mean eczema with Hashimoto’s disease.

I am not a doctor and I am not a scientist, but what my dermatologist told me reinforces for me that there is somehow a protein(gluten?)/autoimmune (thyroid?) connection.   I began to pay attention to how I would feel in the 24 hours following a large meal and always after eating heavy wheat flour-based foods like pizza or noodles, my skin would rage with itchiness!  It’s enough to drive one crazy.  I have now been gluten-free for about a week and a half and my skin is calming down and healing, though I know it’ll take time for this to completely go away.  I’m eating a lot of fruits and vegetables, staying away from gluten and decreasing dairy. 

Here’s another article about gluten and its direct connection to the thyroid:

The Gluten Thyroid Connection

My hope would be that as my immune system calms down, my thyroid can work again, but I’m not sure that will happen, as with all autoimmune diseases (and I’ve been typing medical notes for nearly 20 years) often the doctors are stumped as to why some go into remission and many do not. 

I do not want this post to be overwhelming so I’ll bring this to a close soon.  The other major thing I’ve been reading about is adaptogens.  In the herbal medicine world, adaptogens are the plants that “adapt” themselves to whatever it is your body needs and they are particulary known for helping the endocrine system balance itself out.  There are many plants that are adaptogens, though I feel I need to be careful which ones I take because my blood pressure and heart rate are still low (90/58 and 58 at my last visit, and that’s after walking around).  From what I’ve read about adaptogens, they will lower high blood pressure but not lower an already-normal blood pressure; still, I’m cautious.

A tea that I have found to be wonderful for me is Celestial Seasoning’s Tension Tamer.  It has lots of B vitamins, which thyroid disorder sufferers usually need, and Eleuthero (Siberian ginseng), which is an adaptogen.   I’m in love with this tea.  Green tea is OUT, and I’m a bit sad because I really loved green tea, but green tea is a plant that can absorb fluoride into its leaves which ends up in your body which then “tricks” your thyroid into thinking it doesn’t need the iodine you ingest. 

I’m taking a B supplement every day.  I’m also taking selenium 200 mcg every day.  There are actually medical studies that indicate selenium may decrease the levels of antithyroid peroxidase in Hashimoto patients.

I’m still on the fence about whether to ingest kelp, bladderwrack, and other sea vegetables.  Some sources say do it, others say it may aggravate the immune response. 

As far as herbs for my heart, I think Motherwort is not good for me right now, but Hawthorn (berries from a large tree) probably is. 

Here’s another good article about foods to eat:

Hashimoto’s Disease:  Food that helps

There’s so much more.  And more yet to come.  I just want to keep posting where my thoughts are and what I’m doing, in hopes that it may help others with Hashimoto’s disease. **

By the way, after one month of levothyroxine, my TSH has fallen from 43 down to 2.72 (in the normal range) and I have dropped 7 pounds as my metabolism has gotten back to normal. 

I am not saying that wheat caused my Hashimoto’s or that green tea caused my Hashimoto’s.  I have been  under much stress over the last 10 years, but I can’t say that stress caused my Hashimoto’s.  I think a combination of things (and let’s not forget genetics) worked together to create a situation.

Lynn

**I am under the close supervision of an M.D. and she is aware of everything I do naturally and diet-wise and she will be the one who helps me come off of levothyroxine, if that ever ends up being possible.  This blog is in no way trying to give out medical advice or take the place of a visit to a physician.  This is just a place where personal experiences are shared. 

I’ll be posting some FUN things later today, but for this moment I wanted to make a quick post about my thyroid disease since I have some more information and since I am making a category called “hypothyroidism” to post information about what helps me and what makes me worse.

I got a lab test done to see if my body is producing anti-thyroid antibodies.  I had to assertively request this test as many family doctors treat patients simply on what the TSH is.  Some never even measure the T3 or T4, though my doctor did at least get a T4. 

When I asked about the anti-thyroid antibodies my doctor told me that she would do the test but that it would not make any difference in the way she treated me.  Well, I get the connection between levothyroxine dose and TSH, but knowing if I have antibodies will make a difference in the way I treat myself!

Coming to the point here, I did test positive for anti-thyroid antibodies, which means there’s an autoimmune component and my body is basically destroying my thyroid.  Looking back, I think I have had hyperthyroid/hypothyroid symptoms off and on for years.  They were so subtle, however, that I never knew what was happening until my thyroid totally crashed and my TSH rose to a high of 43.25.

You may wonder, what would I do differently since I have Hashimoto’s?  For one thing, taking in extra iodine to try to help my thyroid  could make me worse.  Why?  Well, if you have an iodine deficiency that is causing hypothryoidism, what does your body need?  Iodine, of course.  But what if every time your thyroid tries to work your body is trying to attack it?  Then extra iodine can intensify that whole ugly cycle of the thyroid trying to make a comeback and your body sending out more antibodies, which is like an allergic reaction that makes you feel bad.  At least that’s what I take away from all the reading I’ve done, and I’ve done quite a bit so far.

So I won’t be consuming a lot of kelp or iodine or bladderwrack…yet.  I want to find an endocrinologist who is familiar with thyroid disease and see what is in my power to do to make myself better.  I might add that at this point I am also fine with (and thankful for) synthetic hormones so that I might function like a normal human being again, and if I have to take levothyroxine for the rest of my life that’s okay. 

More to come,

Lynn

Ever feel like you’re in a bit of a valley in your life?  I’ve been feeling that way of late. It’s my health, I’m sure now.  Thyroid disease runs rampant in my family.  I was hoping it would miss me.  It did not.

Euonymus americanus, a tree native to North Carolina

Over the past year, feelings of fatigue and hopelessness have plagued me.  From out of nowhere.  I’ve been cold. I eat little. And gain. My eyesight has gotten worse. I’m winded.

Sounds uncomfortable doesn’t it?  Well, it sort of was.

“August Beauty” gardenia.

My doctor follows my TSH because she knows there’s a history of thyroid dysfunction in my family. Last November it was 4.  Even that is on the high side for some people, but by my doctor’s standards that is still within normal.

Goldenrod and obedient plants.

Over the last year as my blood pressure has gotten lower and lower, my pulse rate slower and slower, and my breathing more and more shallow, I honestly wondered sometimes, am I dying?

The water in the birdbath was clear one day and purple the next. A seed gift from a bird?  Pokeberry maybe?

Through all of this there were doctor’s visits and tests and questions. 

“You’re healthy. You walk, and you garden, so you’re going to have low BP and pulse rate. Middle-aged women who are active and healthy just have low blood pressure.” 

Those are the things I was told.

The little turtle in the birdbath I made. Weathered, but I still love it.

My blood work was always perfect. But they did not check the TSH again.  If only they had…  Even an ER visit because I felt like I was going to faint while driving did not turn up anything, but again they did not check my TSH, “because it was just checked in November.”

Hindsight is always 20/20.  Had I known that my thyroid was failing, I could have pushed for another TSH and I think any of these kind doctors would have obliged.  I guess it just did not enter anyone’s mind. Even mine. Even though I had read some of the symptoms of thyroid disorder, I had no idea I could get so sick, and since it was new to me I just didn’t realize. Finally, two weeks ago I went to my doctor in complete distress, pleading for help and telling her the only way that I could describe my condition is that I knew I was not getting enough oxygen and that I felt like I was going to die. She drew more blood work and went ahead and got another TSH. She called me from home two days later, on a Sunday. My TSH had risen to 41.45.  My thyroid apparently has quit working.

Also called “hearts-a-busting”

There’s something I love about the internet:  There’s so much information out there.

There’s something I hate about the internet:  There’s so much information out there.

When something like this happens, my first thought is whether or not I can reverse it, but out of 7 female first cousins in my family, one has had a thyroidectomy, two have had their thyroids just stop working and are on Synthroid, one has hypothyroidism and is on Synthroid. There are similar situations in my grandmother’s generation.  Hand in hand with this, in various people, are signs of rheumatoid arthritis, celiac disease, IBS, and eczema.  Genetics are a force to be reckoned with, aren’t they?

I eat healthy, I exercise, I don’t drink, I don’t smoke, I love studying herbs and using them wisely for health, I take a multivitamin but am cautious about things where there’s little or bad evidence.  I consider myself very middle of the road and healthy.  There’s a part of me that wants to run wildly after all this information on the internet about raw foods curing hypothyrodism, herbs curing hypothyroidism, sea vegetables curing hypothyroidism, and on and on. I read about the thyroid, then the pituitary, then the adrenals, Hashimoto’s, viruses, stress, too much iodine, too little iodine… I read until my eyes hurt.  But then I remember how sick I was and how much better I feel after just 11 days of Synthroid, and then the overabundance of information (much of it ads) makes me mad. Then I start wondering again.

It’s a bad feeling, but I’m getting over it.    And I’m starting to realize that more blood work is in order to rule out (or in) Hashimoto’s.  And I remember the verse in Ecclesiastes that says ”time and chance happeneth to them all,” and I realize that I am not immune to illness, or any other act of chance for that matter, and it’s very humbling.

Why am I posting all of this?  I’m not sure except that I know there must be others who deal with this or something similar. I do intend to learn all I can so that I can reverse this if possible, with my doctor’s help, or just be as healthy as I can be in the face of hypothyroidism. I just figured my blog was a good place to share.  Synthroid, anyone?

Lynn