Hypothyroidism, Synthroid, and Celiacs

Is there anyone on here that has both hypothyroidism and Celiacs?  I'm a 27 y/o male who has type 1 diabetes and hasimotos thyroiditis.  I have been on a gradually increasing dosage of synthroid for the past 6 years, until last Nov (07) when I started having hyperthyroid type symptoms, at which time I began to lose weight.  I went from 164lbs down to my current 147lbs.  I have been to many specialists and have had many test run, all of which are normal.....excpet for a couple of things.  

One, my synthroid dosage has decreased from 137mcg/day to 50mcg 5X/week, I have had a big weight loss, fatigue, palps, blood pressure swings, bowel irregularities (sometimes hard sometimes soft).  My endo and I are now testing for Celaics as a reason for the weight loss - Oh and my triclycerides are in the mid 20's.  Where before they were always in the 50 - 70 range.

Can celiacs cause a decrease in synthroid requirement?  I've read that it should cause an increase in requirement because of the malabsorption.....but I've also lost a bunch of weight which in turn could make my synthroid requirement go down.  Can anyone help?  Thank you.

[Soonerman]

That is pretty complicated and not much is understood about the relationship between celiacs and hashimotos.  Celiacs, like hashimotos, is an autoimmune disease.  What is known is that many celiacs do have thyroid related problems, and some are diagnosed with hashimotos.  Some undiagnosed celiacs are in fact first diagnosed hypothyroid, or even with hashimotos; because the thyroid function is easy to test and out of the "normal" range pretty well indicates a problem.  However, having celiacs or hashimotos doesn't mean you will have the other.  

Not much help, but I have read some studies and information that provided the following:
- gluten is not good for the thyroid function in general regardless of whether the two diseases are present or not.
- The incidence of gluten intollerance is substantially higher in people with autoimmune thyroid disease.
-Undiagnosed celiac disease may be part of the process that triggers an underlying autoimmune disease (therefore untreated celiacs can cause the body to begin to attack other areas, such as the thyroid).
-Many of the symptoms of celiacs are similar to thyroid problems

The bottom line is that celiacs and autoimmune thyroid disease do seem to be related.  I believe that untreated celiacs has a tendency to lead to autoimmune thyroid diseases (hashimotos, graves..).  And it affects celiacs to varying degrees, some may not have any impact to their thyroid.  If I were you, I would get tested for Celiacs or at least cut out gluten and see if it doesn't help with some of your recently developed symptoms.  But for sure get on the web and just google "celiacs thyroid" or "gluten thyroid" and see if anything helps.  

In addition, Type I diabetes is usually due to autoimmune destruction of the pancreatic cells.  It seems all of your problems and diagnoses are autoimmune related and I am not smart enough to know anything about that relationship, but I would say you need a good doctor that is experienced with autoimmune diseases, but it couldn't hurt to look into celiacs as any untreated autoimmune condition can lead to other problems.

Let us know how things turn out and what you find as it is always helpful to hear from others that may help us figure out our own problems

[PlateletGal]

I have CFS and I have a low thyroid. In addition, I have an intolerance to gluten as well, but do NOT have Celiac disease.

I agree with Soonerman. All of these "autoimmune" conditions are related and there are so many of us who have these conditions and have over overlapping diseases as well.

[Soonerman]

Its unfortunate that the testing for Celiacs isn't more accurate and could give a person a clear yes/no.  However, the testing has too many false negatives.  I hope regardless of whether a doctor told you that you don't have celiacs that you completely eliminated gluten.  I have seen alot of celiacs misdiagnosed with the old CFS.  I read an article on msnbc (http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/25062810/) about another misdiagnosis of CFS, when in this case it turned out to be lyme disease.  See when doctors don't see obvious results from the normal tests they run, regardless of whether the tests are accurate or not, and they are confused they fall back on CFS (a diagnosis that has symptoms fitting a wide range of actual causes).  Just like others, the person in this article was happy to at least have a word to describe their symptoms and so they wouldn't feel like it was all in their head and so others wouldn't think that.  Unfortunately many people that have been told they have CFS will never find the actual cause of their symptoms and will never get better.

[PlateletGal]

I disagree with many of your comments about CFS. I did eliminate gluten from my diet and noticed a difference. And a year after I started treatment for CFS, I found out that I could tolerate gluten again ! I also found out that gluten & alcohol intolerance are very common in patients who have CFS.

My EBV titer is off the charts.. as you may be aware, chronic EBV symptoms (6 months or longer), can be the result of CFS.

Best,

PlateletGal

[Too much RX]

HI,

I am a 30y/female with former graves disease and thyroid cancer.(had thyroidectomy) and I have Celiac Disease. Among many other things. Anemia and yadda yadda yadda. I am constantly having to readjust my synthroid because of the absorption from the Celiac. I was on 450 mcg of synthroid for 4 1/2 years. My endo had never heard of such a high dose. And I have had many since that have not heard of it as well. Well, that was because I have Celiac and my body is no absorbing the way it should. That goes with ANY vitamin, mineral, food, supplement, whatever. If your Celiac is not under control, your body will not be getting the nutrients it needs. I never really took my Celiac seriously when I was not symtomatic, but I was still doing damage and now I have ALL kinds of issues. Be your own health advocate, and don't let anyone tell you it is in your head. We know our body better than any Doctor. At least I would hope we do, other wise we are really in trouble. Good luck to you! Get your blood monitored every three months for your Thyroid levels and to make sure your Celiac (If that is what it is) is not affecting the Thyroid. It took me 2 1/2 years of vomitting and severe stomach pain to get diagnosed with Celiac, because I did not have the classic symptom of Diarreah (diarrhea). I throw up 20 within eating something with gluten. I used to weigh over 300 pounds. Beleive it or not I lost 156 pounds. It has been torturous, but also a blessing.
God Bless
Amy

[WendellFolk]

I had a 5cm thyroid nodule for 10 years, plus all the symptoms of celiacs disease.  I didn't know it then, but now do that there is a connection between thyroid & CD. I had my thyroid removed in Feb due to cancerous cells, and have since been on Synthroid.  I also have insisted on taking Cytomel  (T3), which endo's don't as a whole seem to recommend, however I have supportive Dr's who are happy to prescribe it.  It is likely that I had been suffering from "Reverse T3 Syndrome" likely associated w/ the CD. By eating gluten, I couldn't utilize the Thyroid my own  body was making.   Aside from still working on the balancing act of Thyroid replacement I feel great!  No gluten at all, and I am w/o pain, discomfort, excema, and my seasonal alergies (allergies) are almost gone. The thyroid replacements have made an incredible diff. in my life. Allthough previously my numbers bordered on normal to hyper... the T3 now along w/ the T4 synthroid makes me feel normal. Without the T3, I feel shaky, and anxious & unable to sleep, EVEN THOUGH my numbers look good.  Ignore the numbers & guage how you feel. Keep a journal, stay away from the gluten... & be patient. Good luck.

[TrudieC]

My husband suspects I have celiac (in addition to ulcerative colitis, Lupus, hypothyroidism) and was doing some research just last night.  Before you go on the gluten free diet your body is not absorbing your synthroid properly.  Once you have been on the diet for a couple of months your body now absorbs your drugs and many people with hypothyroidism can go hyperthyroid because of this.  It is important to keep up your testing and make appropriate adjustments now that your Celiac is under control.  Any meds can be affected in this manner.

[Anu17]

Hi jrcaleb,
After i was diagnose for hasimoto tyrodities i started having lot of GI symptoms as well went through endoscopy ,CT-Scan ,HIDA,ultrasound etc etc so got so fad up started doing my own research and found some research stating that people with one auto immune diesease are prone to another and they specificaly said people with auto immune thyroide are prone to develop celiac it was there in www.about.com/health also and www.enco.com.
I hope you are feeling better coz for me i am not done yet i keep getting this abdomine issues that are no were near to end but now i think i should go on glutine free diet and see may be that will be my anwere untill now that i started having UTI and kidney issues .Do update me .Take care