Autoimmune Thyroiditis secondary to Dysentery?

[anonymousthrowaway]

I was part of the aid response to the earthquake in Haiti. During my time there, I contracted dysentery, with fever, vomiting, diarrhea, and intestinal cramps. This lasted about 36 hours in total, during which I was non-functional and confined to my cot.

Shortly after returning back to the US, my thyroid shut down, and I have had hashimoto's thyroiditis ever since. Have tested positive for both antibodies and high tsh.

Recently wondering if autoimmune disorder can be a long-term complication to this? I never received any treatment for the dysentary other than fluid replacement as the illness seemed to run its course.

Is it possible that my thyroid issues derive from a chronic infection caused by dysentary? Is there a way to test for the possibility that I am still infected with some low level chronic infection?

[Barb135]

Autoimmune conditions tend to run in families, though not every member of the family will get the same condition.  

For instance, I have Pernicious Anemia and Hashimoto's; my son has Type I Diabetes and my daughter has Lupus........ all autoimmune, but different conditions.  

Unfortunately, while most thyroid conditions do strike women, they are not specific to a certain gender or age group. The cause of your autoimmune reaction is most likely genetic, since you have thyroid issues in your family.

I'm not exactly sure how it works, but as an example:  My son was 10, when he was diagnosed with Type I diabetes, about a month after he had been treated for strep throat.  The strep didn't "cause" the diabetes, but it somehow triggered it.  Without having had the strep, the diabetes might not have showed up until much later, but he was apparently predisposed.  This all came from the doctors who treated him, for both the strep and the diabetes.

The way it was explained to me, is that the illness (strep, dysentery, etc) weakens the immune system, and the body is busy fighting that, so it can't fight the antibodies.  

There's no real scientific evidence that says thyroid protein if mistaken for gluten.

[anonymousthrowaway]

I agree... though not directly anyway. I am looking for the cause of the autoimmune reaction, and I thought perhaps the parasitic organism was causing a low level chronic infection that may be allowing food proteins into the bloodstream in the same manner that I have read of thyroid protein being confused for gluten by the body after it getting into the bloodstream. That would result in thyroiditis secondary to coeliac disease. Wondering if some sort of persistent amoebic or other infection is allowing this same sort of thing to happen to me?

I know it may be a dead end. Thought it couldn't be coincidental that this infection happens immediately prior to dx and onset of hashi symptoms. If you are thinking that the dysentary might trigger an already present hashi, could you elaborate on how that would work?  I have thyroid issues in the female side of my immediate family, and am experiencing it despite being male. Wondering if this is a genetic weakness, the result of eating a shared diet, or the side effect of a chronic infection.

[Barb135]

It's more likely that you had the Hashimoto's before you got the dysentery and just didn't know it.  The dysentery wouldn't "cause" an autoimmune, but it might trigger one that's already present.