Can your thyroid heal?

[missGeek]

Does anyone know about, or seen any studies on this?

If you manage to find a way to drop thyroid antibodies to zero, or close, will your thyroid slowly heal itself? or is any damage already done irreparable?

[missGeek]

Thanks :)

I struggle with just googling remission stories as there's a lot of made up stuff online, or people drawing incorrect conclusions, or leaving out details, which can all be terribly misleading...

Currently on thyroxine & DHEA, but also currently doing an elimination diet to identify any possible intolerance's...

I'm trying VERY hard to one of those remission stories, just so exhausting to keep trying all the things! :(

[missGeek]

Thanks for the reply.
Sorry for the delayed response, I was talking hashimoto's, but similar story I guess...

[gypsy_dancer]

I'm guessing since you're asking about thyroid antibodies you are talking about Graves.  You can google Graves disease remission and find studies.  I typically use NIH/PubMed studies; they're usually peer reviewed and published.  They are a bit difficult for lay-people but don't let that stop you.  This is important information that drug companies don't want you to know because your knowledge is inversely related to their profits.

http://www.thyroid.org/patient-thyroid-information/ct-for-patients/volume-5-issue-4-2012/vol-5-issue-4-p-3-4/

Some patients with Graves take anti-thyroid meds for a couple years, test normal, come off the meds, and stay in remission for years without drugs.  I am trying this route first instead of immediately killing or removing my thyroid.  

Good luck!

[Red_Star]

There are various articles online about reversing Hashimoto's thyroiditis. Just google: reversing Hashimoto's thyroiditis for plenty of inspiring articles.
Also an interesting article to check out: "What thyroid patients should know about Oxidative Stress."

My mother's Hashi's was triggered by Nexium (acid blocker) and some years later I found out most people with reflux issues don't have enough stomach acid so I put her onto betaine HCL with pepsin supplements (increases stomach acid) and digestive enzyme supplements (helps with digestion) and her GERD/LPR went away. Her severe gastritis pain eventually went away as well (proteases heal the stomach lining).

So now she is optimally absorbing her macro and micro nutrients including antioxidants. She also changed her diet and stopped eating refined sugar and wholewheat bread. Remission sounds like it shows up randomly for the lucky person but if you ask anyone who is in remission you'll find they changed something in their diet/lifestyle first.

[missGeek]

Thank you for this information!

I like to believe that I can fix it for myself at least, this is what keeps me going at the moment! Maybe I'll settle into acceptance later, but for now I need the hope.

I tried searching but had trouble finding studies, I think the terminology in the studies confuses me at times and I lose what they're talking about! Possibly if I wasn't hypo my brain would work and I could make more sense of the things I need to understand to help improve my situation!!

Thanks again :)

[Red_Star]

My mother is in remission for Hashimoto's thyroiditis so the thyroid gland can heal.  To heal your body, including your thyroid gland, you need to reduce inflammation and oxidative stress.

There are many causes of inflammation and oxidative stress of course but when it comes to studies on Hashimoto's thyroiditis and TPOAb levels it's typically in regards to the effects of selenium or thyroxine. Thyroxine lowers inflammation and selenium is an antioxidant (fight free radicals aka reactive oxygen species).

Medscape's article Selenium and the Thyroid Gland Clin Endocrinol. 2013;78(2):155-164....

"Most authors attribute the effect of supplementation on the immune system to the regulation of the production of reactive oxygen species and their metabolites.

In patients with Hashimoto's disease and in pregnant women with anti-TPO antibodies, selenium supplementation decreases anti-thyroid antibody levels and improves the ultrasound structure of the thyroid gland. Although clinical applications still need to be defined for Hashimoto's disease, they are very interesting for pregnant women given that supplementation significantly decreases the percentage of postpartum thyroiditis and definitive hypothyroidism."

***

Germany - 2002 Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism. This study showed 40% reduction in antibody levels after selenium supplementation with 9 of 36 (25%) patients completely normalizing their antibody levels.  

Turkey -  2006 Journal of Endocrinology.  This study showed a 30% decrease in anti-thyroid antibodies after 3 months of 200mcg per day of L-selenomethionine supplementation for in women with Hashimotos Thyroiditis. The starting average TPOAb was 803 and after 3 months the average was 572.  

Crete - 2007 Thyroid Journal.  This study reported a 21% reduction in TPOAb after 1 year of selenomethionine supplements (200 mcg per day).

Greece - October 2010 - Thyroid Journal. In this study, participants who received selenium supplementation for 3 months demonstrated significantly lower TPOAb titers and reported a greater sense of well being and improved mood than those who did not receive selenium.

***

Long-term follow-up of antithyroid peroxidase antibodies in patients with chronic autoimmune thyroiditis (Hashimoto's thyroiditis) treated with levothyroxine. Thyroid. 2008 Jul;18(7):755-60.

"RESULTS: In terms of TPO-Ab levels, 35 of 38 patients (92%) had a decrease, 2 patients had undulating levels, and 1 patient had an inverse hyperbolic increase in her TPO-Ab levels. In the 35 patients in whom there were decreasing TPO-Ab values, the mean of the first value was 4779 IU/mL with an SD of 4099 IU/mL. The mean decrease after 3 months was 8%, and after 1 year it was 45%.

Five years after the first value, TPO-Ab levels were 1456 +/- 1219 IU/mL, a decrease of 70%. TPO-Ab levels became negative, < 100 IU/mL, in only six patients, a normalization percentage of 16%. There were no correlations between changes in thyroid volume and changes in TPO-Ab.

CONCLUSION: Serum TPO-Ab levels decline in most patients with Hashimoto's thyroiditis who are taking levothyroxine, but after a mean of 50 months, TPO-Ab became negative in only a minority of patients."

[goolarra]

First off, if you find a way to drop antibodies to zero, or close to it, you will have made medical history.  You can supposedly lower antibodies, but the efficacy of that is questionable.  How many antibodies does it take to destroy your thyroid?  That's a question I've never seen answered.  If antibodies are at 1,000, do they destroy it twice as fast as if they're at 500, or is 500 enough to do the job and the rest just overkill?

So far, the damage done is irreparable.  However, we seldom know we have autoimmune thyroid disease until our thyroids are no longer functioning properly and we have symptoms.  Can you stop it from getting any worse.  Once again, I've not seen it.