Aa
Long time no see. I normalized one antibody that was high since '97.
Long time no see. think I posted a couple years ago, other than that its been a few years and I must say this new format they kept is not user friendly compared to the old one. I cam back wondering if any new people have lowered their antibodies as this was a hot topic once thought to be impossible. I asked several folks in that past who "assumed" their antibodies were better after some other treatment to please fill in the blanks with details (lab tests). No one would do this. No proof then. Have people shown this to happen here in the last few years? I actually normalized one of my two thyroid antibodies (proof on two tests in one years time). So only one antibody normalized, could say I was half successful. I still need my pig thyroid though- no level change (bummer). I do feel a little better, but I've done so much healthwise with holistic approaches, its hard to say if it was from better diet, diet healing a gut, or candida control, or all of the above.
lazy moose,
I am interested in how you feel otherwise with the immune diet.
mainly, do you find yourself not catching every dang cold that comes by etc? Did you loose weight? Do you have more energy? Has it significantly increased your cost for food going I assume organic? Did the rest of your family also go on this diet, or are you having to cook and prepare separate foods especially for you?
My family went on the "whole30" diet a couple years ago. It was very successful and we all lost weight and felt better. But we "fell off the wagon" and have not gotten back on. I have been trying to get my wife (who does the grocery shopping) to just buy compliant food and eventually that is all we will have in the house to eat. But I have not yet been successful.
My wife is also on NDT only and has had several health issues over the last year. Not sure her thyroid dose is optimized yet. Dr's with her other health issues have yo-yo'd her around with thyroid meds. Her latest is rapid heart rate (NOT from being hyperthyroid) and knee pain.
Leading up to her hemolytic anemia issue, wife was adding in T4 in order to get her FT4 levels up while maintaining the Armour dose. Then with rapid heart rate (we thought associated with the anemia) they cut out the T4. Then after her anemia situation was cleared, she remained high heart rate, so they started to cut her Armour dose, since her TSH was supressed. As expected and as we told the Dr's, she felt like crap even after two reductions, and the heart rate did NOTHING and remained high. So we FINALLY got the Dr within the last two months to go back to her full dose of Armour (180 mgs), with zero added T4. She feels better, but still has heart rate issue. We have not yet sought for addition of T4 again to see if getting her FT4 levels even into the bottom of the range.
It appears the knee pain may be arthritis (She got cortisone shot into the knee last week) X-rays, PT and MRI showed nothing unusual.
My wife is overweight so by going to whole30 or similar diet with low inflamation, and lose weight would seem to be a win-win situation for her. But so far I am losing that "argument". I guess dealing with knee pain and eating what she wants is fine with her - LOL
I am interested in how you feel otherwise with the immune diet.
mainly, do you find yourself not catching every dang cold that comes by etc? Did you loose weight? Do you have more energy? Has it significantly increased your cost for food going I assume organic? Did the rest of your family also go on this diet, or are you having to cook and prepare separate foods especially for you?
My family went on the "whole30" diet a couple years ago. It was very successful and we all lost weight and felt better. But we "fell off the wagon" and have not gotten back on. I have been trying to get my wife (who does the grocery shopping) to just buy compliant food and eventually that is all we will have in the house to eat. But I have not yet been successful.
My wife is also on NDT only and has had several health issues over the last year. Not sure her thyroid dose is optimized yet. Dr's with her other health issues have yo-yo'd her around with thyroid meds. Her latest is rapid heart rate (NOT from being hyperthyroid) and knee pain.
Leading up to her hemolytic anemia issue, wife was adding in T4 in order to get her FT4 levels up while maintaining the Armour dose. Then with rapid heart rate (we thought associated with the anemia) they cut out the T4. Then after her anemia situation was cleared, she remained high heart rate, so they started to cut her Armour dose, since her TSH was supressed. As expected and as we told the Dr's, she felt like crap even after two reductions, and the heart rate did NOTHING and remained high. So we FINALLY got the Dr within the last two months to go back to her full dose of Armour (180 mgs), with zero added T4. She feels better, but still has heart rate issue. We have not yet sought for addition of T4 again to see if getting her FT4 levels even into the bottom of the range.
It appears the knee pain may be arthritis (She got cortisone shot into the knee last week) X-rays, PT and MRI showed nothing unusual.
My wife is overweight so by going to whole30 or similar diet with low inflamation, and lose weight would seem to be a win-win situation for her. But so far I am losing that "argument". I guess dealing with knee pain and eating what she wants is fine with her - LOL
3 Comments
Has your wife been tested for her FT4 and FT3 lately? Also, has she been tested for cortisol, Vitamin D and ferritin? If so, please post all those, with ranges, of course..
Last time she was tested for these for the vitamins was some time ago. But she has not changed her supplements since:
B-12 date 11/2016 tested > 1000 (239-931)
D3 date 3/2014 91 (30-100)
Ferritin date 11/2016 187 (6.2-137.0)
Iron 11/2016 74 (37-170)
FT4 6/14/2017 0.9 (0.7-2.19) = 8.5% of range
TSH = Suppressed barely detected.
FT3 6/14/17 3.66 (2.77-5.27)=35.6%
upped These thyroid tests was when she was at 50 mcg T4 and 150 mg Armour. Since changed to remove all T4 and back up to 180 mg Armour and wife is feeling better.
Cannot remember cortisol test. If it was done it was a long time ago and was in "normal rage" whatever that means.
Over time her sex hormones were tested three different times. Progesterone and estrogen normal at about 25% of the range for each. Testosterone however was one test zero percent of range, the other two tests well BELOW range.
Cannot get wife to follow up on the low testosterone. Even though she has several of the common low T symptoms FOR WOMEN.
If recall "my story" struggled for YEARS, as in probably nearly a decade, or more, to get my wife to follow up with Thyroid and fight for proper dosing.
Now she seems to be following the same pattern with "fighting" me on trying to deal with the potential of low Testosterone.
B-12 date 11/2016 tested > 1000 (239-931)
D3 date 3/2014 91 (30-100)
Ferritin date 11/2016 187 (6.2-137.0)
Iron 11/2016 74 (37-170)
FT4 6/14/2017 0.9 (0.7-2.19) = 8.5% of range
TSH = Suppressed barely detected.
FT3 6/14/17 3.66 (2.77-5.27)=35.6%
upped These thyroid tests was when she was at 50 mcg T4 and 150 mg Armour. Since changed to remove all T4 and back up to 180 mg Armour and wife is feeling better.
Cannot remember cortisol test. If it was done it was a long time ago and was in "normal rage" whatever that means.
Over time her sex hormones were tested three different times. Progesterone and estrogen normal at about 25% of the range for each. Testosterone however was one test zero percent of range, the other two tests well BELOW range.
Cannot get wife to follow up on the low testosterone. Even though she has several of the common low T symptoms FOR WOMEN.
If recall "my story" struggled for YEARS, as in probably nearly a decade, or more, to get my wife to follow up with Thyroid and fight for proper dosing.
Now she seems to be following the same pattern with "fighting" me on trying to deal with the potential of low Testosterone.
Unless she is supplementing with a lot of iron, the high ferritin indicates she should follow up and get a full iron test panel of serum iron, TIBC, %saturation and ferritin again.
Regarding testosterone, there is a lot of unnecessary concern about supplementing. You can depend on the info in this link. It might also help your wife get over any concern she has.
http://www.hormonerestoration.com/Testosterone.html
Regarding testosterone, there is a lot of unnecessary concern about supplementing. You can depend on the info in this link. It might also help your wife get over any concern she has.
http://www.hormonerestoration.com/Testosterone.html
Avoid the blue box- got it. What got me into healthy eating was researching for lyme disease treatment and how to boost your own immune system since lyme can attack your immune system, nervous system, and endocrine system. I did use conventional antibiotics to, but many herbal and natural supplements are incorporated in its treatment - at least in cases where your whole body is messed up. Obviously regular Drs dont do this. I saw three "Functional MD's" who practice a combination of natural and Rx medicine - they do it all and have incredible knowledge of the human body systems. I avoided Holistic chiropractors trying to be "Drs", - some are good I hear, but you need to weed out the quackery. They cant provide Rx or have access to medical lab testing either.
One thing they preach is that healthy low inflammation eating can help your body overcome illness by supporting your own immune system. How much you give up in healthy eating, depends how far you desire to go. I did it gradually and then full bore this year. I also have documented inflammation and immune tests that show progress as I progressed with a healthy diet. While I was trying to improve these (they did) , I decided to test thyroid antibodies and was surprised that my TPO was also normalized, the last two times. TGAB was still elevated.
Lyme bacteria, among other things can mess up your gut big time. I had holistic lab tests that showed leaky gut and conventional blood tests that showed systemic candida with antibodies formed against it. Had Reflux in the past to. I tried individual diets for each of these with some success then went all out (below) last winter.
I eat paleo, zero real milk products, no added sugar (real or fake), and was zero grains. I added non-gmo grains recently but avoid glutan. Was never a hard drinker, made it through summer with only two beers on the 4th of July. Sometimes this is called an autoimmune diet. This would be impossible for highly the social-dinning people.
I never read / studied the th1 or th2 diets- the Drs I saw didn't have much to say about it, so I currently remain neutral in that subject area. Different approaches work for different people based on their existing health.
So I dont know if keeping this diet will improve my thyroid any more, but since its improving other areas, I will stay on it longer. And retest, ...but I'll have to pay for it, insurance wont repeat things they feel is not needed.
With lyme, you pay out of pocket or dont get much better, sad but true. What makes some lyme patients worse than others is all in how their specific immune system responds to the foreign bacteria. Plus Lyme is in the spirochete bacteria family, very similar to Syphilis, hard to eradicate. Remember, Syph killed many people 100-150 years ago.
LM
One thing they preach is that healthy low inflammation eating can help your body overcome illness by supporting your own immune system. How much you give up in healthy eating, depends how far you desire to go. I did it gradually and then full bore this year. I also have documented inflammation and immune tests that show progress as I progressed with a healthy diet. While I was trying to improve these (they did) , I decided to test thyroid antibodies and was surprised that my TPO was also normalized, the last two times. TGAB was still elevated.
Lyme bacteria, among other things can mess up your gut big time. I had holistic lab tests that showed leaky gut and conventional blood tests that showed systemic candida with antibodies formed against it. Had Reflux in the past to. I tried individual diets for each of these with some success then went all out (below) last winter.
I eat paleo, zero real milk products, no added sugar (real or fake), and was zero grains. I added non-gmo grains recently but avoid glutan. Was never a hard drinker, made it through summer with only two beers on the 4th of July. Sometimes this is called an autoimmune diet. This would be impossible for highly the social-dinning people.
I never read / studied the th1 or th2 diets- the Drs I saw didn't have much to say about it, so I currently remain neutral in that subject area. Different approaches work for different people based on their existing health.
So I dont know if keeping this diet will improve my thyroid any more, but since its improving other areas, I will stay on it longer. And retest, ...but I'll have to pay for it, insurance wont repeat things they feel is not needed.
With lyme, you pay out of pocket or dont get much better, sad but true. What makes some lyme patients worse than others is all in how their specific immune system responds to the foreign bacteria. Plus Lyme is in the spirochete bacteria family, very similar to Syphilis, hard to eradicate. Remember, Syph killed many people 100-150 years ago.
LM
COMMUNITY LEADER
Hey there, LazyMoose... long time, no see. We have missed you. A lot of our old regulars left are gone; perhaps they'll straggle back in...
The comment and answer boxes are somewhat redundant, but they can be used interchangeably... If someone asks a question and we want to answer it, we're supposed to use an answer box (white box), then when we want to comment, we're supposed to use the blue comment boxes, but those allow side conversations to get started - what I consider "hijacking" a thread. You'll get the hang of it... lol
It's interesting about your antibody count. Mine went way down (only slightly elevated) and my doctors quit monitoring them because they said my Hashimoto's was "in remission" because my thyroid was burned out.
I've recently switched from an endo to a Nurse Practitioner, who takes a more holistic approach, to manage my thyroid because my TSH is still in the basement and I'm tired of doctors insisting I'm hyper, just because my TSH is non-existent, when my FT levels aren't even above mid range. The NP doesn't give a rip about TSH, but she wondered why they stopped monitoring antibodies and she looked at me like I had 2 heads when I told her they'd said my thyroid was dead. She ordered TPOab and it's back up again...
What diet are you on, how long have you been on it and how did you come to start it? I'm a firm believer that a healthy gut is important, but I can't seem to get my doctors on board with me. I went through a bout of H. Pylori the first of the year. I see my new NP on Monday and I'm hoping she will be more helpful than previous doctors have been, as far as diet is concerned.
The comment and answer boxes are somewhat redundant, but they can be used interchangeably... If someone asks a question and we want to answer it, we're supposed to use an answer box (white box), then when we want to comment, we're supposed to use the blue comment boxes, but those allow side conversations to get started - what I consider "hijacking" a thread. You'll get the hang of it... lol
It's interesting about your antibody count. Mine went way down (only slightly elevated) and my doctors quit monitoring them because they said my Hashimoto's was "in remission" because my thyroid was burned out.
I've recently switched from an endo to a Nurse Practitioner, who takes a more holistic approach, to manage my thyroid because my TSH is still in the basement and I'm tired of doctors insisting I'm hyper, just because my TSH is non-existent, when my FT levels aren't even above mid range. The NP doesn't give a rip about TSH, but she wondered why they stopped monitoring antibodies and she looked at me like I had 2 heads when I told her they'd said my thyroid was dead. She ordered TPOab and it's back up again...
What diet are you on, how long have you been on it and how did you come to start it? I'm a firm believer that a healthy gut is important, but I can't seem to get my doctors on board with me. I went through a bout of H. Pylori the first of the year. I see my new NP on Monday and I'm hoping she will be more helpful than previous doctors have been, as far as diet is concerned.
Not at home, no test data on me. I 've still been increasing my dose about every 9 months or so- same pattern as usual. My usual good lab has TSH below 2, ft4 at 30% and ft3 at 70% roughly. I am a little hypo right now and need my yearly increase.
I switched to NP about three years ago after trusting it on the market a few years. Was on Erfa before. Stopped monitoring b12 and D-25 a year ago. Those had no noticable effect on me, and levels were good, dried different brands too.
I am in not way saying I'm healed or anything LOL, !!
Just surprised that two latest antibody tests showed one normalized. So I would expect to feel even better than I do.
Time will tell, as my diet is a working experiment. I had gut issues my whole life, now on a super healthy diet my gut feels great. They say a healthy gut = a healthy immune system and response, time will tell. Not home now, dont remember if it was tpo or tgab that corrected, but I do have the proof on paper. Hopefully it wont bounce back. If I went back to eating my old ways, and retested elevated, than I know it was diet related / influence. But I'm not about to abandon my anti-inflammatory modified paleo diet just yet.
Another important fact is I treated with antibiotics for lyme disease two years ago. Lyme disease can have an effect on immune system. So killing that off can have other positive effects. To many variables in my case.
Whatever the case, if I want to track my thyroid antibodies, I'll have to pay for it. Endo and insurance wont repeat this testing, as they both think its forever, thus no need to track it. Well, guess its not forever in all cases.
LM
I switched to NP about three years ago after trusting it on the market a few years. Was on Erfa before. Stopped monitoring b12 and D-25 a year ago. Those had no noticable effect on me, and levels were good, dried different brands too.
I am in not way saying I'm healed or anything LOL, !!
Just surprised that two latest antibody tests showed one normalized. So I would expect to feel even better than I do.
Time will tell, as my diet is a working experiment. I had gut issues my whole life, now on a super healthy diet my gut feels great. They say a healthy gut = a healthy immune system and response, time will tell. Not home now, dont remember if it was tpo or tgab that corrected, but I do have the proof on paper. Hopefully it wont bounce back. If I went back to eating my old ways, and retested elevated, than I know it was diet related / influence. But I'm not about to abandon my anti-inflammatory modified paleo diet just yet.
Another important fact is I treated with antibiotics for lyme disease two years ago. Lyme disease can have an effect on immune system. So killing that off can have other positive effects. To many variables in my case.
Whatever the case, if I want to track my thyroid antibodies, I'll have to pay for it. Endo and insurance wont repeat this testing, as they both think its forever, thus no need to track it. Well, guess its not forever in all cases.
LM
Great to hear from you Moose. We have missed your participation on the forum.
What is your thyroid med and dosage now? What do your Free T4, Free T3, Vitamin D, B12 and ferritin tests show?
What is your thyroid med and dosage now? What do your Free T4, Free T3, Vitamin D, B12 and ferritin tests show?
1 Comments
Why do I have the option to comment or answer for further dialog? Whats the difference?I dont remember the old format having that (?)
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