I haven't seen Dr Osborne's videos, but I've read Dr Kharrazian's (better known as "Dr K") book. A lot of science does not bear out what they say about gluten and the similarity to thyroid tissue, etc. However, from the research I've been doing and from my own experience, if our microbiome is not balanced i.e. if there becomes more bad organisms than good ones, we can have a lot of trouble.
I just read an article the other day, that said, H. Pylori has been implicated in Hashimoto's and I've just been treated for an H. Pylori infection.
I'm not sure I understand why you had to eat such a high carb diet in order to eliminate gluten?? I know you live in India and would have different foods available than I have, here in the U.S. Can you, please, tell me what foods you ate? Do you eat any kind of dairy?
In order to eliminate gluten, myself, I would eat fresh/frozen vegetables, which while they do have carbs, they are complex carbs that are not digestible. They are the carbs that are considered "fiber". I'd also add more healthy fats, in the form of olive and coconut oil, avocados, etc. In addition, I eat healthy meat. I don't eat a lot of fruit, because of the sugar content, since I have pre-diabetes and metabolic syndrome.
I think blood tests "can" miss some food allergies. Have you tried eliminating any food other than gluten?
I don't think we should ever lower our expectations... we should always aim to feel the best possible and continue searching for whatever is preventing us from achieving that goal.
If I do a search for "symptoms of Hashimoto's", this is the list I get:
"Symptoms of Hashimoto's Thyroiditis
Hashimoto's symptoms may be mild at first or take years to develop. The first sign of the disease is often an enlarged thyroid, called a goiter. The goiter may cause the front of your neck to look swollen. A large goiter may make swallowing difficult. Other symptoms of an underactive thyroid due to Hashimoto's may include:
weight gain
fatigue
paleness or puffiness of the face
joint and muscle pain
constipation
inability to get warm
difficulty getting pregnant
joint and muscle pain
hair loss or thinning, brittle hair
irregular or heavy menstrual periods
depression
slowed heart rate
Because the symptoms of Hashimoto's thyroid may be similar to those for other medical conditions, it is important to see your doctor for a diagnosis."
If I do a search for "symptoms of hypothyroidism", this is the list I get:
"Symptoms of Hypothyroidism
Symptoms of hypothyroidism may be vague and can often mimic other conditions. They may include:
Changes in the menstrual cycle
Constipation
Depression
Dry hair and hair loss
Dry skin
Fatigue
Greater sensitivity to cold
Slow heart rate
Swelling of the thyroid gland (goiter)
Unexplained weight gain or difficulty losing weight
Carpal tunnel syndrome"
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You'll notice that the 2 lists contain the same symptoms, only listed in different order and worded slightly different. Of course, we both know there are many more symptoms than these listed for hypothyroidism.
Additional symptoms for Hashimoto's could include swelling, tenderness in the neck, difficulty swallowing and others.
You assume incorrectly about my atrophied thyroid... My symptoms decreased as my thyroid hormone levels increased, but I still have some ongoing symptoms. The reason for this is because my thyroid hormone levels have never been allowed to get high enough to completely alleviate them all. It's not the antibodies causing the main hypo symptoms, it's the lack of adequate thyroid hormones - specifically, Free T3. Just because we take thyroid hormones does not mean that symptoms will automatically be alleviated.
The medication has to be right for us and the dosage has to be adequate to bring our levels up to what we need, not just what some doctor "thinks" we should have. And still being slightly hypo, I do have muscle/joint aches/pains and other symptoms that you might attribute to Hashimoto's, which, by the way, we have for life, even if antibody counts decline.
My antibody levels didn't decrease until there was no more healthy tissue left for them to destroy, but that did not alleviate my symptoms.
What symptoms are you attributing to Hashimoto's and what symptoms to hypothyroidism?
Nobody is arguing your point that one day the immune system goes awry and starts attacking the body - that's basically, what happens.
I don't think you understood what I said... when one gets an autoimmune condition, it happens because something is going on in the body that activates the immune system. There are some studies that point to various bacteria or viruses as causes for the immune system to be activated.
As far as having the thyroid removed and having antibody counts go down to rule out diet as a cause, let's just use myself, even though I haven't had my thyroid removed. My thyroid is completely destroyed - my endo says it's atrophied - meaning shriveled up and does nothing, which would be the equivalent of being removed. When I was first diagnosed with Hashimoto's, my TPOab was almost 400; the last time it was tested, it was 78, which is barely above the reference range. I had not, changed my diet during that time at all. My antibodies decreased when I had no more thyroid tissue to be destroyed.
Often, when we get a viral or bacterial infection of some kind, the immune system begins doing its job, then something goes wrong and it goes haywire and a disease is triggered... For instance, a strep infection can trigger Type I (also known as Juvenile) diabetes. Studies have indicated that EBV may trigger Hashimoto's. I've also recently read that H. Pylori, which is a bacteria in the gut, can trigger Hashimoto's. This is of particular interest to me, because I've just finished treating an H. Pylori infection and I'm not convinced that it's totally eradicated.
You said " It is just that there is something in in (sic) the target organ that immune system sees as foreign. For example, even in normal patients (who are not Hashimoto's), there are certain number of thyroid antibodies." It's true that some people that don't have Hashimoto's have a small number of thyroid antibodies; it's also true that a small number of thyroid antibodies can be present in other autoimmune conditions, such as MS, Lupus, Pernicious Anemia, RA, Sjogren's and others... so just because those people don't have hypothyroidism, doesn't mean they don't have Hashimoto's or some other autoimmune condition. It's very possible that the antibodies simply haven't ramped up enough to get over the reference range, but they will, in time. We place way too much stock in ranges... If the antibodies are present, some type of immune response is taking place, even if it's very mild at that point.
In the videos I've been watching, by Dr Isabella Wentz, they say that thyroid tissue resembles the proteins in gluten and that's why antibodies are attacking the thyroid. Some studies agree with this, others don't. Mainstream medicine does not embrace this philosophy, but they are doing research on it.
One thing that both, mainstream and functional medicine agrees on is that the gut is one of the most important organs in the body and that our microbiome is very important.
I can't comment on MS to any great extent, because that's not my forte'...
I can imagine what videos you might have been watching and it's alright to mention them here, if you like, so we're all on the same page. If they turn out to be from competing sites, etc, that we can't discuss, I'll let you know, because I, too, have been watching a series of videos.
To answer your first question, specifically, Hashimoto's is not due to changes in the thyroid gland...the changes in the thyroid gland are due to Hashimoto's.
When one has Hashimoto's, the body sees the thyroid as foreign and produces the antibodies to destroy the thyroid. Once the thyroid is removed, there's nothing left for the antibodies to attack. Thyroid antibodies only attack the thyroid.
You are correct in that, if one is allergic to a food, removing the thyroid is not going to alleviate that allergy. For instance, if you're allergic to gluten and you remove the thyroid, you're still going to be allergic to gluten - that's because you have celiac disease!!
The thought is that gluten causes leaky gut, allowing the proteins in gluten to circulate in the blood. I'm not totally on board with any of the videos, but because of more current research and a recent, personal issue, I'm a lot more open minded than I used to be... This is a very controversial subject and because of a huge dispute a few years ago on the forum, I'm going to check with our moderators and see if we can initiate further discussion, once more...