Welcome to episode 52. I can’t believe I made it a year. I’m grateful you are listening. I suppose I should have done something to celebrate a year of podcasting but I have a crap ton of work to do for school this week which is generating a fair amount of stress for me so one day I will get it together and do some kind of giveaway.
I have been monitoring my blood sugar levels for the last few days because I have really been struggling with some symptoms of blood sugar dysregulation. It turns out that my body is not so much appreciating the morning protein shake, especially when it is made with raw cacao. The caffeine from that alone is causing me to get a jittery feeling. I did much better with a meal of chicken and cabbage for breakfast yesterday with more stable blood sugar all through out the day.
I am hoping to get a handle on this so my adrenals can have a break and I can gain some muscle. I’m finally able to get some exercise in after my broken collarbone.
Okay- on to a listener question
Hi Stephanie
I get confused with all the varying things I am reading about Hashi's, in particular how can my Hashi's be put into remission when technically it has burnt out? I am hoping you can shed some light on this for me, please.
Good luck with your studies - I know how much work goes into a Masters Degree.
Many thanks
Kind Rgards
Dorothy W
There are varying degrees of damage done to your thyroid when you have Hashimoto’s. The longer you go with inflammation in the body that creates higher antibodies you may have more damage done to your thyroid leaving it unable to produce hormone.
When you are putting Hashimoto’s in to remission you are putting out the inflammatory fire that is causing your body to be out of balance. That inflammation will be different for everyone and it will cause your thyroid to be damaged but how long it takes to put your autoimmune disease in to remission depends on how much damage was done and how long you have gone before you started making changes to your health.
It can often be diet changes that will bring antibodies down and put your disease in to remission. Often times though, you will need to do more than just a few simple diet changes.
Food is information for our cells. What you put in your body matters. Processed foods are basically dead foods. They have no good information for our cells to take in to build healthy tissues which build healthy organs which build healthy systems which build a healthy person or organism.
So food is important. What you eat is important and the quality of that food is equally important. It can be expensive to eat healthy, especially if you are buying any amount of convenience “health food” such as gluten free crackers or breads or lunch meat that is of higher quality.
It is time consuming to cook healthy foods especially if you get caught up in all the fun stuff so many food bloggers are making. I don’t have time for complicated dishes so I don’t make them. I made venison steak bites seasoned with Redmond Real Seasoned Salt, and pepper cooked in coconut oil and I steamed broccoli and sauteed Brussels sprouts in olive oil and added minced garlic at the end with some lemon juice. I added a side of my homemade sauerkraut and that was it. The night before I had chicken breast cooked in a cast iron skillet and roasted cabbage.
Real whole clean foods are a good place to start to put your disease in to remission.
You also have to look at what your blood sugar is like. If you have blood sugar dysregulation you will likely still be dealing with inflammation and thyroid issues even if your diet is perfect.
Do you wake up a few hours after falling asleep (or between 1-3am) and find it hard to get back to sleep?
Do you crave sweet things?
Do you have binge type eating or uncontrolled eating?
Do you feel like your appetite is excessive?
Do you crave coffee or sugar in the afternoon?
Do you get sleepy in the afternoon or after a meal?
Does your fatigue get relieved by eating?
Do you get a headache or feel shaky if meals or skipped or delayed?
Do you get irritable or hangry before meals?
These are all signs you need to work on balancing your blood sugar which can be done with diet but also lifestyle changes because it isn’t only food that causes a rise in blood sugar.
Lack of food, low blood sugar in the morning or not eating soon enough in the morning can cause your adrenals to have to get involved in raising blood sugar- a cortisol release and then you have an insulin surge and maybe you are insulin resistant and you are then storing fat because insulin is a fat storage hormone.
Some therapeutic foods for blood sugar regulation include:
asparagus
avocado
soaked and sprouted beans
brewers yeast
broccoli
brussels sprouts
butter
carrots
cauliflower
eggs
full fat dairy
kale
liver
onions
peas
pecans
salmon
seaweed
sweet potato
tomatoes
These foods and others have the very important B vitamins which are so important in blood sugar regulation as well as some amino acids and other compounds that help promote insulin to do its job as well as maintain hormone balance.
You won’t be able to put Hashimoto’s in to remission if you have low iron stores- ferritin. So have a full iron panel done at the lab. the lab range for ferritin is ridiculous. It is like 17-80 or something. Most people with thyroid issues feel better with ferritin in the higher range.
You also won’t put Hashimoto’s in to remission if you are dealing with adrenal insufficiency or hpa axis dysfunction. Your adrenal glands have many roles, one of which is to manage blood sugar. Another is to manage stress. So if you are having fights in your head with your parter or spouse, your mom or whoever, if you get really mad in traffic or have a lot going on and zero support you will likely be dealing with some kind of adrenal issue.
If you tend to be a night person- you get a second wind later in the evening and have trouble falling asleep and then are slow to start in the morning.
If you feel keyed up and can’t calm down.
Higher or lower than normal blood pressure, get dizzy when standing up.
Feel wired or jittery after drinking coffee. Caffeine is one of the worst things you can do for your adrenal health, especially if you are dealing with some kind of adrenal imbalance which most of us are.
If you get a headache after exercising- I had a friend who this happened to and she never could figure out why this was. I wonder now if she wasn’t dealing with adrenal issues. My guess is yes based on knowing a bit about her life.
Do you clench or grind your teeth?
Do you crave salt or salt your food before you taste it?
Do you have chronic low back pain that gets worse with fatigue?
Have chronic fatigue or get drowsy or tired often or easily?
Do you get a headache in the afternoon or yawn a lot?
These are all signs you may be needing to do some work on your adrenal glands.
Making sure you eat a meal with protein in the morning within an hour of waking will help your adrenals heal. Also make sure that you are getting plenty of rest and doing some gentle exercise along with a no sugar diet for a few weeks will help your adrenals reset.
There may be some burn out in your thyroid or damage. You may need medication for the rest of your life but you are not resigned to a life of fatigue and general malaise.
In my functional medicine training we are talking about making the whole person better- mind, body and spirit. One cannot work great without the other two in balance as well.
You can feel better and you deserve to feel better. This disease ruins so many lives but we don’t have to let it.
You can take charge of your health. This is what I most passionate about. Take charge of how you perceive your illness. Do not let it be who you are. This is so important.
I spent a lot of years hiding behind my disease and letting it define me. My kids got a sick mom. They also got a mom who for years let that sickness be her excuse until one day I woke up and wanted more.
I wanted a better life. I took that to an extreme for awhile too and now I have finally found some balance. I am less dogmatic with myself and am okay with the choices I am making in food and in life.
It is a process and takes some time to figure out- which can all depend on your life view and what kinds of baggage you took from your childhood and all that stuff.
Getting well is a bit of a process but it can be done. Of course it is much easier when you have support from those around you and the energy to get started but it doesn’t have to all change over night. Baby steps can be just the right place to start.
And one more thing about diet. The autoimmune protocol is a wonderful diet. Elimination diets in general are the best way to figure out which foods your body doesn’t really do well with. They are not the be all end all. You don’t have to stress about doing it. Start with what you are comfortable with but also know that healing may take longer if you are consuming things that inflame your body. The stress of trying to change your life can also cause inflammation so do it in a way that works for you and don’t compare your journey to any one else’s. We are bio individuals and so is our healing.
Thanks for writing in. I thank you for that. If you have any questions about this episode please head over to helpforhashimotos.com and leave a comment on episode 52.
I’m not loving how the social media outlets are banning some people these days because they don’t align with big pharma or big food companies.
People are starting to notice that these big companies care much less about our health and more about profits no matter the expense of the people consuming or being forced to use their products.
Nothing wrong with making a profit but there is a lot wrong with the integrity of some of these big companies and people are standing up for their health and changing the marketplace.
Please continue to do that. Stand up for what you believe no matter what side you are on and have a conversation about your side rather than slinging mud at others. We can’t change the world with mud but we can agree to disagree.
So anyway, I don’t have a big social media presence and not many of you would miss me if I disappeared off of social media. I encourage you to take a break from it as well. Spend time looking at the sunset instead of scrolling at pictures of one. Go for a hike or a walk with someone you love instead of texting them. Go to someone’s website instead of their facebook page.
You have the power to change the way things are done in this world and because it is money that rules the world, choose wisely where you spend yours.
Thanks for listening.
Find me at helpforhashimotos.com or email me at helpforhashimotos@gmail.com or fill out the contact form on my website.
Have a great week.
A listener writes in asking about the possibility of remission from Hashimoto's.
How can I put my Hashimoto's in to remission if my thyroid is burnt out? We discuss the ways we can start to put our disease back in to remission. We discuss blood sugar and adrenals and eating real food but not being dogmatic.
You always start with food first. You need to remove all the offending foods and things in your environment that are suspected to be causing you a problem. You might start with an elimination diet which is meant to figure out which foods are an issue for you. Then you move on to the detoxification food plan which is just that- a plan for the rest of your life. That doesn’t mean….
We talked about toxins last week and how some particular toxins can affect the body. How do you know if you have an issue with toxins? Functional medicine can be helpful here when you use their timelines and you work with a practitioner to gather information about your health.
Your practitioner should ask you, “When was the last time you felt good or when was the last time you remember feeling really good?”
There should first be a focus on your symptoms before you spend a dime on lab testing, except your obvious thyroid labs of course. Your practitioner should take a very thorough history and plotting your life on a timeline with you. Plotting all your toxin exposure on a separate timeline can be very helpful for you to be able to see just how much of a burden your body is under.
Some of the things that are involved in your toxic burden are genetics, things like polymorphisms in your genetic make up called SNP’s. Things that you come with at birth, maternal heath habits and health history. What was it like while you were in the womb? Then think about things you were exposed to as a child or exposure over time to a particular toxin. For me it might have been mercury through a mouthful of amalgam fillings. Next we are thinking about how disease gets triggered. You have a lifetime of exposure to something- for me it was second hand smoke, then I had a root canal as an adult- maybe you had something else. The point is you get this compounding effect and something in your body is triggered. When my son died, I am pretty sure the trigger for the thyroid storm was stress. I didn’t handle stress very well at all back then and didn’t learn how to really manage it until the last couple of years if I am being honest. So stuff is brewing and finally your body breaks. The final straw could be something as simple as gluten. It really depends on you and your bio-individuality. That is why the timeline is so important in helping you figure out your root cause.
Next you look at what keeps the symptoms going over time. What is making things worse? It could be not enough water or vegetables in your diet or chronic constipation which is common in hypothyroidism and is sure to keep you in higher toxic burden. Maybe it is mold.
I will share some of my timeline I had to do for my class as an assignment. Each functional medicine timeIine starts with prenatal exposures so we always start there. My mom had rheumatic fever and was on penicillin for ten years so she basically had a completely destroyed gut microbiome before I was born. She grew up on a dairy farm- probably exposed to some chemicals in the fields there and diesel fuel as well. I was born in the early 70’s and it was okay for women to smoke while pregnant so I had that exposure in the womb as well as the occasional bit of alcohol exposure. I had second hand smoke exposure my whole life, ate a Standard American very processed foods diet all while growing up. Both my parents worked so there was a fair amount of convenience foods though my mom did cook meals from scratch most of the time. I consumed a ton of sugar as a kid and young adult- not so young adult as well. I had a mouth full of amalgam or silver fillings, lots of hair perms in the 80’s and early 90’s, regular alcohol use for at least 10 years, Round up exposure for sure over the years but a time frame is hard to pinpoint. Lots of household cleaner chemical exposure as a kid too. My mom used to choke while using a certain cleaning product that took lime off the shower every single weekend. New furniture and new carpet and new construction off gassing over a lifetime, several flu shots in my past until my kids put up such a fight over getting them, we quit going. The use of plastic food containers, heating food in plastic containers in the microwave. Chlorine and fluoride exposure in drinking water, non stick cookware.
You can see how seemingly small things add up to a lot of exposure over time and can contribute to dis-ease. Plotting all this out can be super helpful for you and your practitioner to see where your exposures were and are and you can start to make small changes over time.
Some other very important things you need to consider before labs are things that play a role in your overall health and not just your physical health but your mental and emotional health as well.
How are your relationships? Hashimoto’s and thyroid disease in general can create some loneliness. You don’t look sick but you feel like crap or have zero energy so you don’t make an effort to be with friends or family. You maybe start to stay home more than socialize and people don’t understand. You might feel depressed and certainly there are many of us who have been told by our doctors that we are depressed and there is nothing wrong with us.
How is your stress level? Not just your physical stress but financial stress, are you a caregiver? cortisol issues, any kind of thing you or your body perceives as stress.
Diet- what do you eat and drink? Processed foods, foods with little to no nutrient density? Artificial sweeteners? Chemicals, food dyes? Do you eat fish that has high mercury levels?
Are you exercising? All you have to do is just move to start with if you don’t feel like you can do much. Maybe you are working out too hard, too long or too many days a week. That is stressful for your body too. Maybe you are dehydrated or you use energy drinks or caffeine to help you get up and go.
Are you sleeping? Many of you are not. I spent my college years not sleeping- of course. I recovered on the weekends by sleeping in. Then I had kids. I didn’t sleep through the night for probably 6 or 8 years. Then my blood sugar was a mess and my thyroid problems started so I had a lot of insomnia, tons of fatigue. Then my husband started snoring and having sleep issues. He actually chokes in the night and then flails about, kind of punching his way to a breath so I got woke up by that with a shot of adrenaline and couldn’t sleep. I am 49 this year and I had had enough of the no sleep so I now sleep in a separate room and am sleeping hard and through the night and it feels wonderful. Not so great for my relationship- so that part of my functional medicine matrix paperwork is suffering but I am sleeping and sleep is important to me. I cannot function without it. My brain doesn’t comprehend when I don’t sleep and being in school, brain function is important. I made a choice but so did my husband when he let the doctor tell him he didn’t need a sleep apnea machine because he was borderline. That is probably more information than you needed but I want to keep it real here. The other important parts of sleep are things like keeping electronics out of your bedroom, keeping the room cool and dark and making sure you have down time. What do you do to relax?
What kinds of dis-ease can be attributed to toxin exposure? Well just about anything but I’ll run down some general things:
Poor digestion, constipation, IBS
Infections, either chronic or things that are recurring, autoimmune disease in general, skin problems, cancer
Fatigue
Multiple chemical sensitivities, kidney problems, elevated liver enzymes
Cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, asthma or things like COPD
Hormone problems, thyroid problems, type 2 diabetes
Bone loss, leaky gut
Brain fog, anxiety, depression, feeling a lack of purpose
For toxic exposure in particular, once you pinpoint the types of exposures you have had, you can then think about potential lab work that might help you set a baseline for measuring how you are moving these toxins out of your system.
Without addressing your thyroid issue or autoimmune disease, and just thinking about removing toxins from your body, you want to be sure that you have great digestion and you are pooping at least 1-2 times a day so that once you get the toxins mobilized, you can eliminate them without causing you to feel sick. You will work on avoiding any more significant exposures, probably make some lifestyle changes and then work on a diet plan to clean up your body’s insides.
Once you do that, then maybe test to see if you are assimilating nutrients meaning- is your body using or able to use the vitamins and minerals you are taking in through your diet.
But you can take the Toxin Exposure Questionnaire from the Institute for Functional Medicine to get a picture of where exposure is in addition to plotting your life on a timeline. Every one of us has a toxic burden. We want to figure out if your toxic burden is one reason you have thyroid problems or autoimmune disease. So besides doing the questionnaires and having an interview with a practitioner you can have some lab work done. I want to emphasize that the other work should be done first and lab work can come later.
You can have blood, urine, hair or stool testing done pretty easily to measure some of your toxic load. Maybe have a heavy metal lab test done if you have skin issues, heart disease, high blood pressure (and you know it isn’t from a crap diet), peripheral neuropathy, chronic headache, sleep issues, memory problems or issues with concentration. Anemia, regular abdominal pain, cancer. Any of these can be due to chronic heavy metal exposure.
Some labs have toxicity panels- I think Genova, Great Plains Labs and a few others offer these types of tests. They are not super cheap though so be sure it is something you need or want. They can test for things like BPA, organophosphates, PCB’s, pesticides, and more. Say you used a ton of plastic over the years- maybe you want a baseline for BPA so you can measure how well your new diet and lifestyle changes are doing at excreting this out of your body. This would be a reason to have a blood test done.
You can check with your doctor to have a full blood work up done too for things like your blood sugar, maybe mold, your thyroid panel, sex hormones, some doctors do adrenal hormones, homocysteine which measures the level of inflammation in your body, I think you can even get a glyphosate test, red blood cell count, liver enzymes. All those can help you learn more about where your body is at even if they are in the “normal” range. The high end of normal can be indicative that something is going on that you might want to pay attention to.
