Why Did I Get Hashimoto's?

Thanks for tuning in. It has been 7 months since I recorded an episode and I am grateful to every one of you who is still here or who has waited for me to finish school. I graduated in December with my masters in nutrition and FM and now I am mentoring with a nutritionist and 2 naturopathic doctors to get the hours I need for my certified nutrition specialist exam and subsequent licensure to become a nutritionist in my state.  Why does all of this matter to you? There are so many practitioners in the health space these days- the market is flooded and every one of these practitioners has the perfect program or protocol for you to feel your very best. I’ve seen many of these practitioners myself from medical doctors to naturopathic doctors to chiropractors to nutrition practitioners spending thousands upon thousands of dollars and being loaded up on supplement after supplement. The failure of any and all of these people to help me feel better lead to my own certification in nutritional therapy. The problem was from the very beginning I knew I didn’t know what I didn’t know. I didn’t like reading research and I didn’t really know how which is what led me to get my masters. I knew I needed more information to be able to help the population of people I wanted to help which is you. Wonderful humans with thyroid problems who are not being served well by their doctors or who just need a little something extra to get them feeling better. 

The doctors I am mentoring with (and I paid a pretty penny to do so) are amazing. They are a husband and wife team and one of them was my professor for two of my courses in my masters program and his teaching literally changed the way I think about health and wellness. He does not teach protocols. He taught me how to critically think about WHY someone’s body is not working well and all of this starts at the cells and your biochemistry. The word biochemistry used to scare me because I never ever thought I was smart enough to learn and know the science of the body. I have taken a deep dive into biochemistry and physiology- further than I needed to go for my degree because if I can really know the inner workings of the cells of the body then I have the tools to help anyone and my passion is helping you because I have been there. I have felt like crap for years- low energy, fatigue to the max, not just cold hands and feet but cold bones. 

The sea of health coaches and people with certificates in nutrition is full and like I said, each one tells you they have the answer to your problem. Generalized protocols for chronic conditions will work for some people but they will never work for everyone. Just like diets don’t work for everyone. You are a biochemical individual and that is why a general protocol isn’t the answer. You have all this conflicting and frustrating information on google but all you want is to live your best life or you would not have tuned in. If only you could get a clear set of instructions to follow so you knew just what to do to feel better. You can but you won’t find it in a book or a program because those things know nothing about who you are and what is exactly going on with you. 

My mentors have created a short questionnaire that is based in the scientific literature called The Cell Blueprint. It tells me what is going on with you and the best part is it doesn’t tell me what you need but it does tell me where I should go looking next. Add to that the ability to really interpret your blood chemistry from a simple complete blood count with differential and I can have a really good start in understanding exactly what is going on with your body and how to start you on the road to feeling better. You likely do need some supplements but they are individualized for you! Someone recently contacted me about wanting a supplement protocol to make her feel better and I need you to know I don’t work that way because you can’t supplement your way out of a bad diet or an unhappy life and an unhappy life can definitely affect your cellular health.

Aside from this, I found a study through Dr. Bryan Walsh that talks about the season you were born and how that may play a role in your getting Hashimoto’s or Graves disease so that is what I’m talking about today. 

This was a really interesting study done in Greece looking at this idea of birth month and autoimmune thyroid disease. It is well known that 21% of the cause of Grave’s is attributed to triggers from the environment such as infections and viruses with less research being able to pinpoint this to Hashimoto’s disease. There is also a confirmed connection in the research between a Rubella infection and hyperthyroidism. In addition, there is a clear connection between viral infections and T1D and MS. The association between T1D and both Grave’s and Hashi’s and possibly MS is also high meaning that having one of these leads to you being more susceptible to having the other which is a great reason to get your thyroid condition well maintained. It is nothing to mess around with - I certainly do not want MS or T1D. 

The thought behind this is that infections occurring in utero may play a role with the fall and winter months when infection rates are generally at their highest.  All Grave’s and Hashi’s patients in this study (around 1200 people) had their month of birth compared to disease development. Grave’s was more prevalent in men who were older at diagnosis and they had high FT4 and low TSH. Hashi’s was more prevalent in women, they were not as old at diagnosis compared to those with Graves, TSH levels were higher than 10, FT4 lower than 7.0 and TPOAb were greater than 50. An ultrasound of the thyroid diagnosed Hashimoto’s autoimmunity. 

Grave’s Disease diagnosis was based on diffuse goiter (which means the whole gland is involved rather than just a nodule), ophthalmopathy (eye balls stick out, or increased levels of thyroid receptor antibodies/TRAbs). In the general population, in both sexes, the highest incidence of births was in summer and more males with Graves were born in winter while women with Graves were more likely to be born in spring and fall. 

In Hashimoto’s, patterns between birth month for the general population and both men and women the birth month patterns were different between men and women as well. Men were born in summer months and winter months and women were more often born in winter months and the birth month correlated with how high the antibodies were. Researchers even checked to see if there was a significant difference in overall viral infections when these subjects were in utero and there appeared to be no change in general viral infection rates from the norm. 

The idea behind this study was to find a similarity or not between viral infection and T1D compared to viral infections and Hashi’s or Grave’s as the two are commonly held together and T1D is more commonly associated with infections in fall and winter when more people are getting sick. This supports the idea that a viral infection could be a trigger for any one of these conditions in those who are genetically susceptible. 

The high antibody connection between birth month and high antibody titers is similar to birth month and high antibodies against B cells in T1D. Being genetically predisposed to autoimmune disease combined with the trigger of infection could be all it takes to progress into a full blown autoimmune disease. 

One thing that allows this progression is unhealthy cells which don’t need curcumin or gogi berries to run well. Let me help you figure out where your core or root cause issues are stemming from by having a look at your Cell Blueprint. This is the best time to do this while I have my mentorship. They charge $500 for a one hour consult so you are getting three minds for the price of $153 which is what I currently charge for a one hour consult. Most people only need 3-4 visits total with the subsequent visits costing $79. I don’t have any packages right now but will be eventually. My sole concentration right now is seeing as many clients as I can while I have mentors so I can be the best at what I do. If you are interested, please reach out at outofthewoodsnutrition.com and fill out my contact form. If you haven’t already, you can sign up for my newsletter as well and get your copy of Five Things Your Doctor Won’t Tell You About Hypothyroidism. I look forward to helping you get back to your old self. 

There will not be an episode next week but I do hope to be a bit more regular with getting episodes out now that I am out of school and done with my interpreting blood chemistry course. Thanks again for tuning in. I appreciate you! 

Will Selenium help my thyroid?

Hello and welcome to episode 102. Thanks for joining me. I have a couple of announcements before we get to today’s content. 

First, on a personal note, someone close to me was scammed by one of those internet gift card scams. Because they used to work for the company that the scammers pretended to be, this person, an older person, believed them. It is a scam where they get you to sign in to your online bank account and they say they are refunding you say $299.00. As you are typing, they add an extra 9 to the account so it looks like you are getting a refund of $2,999.00 and then they say they will get in big trouble with their boss and the only way to remedy this is to buy gift cards and read them off the numbers. This person bought a total of $3500 in gift cards, $1000 of which was able to be frozen but they were out $2500. So please have a conversation with the older adults in your life. I never thought this person would have been able to be scammed like this in a million years and they were. There are a lot of great YouTubers getting back at these scammers if you want to check them out Kitboga is a good one as well as Scambaiter and Jim Browning. 

Okay, the second thing I wanted to talk about is LifeTune - they sell emf-type devices and they sent me a couple for my phone. I muscle tested them and they seem to work for me. If you are interested in checking them out, they seem to have a sale going on all the time at up to 35% off. You can use the discount code GETCLEAR for 10% off at www.airestech.com. 

You can also get 10% off Meizen skincare at myzenskincare.com using the code 10% off. That is the number 10, percent sign, space, off. I love their skincare, especially the edelweiss serum and the vitamin c spray. Dr. Martha also has some nice essential oil blends and awesome body oil that smells like cinnamon. Please support local small businesses if you can. 

Okay, now on to the good stuff. I’m in a program called Practice UP from the good people at Metabolic Fitness Pro. They strive to give practitioners the latest information/science to help them put into clinical practice so they can be the best practitioners out there. That is my goal. To be the last stop for all of you fantastic Hashi’s patients out there. I am still learning and plan to continue to always be learning so I can serve my clients in the best way possible. Anyway, each month we learn about something clinically relevant and last month we learned about Selenium and the role it plays in thyroid health and in type 2 diabetes. I’ve got some great info for you guys. 

What we know: 

Autoimmune thyroid disease accounts for around 85% of people with hypothyroidism and the cause of Hashi’s has many factors involved. Our genetics and environmental triggers play a role but are not well understood. We have the highest selenium concentration per mass unit of tissue in our thyroid gland and has direct effects on the metabolism of thyroid hormone. Many of you have heard or been told to take selenium to help with reducing thyroid antibodies and many studies have shown that it is, in fact, effective at reducing TPO antibodies. There are several studies that show it has no effect as well. Many of the studies going either way here have a poor quality of evidence. That means the way the study was conducted had some problems that may have affected the outcome and results. 

Those studies that showed an improvement in antibodies could have had people in the study that were deficient in selenium in the first place but baseline levels of selenium were not measured. When people were followed for 3,6,12 months and antibodies were measured, they didn’t see much change in antibody levels after 12 months which could suggest there was a deficiency in selenium that was fixed by supplementation and could also be why there was no clinical improvement in those subjects. 

A study published in January of 2021 goes over many of these studies in detail. It is called Insufficient evidence to support the clinical efficacy of selenium supplementation for patients with chronic autoimmune thyroiditis with the lead author being a name I can’t pronounce but will have the reference in the “transcript” on this episode on my website. The bottom line is I have three studies I’ve read today that are suggesting that supplementation with selenium may not be needed. 

As I said, it can improve or lower antibodies but it really doesn’t do anything for the course of the disease. In Graves’ disease, it might lead to faster remission of hyperthyroidism and improve upon the quality of life- so keep that in mind. 

Other nutrients interact with Selenium which will affect you. For instance, Vitamin C is thought to increase the absorption of Se. If you are deficient, Vitamin E will make the selenium deficiency worse and if you are not deficient, having adequate vitamin E levels may help prevent toxicity from too much selenium. Large doses of Omega 3 fatty acids, potentially several grams of fish oil for example, my cause the need for more selenium. Large amounts of zinc and copper can cause a selenium deficiency so if you are deficient in those, you may also need selenium. Vitamin D supplementation can increase selenium. 

What I am getting at is that you may have been told to take selenium because a few studies showed that it reduced antibodies but do you know if you really need it??? 

The average adult’s selenium levels are said to be optimal at around 80-120 mcg/mL and at that level are said to be good. It does act as an antioxidant at this level in the body but anything more than that can mess with insulin signaling and eventually causing insulin resistance. Too much selenium causes insulin resistance, higher HBA1C, and metabolic syndrome. Hashi’s patients are already at risk for developing these things and adding selenium supplements to your regimen could almost guarantee these things in your future. 

There is also an association between serum selenium levels and all-cause mortality and cancer deaths when selenium in your blood is measured at over 150 ng/mL. Below 130 ng/mL is more protective. Another study showed a direct relationship between exposure to selenium and odds of type 2 diabetes with the higher plasma or serum levels of selenium at around 140 ng/mL. 

Another study called Effects of Long Term Selenium Supplementation on the Incidence of Type 2 Diabetes that was almost 8 years long found that long term supplementation with selenium may increase the risk for type 2 diabetes. The group in this study with the most type 2 diabetes while supplementing with 200mcg per day was the group that had the highest Se levels at the beginning of the study which was around 121 ng/mL or higher. That is not a lot- that is within the normal range. 

If you are deficient, you may need to supplement with it for a bit but it is likely once you are absorbing nutrients with some gut healing you will get enough from food. You can go to whofoods.com and type in selenium in the search bar, scroll down and click on selenium and it will tell you all about this mineral and which foods are highest in selenium. Here is a shortlist in order from the highest amount of selenium per serving to lower but all have good amounts: 

• tuna

• Shrimp

• Sardines

• Salmon

• Cod

• Crimini & shiitake mushrooms

• Asparagus

• Mustard seeds

• Turkey

• Chicken

• Lamb

• Scallops

• Beef

• Tofu

• Eggs

• Brown rice

• Sunflower and sesame seeds

• Cows milk

• Cabbage

• Spinach

• Garlic

• Broccoli

The RDA for selenium is around 55 ug/mL day with the tolerable upper limit at 400 ug/mL but remember what I said earlier- at 121 ug/mL in the blood- long-term supplementation can cause type 2 diabetes. 

Use an app like Cronometer to see what you are getting in nutrients, not just selenium but all nutrients. 

Take out all your supplements. If you are really anal or organized, make a spreadsheet of all the nutrients in everything you are getting from supplements so you can see if you are getting not only too much selenium but maybe you are getting too much or not enough of something else. For this very reason, I don’t recommend just Willy Nilly taking a supplement because you read it was good for you! 

Dr. Walsh in Practice Up gave the example of a supplement company which he didn’t mention that has a thyroid protocol. All the supplements in this protocol that would be given to a practitioner from the supplement rep because the bottles all say 1 cap per day because then the FDA doesn’t get involved in their business and then the practitioner passes the protocol on to the client—- The bottle of a thyroid conversion supplement says take one cap per day but the rep says to take 3, three times a day..... see what I’m doing here??

This protocol amounted to almost 1400 mcg/day of selenium and I just told you that 200mcg per day over 7 years caused type 2 diabetes. Granted, you would not be on this type of protocol for 7 years but maybe 3-6 months? Do you need that much selenium over even that time period?? 

This type of thing can happen with any nutrient- so go through all your supplements and really look at what you are getting in. In addition, you can ask your doctor to test selenium levels in your blood but if they won’t do it, you can order your own lab test from a direct to consumer lab company like Ulta Labs or Any Lab Test Now and it should be around 110ug/dL - 120 ug/dL

You may or may not need selenium, it may lower antibodies but it probably isn’t going to fix the problem, and remember there is plenty of selenium in food. 

Where you live matters, some middle eastern countries are lower in selenium status than China which is really high. The US tends to have plenty of selenium in general. Remember to calculate your intake of food and in supplements. Are you deficient in any other nutrients? This is why I try to hammer home that you need to work with someone to figure this stuff out. 

Okay, that is it for today. I hope you guys enjoyed this and that it wasn’t too much science or too technical. I get requests from people about 1x per month to be on the show that is really what feels like trying to promote their own business or programs. I try to only have people on that I feel have something to offer and are not just one big commercial for their business. I don’t want to do that so I hope you like what I’ve done here today. I think it is good stuff. 

Remember you can get 10% off at AiresTech.com using the code GETCLEAR and 10% off at myzenskincare.com using the code 10% off.  You can learn more about Practice Up here.

Until next time. 

Is my poop normal?

When you have hypothyroid symptoms you probably are familiar with constipation. It is a clear sign things are not working right in your body and in hypothyroidism, when you don’t have enough thyroid hormone, particularly T3 you can experience constipation regularly. 

If you have abdominal pain, bloating or abdominal distention, excessive gas, and or constipation which may or may not be associated with excessive straining you may have irritable bowel syndrome or IBS. Conventional medicine defines constipation as less than 3 bowel movements a week. Natural medicine might define it as less than one a day. You really don’t want stool sitting in your colon for three days. You will reabsorb much of the water and many toxins including estrogen for recirculation in to the body which is not good. For our purposes here, we will say less than one bowel movement per day is considered constipation. 

You may have alternating constipation and diarrhea with the above mentioned symptoms which can also be categorized as IBS. To get a diagnosis of IBS, other gastrointestinal issues need to be excluded as causing your symptoms. There is no test for IBS or markers to make a diagnosis so it is diagnosed based on symptoms. You need to have abdominal pain at least one day per week in the last 3 months associated with two or more of the following symptoms: pain related to bowel movements, pain and a change in how often you go or pain along with a change in the appearance of your stools. People with IBS generally are very sensitive to pain in their gut, have inflammation in the colon (which makes the nerves in the colon extra sensitive), changes in transit time (the time it takes food to travel through the GI tract from mouth to anus) and a change in the types and amounts of bacteria found in the colon. 

IBS is thought to be the most common GI issue in the Western world and seems to affect more women than men. You might be more at risk for it if it runs in your family, if you have had some kind of gut infection, if you have been given antibiotics or even if you have had some kind of stressful or traumatic event occur in your life. 

This disorder affects quality of life, causes people to miss work, and costs the healthcare industry in the US around 20 billion a year. 

If you are suffering from constipation, IBS related or not, here are some things you can try. 

Galactooligosaccharides or GOS at 3.5 grams a day. You don’t want to start out taking that much or you can make gas and bloating much worse so work your way up to a dose that high. A study using that amount found it improved gas and bloating as well as constipated stools over 4 weeks. 7.0 grams a day also helped to reduce anxiety.  

The top three things you can do to get rid of constipation are fiber, fluids and exercise! Adding ground flaxseeds, slippery elm powder, psyllium husks, oat bran, chia seeds or pectin can be very helpful. It may take awhile to see some improvements as one study showed three months of treatment with either ground flax or psyllium husks at 6 grams a day improved constipation, bloating, and abdominal pain. The flax appeared to work better for the participants in this study.

Fiber from fruit, especially blackberries and kiwi fruit, improved bowel movements significantly. If you are dealing with blood sugar issues, you want to be mindful not to overdo it on the fruit but these two fruits seem to be really good at getting things moving quicker. Keep fruit servings to no more than 4 serving a day. You also want to be sure you are consuming plenty of leafy green salads, beets, whole grains (not all grains are bad for all people), tons of veggies and nuts and seeds if you tolerate them. 

Drinking water. Make sure you are getting around half your body weight in ounces. Maybe a little more if you are sweating in warmer weather and try electrolytes with your water if you are not ever feeling refreshed by drinking. 

Moderate exercise, especially in the morning is helpful to get things moving as well. Our bowels wake up in the morning and sometimes that morning walk is all they need to increase transit time. 

If you are desperate to get things moving, licorice root can be used short term. You can ask your doctor for a prescription for lactulose if you are in the US. Everywhere else in the world you can buy it over the counter. It can speed up transit time or get things moving as I like to say. Take with slippery elm, oat bran, and licorice root. If you can. 

If you tolerate dairy, you can eat Activia yogurt. It is the only way you can get the specific probiotic that moves your bowels. If you are dairy intolerant a different strain, Bifidobacterium lactis HN019,  found in Garden of Life Raw Probiotics, Genestra HMF Multi strain, Now Foods Women’s Probiotics 20 billion and more can help you out. 

Improving how your liver works can also be helpful. When the liver is congested it can be what is causing the constipation so taking turmeric, globe artichoke, dandelion (all parts of the plant) and beets. You can make a raw beet salad consisting of equal parts shredded beets, carrots and dandelion greens. Make a dressing of olive oil and vinegar or lemon juice and season with a bit of salt. Very good for your liver. Eat it as a condiment with meals. It is delicious too. I am not a fan of beets but I am a fan of this salad. 

What about diarrhea? Some of you likely experience that too. This is more rooted in anxiety so supporting your nervous system with things like caraway, fennel or dill seeds, peppermint, cardamom, ginger, chamomile, lemon balm all help with abdominal pain and bloating. Saffron works amazingly well to lift depression and can help diarrhea. The nervous system can be supported with verbena (vervain), rhodiola, or panax (korean) ginseng. 

If you have severe gut pain and inflammation you can try to take a product called Iberogast which will fix the underlying issue of inflammation and the sensitivity of the nerves in the gut. You can also try licorice root again, chamomile, or turmeric. A combination of peppermint and caraway essential oils (eco-certified and organic) reduce inflammation too. I just want to note, that in some countries essential oils are sold in pharmacies and I don’t recommend ingesting oils unless supervised by someone qualified to help you do that. 

Food allergies or sensitivities are a big trigger for diarrhea, especially gluten. A study showed that all symptoms of IBS were reduced within 6 months of a gluten free diet. A low FODMAP diet also improved IBS but it eliminates a ton of really good for you foods so you should not do this long term. 

If you are over 45 and have had major changes in your bowel movement patterns should send you to the doctor to have your health checked. If you have blood in your stool, you have something else going on. Other signs there is something going on other than IBS or constipation related to hypothyroidism is weight loss, fever, and a family history of colon cancer. 

Ok! I hope this information was helpful. If you have a question related to your thyroid or thyroid health, please reach out at helpforhashimotos@gmail.com or go to my website, www.outofthewoodsnutrition.com and fill out the contact form with subject, podcast question. You can also sign up for my newsletter and get my report on five things your doctor won’t tell you about hypothyroidism. 

I’d really appreciate it if you left me a review and rating at apple podcasts so more people can find the podcast and get help. The covid19 special is over but because it was so popular it has morphed in to a 60 minute consult with no package purchase for $153.00. If you can take information and run with it, this is for you. You will fill out a health history and complete a nutritional assessment questionnaire and then I will meet with you for 60 minutes to answer any questions, go over results and provide you with a personalized recommendation that includes a diet plan and supplements if needed. It is always recommended to have a follow up in 3 months so you can compare your results with your beginning. It is fun to see the changes tracked on a graph. Have questions about this or anything else I offer, please shoot me an email at stephanie@outofthewoodsnutriiton.com

My philosophy on supplements is this: sometimes we need a little help to get our body functioning at its best and supplements do that. My goal is to get your body working on its own so you don’t need supplementation. And I can’t stress enough that buying on Amazon means you cannot guarantee what you are getting. There are lots of shady people selling supplements that are not what they say they are and most of the brands I use and support have agreements you are supposed sign stating you will not sell on Amazon. When you buy from there instead of from someone like me you are supporting a multibillion dollar company rather than a small business. 

All my best to you all. It’s a crazy time right now and I’m sending you all peace and love. 

Buy supplements here:  https://us.fullscript.com/welcome/hfh