# Hashimoto's and food sensitivities



## lolaj193 (Apr 27, 2015)

Hi all, this is my first post. Glad to have found this community.

I have a long background, so I will spare you, but here it is:

I was diagnosed with Hashimoto's at age 14 after coming down with mono. I was a relatively self un-aware teenager and just took my synthroid every day without much of a thought of how I really felt. Fast forward to when I left for college: began wanting to lose weight, became vegetarian then vegan, left for college and had a hard time adjusting and became depressed and had low self-esteem and eventually developed eating disorder and became underweight. Stopped synthroid. Got treatment. Regained weight. For two years, my TSH was steady at around 1 with no antibodies. Interesting, right? Fast forward to a few months later, TSH begins to climb and my antibodies skyrocket to over 900. I begin gaining weight and really feeling the effects of low energy, fatigue, low body temp, freezing feet and hands, constipation and I stopped menstruating. It's worth noting that I am an "active" 22 year old, but I am very stressed. I exercise almost every day but I still have food and body related anxiety that I obviously realize is not good. I see a psychologist for those issues but I also think that some of my excess anxiety can be contributed to my Hashimoto's.

At this point, I switched endocrinologists because my past endocrinologist saw me as more of an "eating disorder patient" rather than someone who developed an eating disorder as a result of the "perfect storm" of thyroid + external factors. My new endocrinologist knows my whole health history and sees that my thyroid clearly needs to be addressed.

She started me first on just 5mcg cytomel, then 15 mcg armour. I'm now up to 30 mcg but I seem to be getting... worse? I was hesitant to use Synthroid because I thought it "didn't do anything" because, like I said, I was remarkably self un-aware in the past, but I'm thinking a combined synthroid/cytomel protocol may help. Thoughts?

I have a few questions: I started seeing a chiropracter who practices functional medicine and had an "allergy" test and came up with a host of intolerances -- wheat, oats, dairy, peas, peanuts, strawberries, and interestingly, turkey and pork. Could my pork "allergy" make armour a bad choice for me?

Has anyone had success on the AIP protocol? I feel as though I have no other choice... I've been gluten free for a few years but I still eat dairy, strawberries, turkey and peanuts on occasion and feel fine... other than my thyroid symptoms worsening

This is my blood work from before I started with my new endocrinologist:

TSH: 4.07

Free T4 1.2 (0.8-1.8)

Total T3 65 (76-181)

Thyroid peroxidase antibodies >900 (<9)

Thyroglobulin antibodies 5 H (< or = to 1)

Most recent blood work:

TSH 2.82

Free T4 1.2

Total T3 68

Haven't had my antibodies tested again but I think they're pretty high... Please help!


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## Andros (Aug 26, 2009)

Understanding the Thyroid: Why You Should Check Your Free T3
http://breakingmuscle.com/
(Copy and paste into your browser)

Dr. Mercola (FREES)
http://www.mercola.com/article/hypothyroid/diagnosis_comp.htm

Free T3 and Free T4 are the only accurate measurement of the actual active thyroid hormone levels in the body. This is the hormone that is actually free and exerting effect on the cells. These are the thyroid hormones that count.

Hi and welcome. At present time you are still undermedicated and that is why you feel terrible. The thing is though, titration had to be done slowly by getting your FREE T3 test every 8 weeks and the doc increases your Armour by 15 mcgs. each 8 weeks until your FREE T3 is at about 75% or the range given by your lab for that FREE T3 test.

And........................in all of this; has any doctor ordered and ultra-sound of your thyroid? If not, I would insist on it.

Read about the FREES above.

Armour while a porcine thyroid derivative is processed and unlikely to bother "if" you don't consume other pork products. Humble opinion but not carved in stone.


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## Lovlkn (Dec 20, 2009)

> And........................in all of this; has any doctor ordered and ultra-sound of your thyroid? If not, I would insist on it.


Ditto that!

Are you still taking Cytomel or did the endo discontinue once you started Armour? It would be odd to be on both and I just wanted to clarify.

A FT-3 is a better indicator of thyroid hormone, you might ask if your doctor could add that to the next lab. I have found however, the Total 3 tracks with FT-3 and since you are low your FT-3 is likely low.


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## lolaj193 (Apr 27, 2015)

I discontinued cytomel because I didn't like the jittery feeling -- I am a highly anxious person, I live alone, etc. and I have a bit of hypochondria...

I had an ultrasound and everything was normal. My thyroid is small and rubbery but nothing indicative of cancer.

However, my vitamin B12 came up HIGH in some lab work. As I said before, I was vegan and malnourished for quite some years, and only started eating meat again about a year ago. I don't supplement B12 other than cobalamin in my multi. I googled around a bit and some say that high B12 is an indication of cancer developing... ??? I asked my doctor about this and she said not to worry.


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## KeepOnGoing (Jan 2, 2013)

If it's any help, my B12 was high when I definitely did NOT have cancer. I stopped taking a multi-vitamin and it went down to normal. It wasn't as though there was a huge amount of B12 in it, but perhaps that bit extra just pushed me over the top of the range.


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## lolaj193 (Apr 27, 2015)

Also, is tinnitus a symptom of hashi's?

I feel like my head is underwater, and my ears ring constantly. I do listen to music quite often but I have sensitive hearing so never excessive volume.


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## lolaj193 (Apr 27, 2015)

These are my newest labs after being on armour 30 mcg for about two months:

TSH 2.13 (.4-4.5)

total t3 86 (76-181)

t3 uptake 35 (22-35%) (not sure what this means??)

t4, free 1.1 (.8-1.8)

total t4 5.2 (4.5-12.0)

free t3 3.0 (2.3-4.2)

my doctor refuses to increase my medication???? I feel better compared to before, but I know I could be feeling better


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