Several times a week I get patients who come in expressing to me that their endocrinologist told them Hashimoto’s is not treatable and “doesn’t really matter” in terms of their overall treatment plan. Sometimes it is not even tested for a diagnosis.
The most common question I get is whether Hashimoto’s thyroiditis can be treated and healed. The short answer is YES! But as you read on, you’ll begin to understand that what works for one person, may not for the next, and so a one size fits all approach to protocols does work well.
The goal with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis treatment is to put the fire out on your overactive immune system. So we focus on an anti-inflammatory diet, lifestyle and supplement protocols. With diet, the top five foods to eliminate are gluten, dairy, corn, soy and sugar. These five foods are the most common reactive foods I see in Hashimoto’s patients. Even foods that you may have a mild sensitivity to is going to promote inflammation in the gut, so we eliminate those.
You may also want to consider food sensitivity testing to pin point your unique reactions and sensitivities to foods, as those tests will include up to 350 different foods. You can try an elimination-rotation diet, starting with eliminating those top 5 reactive foods listed above.
There are many other dietary, lifestyle and supplement recommendations that can work, and I find that each patient is very unique in what works for them, case by case. Patients need to embrace trial and error and have patience as we go through the various attempts to identify what works best for lowering the thyroid antibodies. Progress is monitored on bloodwork rechecks and we can see a trend of antibodies lowering all the way back to normal with patients who put the effort into following protocols!
The take home message is that you CAN heal from Hashimoto’s and you CAN lower your antibodies. We call this Hashimoto’s in remission! The patients who are successful with doing this are the ones who closely follow diet recommendations, supplement protocols and de-stressing lifestyle techniques (think meditation, yoga, massage) to put the fire out on the inflammation that exacerbates Hashimoto’s thyroiditis. Don’t give up, keep trying different approaches and you will eventually find a combination that works right for you!
