Hashimoto's - Antibodies and gluten
Posted , 3 users are following.
Hi everyone,
Just after a bit of advice....
About 5 months ago my voice started to go very very croaky, at the same time a was struggling to loose weight and very tired. My voice just worse and in the end it was virtually non existent . To cut a LONG story short, after blood tests, camera down my throat it turns out a have an underactive Thyroid and very high antibodies >600.
Consultant said my vocal cords have been damaged and he put it down to my thyroid and the antibodies causing it to swell slightly. He said, once i'm medicated it will get better, I have been on medication now for about 5 months, they have increased my levothyroine, now on 75mcg, about to go up to 100mcg. Also my B12 and Vit D low, so taking supplements for that, but my voice and the strangling feeling is still there.
So about 4 weeks ago, i decided to go gluten free, within 2 days my voice returned to normal 😃 last week i went out for lunch, chose what i thought was gluten free and within 5 mins my throat felt funny and my voice completely went! (Didn't realise cous cous was wheat - whoops) This has happened one more time since then when i've had gluten.
So, its surely got to be the gluten that either my body doesn't like or its fueling the antibodies and making them attack??
Any thoughts x
0 likes, 1 reply
masha17 Ladyward
Posted
Hi,
I'm so glad that you found a way to manage the throat issues.
I was diagnosed with Hashimoto's 18 years ago, but my results at the time indicated that I had probably had it for much longer.
I have never experienced problems you mention with the throat, vocal cords... but I do feel what I call a "sea urchin" in my throat when I am extremely stressed., which, thankfully, doesn't happen often.
I have heard for a gluten-Hashimoto's link from my friends AND doctors. The explanations differ, some are longer (involving gluten mimicking certain proteins that provoke the (over)reaction of our immune systems) some are simpler (gluten provoking inflammation in our gut leading to an autoimmune reaction, btw, I have ankylosing spondylitis and this autoimmune disease is (definitely?) linked to the gut and carbo-hydrates - starches).
The truth is that nowadays we have gluten not only in wheat products, where it natural occurs, but in breads and pastries, pastas and pizzas, cookies etc. as an ADDED ingredient. The food industry uses it to give an appearance of freshness to its products for longer periods of time - including some bakeries.
My husband has developed gluten intolerance confirmed by exams and doctors, because he was living on gluten and gluten-added products for years (baguettes, pastas...).
He hasn't developed an autoimmune disease (and I pray he won't!) but, his symptoms could be compared to yours in the sense that they were immediate - headaches and bloating.
Curiously, when he does eat gluten in home-made breads from flour made of old varieties of wheat , he doesn't have any negative reactions. But we bake these breads very, very rarely.
Now back to the thyroid.
Avoiding gluten seems like a great idea.
Since you were vitamin D deficient, I'd check your levels of the parathyroid hormone and related minerals like calcium, as well as pituitary hormones.
I had vitamin D deficiency and my parathyroid glands went into hyper-mode and so did my pituitary gland. It's worth a check.