Paleo Diet and Paleolithic Diet Questions & Answers

Question

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Note: These are NOT current test results. They are 2 years old.

So, I was reading through the Hack Jack Kronk's latest lab results thread, and I saw suggestions that he may need to kickstart his thyroid. I found that interesting because his TSH was only slightly higher than mine (his was 1.88, mine 1.69.. more on that in a minute). This piqued my interest, and made me curious on everyone's take on my thyroid panel.

Here's the situation: When I had this thyroid panel done, I was very, very sick. My stomach was swelling. I wasn't digesting food well, if at all. My stomach swelled so much my belly button ripped open a few times. It was bad. Very bad. I'm not even sure I could put it into words. I only found out within the past few months that it was actually gluten causing the problem. I realized it all started when I began eating gluten here and there. Then got sick, went to the doctor, they couldn't figure out what was wrong with me. Then, the sicker I got, the more gluten I ate. My logic was, I felt crappy already, what the heck does it matter if I eat cookies? It was sort of a vicious cycle. The worse I felt, the more crap I ate. Thousand of dollars in medical bills later, I eliminated the gluten and the improvements I've made are incredible. I'm sure I'm still suffering from some nutrient deficiencies here and there after being sick for so long, and my digestion isn't 100% perfect, but it's leaps and bounds ahead of where I was. For all intents and purposes, I feel awesome. But, there could always be improvements, I'm sure.

While I was sick, the doctors were trying to rule things out¹, and I decided to get a thyroid panel. Multiple doctors looked over these results and declared my thyroid to be fine and not the cause of my problem. And obviously now I know at least the majority of my issue was the gluten. But given the situation I've laid out above, and given that for at least a year before this test was taken I had been on multiple antibiotics, would these thyroid results have made you raise and eyebrow? Also, if I were otherwise feeling healthy when I had the test and had the same results, would they cause any concern then? FWIW, I have tried using a kelp supplement and found that it actually made my throat hurt and I started losing my voice. It went away when I stopped the supplement. Iodized salt does not cause the same issue. Weird, eh? I do want to get another blood panel, but it is currently cost prohibitive.

Right, so WWYD if these were your results? I guess I'm just trying to figure out if I should have paid more attention to these at the time.

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1. That may be putting it too nicely. What they did was tell me that since my stomach hurt, I had endometriosis. They put me on BC pills that almost landed me in the hospital, even though I had zero symptoms of endometriosis other than stomach pain. The BC pills came after the thyroid test tho, so they shouldn't be a factor. And they also didn't help anything.

flag	asked Sep 15 2011 at 10:32 A at Grain Free Diet 6,381●9●21

julianne · Answer 1 · 2011-09-16 01:42:13Z UTC

My TSH is 4.1, I have hashimotos, my antibodies are in the hundreds. But I have no symptoms, I was diagnosed 2 years ago, quite by accident in a general checkup.

Some think it is the symptoms that matter. Check out Dr Kharrazians book and website http://www.thyroidbook.com/index.html

I recently did a 30 day auto-immune paleo diet - no grains, legmues, nuts, seeds, dairy, alcohol, eggs, or nightshades. After than I had the lowest TSH in 2 years (4.1) and I lost a couple of pounds, although I'm not considered overweight - I just leaned out a little.

Kelp is not recommended as it contains Bromine - another halide, which competes with iodine. If you do try iodine - add it very slowly. In my case I got a horrible reaction and my thyroid started to swell. This is a common reaction with Hashimotos / auto immune thyroid disease. My TSH went up to 13! I just add a little iodised salt now.

Janelle · Answer 2 · 2011-09-15 11:54:34Z UTC

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I've been seeing an endocrinologist for a few years. My PCP didn't "believe" I had hypothyroid problems but I did. And I've proven him wrong every time I start feeling "off" and go have my bloodwork checked and we need to adjust my meds and I feel better again. There are a very different schools of thought regarding thyroid levels. Some people believe it's somewhere in the mid-range of the wide number range the labs give you with your results. My doctor thinks that your TSH should be way at the bottom of range, the free T3 should be at the top of the range and free T4 should be mid-range. How are you feeling, though? http://www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/long-and-pathetic/ has a list of symptoms if that helps.

answered Sep 15 2011 at 11:54

Janelle
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	Interestingly enough, I'm actually on that site. If you go to the doctors hall of shame list and look at #68 that's me. But I don't want to confuse things here. That was before I started VLC, which made all my symptoms go away and made me lose about 60lbs. The current sick I'm talking about was after I lost all the weight and reintroduced gluten. Hope that's not confusing :) The list: stopthethyroidmadness.com/give-me-a-break – A at Grain Free Diet Sep 15 2011 at 12:59
	Oh, I forgot to ask. Is it an endo that likes those TSH/T4/T3 levels or the PCP that didn't believe you were hypo? – A at Grain Free Diet Sep 15 2011 at 13:23
	The endo is the one that liked those levels, though even finding a good endo can be hard. There's a list of good thyroid docs that she was on, she teaches at Georgetown University so she's very up to date on current research. I saw a holistic MD who believed I was hypo though. I do have to say, I wasn't so in tune with my body pre-thyroid medication that I could tell when things were off. Things had been so off for so long I didn't know. I've been on this journey for nearly 4 years, been through a second pregnancy, lots of adjusting of meds, and I'm still not 100% in tune. – Janelle Sep 16 2011 at 11:18

Travis Culp · Answer 3 · 2011-09-15 15:48:54Z UTC

Looks to me like possibly a slight selenium deficiency that is interfering with your ability to convert T4 to T3. It's extremely common due to the nutrient depletion that has occurred to our food. Take 200 mcg of selenium from a source of your choice every day. I personally eat a lot of seafood, specifically oysters and sardines, so I get plenty of it. Brazil nuts have tons of it, but they also have other potentially toxic things that they bioaccumulate. There's nothing wrong with just taking a supplement if you're deficient. I would wager that your T3 would swing upward and TSH would be something like .75 after supplementation. I personally don't really agree with the reference ranges.

You also may as well eat a bit of kelp here and there to keep T4 at the right level. If you took it in whole form, you could try switching to a capsule. The excess of both iodine and selenium is excreted without issue.

Good luck.

majkinetor · Answer 4 · 2011-09-15 17:31:15Z UTC

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Questioning of Brazil nut and radiation come often. Some info:

http://www.vitamincfoundation.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=23837#p23837

http://www.radpro.com/641luckey.pdf

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18648595

answered Sep 15 2011 at 17:31

majkinetor

	This would be more useful in the comment section of Travis' question. – Happy Now Sep 15 2011 at 22:42
	Maybe, but also far less readable – majkinetor Sep 16 2011 at 6:42

Katherine · Answer 5 · 2011-09-15 22:32:27Z UTC

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I would be concerned about those results in the absence of thyroid symptoms. How are you doing now?

*ETA*** WOULDN'T. I wouldn't be concerned about those results. Sheesh. So sorry about that.

edited Sep 15 2011 at 22:32

answered Sep 15 2011 at 11:30

Katherine
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	Well, to be fair, it's possible I had thyroid symptoms at the time, but I had so much going on all at once there would really be no way for me to pinpoint which was thyroid and which was gluten, ya know? As for how I am now, I suppose it's all relative. I mean the swelling is gone. My intestines seem to be behaving. My energy is coming back. My hair and nails are growing like crazy. I'm able to get off the couch, whereas before I just laid there sobbing about the pain. So, compared to how I was, I am awesome. (more) – A at Grain Free Diet Sep 15 2011 at 13:03
	Compared to someone in perfect health, my digestion is probably a little slower than I'd like and there's probably some leftover indigestion (reflux maybe?). But I'm also wondering how much of that is due to me eating more carbs than I know I do best on. I felt amazing on VLC, but it's cost prohibitive right now. (Darn economy is kind of kicking my butt in a big way.) But it also has only been a few months off the gluten, so could it get better still? I don't know. Or, maybe now that the gluten is gone, I need to address thyroid? Mostly I'm open to the possibilities. – A at Grain Free Diet Sep 15 2011 at 13:06
	Oh, and I'm also down about 15 lbs again, but being sick made me gain a bunch of weight back, so there's still some more to go. It's creeping off, but not at any decent rate. Although, I am starting to look hourglass-ish again, which is nice. Before I was a little "hey koolaid!" from the swelling :) – A at Grain Free Diet Sep 15 2011 at 13:08
	sorry don't have much expertise in the thyroid area, but you asked about the possibility of more improvements by staying off gluten...most definitely. I had a similar issue with intestinal swelling, was food allergies, but I did the same, bread rice etc. and it got worse. The point, implementing some GAPS protocols will help you heal (broths specifically)..you can get bones sometimes for free from the butcher, find a way to stay off grains for your health if possible. I'm so glad you are finding some relief and feeling better!!! – Kelly Sep 15 2011 at 19:04

Thyroid - Should I have been worried?

5 Answers