Suggested First Steps after being Diagnosed with Hashimotos Thyroiditis
In this post, I have decided to compose a guide to help those who have recently been diagnosed with Hashimotos Thyroiditis but have not yet gone through the “detective” process of sorting out which symptoms are from Hashi’s and which are from other sources. This step was crucial for me in understanding my disease. I hope these simple steps will help someone else:
Take inventory of stimulants and chemicals in your diet.
Hashimoto’s can be positively influenced by a healthy diet. Consider what you are currently eating. Keep a journal for a week (or even a month!) and spot the culprits that might be there. Some of the more obvious ones are caffeine, sugar and preservatives. I react strongly to all three of these. It took me many years to realize what a significant burden those “foods” were to my health. The first two abuse the adrenal glands and cause all types of imbalance. Preservatives can cause further stress to the brain (especially Aspartame!). Greatly reduce or eliminate your intake of these substances. Once this step is done, it will be easier to monitor the symptoms coming from your disease and those coming instead from food sensitivities or reactions.
Find the best treatment options for you.
Research all your options before you start any long term thyroid treatment! After you have established a better diet as determined in the step above, then begin to choose the right treatment for your body. There are combinations of herbal supplements, synthetic drugs (I would wait on this option unless you just can’t get to other solutions), and natural desiccated thyroid preparations like Nature-Throid and Armour. There are other natural paths including detoxification methods. This is such an important step. I can’t stress enough how bad I felt that I had missed this step when I was first diagnosed! I just did what the doctor told me. Reading “my story” will help you see the years of pain I went through that possibly would have been eliminated if I had only taken these first two steps!
Consider the side effects of over-the-counter medications.
Only take medications that are absolutely necessary. Just like food, all medications have side effects on your body. It is very important to know what the side effects are and if they might be influencing your symptoms. For example, I used to suffer from excruciating migraine headaches. My doctor (who was not interested in natural causes or treatments) suggested I take an over-the-counter medication. He said it was likely sinus related. So, I took Advil Cold and Sinus. I got better when I took it but did I understand that this medication had caffeine in it? Case and point: I found out that caffeine works to relieve caffeine related headaches! Why? Because our body begins to depend on the “fix” each day when we have caffeine on a regular basis. After a few days off of caffeine, a very serious withdrawal symptom can result in the form of a headache or migraine (in addition to other symptoms that are known as “die off” symptoms). Many times it can be “relieved” by eating or drinking caffeine. I believe that’s why I had spurts of being addicted to chocolate. The only “cure” for this cycle is to get off of these roller coasters; whether from drugs or caffeine in food. Be aware of each and every drug and/or substance you are putting into your body. Find the root problem and then work to overcome it without drugs – thereby eliminating their side effects.
Increase exercise as tolerated.
I believe the importance of exercise comes in many forms. It is a great stress reliever. Something about exercise just cleans out those
negative thoughts in the brain. It can feel like a weight has been lifted off of you after exercise. Oh, of course I must bring up the “weight” thing. Here’s one big problem with this disease. Our metabolism is seriously compromised when there is a sluggish thyroid. If you combine exercise with the right diet and right treatment, well, you’ve got a chance. But that “right” combination is still not fully documented. What we do know is that a whole body approach has the most benefit. So find a fun exercise. Don’t make yourself do something you hate to do. Choose a variety of activities to alternate during the week to keep you interested and just “move” your body.
Finally, take control of your health.
Educate yourself about Hashimotos Thyroiditis. It is an autoimmune disease. It has cycles. It fluctuates depending on things like life crisis, stress, seasons (especially the cold seasons when your body temperature naturally goes down), diet, attitude, etc. What I find the most frustrating about this disease is the large amount of triggers it has. Strongly consider eliminating gluten! Consider a yearly calendar specifically noting times during the year that your symptoms flare up. This might go a long way in trouble-shooting triggers that you may be able to avoid in the future. Find a functional medicine doctor in order to aggressively participate with your own healing and treatment plan. Also visit my website forum so we can walk through this disease together.
12 Comments to “Suggested First Steps after being Diagnosed with Hashimotos Thyroiditis”
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Thanks for all of the great info! Your blog has been very helpful for me in deciding what do do after being diagnosed a month ago.
Michelle
Hi Michelle, I am so happy to hear that. That is the ONLY reason I have my site up—to help others get to answers faster than it’s taken me! If I would have only known what I know now, I wouldn’t have suffered so long! Take care and hope you feel better real soon! Mo
I’m struggling been gluten free for a month yesterday not sure yet if its helping other than the bloating feeling has gone in my gut. Was diagnosed in Nov 10 its been a long yr! First being put on a generic form of synthroid o my awful! Then being switched to synthroid! Again awful hair falling out by the handful and felt worse by far. Now in the past 2 mos going completely natural! O forgot took nature throid to find out I had an allergic reaction! I’ve been on an adrenal stress formula, vit D , selenium pure and a few others. Plus a compounded projest cream. I do feel slighty better but …….. I plan to keep up with your post to better understand my Hashimotos……. any advise I would love! Thank you!
HI Lisa(?),
My first month off of gluten was no picnic! It took longer than a month for me to really begin to feel the difference. My food allergies began to drift away (most of them) after 3 months. I think 3 months seem to be a key when going gluten free. Hopefully you will feel better soon. Check out some of my other posts to see if anything helps you. Take care and hang in there! Mo :0)
I see you have Dr. Boydston as your link for functional medicine doc. Do you use him? Or do you have people you know that have used him? I really am trying to figure all this out … as you can see
Getting frustrated with my pain.
Yes, I use Dr. Boydston. I truly recommend a Functional Medicine doctor IF you are ready to take control of your own health. They become your “partners in health” and this is something missing from traditional medicine. Hope you feel better! Check out our Facebook page!
PS google coffee and gluten intolerance to read about biomimicry. Proteins in coffee can be confused as gluten by your body in significant amounts of people per recent reports from labs.
THANK YOU for this site. I’ve been so disappointed with myself and the weight gain, the fatigue, and just feeling down. I use to be so active before being Hashimotos. I believe your site will help me so much.
Dear all,
I have some symptoms that I think can be related to Hashimoto’s. Namely I feel strong brain fog after eating, I feel much better when I fast, and I get sluggish for a long time after I eat. Is it anyhow related to Hashimoto’s? how have you been diagnosed? My blood was checked for T3, T4 and TSH two years ago while my brain fog was worse than now, and results came back normal. Do you think it could be Hashimoto’s?
Hi, I was found to have a cancerous tumor on my right thyroid and a benign nodule on my left side. My blood work shows I have HD. My doctor wants to remove both sides of my thyroid, but I refuse to get both out and agree with only the side that has the tumor. I would like to try the glutein free diet. It seems very hard to follow. Is it really that bad if you do get a cross contamination. Isn’t cutting down on most glutein better than not. I will definately try. Also thanks for this site and all the valuable suggestions. Appreciate it. Good health to all.
Hello Ann,
I am so sorry it’s taken me so long to get back to you! It is a bit hard at first to go gluten free. The good thing is that if you are diligent, you begin to eat more healthy and you feel much better. It is probably up to the individual how sensitive they are to gluten after going gluten free. Once your body is rid of the gluten (which can take from weeks to months!), you tend to be more sensitive to it…. not necessarily more of an allergy/sensitivity but rather your body now can send out the troops with more “gusto” and you will really feel the difference if you accidentally get gluten from somewhere. I am terribly sensitive – gluten you cannot even see with your eyes can really make me sick! Most of my friends who are gluten intolerant have similar stories. You tend to feel that just avoiding obvious gluten will do it when you first start out only to find out that hidden cross-contamination can be a real problem. Unfortunately, cutting back on gluten will not help. Complete and total avoidance is the only way to be on a gluten free diet. See some of my other posts for podcasts that would help you confirm this decision to go gluten free. Hope this helped. Take care, Mo
Hi emin-hajizada, Even if your T3, T4 and TSH were “normal”, you still would need to check the thyroid antibodies. My daughter is in normal range for everything else but has high antibodies. Can you get your doctor to check for thyroid antibodies? I would do that. As far as the symptoms… those symptoms could be related to other things too so it would be good to rule out Hashimoto’s first and then go from there. If Hashimoto’s comes out negative, you might also try seeing if you have food allergies since you said it happens after you eat. Thanks for the comment! Take care, Mo