[snelsen]

#1175373

Best wishes to all of you, regarding what you decide to eat or not to eat. Since there are varying thoughts on this topic, my thinking is that what we eat or don’t eat, is not relevant in any way to Graves’.

The only change I have made, and not for any reason except that I like good food, is to organically grow most of my fresh produce. I notice that carrots, especially, taste wonderful, like they did when I was a little girl in Iowa.
I pretty much dug up my lawn, planted vegetables, and lots of berries. In the northwest, much food winters over, so I can go outside now for beets, onions, garlic, chard, leeks, carrots and kale, to mention a few I remember at this moment.
Shirley

[HelenYH]

#1175374

Kimberly wrote:

Hello – The latest medical guidance doesn’t give a time frame, but it does note that “…serum free T4 levels may normalize with persistent elevation of serum T3.”

Thanks Kimberly. I read some of the article – the part about management with antithyroid medications.

I just got back my TSI level today. It’s 6.1 whatever that means. My TSI was 403 September 2011 (but I think this was in a different unit/scale). They think my TSI went up compared to September 2011.

Anyway, I was told to increase my methimazole to 15md daily. This time I just said OK. I think given the free T3/T4 results, it made sense to me to increase from 12.5 to 15mg.

[HelenYH]

#1175375

snelsen wrote:

Best wishes to all of you, regarding what you decide to eat or not to eat. Since there are varying thoughts on this topic, my thinking is that what we eat or don’t eat, is not relevant in any way to Graves’.

The only change I have made, and not for any reason except that I like good food, is to organically grow most of my fresh produce. I notice that carrots, especially, taste wonderful, like they did when I was a little girl in Iowa.
I pretty much dug up my lawn, planted vegetables, and lots of berries. In the northwest, much food winters over, so I can go outside now for beets, onions, garlic, chard, leeks, carrots and kale, to mention a few I remember at this moment.
Shirley

Thanks Shirley. I am happy with doing home-cooking these days. I feel better for it. I totally agree about organic food tasting better I love beets and leeks. Someday, when I am retired, I will consider growing my own veggies. But that might mean I can’t travel anymore?

[adenure]

#1175376

I don’t think food has much to do with it, although certain foods can help our bodies be healthier and heal better. But, I wouldn’t blame Graves onset on food. I think genetics and stress tend to be the triggers. For me, it was child birth and stress together along with the physical stress of a bad reaction to an antibiotic Whammo! I always ate pretty healthy, but I try to do even better now. I had a thyroidectomy 6 mo. ago and getting Graves made me realize that I need to try my best to take care of myself and not stress so much about things. I’m working on it… I really like fresh vegetable juice. Wish I had a juicer! I go to Robek’s and get a freshly juiced beet, apple, orange, spinach, kale, celery, parsley- you name it- combo. So good.

[HelenYH]

#1175377

An update: It looks like my nutritional changes have made a difference. In addition to the increased methimazole dosage (which didn’t seem to improve my hypERthyroid symptoms after a few weeks), I started taking some nutritional supplements (copper, magnesium, boron, etc.) and also started soy protein again.

Instead of taking multi-vitamins and combination supplements, I took the supplements individually so I could tailor the dosage of each one. I started the supplements January 9th and the blood test on Jan 22nd showed normal free T4 and almost normal free T3! 4 weeks later again, my free T4 is at the low end of normal and the free T3 is 3.9! Tomorrow I am to decrease methimazole back to 10mg daily and re-do labs in 4 weeks!

As soon as I started the copper supplements and stopped the zinc supplements, I started to feel better and less hungry and had fewer and less severe headaches! Also avoiding green leafy vegetables (and minimum chocolate) because apparently these have cadmium in them which I’ve read can aggravate Graves symptoms.

Also on an anti-stress herbal supplement and cut out a few volunteer duties to help de-stress.

I think I am on the right course of action for me at least. The goal for me is, of course, to get the auto-immune issue resolved and consequently Graves Disease gone!

[beanie1960]

#1175378

I think there is a possibility that food may cause auto immune diseases. I think processed food, and all the additives and chemicals are bad for everybody. I have also read that Aspartame may be a possible cause of Graves. I have read this is many places, not just in one article. I have NO family members with any thyroid problems at all, yet I was diagnosed with Graves over 2 years ago. I drank a ton of Diet Pepsi. I have since quit consuming anything with Aspartame. I also read an article written by a doctor (wish I could find it now) that mentioned something about going on diets, and drinking Aspartame at the same time you are dieting. I can’t remember what it all said, just that there could be a link to Graves. I noticed some of you mentioned going on diets and such. Just curious if you drank soda with Aspartame or anything else with Aspartame when you were dieting, or even when you weren’t dieting. Right now I am trying a gluten free diet. I just started about 5 weeks ago. I want to see if it changes anything. I still have my thyroid and I take 5 MG of Methimazole every day. I would try anything to get this in remission.

[Harpy]

#1175379

From what I have read there is a genetic predisposition but this does not always result in GD and it is believed that there is a significant environmental factor or factors that triggers the autoimmune response and there are a multitude of things that have been proposed as triggers.

As the Medical proffession could give no guidance to triggers and aggravations, we did our own research from articles, blogs, forums, scientific papers and made the most informed decisions we could, there is a lot of rubbish out there, but there is also a lot of useful information, but many hours must be spent wading through it.

We took the approach of “do no harm” so everything was run through the worst outcome considerations with regards to vitamins, supplements etc.

We looked at increasing positive influences and reducing negative influences.

So along with the PTU, we researched diet, toxins, exercise, lifestyle, stress management (meditation, yoga etc), behavioural patterns (self sabotage etc.), sun & Vitamin D, and anything else that we could think of that could be having an impact one way or the other. With all of that we always used a degree of moderation as per the 80:20 rule, which says 20% of the effort gets you 80% of the way and most of the time the last 20% is not worth the 80% of the effort. If absolute perfection is going to increase stress & trauma in your life, it probably isn’t worth the effort and is going to negate any benefits.

She now has all levels good, full thyroid function, antibodies well below minimum and has started weaning down the PTU to attempt remission later this year, although it’s been a long slog over the last 6 years, we both believe that she would not be where she is if she hadn’t made those changes in her life.

My partner decided this path for herself, I just supported her in the process, many people don’t want to make any changes in their lives, that’s their choice.

[Harpy]

#1175380

As there was som Gluten discussion earlier, just thought I’d post this link, it’s not specifically thyroid, it is a current Gluten Sensitivity (GS) testing protocol from Cyrexlabs directed at clinicians, the preamble though gives a good outline at how broad the impact of Gluten is to health and it goes much wider than just Coeliac Disease (CD), and I dare say it will get even bigger as time passes.

https://www.cyrexlabs.com/Portals/0/Docs/ClinicalApplications/ClinicalAppArray3.pdf

From other things I have read, particularly for Coeliac’s, but likely for anyone whom has a Gluten sensitivity a Gluten free (GF) diet may not be enough to heal the damage, the primary reason being that the GF diet has been comercialised and the poor quality of processed food that doesn’t contain gluten is just packaged and labled GF.

The acronym SAD is becoming more prevalant in describing the Standard American Diet, mind you it applies just as well here in Australia and SAD is an appropriate judgement of it’s nutritional quality. In the past if you were diagnosed with CD or GS it was tough, there was nothing on supermarket shelves that was GF, this meant by default you were forced to go back to basics and prepare meals from raw ingredients, meat, veg, fruit, etc. and hence the diet was healthier irrespective of the gluten content, now with all the choice on the shelves you can also have GF SAD and not feel left out.

[HelenYH]

#1175381

beanie1960 wrote:

Just curious if you drank soda with Aspartame or anything else with Aspartame when you were dieting, or even when you weren’t dieting. Right now I am trying a gluten free diet. I just started about 5 weeks ago. I want to see if it changes anything. I still have my thyroid and I take 5 MG of Methimazole every day. I would try anything to get this in remission.

No, I did not drink soda, let alone with Aspartame. I didn’t go on fad diets, just healthy balanced diet. I do think that I had an imbalance of trace elements and minerals due to over-supplementing certain trace elements. I think going gluten-free is a good thing. I am not really gluten-free but try to avoid that and dairy during the week.

[HelenYH]

#1175382

Harpy wrote:

We looked at increasing positive influences and reducing negative influences.

So along with the PTU, we researched diet, toxins, exercise, lifestyle, stress management (meditation, yoga etc), behavioural patterns (self sabotage etc.), sun & Vitamin D, and anything else that we could think of that could be having an impact one way or the other. With all of that we always used a degree of moderation as per the 80:20 rule, which says 20% of the effort gets you 80% of the way and most of the time the last 20% is not worth the 80% of the effort. If absolute perfection is going to increase stress & trauma in your life, it probably isn’t worth the effort and is going to negate any benefits.

Did your partner also go on a gluten-free diet? I did not and will probably not even though I try to minimize gluten and dairy in my diet.

[Kimberly]

#1175383

@HelenYH – So glad to hear that you are doing well! It’s important to note that some patients don’t see relief right away from starting ATDs, as it can take some time for the body to burn off it’s existing stores of excess thyroid hormone. I have not seen any credible medical research on the link between cadmium and Graves’. Definitely make sure your entire medical team is aware of all the supplements you are taking, as some can interfere with specific meds, and others can be toxic at excessive levels.

@Harpy – It looks like that piece was drawn from credible sources…although it’s important to have a little healthy skepticism when it’s clear that the maker is trying to sell testing services to practitioners! I hear a lot of anecdotal stories about gluten and Graves’, although I haven’t seen any research reports specifically linking the two…this would definitely be a good area for further research! Love your comments on the 80/20 rule and how “absolute perfection” can serve to *increase* stress in your life. So true!

[HelenYH]

#1175384

Kimberly wrote:

@HelenYH – So glad to hear that you are doing well! It’s important to note that some patients don’t see relief right away from starting ATDs, as it can take some time for the body to burn off it’s existing stores of excess thyroid hormone.

Thanks Kimberly. It took me more than 14 months to get to the point where the free T3 was close to normal. Does it really that this long? Also, my T4 and T3 started to decrease only about 2 weeks after starting on 10mg daily initially. Then it went up & up until 2 months ago. All that time I think I was taking too much zinc etc.

[Kimberly]

#1175385

@HelenYH – Sorry, I must have misread your earlier post…I thought you were talking about a period of weeks, not over a year! The existing stores of excess thyroid hormone are typically burned off within a matter of a few weeks. Most patients respond fairly quickly to Anti-Thyroid Drugs, but every patient is unique.

It might be worth having your endo and/or General Practitioner review *all* the meds and supplements you are taking…just to rule out whether that might be causing an issue in getting your hyperthyroidism fully under control. For example, there are some “thyroid support” supplements out there that are loaded with iodine. For a hyperthyroid patient, that can be like throwing gasoline on a fire. Also, there are drugs (such as amiodarone) that can cause hyperthyroidism.

Take care!

[Stymie]

#1175386

I don’t know if there’s any correlation. But I was always on a diet, trying to et healthy nd sty helthy. and never happy with my current weight. So just before being diagnosed itch graves I started drinking soy milk or silk. I used to drink diet sodas all the time, but just in the last few months cut them all out.

Just thought I’d chime in since so many had been consuming the same things as I was when diagnosed.

Coincidence?

Diane

[LillyL]

#1175387

When I was diagnosed I was drinking Soy Milk as well (Silk) I stopped immediately after being diagnosed because I did allot of reading and found that Soy can be a problem. My Endo didn’t agree but I think ?hmmm?

[Author]

Posts