[Harpy]

#1175388

HelenYH wrote:

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.

Not initially, our diet improved progressively over the last six years and has been gluten and dairy free for about 2 years, apart from the odd indiscretion. The Paleo style diet we follow is gluten free by default as all Grains, Dairy, Soy and processed foods are cut out.

I went along for the ride, not really expecting any changes as i was relatively healthy, but did notice quite a few symptoms and behaviours change in myself and this then inspired me to dig a bit deeper and look at the whole Gluten and autoimmune thing a bit more. The way I see autoimmune and other chronic diseases is that they are multifactorial, there is no singular cause, but instead there are multiple factors which contribute to stressing the body, including diet, environmental toxins, psychological & emotional stress, minor infections etc. These things are usually refered to as triggers, but I think “the straw that broke the camels back” is a more apt description, there was much more damage done before the final straw was added.

In no way do I suggest one should avoid conventional treatment, but instead we thought of it as a multipronged approach using PTU to manage the thyroid hormones and improving all other factors we could think of to give my partners body the best chance at healing. Some people see the dietary changes as unnecesary denial, each to their own, personally we don’t, we have adopted this as what we feel is a healthier way of living, so why would we go back to what we were doing in the past.

[Harpy]

#1175389

Kimberly wrote:

@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!

I agree totally with the scepticism, but there have been quite a few studies done in the last 10 years which have found clear associations between Gluten and a variety of psychological conditions like anxiety, depression and schizophrenic symptoms, when a Gluten Free diet is adopted the symptoms disappear, though I didn’t want to bore you with links to corroborating studies. This is not the same in all cases though so it just tends to confirm that chronic human disease conditions do not always conform to the simple cause:effect hypothesis.
There are very few instances in the natural world where simple cause:effect happens, from the culmination of storm fronts down to bacterial infections, change one factor in the cascade and it becomes a non event, just like pulling one domino out of the line, the cascade stops at the gap.
In my mind while research is focussed on a singular cause there will always be confounding factors to rule out the studied cause, somehow we need to look at chronic disease conditions with a broader view, I feel “the perfect storm” would be an appropriatet description.

There is an alternative Hypothesis being put forward now in relation to the multi autoimmune disease situation, the current hypothesis being; because you have one you are more succeptable to get another ie the Hashi’s & Coeliac connection, some are now suggesting it may actually be due to both stemming from the same source, rather than one following the other. It is a fine distinction, whether one follows the other or both are running side by side, but it is a significant difference in how research could be targeted better.

As for the 80:20 rule, I first came across that in business studies many years ago, but since I have found it applies well in the natural world as well as our lives. Just think of domestic chores you can get 80% of the effect for 2 hours effort or you can spend the whole day breaking your back for not much better. By the way, yes I do have hands on experience too, but don’t get in my way because when I’m in flight it’s like “Tornado Alley”, I hate domestics, so it’s like a military operation, take no prisoners, get in, mission accomplished, get out and relax.

[HelenYH]

#1175390

Just wanted to report on my latest status. While on Methimazole, my free T4 went below normal and the free T3 became normal, and the TSI went down from 6.1 to 5.8! – finally. So the endocrinologist reduced my methimazole dosage. I think a number of factors contributed to this, in tandem with the right methimazole dosage: a good diet, the right nutritional supplements, stress reduction, exercise.

[barbra]

#1175391

It seems that in my case the problem didn’t start until the stress in my life stopped. I took care of my husband, who was fighting cancer for 7 1/2 years, with no health worries of my own. 4 months after he passed away I noticed a small goiter, then weight loss and so on.
Incidentally, my youngest son was diagnosed with Hashimoto a month before my Graves.
So, did the stress keep the Graves away?

[HelenYH]

#1175392

barbra wrote:

It seems that in my case the problem didn’t start until the stress in my life stopped. I took care of my husband, who was fighting cancer for 7 1/2 years, with no health worries of my own. 4 months after he passed away I noticed a small goiter, then weight loss and so on.
Incidentally, my youngest son was diagnosed with Hashimoto a month before my Graves.
So, did the stress keep the Graves away?

Hi Barbra, I am not an expert in this at all. I am pretty sure that Graves Disease symptoms can take a while to manifest. It doesn’t happen overnight. I doubt that the stress kept Graves Disease away. I have read that stress reduction can help with Graves Disease. In any case, stress reduction is good for a healthy life, so I have nothing to lose by keeping stress down.

[Kimberly]

#1175393

barbra wrote:

So, did the stress keep the Graves away?

Hello – Stress is generally implicated as a *trigger* for either being diagnosed with an autoimmune disease or having a flareup of an existing condition. I have heard from a small number of patients who were diagnosed long after a stressful event – but it’s hard to say whether the cumulative effect of the stress was involved, or whether there was something entirely different going on. Unfortunately, there is much about autoimmunity that researchers still don’t understand.

[Author]

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