Hey people!
I want to be totally honest with you.
I had a really rough week.
As you may or may not know I have Hashimoto’s and another autoimmune disease called ankylosing spondylitis.
And this week I had a flare up of the ankylosing spondylitis.
I feel a lot better today and I seem to have things under control.
And the reality is, I didn’t really deviate a great deal from my normal routine, but I had a flare up anyway.
And what this meant for me was a lot of low back and sacral pain. (It made it difficult to stand in one place for too long and even to sit comfortably for extended periods of time.)
And the worse part of it was that it set off a chain reaction of negative thinking that had me feeling pretty discouraged.
I felt like this was evidence that I had failed.
The good news for me is that this used to be a regular part of my life and now it’s a rare occurrence.
And this is the hard reality of autoimmunity.
Sometimes, even when you do all the right things, you can still, out of nowhere, have flare ups.
But, here’s the thing, the other side of this reality is that sometimes these things happen.
And it doesn’t make all the hard work and sacrifice you’ve put in meaningless.
It shouldn’t have any more significance than the periods of feeling great (which are far more numerous for me these days).
It was just a few days of a storm, which passed.
If I’m totally honest, there were moments when I let that storm over shadow everything else.
Here’s what helped me get back on track.
I keep a journal and I dug it out and read it and what I was reminded of was long term steady improvement and many more good than bad days.
So, with the help of that record, I was able to right the ship and reorient my thinking and realize that while I felt like crap, in the bigger picture, I have made some tremendous progress.
So, there are a couple of big takeaways here, I think.
First, this is one of the important uses for a journal that is sometimes overlooked.
It can provide balance so that you don’t get overly discouraged or overly excited about things.
I don’t know about you, but sometimes bad or unpleasant things seem to occupy more space in my head than good things.
Even though in relative terms, they are fewer and farther between, they can somehow get inflated and seem bigger than they are.
So I was able to check that and see clearly how feelings aren’t facts.
Secondly, I’m going back over the things I did that were different to try and determine if any of them could have been responsible for this flare up.
And I found a few things that, while apparently relatively minor, could be factors. (Like some slip ups in my diet, some things I’ve reintroduced recently, some slip ups in my routine – meditation, exercise, etc.)
So I am also able to recreate the lead up to this flare up and possibly learn how to better navigate it in the future.
Lastly, the biggest takeaway is that I’m here for the long haul and set backs are inevitable parts of life.
The key is to not make them bigger than they are and to learn and grow from them.
Because whether you think you are succeeding or failing on this journey towards remission, you are right.
As much as anything, a lot of the impact of autoimmunity happens between our ears (both literally and figuratively).
The part you can control is the perception of what’s happening.
The judgement about what it means and how you respond to that adversity.
Thoughts, comments, likes and shares are, as always welcome and encouraged.
Today’s Hashimoment: Are You Making Enough Time for You?
Hey, people!
In today’s post I’d like to address the issue of taking care of yourself.
I was speaking with a colleague yesterday and he observed that a common theme he has seen with those of us with Hashimoto’s (and I had to admit this described me to a “T”, as well).
And that recurrent theme is that we are generally type A people who tend towards being workaholics and we often devote most of our time to helping and serving others and have very little left over for ourselves.
This was a narrative he saw coming up over and over again.
And this really plays nicely into the stress problem we have, as well. We tend to operate under an enormous amount of stress even though stress is the main villain in our stories.
Right? So many people have had had a major stressful event or series of stressful events that preceded and/or led to them getting sick and diagnosed with Hashimoto’s.
Yet, so many of us don’t really learn this lesson.
We just adapt and power on and we put ourselves at the bottom of our “to do” lists.
Well, I want to invite you to change this.
Let’s all commit to getting free of this vicious cycle.
It’s ok to put yourself at the top of your “to do” list and to make the rest of the list read “nothing but things I love to do and fun”.
Another thing my colleague observed was that a casualty of this way of behaving was that some of us have forgotten the things we love to do and the things that are really fun for us.
So this week, focus on making yourself a priority and on dusting off those things that you love to do.
Dig them out of the garage or the attic.
Take them for a spin again and allow yourself what you deserve. Time and space to breathe, laugh and heal.
For me, it’s playing my ukulele. It’s a blast. I actually schedule time to play it a little every day.
Please share with us some of things you love to do that you haven’t done for a while.
Just to give us some good ideas!
Have a great day! (Unless you have other plans. 🙂 )
TODAY’S HASHIMOMENT: GIVING UP TO GET THINGS BACK
In the phone conversations I had last week, I was reminded,
once again, of one of the ironies of dealing with Hashimoto’s.
That is the fact that for many of us, we have to give things up to get things back.
And also for many of us, this is not something that we do willingly.
We fight, kicking and screaming.
And often, we don’t get to that place of surrender until we’ve been forced to our knees.
I know this is true of my own struggle with Hashimoto’s.
I basically lost my life as I knew it: my business, my health, my ability to function like a regular human being.
And then I hit ROCK BOTTOM.
And once I did, I had no choice but to start giving things up.
I gave up gluten, dairy and soy. Then I gave up all the other grains, beans, most nuts and seeds and nightshades. (Some of those foods I’ve since added back into my diet.)
I gave up a stress driven life and created a real daily stress strategy.
I gave up drinking so much caffeine and not sleeping enough.
I gave up all the drama.
I gave up alcohol.
Then something amazing happened.
Through all that giving up I started to get things back.
I got my energy back, I got my thinking and memory back.
I got hope back.
I went whole days and then the better part of weeks without pain.
I got a new, simpler life.
I felt joy again.
A life that I am truly grateful for today.
My favorite analogy about all of this is that some of the greatest paintings in the history of art were painted with very few colors.
There is an amazing freedom and abundance in doing and having less.
If you spend all day long thinking about everything you can’t have, you’ll be miserable.
If, instead, you can see that you literally have a universe of abundance open up to you by having less, then you open yourself up to receive it.
And you create space for healing. 🙂
Please share your thoughts, comments, observations.
Are you at peace with giving things up to get your life back or are you still fighting it?
As many of you who follow this page know, I believe it’s really important to stay positive.
And in order to do this, we really need to say “yes” to things.
“Yes” to commitment.
“Yes” to loving and forgiving ourselves.
“Yes” to being kind and compassionate to everyone (including ourselves).
“Yes” to our highest good.
But today I want to you to think about the importance of saying “yes” to “no”. ?
When you are struggling with Hashimoto’s, stress is not your friend. It is a major trigger of autoimmunity.
Virtually everyone I have spoken to (and this is also true of my own journey) went through a major stressful event that happened just before their health crashed.
It was the straw that broke the camel’s back and it ushered in autoimmunity or it was the final insult that led to major flare up and downward spiral.
So we really have to be extra careful about where we decide to put our time and energy. With Hashimoto’s these are super valuable commodities.
And sometimes, we need to build up our reserves and save them.
Any type of savings requires some discipline and some restraint.
I was speaking with someone this morning and she remarked how living with Hashimoto’s requires us to kind of be permanently on “island time”.
I love that!
It’s ok to say “no”.
Say “no” to your kids. Some people feel like they can never say no to their kids. In the real world they will experience an abundance of “no”.
It won’t hurt them for you to say “no” every so often. In fact, it’s better off if you do.
Say “no” to to that personal trainer or yoga teacher who is pushing you to do 10 more minutes or to go farther than you know you should.
They’ll get over it.
Say “no” to other relatives or spouses who are being too demanding or too needy. In the long run, they need you feeling better.
They also need to understand that an important part of you getting there is giving you time and space to heal.
Say “no” to the part of you that says you’re not good enough if you don’t push harder and get less sleep.
Say “no” to the guilt that surges into your mind when you embrace these “no”s. There’s a good chance that voice is not coming from you.
Healing requires us to learn how to still love ourselves even when we say “no”.
Comments, thoughts, ideas likes and shares with anyone you think might benefit are encouraged.
In this first post of this series we will examine different Hashimoto’s types and explore the possibility of different types or subtypes of the disease in women.
Autoimmune thyroid disease is the most common autoimmune disease in the US and it affects an estimated 2% of the female population and an estimated 0.2% of the male population.
That’s roughly 3.08 million women in the US. Yet, for some reason all of these cases are treated the same way in the conventional medical model.
If it is determined that they are hypothyroid (their TSH is high and their total T4 is low), then they are prescribed synthetic T4 (Synthroid or a generic equivalent). From there, their TSH and total T4 is monitored and managed and kept within a certain range (which many doctors don’t agree on). That’s the full extent of care.
Actually there are many problems with this approach, but the biggest one is that it ignores two fundamental truths.
Firstly, not all of these people are at the the same stage of progression of the disease. Hashimoto’s is a progressive disease, if untreated or poorly managed it can progress and advance and cause widespread damage in the body. (More on this in a moment.)
Secondly, not everyone who has Hashimoto’s is at the same place in their lives. Women, in particular go through major changes in their lives in adolescence, pregnancy, peri-menopause and in their later years of menopause.
It is common knowledge that the endocrine system, the immune system and the central nervous are all impacted by these changes of life.
Why, then, wouldn’t Hashimoto’s be effected, also?
Well, the truth is, that Hashimoto’s is impacted by different stages in life and these changes can provide important clues on how to better manage the disease and how to prioritize and focus care.
Let’s examine this theory and review the different stages of autoimmune disease and Hashimoto’s.
3 Stages of Hashimoto’s:
In the medical literature several different researchers have identified 3 stages of Hashimoto’s disease.
Dr. Datis Kharrazian has proposed 3 stages of autoimmunity and researchers Arvin Parvathaneni, Daniel Fischman and Pramil Cheriyath has identified 3 stages of Hashimoto’s, as well.
Both theories overlap and this matters because the further the disease progresses the more it impacts other systems of the body.
Here’s an excerpt from my book, Roadmap to Remission which details this progression:
Stage 1: Silent Autoimmunity
In this stage, the body has lost tolerance to its own tissue, but there are no symptoms yet and it doesn’t really affect the way that the system functions. This stage can, however, be identified by lab tests that show elevated antibodies. People can stay in this stage for years.
This is the best place to begin some sort of treatment aimed at prevention, because your odds of getting good results are highest.
Physiologically, in this stage thyroid specific antigens are presented to antigen presenting cells (APCs) by thyroid cells, often after some kind of insult or environmental stressor(s). (For example, infection(s), excessive iodine, pregnancy, toxins in cigarette smoke, etc.)
Stage 2: Autoimmune Reactivity
In this stage, the destruction of the target tissue has begun. Elevated antibodies and some symptoms appear. However, the destruction is not significant enough to actually be labeled autoimmune disease because 70–90 percent of the target tissue has not yet been destroyed. This stage is where a lot of Hashimoto’s patients are.
They may or may not have been placed on thyroid replacement hormone, and that may or may not have normalized their thyroid lab results. However, the destructive autoimmune process is active and is progressing.
This is a very important stage for treating the immune dysfunction, because you have a greater chance to slow or stop the destruction of that tissue and slow the progression to other autoimmune diseases.
Physiologically, this is the stage where APCs (Antigen Presenting Cells) differentiate into T cells and B cells and begin the process of destruction.
Stage 3: Autoimmune Disease
This stage is where Western medicine finally acknowledges the autoimmune disease. And it takes this long, because you need significant destruction of tissue in order to see the destruction with an MRI or ultrasound.
Other findings include elevated antibodies, serious and significant symptoms, lab results, and special studies that all confirm a loss of function. Unfortunately, this is really late in the game. With Hashimoto’s, this stage is where the thyroid is almost completely destroyed.
Luckily, most people don’t reach this stage before they have been given thyroid replacement hormone, because the symptoms have already become so serious that they will have sought out a doctor to help them before they got here.
Finally, this is the stage, physiologically, where positive feedback has led to massive destruction of the thyroid gland and major loss of function in other systems of the body. T cells have induced cytotoxicity, and B cells have produced antibodies that have led to apoptosis or programmed cell death of thyroid cells, and macrophages have infiltrated the thyroid and started producing the interleukin proteins we spoke about earlier.
The reality is that Hashimoto’s can begin at any time in a woman’s life and during the different changes that her body goes through there are different challenges and stressors that can exacerbate or complicate the disease.
In studying the medical literature and in examining my patient population (at the time of writing this blog post I have spoken with over 2,000 people with Hashimoto’s, 99% them have been women, and I have treated over 500 women).
I have identified five different times of life for the onset and/or exacerbation of Hashimoto’s that could represent “types” or “subtypes” of Hashimoto’s patients.
The onset for this age group is most commonly mid-puberty. (Although we are seeing an increase in the prevalence of children diagnosed with the disease.)
Of course, puberty is a time of many hormonal changes, which can also impact the immune system and the nervous system and brain.
These young women have many of the common symptoms of Hashimoto’s and hypothyroidism and may also have developmental disorders if the disease has gone undiagnosed or it began earlier in childhood.
Common symptoms include:
According to an Italian study, the evaluation of these patients, according to their final outcome, revealed that subjects with deteriorating thyroid function had significantly higher anti-TG antibodies, TSH concentrations, and greater thyroid volume at presentation. And after 5 years, more than 50% of the patients remained or became euthyroid (meaning they had a normally functioning thyroid gland).
So this can resolve, and never be a problem again or it can resurface later in life. One of the life events that leads to it resurfacing and/or is a cause for onset all by itself is pregnancy.
In pregnancy, a woman’s body goes through many hormonal changes and the immune system makes large adjustments in order to preserve the fetus and not reject it as a foreign invader.
During the third trimester a pregnant woman becomes TH-2 dominant, then TH-1 dominant after giving birth. This is thought to be due more to the body naturally suppressing TH-1, rather than boosting TH-2.
The Th-1 suppression ends after birth and this causes the immune system to surge. If it is already unstable, this can result in the onset of Hashimoto’s.
Postpartum Thyroiditis
This is inflammation in the thyroid that comes on after pregnancy in about 5 to 7 % of women, usually within two to four months after giving birth.
Interestingly, this is also a form of autoimmune disease. (In fact, these two disorders are very hard to distinguished from one another.)
This usually presents as a painless, small, firm enlargement of the thyroid or goiter. And it can cause either hyper or hypothyroid symptoms.
As noted, this can also lead to postpartum depression because of it’s impact on thyroid function.
Common Symptoms:
During postpartum thyroiditis, there are, potentially two phases. The inflammation and release of thyroid hormone may first cause signs and symptoms similar to those of a hyperthyroid condition, including:
Hyperthyroid symptoms usually happen two to ten months after delivery—most commonly at three months—with recovery taking place over the next two to three months after it begins. It is important to figure out if it’s postpartum thyroiditis or Graves’ disease with proper lab testing.
Later, as thyroid cells are attacked, signs and symptoms of a hypothyroid condition may develop, including:
Hypothyroid symptoms usually happen two to twelve months after delivery—most commonly at six months. About eighty percent of women with postpartum thyroiditis return to normal thyroid function around the one-year mark, however, 30 to 50 percent develop permanent hypothyroidism within nine years.
So again, it can resolve and then resurface later after another pregnancy or another stressful time of life or other life change (see below).
Pregnancy and the Pituitary
Another thing that can cause hypothyroidism with pregnancy is the pituitary becoming depressed. Chronic stressors like food intolerances, blood sugar imbalances, gut infections and out of whack hormones can all depress the function of the pituitary.
And the pituitary is responsible for signaling the thyroid, so when it’s depressed it can fail to send enough TSH to the thyroid. Which means this isn’t a thyroid problem at all. It’s really a pituitary issue. For many women this can result in low thyroid function and depression.
And, of course, proper thyroid hormone levels are also essential for the healthy development of the fetus and infants. Some researchers believe that one factor in the development of autism is severe hypothyroidism in their mothers.
In addition, TPO andtibodies have been found to be a risk factor for complications during pregnancy and beyond.
Another possible type are women who have difficulty conceiving and suffer one or more miscarraiges due to Hashimoto’s and hypothyroidism.
When women have hypothyroidism, a common problem is an increase of another hormone called prolactin. This causes less of a release of LH, and a loss of progesterone receptor site sensitivity, and a loss in sensitivity to FSH in the follicle. All of these losses lead to problems with ovulation, and they also may hamper communication to the pituitary gland.
Using birth control pills on top of this can further harm the communication and feedback loops in this system. Using herbs to stimulate the ovaries or the reproductive system will also not work unless the hypothyroid issues are corrected.
Studies have found that even mild hypothyroidism may cause ovarian problems. Testing thyroid function is very important with women who suffer from infertility, especially if they have elevated prolactin or they can’t ovulate.
Hypothyroidism may lead to low FSH levels, which may lead to immature follicles and infertility. Suppressed LH levels will often lead to problems with ovulation in timing or abnormal luteal phase progesterone levels. These changes may cause miscarriage, depression in the second half of your cycle, or migraines in the second half of your cycle.
To summarize, hypothyroidism can cause:
There are a number of important issues to address when trying to conceive, here’s a post I wrote on this that goes into more depth on this.
The changes of life leading up to and during the transition to menopause are another time of life when Hashimoto’s can come on, resurface or progress.
As the ovaries retire and reproductive hormones decline, the adrenal glands step in and take over.
Essentially, what happens is this: FSH (Follicle Stimulating Hormone) receptors in the ovaries begin to lose sensitivity during perimenopause. This leads to changes in levels of FSH and estradiol.
The adrenals, in turn, step in and create more adrostenedione, a steroid hormone and this is converted to estrogen by adipose (fat) tissue. It’s the body’s way of compensating for declines in estrogen.
Obviously, there is a potential problem here if the adrenals are already taxed or exhausted. A lot more demands are made on them in perimenopause.
So adrenal health is very important prior and during this transitional time.
Here are some of the common symptoms of peri-menopause and how they are connected to Hashimoto’s:
Common Symptoms and their Causes During Perimenopause
1. Systemic inflammation and pain: This is caused by surges in certain immune cells and proteins called cytokines. Cytokines like IL-6, IL-1 and TNF-alpha are all implicated in Hashimoto’s, as well.
2. Multiple food sensitivities, gastrointestinal symptoms: These are often caused by Intestinal permeability or “leaky gut”: This maybe caused by declines in estrogen, increases in cortisol production, hypothyroidism and dysfunction in the gut. Intestinal permeability is ground zero for autoimmunity, as well.
3. More stress, poor sleep, fatigue during the day: The adrenals have to do additional work when other female hormones, like estrogens decline. Adrenals issues are also very common with Hashimoto’s.
4. Poor circulation, cold hands and feet, poor nails beds, fungal overgrowth in nail beds: This is caused by problems with peripheral circulations, especially in the small vessels. And may be due to altered nitric oxide function. These symptoms are also very common with Hashimoto’s.
5. Brain fog, depression, memory loss and poor cognitive function: This is due to inflammation in the brain and deficiencies or declines in neurotransmitters. These are some of the most common symptoms of Hashimoto’s.
6. Hot flashes, night sweats: A hallmark of perimenopause caused by altered FSH (follicle stimulating hormone) and feedback from the ovaries. This is a less common symptom of Hashimoto’s but something many women experience.
7. Poor bone density: This is caused by problems in osteoclast or bone cell formation and other issues. It is also a very real concern for Hashimoto’s patients, as well because osteoporosis can be a side effect of thyroid medication . (One of the major causes of this breakdown in bone health is the cytokines that we spoke about above.)
Here’s a previous post I wrote on this subject that looks into all of these factors in more depth.
The important take away here is to see that all of these issues must be addressed. As I am fond of repeating, this is way more than a thyroid problem.
If these other areas are not addressed, the result is the perfect recipe for compounded problems and more aggressive symptoms and progression of the disease.
As women enter their later years the symptoms of long standing hypothyroidism and Hashimoto’s become harder to separate from other aging symptoms.
Analysis of patients with long term hypothyroidism due to Hashimoto’s thyroiditis suggested that metabolism of thyroxine (T4), including conversion (via deiodination) to triiodothyronine (T3), was reduced in the elderly. Consequently, low-T3 syndrome is also common in this population.
Another serious concern is that there are real risks of long term treatment with levothyroixine. Adults aged ≥70 years treated with it have a significantly increased risk of fractures, with a strong dose-response relationship, a Canadian research group has found.
Although autoimmune thyroiditis is the most common cause of hypothyroidism in elderly subjects, other things, such as medications can also cause complications. Unfortunately, many elderly women have been prescribed a number of medications and often doctors to not communicate with one another to determine if there are problems that may result from these different prescriptions.
Medications Can Complicate Hypothyroid Symptoms
A small subset of medications including dopamine agonists, glucocorticoids and somatostatin analogs affect thyroid function through suppression of TSH.
Other medications that may affect TSH levels are metformin, antiepileptic medications, lithium carbonate and iodine-containing medications.
In addition, other drugs can alter T4 absorption, T4 and T3 transport in serum and metabolism of T4 and T3, such as proton-pump inhibitors and antacids, estrogens, mitotane and fluorouracil, phenobarbital and rifampin. Amiodarone administration is also associated with hypothyroidism.
The Immune System Also Ages
As the body ages, many systems of the body also age. The immune system is no exception. Aging of the immune system, or immunosenescence, is characterized by a decline of both T and B cell function, and paradoxically the presence of low-grade chronic inflammation.
Chronic inflammation is at the root of Hashimoto’s and autoimmunity and many other disease such as cardiovascular disease and Alzheimer’s. So, this can have serious health impacts over time and be a factor in the progression of these other diseases.
Other Systems Also Decline
Other systems of the body also decline as the body ages, stomach acid levels tend may lessen, the intestinal lining can break down and commensal bacteria may decline and all of this this can impact thyroid hormone absorption and conversion.
In addition, there are numerous cardiovascular symptoms. These include:
There are also a host of psychological issues that are related to the impact of hypothyroidism and autoimmunity on the brain. These include:
Finally there are also pulmonary issues. These include:
Here’s the important take away from this post. Women with Hashimoto’s at different stages of life are not all the same. And treating them all the same way does not make sense.
When you are diagnosed, the stage you have progressed to and where you are in your life are all important factors in determining the best course of treatment. It’s time we start acknowledging this and looking more deeply into the nuances of patient care.
In the next few posts of this series I will examine how the most common challenges for Hashimoto’s patients (weight gain, fatigue/exhaustion, brain fog and memory/cognitive issues and diet) may be different for these different “types” and how the treatment strategies and priorities might also be different.
We will begin by looking at how the brain is impacted in each of these Hashimoto’s “types”.
http://www.thyroidmanager.org/chapter/hashimotos-thyroiditis/ Stages of disease
http://cdn.intechopen.com/pdfs-wm/28726.pdf 3 Stages of Disease referenced
20 and Under:
http://adc.bmj.com/content/83/3/207.short Prevalence and etiology of hypothyroidism in the young
http://www.hindawi.com/journals/jtr/2011/675703/#B2 Autoimmune Thyroid disease in children
P. Saravanan and C. M. Dayan, “Thyroid autoantibodies,” Endocrinology and Metabolism Clinics of North America, vol. 30, no. 2, pp. 315–337, 2001.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24756046 Natural course of Hashimoto’s in children
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4338651/ Thyroid function in pregnancy
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17137901 Natural history of euthyroid in Hashimoto’s patients
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11305796 Clinical course of Hashimoto’s in children and adolescents a 6 year follow up.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2189331 51 cases of children and adolescents with Hashimoto’s
Postpartum Thyroiditis:
http://www.thyroid.org/thyroid-disease-pregnancy/
http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/postpartum-thyroiditis/basics/symptoms/con-20035474
http://annals.org/article.aspx?articleid=691332 14 Cases of Transient Postpartum thyroiditis
https://drknews.com/why-pregnancy-can-trigger-hypothyroidism/
http://arbl.cvmbs.colostate.edu/hbooks/pathphys/endocrine/thyroid/thyroid_preg.html Changes in thyroid function during pregnancy
http://www.thyroidmanager.org/chapter/thyroid-regulation-and-dysfunction-in-the-pregnant-patient/
http://www.indianjmedsci.org/article.asp?issn=0019-5359;year=2003;volume=57;issue=6;spage=252;epage=258;aulast=Kumar Thyroid function tests in pregnancy
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9588218 Shifts in TH-1 and Th-2 during pregnancy
http://www.hindawi.com/journals/mi/2012/416739/ TH-1 suppression rather than TH-2 dominance
Stagnaro-Green A. Clinical review 152: postpartum thyroiditis. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2002;87:4024-7.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4518419/ TPO antibodies and risk for pregnancy complications
Infertility:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1427622 The role of thyroid hormone in ovulation
http://ttvps.com/saegre/revista/numeros/2010/n2/act_efectos_de_hormonas_tiorideas_n2.pdf Effects of thyroid hormone on ovarian function
Perimenopause and Hashimoto’s:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9356978 Perimenopause and thyroid issues (lipid and weight)
http://www.endocrine-abstracts.org/ea/0029/ea0029p1688.htm
https://www.hashimotoshealing.com/hashimotos-and-perimenopause/
Hashimoto’s in the Elderly:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9893482 Hashimoto’s and the elderly
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1987440 Thyroid disease in the elderly
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2889224/ Aging and the immune system
Nature Reviews Endocrinology 7, 435 (August 2011) | doi:10.1038/nrendo.2011.99 Pharmacotherapy: Levothyroxine in the elderly—finding the breaking point by Linda Koch
Hashimoto’s and other autoimmune diseases have multiple causes. There is no single origin and, therefore, to date there is no single solution.
Instead, successful healing requires exploration into the multiple causes of the disease and healing the areas that need attention.
One such area that has recently been discovered to have a major impact on health and disease is the microbiota or the tiny living organisms that populate our bodies.
These various different species of bacteria, viruses and fungi make up the lion’s share of our DNA and are more a part of us than we realized.
In this post we explore the role of bacteria in the formation and healing of autoimmunity and Hashimoto’s.
One of the fundamental things to understand regarding the world of microbes is that they are not separate from us. We are one. And I don’t mean this is a woo woo, philosophical sense.
I mean this is a very real, practical sense.
The Human Microbiome Project
The Human Microbiome Project (HMP) was a United States National Institute of Health (NIH) sponsored project whose goal was to identify and study the microorganisms (little critters) that are found in association with both healthy and diseased humans.
Launched in 2008, it was a five-year project, with a total budget of $115 million. The ultimate goal was to test how changes in the human microbiome are associated with human health or disease.
Here’s some of the things that they discovered:
• No two people have the same microbiome, not even identical twins.
• There are approximately 10 trillion bacteria in (and on) our bodies vs. only 1 trillion human cells. You read that correctly. We have 10x more bacterial cells than we do human cells.
• Bacterial genes outnumber human genes 150:1.
• Our cells have incorporated and use bacterial DNA.
• There are over 1,000 species of bacteria found inside our GI tract alone.
• There are over 1,000 different proteins made by bacteria in the gut which are essential to optimal body function.
• Several diseases are directly associated with a disruption to the microbial ecosystem of the gut. These include, but are not limited to: Asthma, Allergies, Crohn’s, IBS, Obesity and, in my humble opinion, Hashimoto’s.
• Pathogenic bacteria/organisms like candida, h.pylori, etc. have evolved to be natural inhabitants of our gut, and under ideal conditions don’t always lead to illness or cause disease. On the contrary, sometimes they provide vital functions and we’re worse off without them.
• Destroying these pathogens completely has physiological consequences that we’re just beginning to understand. (Remember when the appendix didn’t matter? Oh yeah, we were wrong about that, too. It has been found to be a store house of good bacteria.)
One thing that looking at this research makes abundantly clear is how potentially destructive antibiotic therapy is, especially for children (for whom it is often prescribed).
Of course, these drugs have saved countless lives, when they are used appropriately. But they have been abused and overused and we are now seeing the consequences in new bacteria resistant strains, as well as a wide variety of diseases like digestive disorders and autoimmune disease.
Giving a child or adult antibiotics every time they get an upper respiratory infection (most of which are caused by viruses not bacteria) is often doing little more than setting the table for future disease and a decline in natural immunity and actually makes them more susceptible to infections.
This also has physiological consequences in our guts and it makes us more vulnerable to pathogens because the beneficial bacteria that are killed play an important role in our immune system.
It’s time we stopped looking at medicine as, simply, a war between invading pathogens and our body. It’s more nuanced than that.
As I have written in the past, we are a collection of interacting ecosystems and researchers now know that these ecosystems are composed of a wide variety of friendly organisms.
Just like we need to learn to be good stewards of the earth and our external environment, we also need to view the insides of our bodies in this way and start caring for these internal ecosystems in the same way.
The lesson here is that we can’t just eradicate ourselves to good health. We see this time and time again with pesticides, herbicides and antibiotics.
Lots of patients and practitioners still have mind set that says, “All we need to do is kill ___________(choose your favorite pathogen), then you’ll be healthy.” And many of us have been trained to think and treat this way, whether it is with drugs or herbs and natural supplements.
Well, a lot of times this approach can result in a disruption of the ecosystem of the gut (and sometimes overgrowth of other pathogens). And this doesn’t just happen with drugs like antibiotics, it also happens with natural products like herbs that kill pathogens in our bodies.
It’s time we create a new way of doing things. Figuring tht out is beyond the scope of this post. So, first let’s try and figure out what a “healthy” microbial ecosystem is.
Here’s the thing about your digestive tract, it’s not just one ecosystem. Really, there are several distinct ecosystems that overlap and interact with one another.
Let’s break it down:
There’s your mouth, your esophagus, your stomach, your upper and middle small intestine, your lower small intestine and your colon. The bacteria that populate each of these ecosystems is quite different.
And to complicate things, there’s the intestinal mucosa and lining which has distinctly different species than the space in side the intestine .
In addition, no two people have the same microbiota. Early research on this subject came up with the idea of “enterotypes” which are microbiota types like blood types, but they only looked at a small group of people.
After looking at a lot more people from different cultures researchers determined that it wasn’t so clear cut and there’s so much variation that it’s really hard to be definitive about this. (It’s more nuanced – I think that’s my new motto 🙂 ).
In the following diagram you can get a sense of the number and the diversity of bacteria that populate these various ecosystems.
from http://physrev.physiology.org/content/90/3/859
Frankly, this makes the claims and marketing of probiotics pretty ridiculous (more on that in a moment). No one or two strains of bacteria are going to properly populate your entire digestive tract. Nor does everyone need the same strains.
Furthermore, diversity is more important than overall population of certain strains. A diverse microbiome is the very definition of good health. With diversity comes proper function, more resistant to pathogens, infections, and overgrowth from other species of bacterial, yeast, etc.
Here’s what we have learned about this:
• During vaginal childbirth, we are exposed to our mother’s microbiome. This occurs via the birth canal, and exposure to feces during the birth process.
• We receive between 400-600 different species via breast milk. Also, breast milk contains a powerful prebiotics (which feed good bacteria). This helps these strains to proliferate and colonize inside our GI tract.
This means that births via C-Section and feeding babies formula (rather than breast milk) can have a very real impact on the diversity and overall population of a person’s microbiome.
• An infant’s microbiome reflects the mother’s vaginal bacteria initially, and then it begins to resemble the mother’s mouth, skin, and gut after that.
• After the very early stages of life, the microbiome is generally populated via environmental and food exposure.
• Skin-to-skin contact with parents provides some of the strains comprising a healthy microbiome.
This means that anti-bacterial soap, hand sanitizers and overall germ-phobia can also have a very real ( and not so beneficial) impact on the development of healthy GI flora – especially related to diversity. You want your infants and kids exposed to dirt and grime ( this news will be liberating for some parents and horrifying for others).
Environment also really matters when it comes to a healthy microbiome.
• Those who live in rural environments generally have much greater microbiome diversity than those who live in urban environments. (Working the earth is not just good for the soul, it turns out.)
There is a good deal of evidence to support the idea that the microbiome has a profound impact on the immune system and that it is involved with the prevention as well as initiation and progression of autoimmune disease.
But the idea that probiotics are always good for people with autoimmunity is not supported in the research, at all. On the contrary, there is some evidence that opposite is true and that certain strains of bacteria cause different types of immune responses and affect different autoimmune diseases differently.
And there are many complicating factors here including genetics, environment and type of disease. And mutations and changes in the microbiome can also result in different outcomes.
Like most things, the reality is that there is enormous individual variation and determining whether or not probiotic therapy is beneficial and which probiotics are appropriate is not an easy thing to do.
The reality is that we are only beginning to understand this complex interaction between our immune systems and the microbiome. However, there are two theories about how the microbiota can help protect against autoimmune disease.
The first is known as “specific lineage hypothesis” and it says that in genetically predisposed animals or humans, the microbiota could provide signals that calm our body’s immune responses.
As a result, the microbiota stays in a homeostatic (balanced) relationship with us.
Basically, the microbes are saving themselves and we have acquired these lineages from our mother and they have been passed down.
When a specific microbial lineage is expanded, it blocks the development of autoimmunity. It does so to improve its own odds of staying in this expanded state by suppressing our inflammatory and adaptive responses.
Autoimmunity is calmed as a side effect of this microbial self-preservation.
The second theory is called the “balanced signal hypothesis” this says that the host’s interactions with microbiota are independent of the precise microbiota composition and that the host’s genetics plays a critical role in the conversation with microbes.
So that your genetic profile is more important.
Whereas a balanced host response to good bacteria and this bacteria’s effort to reduce this response do not affect disease development, the inability of the host to control the microbiota properly results in stronger negative signaling provided by the microbiota and a reduction of autoimmunity.
Again, the microbes are looking out for themselves and sending out signals that result in calming autoimmunity.
(Both theories predict that the increase of tolerance would be lost in germ-free conditions without the microbes.)
There is also evidence that the microbiota behaves in different ways depending on the circumstances. It’s not static, it adapts to changing conditions.
Here’s the thing, the microbiota always faces 2 competing problems:
So there’s this constant balancing act that we and our microbiome must do to keep each other healthy.
Bottom line is this, you need to be cautious when using probiotics with autoimmunity and don’t just assume that any variety is going to help.
They might, in fact, not help or make things worse. So, like everything else, you need to carefully assess your need for them and then experiment and keep track to see if they are, in fact, giving you the desired result.
One question I frequently get is “which probiotic is a good one?” As with all things Hashimoto’s related you can see that this is not a simple question and there is so much individual variability that it really depends.
Probiotics are big business. Global probiotics market was valued at $32.06 billion dollars in 2013.
There are literally hundreds of brands and many make outrageous health claims. I’ve experimented with a number of different brands both personally and professionally. For some patients the results have been good, in others, there’s been little or no noticeable effect and for some they’ve actually had adverse reactions.
Some manufacturers and proponents might say these are “die off” reactions and they may be, but it could also be that in that particular individual with that particular genetic makeup and immune profile that they were inappropriate. ( I think that sometimes practitioners use “die off” to cover incompetence).
When deciding which type of probiotic to choose there are a few things that are really important to determine.
Will the strain actually survive digestion to be of any help?
Are the strains actually found in nature?
Are they good quality?
Let’s take a look at these issues:
In order to have any benefit, a probiotic must be able to reach the desired location within your GI tract alive (and the large intestine is by far the most populated bit of real estate in the GI tract).
Many strains of bacteria included in probiotic supplements today are very fragile, some requiring refrigeration. The human gut, on the other hand, is not a hospitable environment. It has very low pH (extremely acidic) environments, it’s body temperature, and it has evolved to keep out invading critters.
A large study done on this subject was done by the Food Standards Agency (FSA), along with Reading University, in the UK. They tested 35 popular commercial probiotic products, mostly comprised of lactobacillus and bifidobacterium strains.
Here’s what they found:
Those 6 were put through survival tests to determine survivability in the large intestine, and only 4 survived the large intestines.
So, at the end of the day, only 4 of the 35 strains showed any chance of survival, and even that was at, or around 50%.
These are not very good odds of survival.
It’s safe to say that many of the probiotic products on the market don’t deliver on their claims because they don’t live long enough to do anything.
This is important and often overlooked. In our arrogance, man has made the false assumption that we can improve upon and do better than billions of years of evolution. Time and time again this has been proven wrong. Remember the Biosphere 2? That experiment didn’t go well.
Mother nature is infinitely more experienced and developed than we are. If we survive as a species, it will only be because we learn to leverage that truth.
(Bacteria are among the earliest forms of life that appeared on Earth billions of years ago. Many believe that more complex cells developed as once free-living bacteria took up residence in other cells, eventually becoming the organelles in modern complex cells. The mitochondria that make energy for our body’s cells is one example.)
Those strains found in nature have a very long track record of survival and adaptation. Those manufactured in laboratories do not. It’s important that the strains you take are found in the human microbiome.
In addition, this also highlights the importance of diversity. Having variety in the gut matters. Taking high doses of a few specific strains, and eating large amounts of the same fermented foods every day can result in self-induced bacterial overgrowth where a couple of species dominate.
This is the same principle that applies to any ecosystem. When you overload a particular species, things get out of balance and it compromises the entire system.
Because probiotics are such big business and are unregulated, this is an important concern. I looked at a study from Consumerlabs, which was a thorough review of many popular probiotic products and strains.
They found that two products did not have the amount of organisms that they claimed. Essential Formulas Dr. Ohira’s Probiotics and Jameison Probitoics were 2 brands that had significantly less number of organisms than advertised. Click here to read the full report.
One type of probiotic I have been experimenting with is called spore form bacteria. These are organisms that survive the stomach and small intestines quite well. They have evolved to be very stable in the environment and also to colonize the GI tract very effectively.
These check all the boxes of the questions we just looked at. They survive digestion, are found in the natural world and they are of superior quality.
What do we know about spores?
• They are found all over the environment (in soil, vegetation, aquatic environments, and the digestive systems of many living species like insects, marine life, mammals, etc.) what this means is that as a probiotic they have evolved to be very resilient.
• Spores remain dormant until they get to the intestinal tract and then they colonize the bowel. They pass through the stomach and upper GI and survive.
• They are normal organisms of our digestive tract and are part of the human biome.
• They have been used in industries where efficacy is closely monitored, for example the pharmaceutical and agriculture industries.
• Human studies have proven spores to be safe and effective.
Why choose spore form bacteria over others?
What’s interesting about these bacteria is that they have been shown to be effective in several ways.
In a previous post I investigated oral tolerance and since then I’ve been looking for supplements to help improve it. These spore form bacteria have been shown to do this in a number of ways:
What brand has these?
The brand that I’ve been experimenting with with promising results thus far is called Megaspore Biotic. 
This is not available in retail stores because it is pharmaceutical grade and really requires some understanding and clinical know how in order to administer it.
It contains five bacillus spore probiotics– the value of each strain is supported by numerous studies and scientific publications. All strains are produced in a GMP facility under drug manufacturing guidelines.
It’s a very powerful spore probiotic formulation, and it delivers more than four billion live probiotic cells daily – a dose that matches and exceeds many other products on the market.
Are there any downsides?
Nothing is perfect. There are some indications that some strains in this product may be histamine producing.
But this is not only true of these strains. There are a number of different bacterial species that produce histamine. For example, these common probitoic species are all histamine producers: E. coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Lactobacillus bulgaricus, Lactobacillus casei, Lactobacillus helveticus, Lactobacillus reuteri. And many of these are found in yogurt and other probiotic products.
So, be aware if you have histamine intolerance that you may have to be very careful about the probiotics you choose. These species have been found to degrade histamine: Bifidobacterium infantis, Bifidobacterium longum, Lactobacillus gasseri, Lactobacillus rhamnosus, Lactobacillus plantarum, Lactobacillus salivarius
Bottom line is this. A healthy microbiome is essential to good health. I can help increase oral tolerance, help you fight infections and overgrowth of destructive species, it can help you lose weight and can also help heal autoimmunity.
However, more is not always better and different species populate different parts of the ecosystem of the gut. So varying different products and different foods that feed those species is essential.
Furthermore, using spore based probiotics can be a beneficial part of your strategy.
Finally, it’s time we stop thinking of the gut as a battlefield of the enemy. Like a farm, it must be weeded, cultivated and nurtured.
If you’re not sure what to do, feel lost or are not getting the results from probiotics that you hoped for, I’m available for a consultation to discuss testing and treatment options.
Click here to book a consultation: Yes! I’d like to speak with Marc.
In the meantime, take good care of your microbiome.
http://physrev.physiology.org/content/90/3/859 Gut microbiome in health and disease.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4528021/ Role of natural microbiota
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3145058/ Role of microbiota in health and disease
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1931312811002927 Microbiota and autoimmune disease
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24763536 Diet, gut and autoimmunity
http://cshperspectives.cshlp.org/content/5/3/a007294.full.pdf+html Microbiota and autoimmunity
http://www.cell.com/cell-host-microbe/fulltext/S1931-3128%2811%2900292-7 Microbiota and autoimmune disease
http://www.nature.com/cmi/journal/v8/n2/full/cmi201067a.html Role of microbiota in cancer and autoimmune disease
http://bmcimmunol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12865-015-0083-2 Systemic effects of gut microbiota, relationship with disease and immunomodulation
http://www.discoverymedicine.com/Kouki-Mori/2012/11/27/does-the-gut-microbiota-trigger-hashimotos-thyroiditis/ Gut Microbiota and Hashimoto’s
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4036413/ Autoimmunity and the gut
http://gut.bmj.com/content/early/2014/11/28/gutjnl-2014-308514.short?g=w_gut_ahead_tab Does microbiome play a role in autoimmune disease?
http://www.naturalendocrinesolutions.com/articles/intestinal-dysbiosis-thyroid-health/ Self-explanatory
http://press.endocrine.org/doi/abs/10.1210/jc.2007-0606 Hypothyroidism and SIBO
http://www.bpgastro.com/article/S1521-6918%2813%2900057-7/abstract Fecal transplants for treating autoimmunity
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2904693/ Gut bacteria and TH-17
http://www.nature.com/articles/nmicrobiol201515 Assessment of Microbiome Research
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2012/10/22/germs-are-us Self Explanatory
https://hsbjournalclub.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/microbiota-article.pdf What are the consequences of the disappearing microbiota?
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/51577921_The_human_gut_microbiome_Are_we_our_enterotypes
http://www.nature.com/news/gut-microbial-enterotypes-become-less-clear-cut-1.10276
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3159383/ Has the microbiome played a critical role in the development of the adaptive immune system?
http://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/probiotics-market Value of probiotics market
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17241350 Adhesion of 31 actobaccilus strains
http://www.naturalevo.com/uncategorized/the-evolution-of-probiotics/
https://www.bulletproofexec.com/why-yogurt-and-probiotics-make-you-fat-and-foggy/
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3316997/ Probiotics that degrade histamine
Marc Ryan, L.Ac.
Founder of Hashimoto’s Healing
Every year, as we celebrate our anniversary I like to reflect back on what we’ve learned from working together over this last year. (Here’s a link to last year’s if you’re feeling nostalgic.)
Going through this process a great opportunity to review, reflect and build on these lessons this coming year.
What an amazing year it has been! I wrote and published my book, Roadmap to Remission, a mere 436 pages of practical information. My daughter and I personally shipped over a 1,000 copies until we couldn’t stand it any more and had to hire a fulfillment house. Thanks to so many of you who showed remarkable patience through that process. That was a major learning experience!
(I’m currently working on the second edition which has some new material and a foreword by Dr. Datis Kharrazian).
A lot of people have shared with me via our Facebook group and via email how much the book has helped them. And I’ve had my share of haters tell me just how awful they think the book is and how terrible I am for writing and selling it (at cost for no profit on my website). That was something I wasn’t entirely prepared for. It stings when you’re really trying your best just to help people. But it was also a really valuable learning experience.
And I’ve done quite a bit of thinking about what else I learned and I’d like to share them with you, dear readers. Here are my top 5 Clinical Pearls for this year:
1. This is an inside job
2. It’s all about the proteins
3. Oral Tolerance
4. Diet matters times infinity
5. Hashimoto’s isn’t the end of your life, it’s the beginning of your journey
The more I work with people, the more I have come to believe that the vast majority of healing happens between our ears (in both a literal and metaphorical sense). The brain is profoundly impacted by Hashimoto’s and our thoughts and beliefs are so often the the difference between success and failure.
There’s a quote attributed to Henry Ford:
“Whether you think you can or think you can’t, you’re right.”
And nowhere is that more true than the process of healing. You have to first, fundamentally, believe that it is possible.
I know for myself and for many of the people I’ve worked with that this belief is constantly being tested and some days you really need a powerful inner confidence and faith to keep going.
And there is also no question in my mind that this inner faith is something that for most of us needs to be cultivated and nurtured.
Resilience and the ability to bounce back and overcome difficulties are not always innate skills.
However, like any skills, these improve if you practice them.
For myself, it wasn’t until I started instituting a daily practice of writing my personal vision, writing the things I am grateful for and the also writing the “wins” that I had accumulated that I started to make significant strides in this direction.
Now I recommend this to everyone.
I can’t overemphasize the importance of this practice. It can yield remarkable results because it can shape your entire outlook on everything.
Last year one of the books I read was The Obstacle is the Way by Ryan Holiday. (You have to read this book!) It’s all about using obstacles, disappointments and adversity to transform the world. And not just in a “glass half empty or half full” accentuate-the-positive sort of way.
This book takes it to a whole new level and it points out the incredible blessing of failure, illness, and disappointment. And, essentially, some of the greatest inventors, thinkers and doers of history weren’t defeated by hard times, pain and struggle they were made possible by it.
Instead of fighting it, they embraced it and used it to their advantage to do great things.
And transforming obstacles and adversity into positive action is a conscious choice. With our health it involves letting go of the victim mentality and becoming accountable.
I discussed this process of accountability in a recent video I made. At any time, you have a choice to be the victim or to make the obstacle your way.
So I encourage you to really spend some time cultivating this way of thinking and behaving and if you are feeling defeated and discouraged know that you are not alone is this and that the opportunity is there for you to accept it, embrace it and use it to create great things of your own.
The other part of what you really need to explore, in my opinion, is the physiological “why” of your signs and symptoms. Hashimoto’s and autoimmunity can be so complicated complicated and there are sometimes many different layers to our health challenges.
If we can find at least some of the “why”, then we can find important clues to getting you better, faster and more deeply. This brings me to my next clinical pearl:
This last year I was invited to attend a powerful gathering of healers called the Thyroid Mastermind, hosted by Michael and Dr. Izabella Wentz. The keynote speaker of the event was Dr. Datis Kharrazian, who has been a longtime teacher and mentor of mine (and many others who attended).
Dr. K shared some of this research he has been doing over the last year or so with Dr. Vajdani, founder of Cyrex Labs. This was funded entirely on his dime (and we’re talking a serious chunk of change) because, while these issues that are very important to those of us with autoimmune diseases, they are not really seen as that important by the powers that be.
There are many layers to this research and it’s going to be released soon, and he’d have to kill me if I revealed the details because it could compromise the study, but here’s the big takeaway: It’s all about the proteins.
Autoimmune reactions are reactions by your immune system to various proteins. Or, really, protein fragments – the sequences of amino acids that make up those proteins.
They are what cause the immune reaction that destroys our tissue.
Proteins are the building block of life. So these proteins and the amino acid patterns that make them up are everywhere. In lots of different foods (and many you don’t think of as proteins like grains and vegetables) and in meat and in the tissues of our body.
And these proteins are the “on switch” for autoimmune destruction. They turn on the antibodies (which don’t destroy tissue) that signal other parts of the immune system to attack, kill and destroy.
And because these amino acid sequences repeat all over the place, all kinds of different tissue can get destroyed. Really important stuff. One example of this is the affinity of thyroid antibodies (like antibodies to TPO and T3) to tissues in our brain.
Proteins don’t just signal destruction of the thyroid, they can also signal other parts of our immune system to destroy our cerebellum and myelin, the sheath that protects our nerves. (Destruction of myelin is what causes Multiple Sclerosis (MS).
This is one of the reasons “why” some people with Hashimoto’s will develop encephalopathy. Their brain is being attacked and, in some cases, it’s being signaled by TPO. The most common symptoms of this process? Memory loss, fatigue and depression!
These proteins are a really big deal!!! Which leads me to my next clinical pearl:
Another important discovery for me was the importance of something called oral tolerance in autoimmunity and in sensitivity to dietary proteins.
Oral tolerance is defined as your immune system NOT REACTING locally and systemically to antigens such as food proteins.
In other words, oral tolerance is when you eat a certain protein and you become tolerant to that protein.
We can think about this in terms of our own evolution. If you are eating something (a protein) all the time, it would be a really good thing for you to develop a tolerance to it and not attack it.
If we’re only eating certain kinds of foods, we‘d be more likely to survive if we could build tolerance to them.
Proteins are the things we are most often exposed to. (They’re the building blocks of life, after all.)
And it turns out that tolerance to ingested proteins is also really important for the barrier function of the intestines i.e. to prevent leaky gut.
When this tolerance breaks down, chronic diseases follow; like celiac, Crohn’s, ulcerative colitis (these all occur locally in the intestines) and other systemic autoimmune disease like Multiple Sclerosis and even Hashimoto’s.
In other words, oral tolerance is a kind of dimmer switch, it turns down the attack. Both in the intestines and in the rest of the body.
When you have oral tolerance, your immune system doesn’t attack as aggressively.
Clinical Pearl: One thing I’ve observed is that some people actually lose some of this oral tolerance after being on an elimination diet for a prolonged period of time.
It has made re-think the reintroduction of foods after the elimination phase of Autoimmune Paleo diet and also to realize that this is an often missed opportunity to both reduce sensitivities and to restore immune system equilibrium.
To learn more about this and why it matters, check out my detailed post on this here.
Diet Matters Times Infinity
The single largest source of these proteins is the food we eat. This is why it makes me insane when doctors say things like “Diet doesn’t matter”.
That is a very dangerous and ignorant lie.
Not only does diet matter, ignoring the role of diet can literally ruin your health. Some of these proteins can lead to inflammation and destruction of parts of your brain. No bueno.
Much of the research that Dr. Kharrazian and Dr. Vajdani have done involves testing the effects of these various proteins on the thyroid axis and the brain. And the results are going to be available to us soon and it’s going to radically transform how we can help you, but for right now here’s what we can tell you.
Dr. Izabella Wentz did a very interesting study of 2, 322 Hashimoto’s patients and she collected some really important data on just how important and effective dietary changes are.
Here are some of the results:
This illustration reveals just how effective diet is in improving symptoms and lowering antibody levels.
And here’s some more important information on some common foods that may cause problems:
Highly reactive foods per IgG test sampling:
100% – Cottage cheese, brewer’s yeast
90%- cola, safflower, whey, baker’s yeast
80%- casein, blue cheese, chicken, cow milk, goat milk, rosemary, yogurt
70%- corn, cheddar, Swiss, licorice, mushroom, sugar cane
60%-pineapple, pinto bean, ginger, oregano, oyster, white potato, sesame, walnut
For myself and my patient population I know that tomatoes can also be a problem. And as we know gluten, dairy and soy proteins can also wreak havoc.
Spinach can also be a problem. One thing I’ve observed with spinach is that it can actually reduce iron levels. I had a patient who was eating spinach salad 3 times a day and she was severely iron deficient.
I tried everything and nothing worked and finally I said stop eating spinach and that turned out to be the problem. Once she stopped, we were able to successfully restore her iron levels to the normal range.
One important thing to understand about these foods is that you may or may not react to them. As I said this is highly individualized. You can use the percentages to make an educated guess about what you might react to, but you are unique and you may not have these same reactions.
Here’s another pearl that’s really helpful: One important thing you can do to strengthen the T regulatory or the “good guy” part of your immune system is to feed them fiber: Here’s what Dr. Vajdani drinks every morning (Pay attention to this, this is a guy who has devoted the better part of his life to researching autoimmunity):
Psyllium powder
Hemp or chia seed powder
Flax seed powder
Almond milk (You can substitute coconut milk if you are sensitive to almonds.)
One important thing to understand about all of this is that there is tremendous variability and millions of possible permutations of this. So everyone doesn’t have sensitivities to all these foods. But, you really need to figure out which foods you have a problem with.
And here’s another clinical pearl: Since the problem is these amino acid sequences, the affinity that is formed is based on longer sequences. If you can break down those sequences into smaller pieces, then you can minimize their destructive potential.
Digestive enzymes that break down protein have the ability to do this in some measure. They break apart the amino acid connections and can render the protein harmless or at least less harmful.
Finally, remember this:
The last point I want to emphasize is that Hashimoto’s is not the end of your health (or life as you know it), it’s the beginning of your journey.
The good news is that we are all traveling this journey together and there are some really amazing people working on this.
But the reality is we are only in the infancy of understanding what is going on and what we need to do about it.
But there is reason for optimism because there are some great minds and some incredibly devoted people who are working day and night to help you.
So let me end on a positive note and say how grateful I am am to all the people who are working on solving these problems and to all of you that are committed to finding solutions outside the box.
The obstacle is our way and the journey is our path and together we will find hope, help and healing.
I can’t wait to see where this journey takes us and where this year will bring us.
Need help in getting there? Schedule an appointment with me and let’s talk!
This month we are celebrating our 3rd Anniversary of launching Hashimoto’s Healing. I can’t believe it’s been 3 years! I’ve had the privilege to work with speak with over 2,000 people with Hashimoto’s during that time and to work one on one with over 750. And as part of the celebration, I’ll be releasing a new updated version of my book, Roadmap to Remission. And I’m truly honored that Dr Datis Kharrazian (without whom this book and many of my clinical skills would not be) has written the foreword.
I’d like to share it here because it’s a wonderful summary of what I have tried to achieve with this book, the website and our Facebook community.
With Dr. Kharrazian in Boulder Co., 2015 at the Thyroid Mastermind
Few Chinese medicine practitioners are willing or able to explain Chinese medicine concepts in Western terms. But Marc Ryan, LAc, who calls Traditional Chinese Medicine the “original functional medicine,” gamely builds us a bridge between the Eastern and Western arts of healing.
If you’ve read my books you’ll see familiar functional medicine concepts of Hashimoto’s hypothyroidism management. Not simply a problem of the thyroid, Hashimoto’s is an autoimmune disease in which the immune system attacks and destroys the thyroid gland.
Thus, Hashimoto’s is a problem of the immune system that involves a complex web of dysfunction and requires careful attention to the root causes of its debilitating symptoms.
What sets Marc’s book apart is how he takes us on functional medicine journey of Hashimoto’s hypothyroidism through the lens of Traditional Chinese medicine.
Where Western medicine concerns itself with science and studies, Chinese medicine tells us a story about the human body, weaving in natural phenomenon and earthly elements.
The Hashimoto’s patient will find herself surprised by the uncanny knowing of this ancient healing art. For instance, in Chinese medicine the thyroid is seen as the place where communications and dreams are generated. When this area becomes clogged due to an inflamed and under functioning thyroid, the patient may feel stuck in her situation and unable to express her needs.
Marc weaves many such examples in, along with Chinese concepts of yin and yang, the five elements, Chinese herbs, and Chinese healing exercises. For the Hashimoto’s patient, this book is a fascinating integration of sound functional medicine with an introduction to Chinese medicine’s view of thyroid and immune function.
What’s more, Marc presents the material in a conversational style that is fun to read. Hashimoto’s is a complex topic that can seem overwhelming at first. Many people with Hashimoto’s have difficulty with concentration, which makes it hard to read a complicated book about the topic.
In response, Marc has gone the extra mile to make his information easy to absorb with short paragraphs, clear descriptions, real-life examples, and helpful summaries. Throughout the book, his warm sense of humor, upbeat attitude, and genuine concern for helping people really shine through.
At the same time, staying true to Chinese medicine’s broad-sweep approach to healing, he continually reminds us of the bigger picture — the spiritual nature of our journey, the connection of our health to that of the planet, and how facilitating the flow of energy through the organs is reflected in our flow through life’s journey.
I have taught thousands of practitioners over the years and I know Marc to be a passionate and dedicated practitioner with clear integrity and humility, one of the few who leaves a seminar and reads and rereads the manuals in order to master the material.
This, combined with his innate ability to incorporate larger life meanings of the Hashimoto’s journey, has moved him beyond the role of practitioner into that of healer.
This passion was born out of Marc’s personal experience as someone with Hashimoto’s and the parent to a child with the disease. Knowing he was sick long before he knew why, his experiences were like that of many Hashimoto’s patients:
Being told he’d have to wait until he was much worse before getting any treatment; being offered immunosuppressant therapy that would disable his body further; being dismissed by doctors; and most importantly, his doctors not getting to the root of the problem.
It was when he decided to step outside of outdated, traditional modes of treatment that he made progress.
He went on to become an experienced acupuncturist and herbalist whose entire medical practice is now devoted to Hashimoto’s.
He truly cares that patients have the opportunity to understand how their bodies work, what is out of balance, and what steps they must take to live in a state of vitality and wellness again.
With the disconnect between conventional hypothyroidism care and the realities of Hashimoto’s, the medical world clearly needs a renewed approach.
In Roadmap to Remission, Marc takes the best parts of both Western and Eastern functional medicine to create a methodical approach that touches all aspects of the Hashimoto’s journey with grace, humor, and firm encouragement.
In doing so, he has empowered patients to better understand their bodies so they can engage as active participants in their own healing.
Datis Kharrazian, DHSc, DC, MS
Author,
Why Do I Still Have Thyroid Symptoms When My Lab Tests Are Normal?
Why Isn’t My Brain Working?
As many of you know, for the last several years I have focused solely on treating people with Hashimoto’s.
This has given me a tremendous opportunity to explore this health issue in considerable depth. I have had the honor and the privilege to work with over 1,000 people with Hashimoto’s and I’ve been privy to some cutting edge research from colleagues like Dr. Datis Kharrazian and Dr. Izabella Wentz.
Dr. Kharrazian first introduced me to the concept of oral tolerance and I’ve spent a good deal of time combing through the medical literature learning about it’s significance with regard to Hashimoto’s and reactions to foods.
In doing so, I recently had an epiphany and it has changed my way of thinking about how we can use diet to heal this disease.
In this post, I’m going to go deep into what I have learned about oral tolerance and it’s relationship to Hashimoto’s, autoimmunity and the Autoimmune Paleo Diet.
One thing I have learned is that diet is the foundation of success. And the reason this is true, in my opinion, is that the digestive tract is ground zero for autoimmunity.
An estimated 70% of the immune system is found there, and a breakdown of the gut and the intestinal lining leads to the systemic inflammation that is at the root of diseases like Hashimoto’s.
According to Dr. Alessio Fasano, MD, an expert on the origins of autoimmunity, the cause of this disease in the intestines.
In a paper published in the Clinical Review of Allergy Immunology February 2012 , he noted that,
“Together with the gut-associated lymphoid tissue and the neuroendocrine network, the intestinal epithelial barrier, with its intercellular tight junctions, controls the equilibrium between tolerance and immunity to non-self antigens.
Zonulin is the only physiologic modulator of intercellular tight junctions described so far that is involved in trafficking of macromolecules and, therefore, in tolerance/immune response balance. When the zonulin pathway is deregulated in genetically susceptible individuals, autoimmune disorders can occur.”
What that means in plain English is that the breakdown of the barrier of the intestines is the pathway to autoimmune disease.
This is by no means the whole story. Yes, the breakdown of the intestinal lining is a causative factor for the development of autoimmune disease, however, it’s just the gateway.
This is kind of like getting a view of the door, but there is an entire landscape of immune reactions that go on beyond that door.
And what lies beyond the doorway is what we are going to explore here today.
What’s happing with autoimmunity? Our immune system has lost the ability to differentiate between our own cells and foreign invaders, like bacteria, viruses and other pathogens.
And this confusion leads to our immune system attacking our body’s own proteins. This is caused by our immune systems losing the ability to have tolerance to our own tissue (made of these proteins).
The entire digestive tract is made up of multiple little ecosystems and these ecosystems are always battling with this problem of tolerance.
Because the gut is, essentially, one long open tube and lots of pathogens in the form of bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites pass though there along with proteins that we need to ingest and get nourishment from.
An important part of this process of the ebb and flow of tolerance is something called “oral tolerance”.
Oral tolerance is defined as your immune system NOT REACTING locally and systemically to antigens such as food proteins.
In other words, oral tolerance is when you eat a certain protein and you become tolerant to that protein.
We can think about this in terms of our own evolution. If you are eating something (a protein) all the time, it would be a really good thing for you to develop a tolerance to it and not attack it.
If we’re only eating certain kinds of foods, we‘d be more likely to survive if we could build tolerance to them.
Proteins are the things we are most often exposed to. (They’re the building blocks of life, after all.)
And it turns out that tolerance to ingested proteins is also really important for the barrier function of the intestines i.e. to prevent leaky gut.
As we saw above, when this tolerance breaks down, chronic diseases follow; like celiac, Crohn’s, ulcerative colitis (these all occur locally in the intestines) and other systemic autoimmune disease like Multiple Sclerosis and even Hashimoto’s.
In other words, oral tolerance is a kind of dimmer switch, it turns down the attack. Both in the intestines and in the rest of the body.
When you have oral tolerance, your immune system doesn’t attack as aggressively.
When you lose oral tolerance you wind up with things like celiac disease (which is an autoimmune disease – not just a food intolerance).
We don’t fully understand this, yet.
However, what we do know is that oral tolerance works by deactivating T and B cells that target our tissues – either by clearing them out and getting rid of them or by making them not respond to proteins anymore with something know as “anergy”.
Anergy is the lack of a normal immune response to a particular antigen or allergen.
Oral tolerance also works by Tregs directly suppressing these cells.
Tregs is another name for regulatory T cells (also called suppressor T cells). They are T cells which modulate the immune system, maintain tolerance to self-antigens, and discourage the development of autoimmune disease.
Of course, with autoimmune disease this may be a really important thing to achieve, if possible.
The question is this: If you can establish or re-establish or at the very least improve oral tolerance, can you remove or at least diminish the autoimmune attack?
Some researchers believe the answer is “yes”. There is some evidence that this may be an achievable goal.
That’s a very, very important question. Because this is potentially a dangerous game. By no means is this a easy, risk free process.
For example, should we attempt to establish oral tolerance to things like gluten and dairy? (Dietary proteins with tremendous destructive potential.)
In my opinion, the answer is a resounding NO!
They have been implicated in the destruction of brain tissue such as cerebellar tissue and myelin. (I’d like to keep my brain for as long as possible, wouldn’t you?)
So what does that leave us with?
A lot, actually. (More on this in Part 2 of this post).
But before we attempt to answer that, another thing the research has shown us is that simply establishing tolerance alone is not enough.
We must also do other things like reduce inflammation and strengthen the regulatory part of the immune system and work to calm and/or eliminate stress, restore integrity and balance to the ecosystem of the gut, etc. while we do this to achieve the best results.
So first, let’s look at the big picture.
What are the steps to first calming the immune system and then, secondly, trying to improve oral tolerance?
First off, if you’re looking for a quick and easy solution, click away. This isn’t quick and it isn’t easy.
This is a long term project that may take several months and it may be riddled with unexpected outcomes (welcome to the immune system).
That being said, it can also yield profoundly positive long term results.
If you are just starting out this is the place to begin.
The Autoimmune Paleo/Lectin Avoidance Diet removes the following foods:
Grains, nuts, seeds, legumes, nightshades, gluten, dairy, soy and eggs.
I’m not going to spend time on the how or the why of this diet in this post, but this is a very effective approach for reducing systemic inflammation and for calming the immune system.
In addition, in many cases with Hashimoto’s this will yield improvements in virtually all important thyroid markers including antibody levels, TSH, etc.
And it often results in a (sometimes dramatic) improvement in weight, brain fog, mood and energy.
With my patients, I also assess all the other systems of the body and when it is called for we work on healing the gut (almost always called for), detoxifying the liver, healing the adrenals and reducing inflammation in the brain while we are on this diet.
This is also beyond the scope of this particular post, but suffice it to say that this is a systemic, multi-organ problem and we need to heal every part of the body that is impacted if we hope to get this into remission.
Also, the fact is that being on this diet provides a tremendous opportunity to aggressively reduce inflammation and to clean up the liver, heal the gut and calm compounding factors.
Clinical Pearl: One thing I have observed with some people who tried the Autoimmune Paleo Diet (myself included) is that it can actually increase your sensitivity to foods that you are sensitive to.
A food that you had a reaction to in the past (like gluten) will often cause a much more severe reaction once you have eliminated it for a prolonged period of time.
And in some cases, the elimination can increase sensitivity to foods across the board. (And I have observed it seems to increase not decrease with time. Meaning the longer some people are on the strict elimination diet, the more sensitive they become.)
One theory is that what may be happening here is that the elimination of these antigens can lead to a decrease in oral tolerance.
This makes logical sense because oral tolerance requires exposure to the antigens ( in this case, dietary proteins).
And there is some evidence of this in the medical literature. Some researchers claim that the elimination diet is a potential cause of anaphylaxis or a severe and life threatening allergic reaction.
And many researchers and health professionals are now questioning the wisdom of NOT exposing children to things like peanuts in early childhood because the LACK of exposure can lead to a massive immune response when they do get exposed.
The question is, why?
If this is the case, what is the mechanism that could lead to the decline of oral tolerance?
I think the simple answer is that elimination of multiple immune stimulating antigens changes the entire landscape of your immune system. It has a major impact.
And while some of this is really good and, arguably, absolutely necessary, (especially in circumstances like autoimmunity) it may have some unintended consequences.
This is also a great illustration of the complexity of the immune system. It has multiple parts that move in multiple directions, all the time. And overly simplistic linear thinking doesn’t work when trying to understand and balance the immune system.
Another important observation about this process is that having to worry about food all the time and having an increasingly smaller and more restricted diet is very stressful. It makes it difficult (if not impossible) to go out with friends and relatives. It can create anxiety over what to eat and it can make you feel further alienated and frustrated.
And stress is a really big deal for people suffering from autoimmune diseases like Hashimoto’s. The body is already under a great deal of physiological stress, to add further daily stresses regarding what to eat and where to find the right food can be really counter-productive to the process of healing.
So, if we can tweak this process to make it less stressful, than that is a very valuable innovation.
Once you have done the elimination phase of the Autoimmune Paleo diet (usually for 30 to 60 days), the next phase involves reintroducing foods, one food at a time to see if you react to them.
In some cases, people react to an awful lot of stuff, precisely because they have been so good at eliminating these foods and have accomplished some really good things with regard to calming their immune systems.
My understanding of this phase of the Autoimmune Paleo approach is that this is essentially a test to see what you can and can not eat.
Proponents of the Autoimmune Paleo Approach rationalize this increase in sensitivity by saying, essentially, this is part of the healing process. And they assert that once you heal your gut you’ll have fewer sensitivities.
But this isn’t always true, there are people who have spent several years healing their guts and still find that they are sensitive to a number of foods.
Obviously, everyone is a little different and some people do better than others. And some people find they can re-introduce all sorts of things, while others can introduce just a few and still others find their diets becoming more and more restrictive.
If you’re one of these people, this process can be really demoralizing because here you have worked your butt off to be super compliant and follow the plan and the end result is that your diet consists of fewer and fewer foods.
It’s the living embodiment of the expression, “No good deed goes unpunished.”
What I have come to see is that instead of just eliminating and seeing what happens during re-introduction, what we have is an amazing opportunity.
And that is to work to re-establish or improve oral tolerance and create a much more hospitable immune environment.
How do we do that?
Great question! (And one that needs a good deal more experimentation and exploration than this one post can provide).
I’m not going to pretend to have all the answers on this, but here is what the research suggests.
In autoimmune disease research, the goal with oral tolerance seems to be to suppress the Th1/Th17 response (for most autoimmune diseases).
There are two ways that researchers have tried to do this.
The first is by giving a high dose of a protein once. (This, obviously, is the heavy handed approach.) From an immune system standpoint, when it works this can result in a anergy or complete shutdown of both TH-1 and TH-2 responses.
Problem is that it doesn’t always work and obviously with autoimmunity the risk here is that you can cause a massive flare ups and discomfort.
The second approach is to take the protein at a lower dosage multiple times, which has been found to increase Tregs.
The multiple dose approach is gentler and from an immune standpoint, a lot better suited for autoimmune disease.
Here’s the real difference in approach. You shouldn’t think of this phase as simply a testing phase.
It could be much more than that.
However, before you get all excited, understand that we are wading into uncharted waters and if we are going to challenge the immune system, there is bound to be some reactions.
And not all of them will be good.
In addition, maybe it’s time to view reactions differently. Maybe not every reaction is just simply “bad”.
And maybe total elimination of reactions isn’t totally “good”.
It may be a bit more nuanced than that.
That being said, there are two things to consider during this process:
1. What helps induce or improve oral tolerance? (This would include supplements, life style changes, etc.)
2. Which proteins do you want to create oral tolerance for? (This would include the approach to diet and reactions)
Both are important because we want to do everything we can to make this a successful experiment.
Actually, there is also a third thing to consider and that is, what can we do to minimize the discomfort and immune system flare ups during this process?
(I don’t know about you, but I prefer to suffer as little as possible.)
Before we look at what to do to improve oral tolerance, let’s take a look at some of the mechanisms for establishing and improving it.
IL-10 and Oral Tolerance: IL-10 is anti-inflammatory cytokine because it decreases various immune cells such as Th1 AND Th2 cells. It also inhibits NF kappa beta, which is important in destructive inflammation. It inhibits COX 2 and mast cells and it decreases insulin and leptin resistance. IL-10 is something we want to increase.
IL-12 and Oral Tolerance: IL-12 is part of the TH-1 family of cytokines and it can block oral tolerance in TH-1 conditions. It is responsible for helping cytotoxic lymphocytes, natural killer cells mature and it also supplies growth factor to help certain cells grow into the killers that they are.
IL-12 is also involved in turning on genes that result in attacks on specific organs and has been implicated as an important player in Hashimoto’s. IL-12 is something we want to reduce.
Tregs and Oral Tolerance: Tregs comprise ∼5%–10% of T helper cells.
There are two types of Tregs: ‘induced’ (iTregs) and ‘natural’ (nTregs). Both types are anti-inflammatory. Induced means that they are created outside the thymus. (There are 2 kinds of induced Tregs: (Th3 and Tr1). Natural means that they are part of the cells naturally produced in our thymus gland.
Tregs calm and suppress Th1, Th2, Th17 cells and their cytokines, as well as many other immune cells and proteins such as, basophils, eosinophils, mast cells, and IgE and they also influence migration of inflammatory cells to tissues.
Tregs inhibit immune activation by direct cell to cell contact. This means that they are directly anti-inflammatory.
Tregs need to be ‘activated’ in order to have their suppressor functions. Exposure to a dietary protein or an antigen is one of the ways that they get activated. Obviously, increasing Tregs in a balanced way is a good idea with autoimmunity.
But, as with all things, if you do this too aggressively, there is the risk of becoming less able to defend against some infections. And unfortunately, one of those infections is a viral infection like herpes and Epstein Barr. (You can read more about the herpes/Hashimoto’s connection in this post.)
Mucous in the Intestines and Oral Tolerance: researchers have found that mucous plays an important role in maintaing the barrier of the gut and in modulating homeostasis (or balance) in the gut. Having a healthy amount of mucous in the gut is also a good idea.
Dendritic Cells and Oral Tolerance: Dendritic cells (DCs) are antigen-presenting cells(also known as accessory cells) of the immune system of mammals. Their main function is to process antigen material and present it on the cell surface to the T cells of the immune system. They act as messengers between the innate and the adaptive immune systems.
Dendritic cells are important for immune tolerance because they can adapt to proteins or enhance the attack on them. At low levels these proteins help dendritic cells to adapt, but if proteins become excessive and aren’t cleared this can result in dendritic cells attacking and consuming the protein (and in some cases our own tissue). With dendritic cells we want to encourage as much variety as we can and make sure that intestinal transit and protein clearance is functioning well.
cAMP and Tolerance: cAMP is a signaling molecule that relays messages to T cells to not respond and proliferate to a protein. This, essentially, trains the immune cells to not respond. Increasing cAMP may be beneficial.
Intestinal Health and Tolerance: A healthy ecosystem in your gut, with good blood flow, motility and transit time and healthy amounts of enzymes, bile and stomach acid are all important for improving oral tolerance. A healthy gut ecosystem is extremely important.
Commensal Bacteria and Tolerance: Oral tolerance is dependent on good bacteria in the gut. The more we learn about intestinal bacteria, the more valuable they become and the more irresponsible excessive antibiotic treatment becomes. Gut bacteria should be treated like an endangered species and be tended to and watched over carefully.
High protein diets and Oral Tolerance: This was a very interesting finding in the research. Diets that are lower in protein reduced both TH-1 and Th-2 and were effective in helping promote oral tolerance. Reducing dietary protein may help to reduce sensitivity.
Things that Cause Declines in Oral Tolerance: There are a number of things that may lead to declines in oral tolerance. Obviously, these are things we want to avoid:
In summary, you can see that many factors contribute to the development and maintenance of oral tolerance. And that it is critically important for dampening immune reactions.
And the loss of loss or decline of tolerance may be an important factor in autoimmunity and in sensitivity reactions to dietary proteins.
But, as with everything, carefully balancing oral tolerance is critically important when dealing with autoimmune disease and reactions to dietary proteins.
In part 2 of this series, we’ll take a look at specific herbs, supplements, dietary and lifestyle approaches for improving and maintaining healthy oral tolerance.
Let’s talk! Schedule an appointment with me to discuss these and other health issues. Click Here
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3578149/ Mechanisms of oral tolerance
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3376463/ Boosting IL-10
http://science.sciencemag.org/content/342/6157/447.abstract Mucous and oral tolerance
http://www.hindawi.com/journals/jir/2013/972865/ Dendritic cells and oral tolerance
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0008874996902749 cAmp and Tolerance
http://www.news-medical.net/news/20110211/Blocking-interleukin-15-may-help-restore-oral-tolerance-to-gluten.aspx
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC27123/ Dendritic cells induce anergy in autoimmunity
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2857757/ Model of Oral Tolerance: Suppress TH1 and TH-17, but not TH-2
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3076704/ Keys to success
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC44268/pdf/pnas01136-0446.pdf Oral tolerance determined by dosage
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2270752/pdf/CDI-13-143.pdf Oral tolerance, therapeutic implications for autoimmune disease.
http://www.nature.com/mi/journal/v5/n3/full/mi20124a.html Oral tolerance to food protein
http://www.nature.com/mi/journal/v2/n1/full/mi200875a.html Celiac disease as an example of the destructive potential of loss of oral tolerance.
http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ad/2014/437231/ Link between environmental factors and auotimmunity
https://www.drmcdougall.com/misc/2009nl/jan/ms.htm MS and dietary protein
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3741914/ Celiac and cerebellar autoimmunity
http://circ.ahajournals.org/content/129/Suppl_1/AP354 Lectin Avoidance study
http://www.nature.com/nri/journal/v9/n5/full/nri2515.html Microbiata shapes intestinal immune responses
http://cshperspectives.cshlp.org/content/4/6/a006957.full T cell tolerance
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1628850/ Anaphlaxis during elimination diet
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21333554 Intestinal tolerance requirements
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3376463/ Boosting Treg function (IL-10)
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15681753 IL-10 Creates Tolerance
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3222333/ Having Lots of an Allergic Protein will create tolerance
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12026189 Low Protein diet induces tolerance, boosts IL-4
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12887157 Low protein reduces Th-1 cytokines.
http://naglerlab.bsd.uchicago.edu/documents/Caoetal2014.pdf Role of commensal bacteria in oral tolerance
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22339388 Skin Sensitization and oral tolerance
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3563838/?report=classic Medium Chain Triglycerides and tolerance
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC187370/ H. Pylori’s impact on oral tolerance
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This post is an excerpt from my book, How to Heal Hashimoto’s: An Integrative Roadmap to Remission.
One of the things I sought to do in writing the book was to teach you how to evaluate and treat yourself so that you can get some successes and then build on them to create positive healing momentum.
That’s what the A.P.A.R.T. System is and I’ve broken it down for your here.
Remission is a journey.
It involves taking responsibility for your life and circumstances and doing whatever is necessary to change that life and those circumstances.
The road to your remission should be ever evolving and growing, and it should be a process that you continue to improve upon and refine.
So it is not a destination. Getting there is just half the battle.
Staying there is the other half. And the only way you can stay there is to be committed for the long haul.
Measurable goals should be:
These goals are just that. They are meant to be targets. You may not reach them 100%.
And that’s ok, not reaching them 100% does not mean you will have failed or that you should give up and quit trying.
These are just numbers and numbers in isolation are never a complete measure of success or failure.
One important thing to remember about laboratory tests is that they are not meaningful outside the context of what you are experiencing in your own body.
So you must always be aware of what is happening in your body, of how you feel and also of what factors led up to that. Try to pay attention to both the good and the bad.
What you feel is clinically relevant and diagnostically important. And, really everything you do and try is just a test. What happens as a result is data that we can use; it provides us with clues and valuable information.
In addition, one should never keep forcing a solution when the evidence before you plainly shows you that it isn’t working.
You must change your plan when that happens.
This can be tricky, but it is possible to do it if you have a system.
Unfortunately, this is usually not part of the mainstream approach. With conventional medicine, medication is often the first treatment option, diet and lifestyle changes are ignored or dismissed and the experiences that you have within your body are not given the importance that they deserve.
To address this problem and offer an alternative way of approaching healing that does take important factors like diet, lifestyle, physical, emotional and spiritual experiences into account, I’ve created a simple system for you to use.
It’s called The A.P.A.R.T. System, because this approach stands apart and so will your results if you use it.
This is a simple, easy-to-remember acronym for getting better results that aren’t based on protocols, dogma, or preconceived ideas.
It goes like this:
Each letter has two ideas that are associated with it.
Data has healing power, if you know what data to collect and analyze and you know what to do with that information. (Both are big “ifs.”)
You need to ask what the symptoms are and assess the different systems of the body to find out where these symptoms are coming from.
And every bodily system and lifestyle practice needs to be a suspect. Don’t exclude something because you’re attached to it, feel like you can’t dowithout it or have decided that it isn’t a problem.
Everything in your life should be evaluated with equal scrutiny and if it isn’t working to make you better, it may have to be eliminated.
This includes people, places, and things like your favorite foods and drinks.
Not everything has the same level of importance. This is what 80/20 teaches us (20 per cent of your issues cause 80 per cent of your symptoms – I’ve described in more detail in the Introduction).
Some things are having more of an impact than others. Figure out which they are (the positive feedback loops – or the things that are repeated and reinforced in your body and mind) and focus on those first, then make a plan to fix them.
I have created a Cheat Sheet in the back of the book that contains what I think are the most common 20 percent issues that cause 80 percent of our problems.
Act and put your plan into motion. Then observe what the results are. Double down on what works and change what doesn’t. And results should be apparent relatively quickly.
If they aren’t, you need to make changes.
The common practice of a doctor or practitioner prescribing something and then telling the patient to come back in three to six months is not the best approach, in my opinion. That’s way too long, especially if it isn’t working.
Retest, reassess and ask all over again. Figure out what worked and what didn’t. Double down on what worked and either eliminate or recreate a plan for what didn’t.
It sounds obvious, but it is often overlooked or forgotten. Testing and reevaluating what you have done to see the result of your treatment is essential for good care.
Quick side note here: In my opinion, what I have learned over many years of practice is that you need to trust what the data is telling you. In most cases, when you make the right choice, you start feeling better.
Things like a “healing crisis,” a “die off,” or a “detox reaction” sometimes occur, but they can also be a cover for incompetence. The right decision should result in a positive result relatively quickly.
If you are doing something and you aren’t getting better or you continue to feel worse, or it causes more discomfort, pain, and adverse symptoms, then you need to question whether that is the best course of action.
Eliminate it, reduce variables, and find out which part of what you are doing is causing that reaction or set of symptoms.
And all of this should not be done on the basis of lab tests alone. With Hashimoto’s it must include a thorough examination of the signs and symptoms as well.
Remember, what you feel is diagnostically important and clinically relevant.
Keep doing it, keep refining, keep building on the positive results and keep looking for the remaining positive feedback loops that are causing vicious cycles.
People sometimes give up before giving a certain approach a chance. Or they get some good results and then slide back to their old ways of doing things. When you find something that works, keep doing it. Don’t quit and don’t give up.
Lab work and symptoms should all confirm that this has taken place.
Again, lab tests must always be viewed in context to how you feel. It is the combination of these two factors that determine success or failure.
In addition, you must create realistic goals that are small enough to achieve and then build upon them. Acknowledge and celebrate your small victories.
You can’t go from sick to perfect in a couple of weeks.
As I said, remission is a journey. It is measured by how you feel, by your lab tests and by your quality of life.
In other words, this journey is all about creating a lifestyle that will sustain and foster ongoing success.
Would you like to read the whole book? It chock full of great information and is available at all major book retailers.