Hashimotos and gluten question

[itwillbebetter]

Has anyone gone gluten free and not felt any benefits? Or been diagnosed and continued to eat gluten?
After having positive antibodies I was advised to go g/f but 7 weeks later I've have not seen any benefits. My endo said that most people feel better fairly quickly but for me there has been no change. Is it worth continuing? I understand that over the long term it may decrease my antibodies but they were not hugely elevated anyway.

I haven't yet started thyroxine as my adrenals were not great. Cutting out sugar has been beneficial with brain fog but joint pains are hideous (vit d low and I am having treatment) Just not sure whether being gluten free is worth it?

First off you need to be absolutely sure you are excluding all gluten.

When I went GF with many similar symptoms like yours I found I was still accidentally eating many foods containing hidden gluten that I thought were OK. For example, cornflakes sprayed with barley malt! Even a microscopic quantity of gluten makes me ill for days. Getting 'glutened' is not good.

In addition I found I was lactose intolerant (due to gut damage) and went eventually to soya milk but after a while it made me feel unwell as did a lot of supposedly GF ready made cakes, etc.

In the end I started cooking all my food form scratch. I went on a professional cooking course, I enjoy cooking anyway but now I can turn out tarts, cakes, biscuits, bread all GF pretty much without thinking about and my whole family eat them.

In short, you really have to be completely rigorous about this.

I

morebeta

I'm pretty sure I excluded all gluten. I checked absolutely everything and also excluded all yeast, sugar (anti candida) and all nightshades (peppers, tomatoes, potatoes, chillis, paprika)
My diet was plain, in the extreme for 7 hideous long weeks. I didn't mind at first as I thought I might feel better. But no change and not even one pound weight loss. How can that be

I'm very sorry for you itwillbe, I went GF last October (had shocking bowel issues though) and it has been the ONLY thing that has made me lose weight in the last 4 years. but still eating crisps and chocolate. I lost over a stone and have kept 12lbs off. Now about to start treatment at last having gone private as getting nowhere with NHS and don't think I ever will do. Strangely my TPo antibody test came back negative, they didn't test for the thyroglobulin one. I also gave up dairy too, that seems to be what was causing my exczema.

I hope you can get sorted somehow.

My diet was plain, in the extreme for 7 hideous long weeks.

Spices, herbs, most vinegar etc are all gluten free. I feel your pain as also supposed to be GF (but not doing much of a job of it). I did feel a benefit but think that was maybe more because I was eating really healthy food and no processed food or sugar. Then I started eating gluten again because I needed more tests, and never really stopped. Now I feel like crap, I can barely keep my eyes open and am brain fogged into idiocy.I really need to start eating properly again.

(I also had tomatoes - would be a cruel blow to lose tomatoes as well!)

oneperfect
Funny enough it was the lack of tomatoes and peppers that made me weep. Oh and paprika (nightshade)
No Bread and potatoes I could deal with and I really didn't eat any processed food or sugar anyway
When you are desperately trying to feel better, you give anything a go!

itwillbebetter - have you checked lactose intolerance. Very often associated with coeliac. I drink lactofree milk - normal milk with no lactose. You can buy it pretty much in most supermarkets. Even Tesco Express has it.

Tomato, peppers, potato are also all an issue for me.

I feel sick and get a head ache instantly if I get a faint whiff of tobacco smoke - nightshade family of plants. Why am I so reactive to those types of plants - what has that got to do with gluten?

I get a lot of associated symptoms now - even after excluding gluten. My perennial bladder pain is much worse if I have tomato especially.

That said coming of gluten made me lose 2 stone in weight.

I would say it took me 3 - 4 months to feel the full benefits. Though exclusions diets are done for a minimum of 12 weeks as this is how long it takes to eliminate all residues.

Paprika as well? It gets worse :( I know I was eating a lot of tomatoey things when I was off gluten. I have nothing useful to suggest but you and the other no-nightshade people have my sympathy.

Look at lectins. Have been implicated with autoimmune diseases

I low carbed for almost a year and felt great but "carbs found me" and I went back to them like a fool

I've just recently started again and again feel so much fresher I feel such an idiot for lapsing. I also got a completely out of the blue random compliment that I looked much livelier and glowy from someone I do not often see.

so to sum up, I have mostly given up bread and pasta, try to restrict any carbs to things like potatoes/other veg/fruit. And am going to really try to stick to it.

As an aside I have found the most brilliant gluten free brownie recipe using chick peas!! And if you used dairy free chocolate it would cover you there too

Amazing brownie recipe

I use about 200-250g chocolate...since i don't buy the choclate buttons/chips

I would have thought that whatever your dietary issues, you won't feel better until you start taking some thyroxine and get your levels sorted.

Probably no harm in continuing the GF as well, but hopefully once you're on a sustainable dosage you will lose the aches and pains and brain fog.

DoingIt - I agree about thyroxin being important. It seems nobody puts all of these factors together though. Medical professionals think in little discrete boxes.

I get brain fog and a lot of joint pain. Lost of random low level 'intolerances' (including paprika) and sort of feeling 'off' if I have too many carbs. Recently discovered my heart beat is down at 50 per minute and I get tired in the afternoon. Lost of stuff people are talking about on the thread. I feel hugely better not having gluten but there is still other stuff going on that is lurking in the background I feel.

I can only work part time but it is a very high stress high impact role and I am getting my thyroid checked as it is impinging a lot on my life and ability to work at all.