My Hashimoto’s story

At the age of 43, and after a year of suffering chronic UTI’s, stomach pain and digestive issues, I was diagnosed with coeliac disease , lymphocytic colitis .  I commenced a gluten -free diet which helped initially.  Unfortunately, though, this was short-lived.

The digestive issues along with many other symptoms crept in. I was tired, panicky, cold and felt wired at night making it almost impossible to sleep. After nearly a year of suffering from diarrhoea before my coeliac diagnosis, I was now suffering constipation.

I had read a lot about autoimmune conditions , so I knew there was a strong correlation between coeliac disease and thyroid issues, so I took myself to the doctor and got my thyroid tested.  Sure enough, the results came back showing an underactive thyroid. The doctor was quite blasé about this.  He didn’t go into much detail about the condition and only offered me levothyroxine saying, “This will make you feel better.”

Even though I felt so bad, I held off taking the medication and decided to research my recent Hashimoto’s diagnosis further by joining groups and reading lots and lots of books.

Long story short what kept coming up over and over again through my research was diet. I knew I had an issue with gluten which got me thinking what else could I have a problem with?  Apart from gluten, the other food group which kept popping up in my research was dairy, so I decided to come off dairy.

I had been off dairy for 2 weeks and didn’t feel much better, but I decided to give it a few more days and I’m glad I did. The digestive issues stopped – no more bloating, the constipation was starting to subside and slowly I was regaining energy. After a year off dairy, I felt 90% better.

I saw my coeliac consultant a few months ago and explained what was going on with my thyroid and how eliminating dairy from my diet improved my symptoms. He seemed slightly sceptical that diet was the issue with my thyroid but arranged to have my thyroid function checked again and my results came back clearly showing function improvement in my thyroid.

I’ve had a further test and I’m pleased to say my thyroid function is now back in the normal range.

I would like to add coming off dairy wasn’t my only change.  I started taking vitamins and minerals to get my levels up to an optimal range as some were sitting towards the lower end.  Doing this helped greatly.

If anything of what I have said resonates with you, my advice would be to first look at your diet as there could be something that you are eating causing an inflammatory response in your body.

I am now 100% better. When I was ill, I didn’t have the energy to exercise much but now I’m exercising most days and I’ve also lost the excess weight due to my thyroid. I told my husband the other day that I’ve never felt so healthy.  I’m 48 and, seriously, it’s the best I’ve felt in my entire life.