About 10 years ago I was diagnosed as hypothyroid, which in a nutshell means that my thyroid doesn’t function optimally. Since the thyroid is the body’s governor and regulates our metabolism (heart rate, circulation, cognitive function, etc), having one work well is important. While you can treat it with medication, I don’t know anyone on thyroid medications who doesn’t have some sort of chronic issues and susceptibilities as a result. It’s an autoimmune disease – so there are going to be consequences. As far as immune diseases go, it’s not the end of the world, but it doesn’t make it any less annoying!
Two to three years ago I realized that I wasn’t doing well with processed wheat, and more or less stopped eating pasta, ground wheat breads (sprouted grain only), etc. That worked for a while, but then this spring I was not feeling well – for days at a time. I thought it was stress, and wrote it off to that. But, months went by, and the stresses more or less sorted themselves out, and I was still sick more days out of the week than not. I started doing pulse testing, and found that virtually everything I put in my mouth was raising my pulse outside of normal ranges.
By mid-September, it was reaching the point where every time I ate I’d get sick, I had my testing data, and something had to give. I abruptly decided to go two weeks without eggs and wheat – just to see what would happen. It took about 4 days, but I knew that it can take days (and months) for food to truly leave the system, so I couldn’t use a few days as a reliable indicator, and was going to be the good scientist and just wait it out. By the end of the week I felt SIGNIFICANTLY better. My head fog lifted, my muscle aches went away, and best of all, I was no longer constantly nauseous. I dropped about 5 pounds in that first week – just the chronic inflammation going away.
As an information junkie, I took it on myself to learn as much about this as I could. One of the first things I ran across was a study finding a correlation between gluten intolerance and celiac disease and thyroid dysfunction. And then another, and then another. I found out thyroid patients are 3-4 times more likely to have gluten issues than those with a normally functioning thyroid (and vice versa).
So, what do you do with this information? Test it.
Gluten intolerance cannot be reliably tested with blood work, so I think the best route is to simply omit it for two weeks and see what happens. If you feel significantly better, then you know you are on to something. If you don’t see any changes, then changes are gluten isn’t a problem for you right now. I still haven’t had a blood test, but I know I feel significantly better gluten-free, and that is all the evidence I need to maintain my gluten-free lifestyle.
Thyroid dysfunction CAN be tested with blood work, but after 10 years with this disease, I don’t think TSH alone is a reliable indicator of thyroid function. Be sure to get the T3, T4, and Free T3, and Free T4 tests along with it.
Now What?
Say you found out that you are indeed gluten intolerant to some degree. What do you do?
Surprisingly, eating gluten free isn’t as hard as I thought. Virtually every wheat product you can think of has a gluten-free counterpart in the grocery store these days (in Seattle, the Ballard Market, PCC, and the Whole Foods in Interbay all have insane amounts of gluten-free products). Pizza, bread, desserts, cookies – all options. There are even decent-tasting gluten-free flours out there for making cookies. (With Christmas coming, I had to test this so I can bring my brother his favorite cookies next month.)
Restaurants can be a bit trickier, so some of it depends upon how sensitive you are. Thus far, I have found that I can eat in a restaurant that has items that contain gluten, but just can’t order them. Some people cannot even eat in a restaurant that has gluten-containing items due to cross-contamination issues (same knives used for wheat and gluten-free products, etc).
Last, but not least, gluten-free pizza. While I’ll probably never eat Zeeks again (which almost makes me cry), I found Garlic Jim’s is certified gluten-free. Sadly, they don’t deliver to Ballard – yet – but it’s nice to know that the option is there.
Photo Credit: Kevin Laller
About Jen Waak
Jen, Thanks for sharing this. I was diagnosed with Hypothryroidism and Hashimoto's Thyroiditis a few years ago and have had (and continue to have) a number of the same struggles you alude to. After scores of tests and attempts to combat some of the annoying effects of this, I am willing to try anything. I had not previously read about a potential link between thyroid disease and celiac or other gluten issues…interesting. It will no doubt be difficult to find gluten-free options in Europe, but I will try! Thanks again & I'll keep you posted as to how this experiment goes for me!
Seems like we had this conversation just the other day!
Awesome article. Thanks for sharing!
Kelly, I'm sorry to hear you you are feeling to lousy. It's hard to go through it, I totally developed new empathy for chronic pain patients! Let me know how it goes, I'll be cheering for you!
Interesting info, Jen. My mom has suffered with a thyroid condition for years, but as far as I know, she still has a pretty gluten-heavy diet. I'll share this with her; might make a huge difference in her life.
Jen!! You may not remember me, but I met you at Chris’s party at SxSW2011.
This is ME!! This story…amazing all the connections!
Six years ago I was diagnosed HYPERthyroid and given radioactive iodine to kill it. Time went by, and I’m now officially hypothyroid. In the middle of trying to figure out if I need a slower titration schedule of Synthroid or if I’m allergic to the fillers in it. That being said, I’m not afraid to educate the doctor about Armour, the range of hormones the thyroid actually produces, and using basal temperature & my body’s signals to request dosing changes.
However–I’ve been experimenting with veganism, vegetarianism, Paleoish…etc. I’ve recently switched to gluten free. I”m not sure if I feel better because of the Synthroid or being gluten free. (The perils of not split testing earlier.) It would seem that each time I ate meat when I tried Paleoish, I combined it with bread. Which made me sick? Who knows.?
Another scary thing–I crave salt and have my entire life. Apparently this is a sign of a pituitary adenoma or Cushing’s disease. Not exactly looking forward to more testing, but it’ll be great to finally feel like ME again.
Apologies for the excitement–it’s great finding someone else who digs into nutrition/medical connection like me.
Jeanie, I DO remember you – so great to hear from you!
It’s been an exceptionally long road back for me as well, and there is an entire additional chapter to my story that I eventually need to write here as well. All I can say is don’t give up. I finally, FINALLY feel like I last did over a dozen years ago.
Do give Paleo another go, but this time be strict with it. I’m a fan of the plan because it removes the majority of allergens from someone’s diet without being overbearing. Is it hard? Yes. And then once you start feeling better, you can start adding back in foods (one at a time so you are testing properly) to see what you can still tolerate. I found out through trial and error that I’m really best off grain-free, but do OK with good dairy. Everyone is different.
Stay in touch, and I hope to see you again at SXSW in 2012!