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Hashimoto’s Thyroid Disease is an immune system disorder and we should treat it as one. There is a genetic component that increases susceptibility to Hashimoto’s and those are mostly genes that control the immune system as well as a few thyroid specific genes. But just having the genetic susceptibility does not mean that you necessarily fully express the disease. The genes associated with Hashimoto’s tend to be those that are related to the immune system. Interestingly, Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis used to be rare. Over the last 30 years, Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis has become one of the most common autoimmune conditions. It therefore it is not all about genetics. Our genes do not change that quickly.
Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis is present in 5 % of the population and is 10 times more common in women. I should clarify that 5% of the population has antibodies against their own thyroid gland but only about 2 % of the population are diagnosed with clinical hypothyroid disease. By that estimate, there is about 8% of the population running around with an immune system dysfunction but the thyroid levels are not yet bad enough to diagnose hypothyroidism.
It is our approach in Functional Medicine to of course balance out the thyroid hormones but work on the goal of improving immune self- tolerance. This can be tricky but it is not uncommon to see thyroid antibodies improve over time. We often see patients who have been diagnosed with Hypothyroidism that have not even had
Martha is a 49 year-old female that presented with the diagnosis of Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis. Her symptoms were fatigue, weight gain, joint pain. She felt like a 49 year old woman in an 85 year old body. Our approach was to quiet and calm the immune system by reducing the body’s pathogen burden as well as identifying other triggers contributing to immune system dysfunction. These other triggers for Martha were stress, processed food choices and gluten sensitivity. We worked on her blood sugar metabolism when her labs revealed pre-diabetes. We also addressed toxic burden. Over the course of 6 months Martha’s symptoms gradually improved. Her joint pain and fatigue resolved, her vitality improved. What we had to improve was the balance in the immune system. What is most shocking is that her anti-TPO (thyroid peroxidase antibody) went from over 1000 IU/mL down to 175 IU/mL which is still abnormal however significantly improved.
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