How Thyroid Disease And Celiac Disease Are Closely Connected – And The Gluten Free Diet Link FoodSniffr For Healthy Eating & LivingFoodSniffr For Healthy Eating & Living -
Thyroid & Celiac Disease Connection
It’s an often misdiagnosed autoimmune disorder. Its symptoms consist of fatigue, constipation or diarrhea, hair loss, depression, weight gain or loss, and infertility. And it greatly threatens the individual’s quality of life. Sound a good deal like Celiac Disease? Actually, these are common symptoms of Autoimmune Thyroid Disease. Like Celiac Disease, physicians often miss the diagnosis as well as the celiac and hypothyroid connection. In fact, it is estimated that over half of the approximately 27 million people dealing with thyroid conditions have not yet been detected.
In addition, folks with Celiac Disease are a lot more expected to develop Thyroid Disease than people without Celiac Disease. Similarly, people with a Thyroid condition are more likely to develop Celiac than those without a Thyroid condition, and this holds true even after the subject adopts a gluten-free diet.
A review by Dr. Fasano, a recognized expert on Celiac Disease, proved that half of the people diagnosed with Celiac disease also had Thyroid Disease. And while 1 in 133 Americans (just under 1%) have Celiac, recent thyroid review studies show that 2 to 7.8% (an average of 4.1%) have Celiac. This reveals that a person suffering with Thyroid Disease is about four times more likely to develop Celiac than someone without a thyroid condition.
What is autoimmune thyroid disease?
The Thyroid is a gland in the neck that controls most of the other hormones in the body. It determines how promptly you burn calories, your heart rate, and other vital functions. Among the most common type of Thyroid Disease is an underactive thyroid, or hypothyroidism, which is usually caused by an autoimmune reaction where the body attacks the thyroid causing lower levels of thyroid hormones to be produced into the body. This causes the body’s metabolism to slow down. Also known as Hashimoto’s Disease, hypothyroidism occurs most frequently in women during middle age. Another common thyroid disorder is hyperthyroidism or an overactive thyroid gland. It is caused by an autoimmune reaction (usually Graves’ Disease), where the body attacks itself, and the thyroid gland produces too much thyroid hormone.
What are the signs and symptoms of Thyroid Disease?
The signs and symptoms connected with Thyroid Disease vary depending upon whether the thyroid is under-active (hypothyroid) or over-active (hyperthyroid). Hypothyroidism typically presents with fatigue, a morning body temperature equal to or less than 97.6 degrees (compared to a normal temperature of 96.8 degrees), and dry skin and hair. Signs of hypothyroidism also may include weight gain, difficulty with mental concentration (brain fog), and irregular menstrual periods. People with an underactive thyroid often experience many other problems associated with weight gain including insulin resistance and diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart disease.
Signs of hyperthyroidism, on the other hand, may include high blood pressure, gastrointestinal problems, and a rapid heartbeat.
Sufferers of both types of thyroid disorders may experience sleep disorders, severe fatigue, and changes in bowel habits, ranging from constipation to diarrhea. Pregnant women, whose hormone levels change dramatically to accommodate the growing life within, may experience a variety of problems due to untreated thyroid conditions.
What might your doctor look at for thyroid and celiac disease?
Too often medical providers get focused on one symptom or one disease process to the omission of other important medical evidence. In fact, the New England Journal of Medicine published a study suggesting that the top mistake most doctors make is narrowing the differential diagnosis too quickly, which limits what we” re able to see, never mind accurately diagnose and treat. It’s vital to cast a wide net when diagnosing a patient, and this takes time. Your physician will need to take the time to pay attention to and understand your medical history, conduct a thorough physical examination, order blood work, formulate a treatment plan for you, continually review your progress, and if necessary, retest and adjust your medications.
When thyroid disease is suspected, additional testing and treatment is required. First, a physical examination should be performed, including palpation of the thyroid gland in the neck to locate any enlargement, asymmetry, or the development of nodules. Second, blood work should be conducted to evaluate not just the patient’& rsquo; s TSH level (TSH is produced by the pituitary gland in the brain), but also their Free-T3 and Free-T4 levels.
Many physicians only test for TSH, and for example, when it is too high, simply direct their patients to take more T-4. The problem with this approach is that some patients with thyroid conditions lack the ability to convert T-4 to T-3. T-3 is the most active form of thyroid, which in combination with T-4, affects a person’s metabolism, heart rate, cholesterol levels, and adrenal function. Consequently, it is critical that we test for the presence of TSH and Free-T3 and Free-T4 in a patient’s bloodstream. Only with this information can we prescribe the supplemental hormones a patient needs for normal metabolic activities to occur.
If you’ve already been diagnosed with Celiac Disease and adopted a gluten-free diet, and you continue to experience any of the symptoms described above, talk with your doctor. It may be time for you to get a comprehensive physical exam and blood work. Similarly, if you” ve been diagnosed with Thyroid Disease and you’re still experiencing any of the symptoms described, consider making an appointment to talk with your doctor. You don’t just have to live with it.
Does a gluten-free diet help thyroid antibodies?
When someone with Celiac disease goes gluten-free, his or her autoimmune antibodies return to normal, as expected. Medical research also suggests, however, that when people with Celiac and Thyroid Disease adopt a gluten-free diet, not only do their Celiac-related antibody levels improve, but often their thyroid antibody levels also decrease dramatically. This suggests that a gluten-free diet improves thyroid function, and it may mean that people with Celiac who are gluten-free require less thyroid medication. As the authors of one study put it: “We believe that undiagnosed and untreated Celiac Disease may switch on some as-yet-unknown, immunological mechanism that sets off a cascade of other disorders”. So, in other words, untreated autoimmune diseases such as Celiac Disease, lead to the development of more autoimmune diseases. While there is some speculation that eating a gluten-free diet may help improve thyroid function even in people without Celiac, there are no research findings proving this hypothesis.
Thus it is very important that people with Celiac Disease are at much higher risk for Thyroid Disease. So, if you have reason to suspect that you are suffering from either disorder, get tested!
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