Hashimoto's thyroiditis: Causes, symptoms, and holistic treatment

Hashimoto's thyroiditis is an autoimmune disorder (when your own immune system thinks part of your body is a foreign substance and attacks it in retaliation) which affects your thyroid gland. Located at the base of your neck, the butterfly-shaped thyroid gland is crucial for metabolic regulation and ensuring your body functions properly. 

The autoimmune response in your body (when your immune system thinks your healthy thyroid tissue is a foreign object) results in chronic inflammation of the thyroid gland due to the antibodies and the death of thyroid tissue. This reduces the ability of your thyroid to work normally and produce thyroid hormones like T3 and T4. 

Over time, with more and more damage, your body starts to suffer from hypothyroidism, which is when your body doesn't produce enough thyroid hormones (hypo means less). This results in a range of symptoms such as fatigue, weight gain, dry flaky skin, constipation, cold intolerance and in some cases, depression. 

Hashimoto's disease is relatively common in the world, with women between the ages of 30 and 60 being the most common victims of the disease. It is one of the most prevalent causes of hypothyroidism in the world. 

Symptoms of Hashimoto's thyroiditis and their scientific causes:

• Decreased cold tolerance: Hashimoto's disease is characterized by low T3 and T4 hormones in your bloodstream. When this happens, our body's natural reaction is to try and increase the level of the thyroid hormones, using Thyroid-Stimulating Hormone (TSH). When TSH levels increase from the ideal range of 0.5-2 units, our bodies will feel colder and be less tolerant to lower temperatures.
• Increased sleepiness and fatigue: Patients of hypothyroidism will typically see low levels of triiodothyronine or T3. The T3 hormone is the primary hormone involved in raising your metabolic activity (the activity which helps our cells get more energy). Thus, when your T3 levels are lower than usual (as can be seen in hypothyroidism), you'll feel sleepier and much more lethargic than usual. 
• Dry skin: Your skin has many eccrine glands on them, which are responsible for secreting moisturizing factors like urea, lactate, sodium, and potassium to keep our skin soft and hydrated. But, when our body's metabolism slows down (due to Hashimoto's), our eccrine gland secretion also decreases, causing the dry and flaky skin that most hypothyroidism patients complain about. 
• Constipation: Hashimoto's disease and other forms of hypothyroidism are typically known to cause extreme muscle weakness due to absence of appropriate T3 levels (the energy hormone). Our body is dependent on our muscles, not just for moving things around outside the body, but to also move our poop outside the body. When our intestinal muscles are weaker, our gut motility decreases, resulting in less efficient excretion. 
• Muscle weakness: Similar to our gut muscles, our arms and legs can lose their strength and be close to dysfunctional due to a lack of usable energy in your cells. This can affect us by making us feel weaker and render us incapable to function on a daily basis. 
• Puffy face: With severe hypothyroidism, one can develop myxedema (swelling and thickening of skin), especially in your lips, eyelids and tongue. If one suffers from myxedema (also known as a myxedema crisis), they have very high-risk hypothyroidism symptoms and must contact their doctor as soon as possible. 
• Brittle nails: People with hypothyroidism will typically suffer from weak nails with visible ridges that easy to break. Although the science on how brittle nails are caused by low thyroid hormones, most scientists and doctors believe that keratin builds up in the nail plate before it grows out (as the growing of nails is slowed down due to a slow metabolism) causing ridges, and reduced blood flow causes brittle and easy-to-break nails. 

Cause of Hashimoto's disease:

Since Hashimoto's disease is an autoimmune disorder, it can be caused by all factors affecting the activity of our immune system. In Hashimoto's, your immune system tends to make antibodies that attack the tissue of your thyroid, causing the build-up of white blood cells (lymphocytes) in the thyroid region. This lymph build-up deteriorates thyroid tissue and breaks it down, leading to lower levels of thyroid function due to a lack of thyroid tissue to synthesize the hormones our body needs.

Risk factors for Hashimoto's disease:

• Sex: Females are 10 times more likely to develop Hashimoto's disease when compared to males due to sex hormones and its influence on our body system.
• Age: The more you age, the more likely your immune system is to malfunction and attack your thyroid tissue, resulting in higher risk of hypothyroidism as one ages. 
• Genetics: About 80% of hypothyroidism patients have biological family members with Hashimoto's disease, thus indicating that Hashimoto's is highly inheritable from your parents. 
• Stress: Repeated bouts of stress can cause flares in Hashimoto's disease and increase levels of hormones that can hamper with your thyroid function. 
• Previous Infections: Exposure to Mono or Epstein-Barr virus is known to cause issues in the functioning of the immune system, and can lead to hypothyroidism and resurface many years later after the infection. 
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  Nutrient deficiencies: Vitamin D deficiency is a common risk factor for any autoimmune disorders, as people who lack vitamin D will have impaired immune functioning, making them more susceptible to stress and infections over time. 
  
• Gluten consumption: Gluten's molecular structure tends to resemble the structure of your thyroid proteins, which can exacerbate symptoms of hypothyroidism and tend to cause it as well. 

How can diet be used to treat Hashimoto's disease:

Managing Hashimoto's disease through diet involves making specific dietary choices that can help reduce inflammation, support thyroid function and alleviate some of the associated symptoms that have been discussed before. 

• Gluten free diet: Eliminate wheat, barley, rye and other gluten-containing products from your diet and substitute them with gluten-free alternatives like rice, corn, maize, quinoa, etc. Read food labels carefully and ensure that the foods you consume to do not contain gluten, especially if you also suffer from celiac disease. 
  
• Iodine management: Although iodine is essential for thyroid function, consuming too much of it can also negatively affect your symptoms. To prevent excess iodine intake, first check your iodine levels through blood tests after asking your healthcare provider. Then, if your iodine levels are too high due to consumption of iodized salt and other iodized foods like sea vegetables, decrease the frequency of consumption. 
• Balanced portions: Focusing on a well-balanced diet is crucial to ensure overall wellness and appropriate thyroid function. One can achieve this by eating more lean protein like chicken, fish, turkey, beans and tofu; and also by consuming lots of fruit and vegetables to maintain an appropriate nutrient and antioxidant balance in your bloodstream. Choosing whole grains like brown rice and quinoa can also help combat the feelings of increased hunger associated with hypothyroidism. 
• Low sugar lifestyle: Sugar is a known inflammatory agent, and decreasing its consumption can ensure that inflammation is kept in check and blood sugar levels are stable. With stabler blood sugar, autoimmune diseases tend to decrease in severity (as seen in both mice and human studies.)