4-Year Remission of Hashimoto’s

Four years passed since my lab results showed for the first time that Hashimoto’s disease is in remission.

It is a reason to celebrate and share my experience with anyone who has Hashimoto’s or any other autoimmune diagnosis!

I’ve already shared the interventions I took to achieve the remission. In this post, I share how I’ve been sustaining the state of remission, avoiding flare-ups.

Being in Remission

Autoimmune diseases are held incurable in general. Moreover, the late forties are known for hormonal changes in women and exacerbated symptoms of autoimmunity. So, I am excited every time I receive my lab results.

But the thyroid antibody results stayed in the norm for the past four years.

Dr. Wahls Protocol

Dr. Terry Wahls is one of the personalities I admire and from whom I have received essential knowledge.

I’ve been following her protocol for a couple of years and was able to significantly reduce the number of supplements I take for health support.

Dr. Terry Wahls’ Story

Dr. Terry Wahls was diagnosed some years ago with multiple sclerosis, an autoimmune disease attacking the nervous system. It turned out to be an aggressive form of the disease, and within a few years, her physical condition declined rapidly despite the most modern treatments and medicines that were available to her.

Wahls studied functional medicine and tried to help herself by taking supplements to support a healthy metabolism. This somewhat slowed down the decline but didn’t reverse it. At some point, she became so weak that she was not able even to sit upright and had to use a declined chair.

Wahls protocol

The Wahls protocol helps reduce (autoimmune) inflammation, raise energy levels, and sustain mental health.

The protocol’s main principle is to cover your body’s needs for nutrients as far as possible with nutritious foods. With such food, you receive not only certain beneficial compounds that your immune system needs to quench the autoimmunity but also a potent cocktail of all other beneficial nutrients.

You can do so easily by consuming high-quality protein sources and a wide variety of vegetables and fruits.

Proteins

Dr. Wahls advises eating omega-3-rich fish and organ meats like liver because they are rich in protein and other valuable biologically active compounds beneficial for your body.

Seeds and nuts are also excellent sources of proteins and healthy fats. Protein supplements like collagen, whey, or vegetarian versions can be another option.

Vegetables and fruits

Wahls protocol includes eating three groups of vegetables and fruits with each meal that you take.

Products containing anthocyans are, for example, paprika, beetroot, tomato, and squash but also berries like blueberries, raspberries, cherries, cranberries, and so on.

The third group is sulfur-containing vegetables. Sulfur is important for our immune system. Products containing sulfur are “smelly”. The more sulfur they contain the stronger the smell. These are all sorts of cabbages, onions, garlic, radishes, asparagus, and also mushrooms.

The stronger the smell, the less of the product you need to eat. For example, to cover the need of your body for sulfur, you would eat three cups of cabbage a day, but far less onion or garlic.

Dr. Wahls encourages us to eat seaweed. They are rich in iodine which is rare in soils and thus in products grown on soils.

Healthy Fats

Fats are the building blocks of every cell. The outer and inner membranes of each cell a built from fats including protein elements. Especially nerve tissue is rich in fat. Therefore it is exceptionally important to provide your body with healthy fats.

The sources of healthy fats are fatty fish (salmon, herring, sardines), seeds, nuts, olives, and oils made of those.

Probiotics

Probiotics are essential for our gut health but also psychological health and our immune system as our microbiome is a part of our immune system.

The easiest, most efficient to boost your microbiome is by eating traditional fermented veggies. Eating just a spoon-large portion daily will do a great job.

Carbs

That’s right, the Wahls protocol restricts the intake of carbs. Dr. Wahls finds it beneficial for her to eat Paleo way most of the year.

I found it beneficial for my health to give up not only gluten-containing grains but also to minimize the intake of carb-rich rice and potatoes. Instead, I cook weekly quinoa and buckwheat. They are not considered grains but seeds and contain a high amount of protein compared to grains, as well as dietary fiber, vitamins, and minerals.

Food Sensitivities

Knowing your sensitivities is crucial.

Changing the lifestyle does heal an autoimmune disease, but sends it into remission. It quenches the fire of the inflammation but certain foods can reignite it.

Dr. Terry Wahls is sensitive to peppers. Eating peppers cause a flair-up of the MS symptoms, so she excluded them from her diet.

Gluten and milk intolerances are very common and can cause serious digestion problems. I was able to heal from leaky gut syndrome by avoiding milk products and gluten.

Read my blog post about food intolerance tests here.

Intermittent Fasting

The principle of intermittent fasting is giving a break to your digestive system so that your body can efficiently digest, clean up, repair, heal itself, and rest. At the same time, it does not restrict the calorie intake and therefore does not exhaust your body. This makes it easier to follow an intermittent fasting protocol for a long period of time making it rather a lifestyle. It is definitely important though to carefully choose what you eat (as explained above).

Time-restricted eating (TRE) is natural to humans from the evolutionary point of you in contrast to continuous eating which is possible and widely spread nowadays. It brings multiple health benefits including weight loss, cardiovascular health, reduced insulin resistance, and reduced inflammation.

There are different ways to restrict your eating time window. Dr. Terry Wahls eats twice a day – in the morning and in the evening. I prefer to delay my breakfast till noon and have a rather early dinner and snacks between those two meals.

Supplements

In the previous post on my remission, I wrote about the importance of supplements. I continue taking daily fish oil and vitamin D (except for summertime when I prefer to tank sunshine).

I still take but less regularly Selenium, Zink, Curcumin, and vitamin C supplements. These supplements are important for the immune system and offer increased natural protection against Covid.

Potentilla Alba

When I look back at the time of remission I see two periods when the thyroid antibody levels dropped and when I was taking Potentilla alba supplements. This medicinal plant is well known and studied in Eastern Europe but little known in Western Europe (see here a review article).

The first time I achieved remission, the levels of thyroid antibodies decreased from about 200 IU/ml to normal levels. Back then I took repeatedly Endocrinol from the Russian company Evalar for periods of two months with breaks of several months in between. The breaks are needed so that the body does not get used to the intake of the plant supplement which would otherwise reduce its healing effect.

Then there was a period when I stopped taking it. During that break, the antibody levels grew slowly and almost reached the norm border (32 IU, whereas 34 IU is the upper norm border).

Then I decided to try out a new thyroid supplement containing Potentilla alba – the Endonorm supplement also developed and produced in Russia. After a two-month course, the level of thyroid antibodies fell again to a mere 12 IU.

So, it seems that having healthy digestion and continuously consuming nutritious food, Potentilla alba supplements helped me to restore and sustain my immune health.

Endonorm^®

ENDONORM^® is a purely plant-derived supplement that contains:

• White cinquefoil (Potentilla alba) roots and rootstocks extract — 200 mg;
• Beggars-ticks herb extract — 80 mg;
• Licorice roots extract — 50 mg;
• Brown algae (devil’s apron) thallus extract — 70 mg.

White cinquefoil (Potentilla alba L.) affects the production of the thyrotropic hormone in the anterior pituitary, normalizes the morphological structure of thyroid tissue, and returns the thyroid to the normal, euthyroid state.

Licorice (Glycyrrhiza glabra L.) normalizes functions of the adrenals, immune and reproductive systems, and restores hormonal balance in the human body.

Beggars-ticks (Bidens tripartita L.) exhibit immunomodulating activity and allow achievement of the maximum therapeutic effect in patients with diffuse toxic goiter or autoimmune thyroiditis.

Laminaria (Laminaria saccharina L.) can normalize thyroid tissue biochemistry thanks to the presence of iodine-tyrosine derivatives and its broad spectrum of macro-and micronutrients.

Iron Defficiency

Iron deficiency, a typical Hashimoto’s symptom had been accompanying me for decades. It did not help that I was a vegetarian for decades. And taking iron medicines was a pain since their disrupted even more my already weak digestion, caused bloating and diarrhea, and made me feel exhausted.

I had to change my eating habits. For several months I ate weekly liver. This finally helped to raise the iron levels in the blood. But later I saw that regular cooking on a cast-iron pan helps me to sustain effectively the blood iron levels. This allows me to stick to vegetarian food which I prefer.

Mental Health

Mental health requires special attention and regular efforts invested into sustaining or regaining it.

I’ve been continuously learning and practicing on myself hypnosis and NLP (neuro-linguistic programming) practices. Also, I followed a powerful Heart Core Leadership program in 2021. This allows me to deal with challenges, create positive moods, and strive for more in my life.

Physical Fitness

Physical fitness is one of the major aspects of health. With age, physical fitness ensures healthy aging and longevity.

There are many wonderful ways to keep you fit. I love walks and yoga. These exercises keep my body flexible and strong.

Remission FAQ

Conclusions

I have been keeping Hashimoto’s in the state of remission for already four years following such a lifestyle:

• following the Wahls’ protocol of consuming low-carb nutritious food, applying intermittent fasting
• taking care of my mental health with the help of hypnosis and NLP
• taking care of my physical health with regular walks and yoga practice
• taking supplements with the Potentilla alba being crucial for thyroid health.

I believe that each of the mentioned aspects played a significant role in staying in remission without experiencing flare-ups.

Disclaimer

Please consult your doctor before taking any interventions mentioned in this post.

References

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• The Wahls Protocol® How I Beat Progressive MS Using Paleo Principles and Functional Medicine
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