I have been tracking my thyroid antibody levels and I want to share my results, in case this information will be of use to someone. I have been diagnosed with Hashimoto’s encephalopathy in April 2017 and I was treated with intra-venous steroids (IV Solu-Medrol) in December 2017. In November 2017, before the steroids treatment, my thyroid hormone levels were normal, but my Anti-Tg and Anti-TPO antibodies were elevated. I was experiencing many symptoms such as fear, a sense of dread, severe anxiety, feeling of worthlessness. After the immunosuppressant treatment with steroids I had improvements in different areas of being, such as a desire to read fiction again, new interest in men, increased self-confidence, desire to play violin again. As you can see from the table below, my antibody levels decreased after the treatment, in May 2018 they were lower than in November 2017.
I was improving in 2018 – I started this blog, took a violin lesson, read sci-fi. In the fall I completed mandatory adoption training and started the homestudy process with a social worker for adoption of children. This is something that I want to do because I wanted to have a family for a while, but I don’t feel that passing on my genes is the right way, as likely my children would inherit the same autoimmune disorders.
In November 2018 I started feeling worse. It’s difficult to pinpoint a specific cause of this as there were several events. I have been gluten-free now since 2016. Unfortunately one day in November I ate a whole bowl of lentil soup with barley because the take-out place stated that the soup only contains lentils and rice. Such large amount of gluten after not eating it at all for several years could have caused an immune reaction. I also got the flu twice, and the flu can also lead to the immune system being overactive even after the virus is gone. I also decided to try different probiotic supplements which had supporting evidence in regards to positive results for mood improvement. Maybe it did not go well for me and these bacterial strains were not accepted by my immune system.
In end of November I started to frequently wake up around 5am covered in sweat. At work my palms were sweating and I was getting chills. My pulse was regularly over 90 and my temperature was around 37.3 Celcius even though I did not have a flu nor a cold. My neck and face were burning, I felt waves of heat and shivers going through my body. After work by 6 pm I was lethargic and couldn’t get myself to exercise as I was in the fall. It was very clear to me that my thyroid hormones should be tested, so I right away went to the lab. December results show that at that point my TSH was already very low because my thyroid hormones were too high. Thyroid antibodies are also elevated. Ultrasound confirmed inflammation of the thyroid. I was referred to Women’s College Hospital and they repeated blood tests again. It can be seen that December 19th results indicate even higher thyroid hormone levels.
At the moment when all this occurred, I had a regular schedule – sleeping 12am to 8am, working 9 to 5, was doing yoga before I became lethargic. I was not on any medications but I was taking several probiotic supplements – saccharomyces boulardii, and two probiotics for mood. I decided to stop all supplements and also came across an article about anti-Saccharomyces cerevisiae antibodies. I did not have testing for these antibodies, but I decided to try going yeast-free and see whether symptoms improve. I stopped drinking my kefir and eating my sourdough bread. Also avoiding alcohol and vinegar. It’s interesting to see that in January my thyroid hormones were at their normal levels. It’s hard to say whether there was an issue with the supplements that I was taking, or yeast in food, or a random event of thyroid inflammation. I will be testing again at the end of January. There is not much evidence that yeast consumption could cause an autoimmune flare, but I will still keep going yeast free for sometime to see whether there will be improvements.
“The findings indicate that ASCA IgG-positivity may be linked to the generalized inflammation commonly seen with increased adiposity, but not to dietary yeast intake. Other potential causes for the raised ASCA IgG concentrations, such as genetic predisposition, deviations in the gut microbiota and cross-reactivity of ASCA with other antigens, were not explored.”
Notes of a Neuropsychiatry Amateur 