The Investigation

It’s common for people with Hashimoto’s to feel like their thyroid is to blame for their issues. But, it’s not the thyroid - it’s the immune system. The immune system is attacking the thyroid and causing it to function less than optimally. It’s the same with other autoimmune diseases - the immune system is what is malfunctioning. 

So, if you have an autoimmune disease and you want to feel better and healthier then you need to support your immune system in a very specific way so that it will stop or slow attacks on your thyroid or any other organ.  As well as supporting the thyroid or other organ involved.

In this episode of Health Mysteries Solved, I share more details on this two-fold approach for supporting the thyroid and the immune system. It’s definitely for you if you have Hashimoto’s but please note that these tips are useful for anyone dealing with autoimmunity.  

I also offer a more in depth training on this twofold message. Please be sure you are following me on Instagram so you are the first to know about the next upcoming training.

Four Ways to Support the Immune System if you have Autoimmunity

Let’s start by supporting the immune system. There are many things you can do but in this episode, I share four strategies that have the most impact in supporting your immune system when you have autoimmunity or Hashimoto’s. Before we talk about supplements that are generally supportive for Hashimoto’s, it’s important to note that knowing your own biochemical balances can provide further insights and a more customized approach to supporting your immune system and decreasing your Hashimoto’s symptoms.

 

Immune Calming Supplements

There are a few supplements that tend to work well for most people with Hashimoto’s and autoimmunity because they have a balancing and calming effect on the immune system. A calmer immune system is less likely to attack! Here are the three best immune calming supplements:

 

• SPM Supreme by Designs for Health. SPM stands for specialized pro resolving mediator. I typically recommend six per day for the first week to quickly down-regulate inflammation. After that, continue with 2-3 per day for maintenance. My listeners save 10% when using this link and entering code DFH10 at checkout. 
• Trizomal Glutathione. I recommend one teaspoon of this liquid supplement per day. You will need to create an account and login to order this supplement or you can choose the over the counter option of Therasomal Glutathione by Quicksilver. This is a pump liquid and I recommend four to six pumps as a single daily dosage and I find it works best not taken with food.
• Vitamin D. I especially like Vitamin D Supreme by Designs for Health because it includes vitamin K which is important to take with vitamin D. Remember to use the listener code DFH at checkout to save 10%. Please note that vitamin D should be monitored to determine your dosage because it can fluctuate depending on how much sunshine you are getting and your diet. The lab range is from 31 to 100 (which is very wide). I like to stay between 50 and 70. If your levels are low, you’ll want to supplement up to 5000 IU per day but if you are in range, your supplementation can be around 2000 IU daily. It’s worth maintaining a good level because I’ve seen Vitamin D in particular make a huge difference in thyroid antibodies.  

 

These three supplements are the power trio in calming your immune system so it can address the inflammation and viruses it should be attacking instead of your thyroid or other organs. 

 

Immune Calming Mindset

Your thoughts, beliefs, past traumas, and the way you support your nervous system play a huge role in your immune system’s health. The nervous system is directly tied to your immune system so it makes sense that when our nervous system is challenged, our immune system suffers.  

So, what can you do to support your nervous system (and therefore your immune system)? The good news is that little things make a difference. Here are a few small shifts you can make in your daily life that can add up to big changes in your mindset and the state of your nervous system.

• Start your day with two minutes of intentional breathing 
• End your day with two minutes of gratitude before you go to bed
• Thank your body for holding you up all day
• Believe in the infinite wisdom that your body has this amazing gift that it can heal and give it a chance. 
• Shift your thoughts and language to the possible, for example instead of saying ‘I have to’ try saying ‘I want to’, ‘I get to’, ‘I choose to.’ 

The most important thing to remember is that our bodies are not net neutral, they're net positive. Anything you can do to help calm and down-regulate your nervous system will have a huge effect on your immune system. 

 

Immune Calming Diet

A lot of people living with Hashimoto’s or autoimmunity ask me about what diet to follow because they hear so much about going gluten-free, grain-free, dairy-free or following the AIP (Autoimmune Protocol) diet. There are a lot of choices out there and each person is going to have their unique food intolerances and sensitivities.

In my experience, working with thousands of people at this point, I find that gluten and dairy tend to really be the big things that move the needle. Now again, for some people they may need to do grain free or they may need to do low lectin or AIP. And when you start out, sometimes doing a little bit more is helpful and then you can narrow down exactly what can be added back in safely. Some people find that eliminating too much is too much so for them, I do suggest eliminating gluten and dairy to see significant changes. 

Food tests can be very helpful to identify specific individual issues. On the genetic front, you can also test the DQ2 and DQ8 will identify if you struggle to process gluten. My other go-to test is the Vibrant America Zoomer test that will identify sensitivities with dairy as well as foods like soy, eggs, nuts, and even other grains. It’s very comprehensive because they look at different immunoglobulins (IgG and IGA) and they also break out the gluten and the dairy into a lot of metabolites of those foods. This is a test that I use in my practice all the time. If you are interested in doing this test, please contact us.

Getting more information about your body and how it functions will allow you to make the right choices with your diet so that your immune system isn’t triggered by your food. 

 

Immune Calming Physical Activity

Losing weight is usually one of the big goals with almost all of my clients and the students in my Thyroid Mystery Solved Program. And, I understand that because Hashimoto’s and hypothyroidism often leads to unwanted weight gain and can make it harder to lose weight. 

The go to solution is often to exercise more but workouts that are too intense can actually make...