Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome Undetected
I was recently consulted by a 36 year old lady who had tried IVF on 2 occasions without success. She had been diagnosed with the autoimmune thyroid condition Hashimoto’s thyroiditis. This was being successfully treated with porcine thyroid hormone (Armour) and her thyroid function was normal on blood tests. She felt reasonably well apart from fatigue; however she did have a very stressful and demanding office job.
She came to see me to check her thyroid function and was disappointed that the blood level of her thyroid antibodies had not come down over several years. These antibodies are produced by the immune system in high amounts in those with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis. High levels of these antibodies are bad news – this is because they attack the thyroid gland causing damage to it. The thyroid gland then becomes under active because of this damage.
She was disappointed because she was really trying to follow a healthy diet and lifestyle and was avoiding all gluten.
She asked me “So why are my antibodies not coming down?
After taking a full history, my answers were as follows –
- You are not ovulating regularly, as evidenced by your irregular menstrual bleeding, and this makes you deficient in progesterone. Her menstrual periods came every 6 to 8 weeks. Lack of progesterone will make autoimmune disease worse; in other words it keeps those nasty antibodies high.
- Your blood test shows that you are deficient in vitamin D and this will make autoimmune diseases such as Hashimoto’s thyroiditis worse; in other words it keeps those nasty antibodies high.
Know someone who might benefit from this article? Share it!
Need Help?
1-888-75-LIVER
Monday to Friday, 9:00 am to 5:00 pm MST
100%
Satisfaction Guaranteed
If it’s faulty or wrongly described, we’ll replace it.