Hi, everyone. Long story short: I would like to ask you about the effects of radiation (iodine-131 in particular) on thyroid, if it can cause thyroid autoimmunity / hashimoto's, and, most importantly, is it even possible to overcome it with diet and thyroid medication?
My background: female,24, lived the first 17 years of my life in a city with a nuclear power plant. When I was 2 years old, there was an accident, when radiation leaked and iodine-131 was everywhere for almost a month. No one told the city population (the nuclear plant's officials revealed the documents and admitted that only 7 years later), so as a result almost everyone in our city has some sort of thyroid issues. I think that was the reason why I have also started to have health troubles (flu and cold almost every 2-3 month my whole life (yes :/), weight problems, overall tiredness, enlarged thyroid on all my childhood photos), but my parents took me to the endocrinologist only when I was 17 years old. In that time, my TSH was >100.00 ulU/ml, my anti-TPO was >1030.0 IU/mL, and my thyroid was enlarged SO MUCH (that's why it couldn't be ignored anymore). The endocrinologist was mad at my parents, of course, and told me that I have thyroid autoimmunity and will have to take T4 for the rest of my life. After starting medication, my TSH dropped to 6, my thyroid has shrunk half its size, but unfortunately, my anti-TPO remained the same. So, I use T4 for 7 years now, also added T3 3 years ago. I have started following RP dietary guidelines 1,5 years ago (and feel much better since that, especially because my cold frequency dropped from 4-6 times/year to 1-2 times/year!). BUT...
I still have the same very high anti-TPO (>1000). I know, that RP believes that autoimmunity appears because of endotoxins and estrogen and could be managed by eliminating them + dietary choices. But is it even possible to overcome it if it was destroyed by radiation? Or was it caused by radiation in the first place? When I talk about that with endocrinologists, they, OF COURSE, tend to say that radiation can do nothing and it is a 100% genetic problem (yeeeeah, sure....).
What do you guys think about that? That is your opinion about radiation and thyroid?
My background: female,24, lived the first 17 years of my life in a city with a nuclear power plant. When I was 2 years old, there was an accident, when radiation leaked and iodine-131 was everywhere for almost a month. No one told the city population (the nuclear plant's officials revealed the documents and admitted that only 7 years later), so as a result almost everyone in our city has some sort of thyroid issues. I think that was the reason why I have also started to have health troubles (flu and cold almost every 2-3 month my whole life (yes :/), weight problems, overall tiredness, enlarged thyroid on all my childhood photos), but my parents took me to the endocrinologist only when I was 17 years old. In that time, my TSH was >100.00 ulU/ml, my anti-TPO was >1030.0 IU/mL, and my thyroid was enlarged SO MUCH (that's why it couldn't be ignored anymore). The endocrinologist was mad at my parents, of course, and told me that I have thyroid autoimmunity and will have to take T4 for the rest of my life. After starting medication, my TSH dropped to 6, my thyroid has shrunk half its size, but unfortunately, my anti-TPO remained the same. So, I use T4 for 7 years now, also added T3 3 years ago. I have started following RP dietary guidelines 1,5 years ago (and feel much better since that, especially because my cold frequency dropped from 4-6 times/year to 1-2 times/year!). BUT...
I still have the same very high anti-TPO (>1000). I know, that RP believes that autoimmunity appears because of endotoxins and estrogen and could be managed by eliminating them + dietary choices. But is it even possible to overcome it if it was destroyed by radiation? Or was it caused by radiation in the first place? When I talk about that with endocrinologists, they, OF COURSE, tend to say that radiation can do nothing and it is a 100% genetic problem (yeeeeah, sure....).
What do you guys think about that? That is your opinion about radiation and thyroid?
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