The Autoimmune Doc Podcast w/ Dr. Taylor Krick - 016 - Thyroid Antibodies - How Much Do They Matter?

016 - Thyroid Antibodies - How Much Do They Matter?

06/25/21 • 28 min

The Autoimmune Doc Podcast w/ Dr. Taylor Krick

It's common in the alternative medicine world to hear people talk about "how high their antibody levels are/were". But in practice I see people with high antibodies who are doing fine, while someone with low antibodies might feel like they are dying. What's up with that?!? Do antibody levels matter??
The answer is that they do matter and they don't matter. Antibodies can be used to monitor progression, but high levels don't necessarily correlate to disease symptoms or progression.
In this episode I briefly explain thyroid antibodies seen in Hashimoto's - Thyroid Peroxidase (TPO, or microsomal) and Thyroglobulin (TG), and I go through several examples to explain the interplay of antibody levels, symptom severity, and disease progression.
The goal of this episode (and this podcast) is to help you manage your own case, review your own labs, and take better control of your autoimmune journey!

Previous Episode

015 - Hashimoto's - Everything Else BESIDES the Thyroid

Hashimoto's Autoimmune Thyroid Disease is the single-most prevalent autoimmune condition today, and it is estimated to be the root cause of 90% of hypothyroidism in America. One reason is that it's fairly easy to detect (there are 2 antibodies that are diagnostic), but it's also just really common in today's society filled with fast food, fast lives, and toxins. The immune system "attacks" the thyroid and gradually damages the gland until it eventually becomes truly "hypothyroid", but along that road the autoimmune process is also associated with many other symptoms, including:

Fatigue
Brain Fog
Weight Gain or Inability to Lose Weight
Constipation
Anxiety/Depression
Hair Loss
Weak Nails
Dry Skin

Obviously this is a thyroid disease, but so much matters beyond the thyroid! Thyroid hormone affects every function in the body, and many systems in the body affect the thyroid and are associated with Hashimoto's, and need to be adequately addressed, such as:

Gut Health - Celiac, leaky gut, food sensitivities, infections, SIBO, etc
Brain Function - Cerebellar and Demyelinating autoimmunity are not uncommon!
Immune System - Th1/Th2 balance, chronic infections, immune tolerance
Toxins and Detoxification - mold, mercury, BPA, liver/gallbladder function
Hormone Balance - estrogen, cortisol, insulin, etc

In this episode I discuss these topics and more, and it gets pretty clinical but the goal is to help a Hashimoto's patient navigate their own journey, or let people know how really complicated it can be. It's a puzzle!
I review Dr. Kharrazian's Hashimoto's Clinical Checklist and go through some of the clinical questions that need to be answered to appropriately handle a Hashimoto's case. None of these questions include the conventional medical question "What is their TSH?"!! (Listen to last episode for more info on TSH, T3, T4, etc)

Next Episode

017 - Balancing T Cells - Th1, Th2, Th17, & Tregs

T cells are a part of your immune system, which has many many important parts of course. T cells are particularly important in autoimmunity because the T CELLS ARE WHAT DO THE DAMAGE!!!
In my last episode about Hashimoto's I talked about antibody levels and described how will antibodies "flag" something as bad so that immune cells can come destroy it, but antibodies have no destructive properties.
The progression and destruction of autoimmune disease is determined by the level of T cell activity!
T cells destroy the gut in autoimmunity. T cells destroy the joints in autoimmunity. T cells destroy the thyroid. T cells destroy the myelin of your nerves. THEY ARE IMPORTANT!!
What type(s) are there? What do they do? How do I know if mine are working properly?
This episode goes through all of that information! I go through the 4 most important polarizations of T cells:

Th1 (fights intracellular infections)
Th2 (produces mucus and expels allergens and parasites)
Th17 (causes tissue-damaging inflammation)
Regulatory T cells (Tregs), which are the peacemakers that dampen inflammation

Autoimmunity ALWAYS has an imbalance of too much Th17 activity and not enough Treg activity, but what about Th1/Th2?
Eventually MOST autoimmune patients will present with decreased Th1 and increased Th2, and in this episode I go through some of the details of how this happens, how the patient presents and how this needs to be handled clinically to get it under control!