Hashimoto’s & Ruptured Implants – Three-month Follow-up

Three months have passed since I first received my diagnosis of Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis, an autoimmune disease that causes your body to attack the thyroid. Although the standard of care is to treat this with thyroid medicine, I knew I needed to find out what was causing my body to create antibodies that attack my thyroid. Finding and fixing the root cause(s) of health issues is the goal of integrative and functional wellness. That’s not to say that medicine won’t be necessary, but it won’t be my immediate go-to. Because the truth is, once you get on thyroid medicine, you will likely be on it for the rest of your life. So, before I get to that point, I want to make sure that I try to find the root cause and work on that first and see if it helps.

I spoke with my doctor, who initially wanted to prescribe thyroid medicine, and she agreed to give me three months to see if I could reverse my thyroid antibody numbers. I bought the Hashimoto’s Protocol, A 90-Day Plan for Reversing Thyroid Symptoms and Getting Your Life Back book and dove in at her suggestion. The protocol includes liver, adrenal, and gut healing and touches on nutrition, stress, infections, and toxins. 

I immediately removed gluten, dairy, and alcohol from my diet, drastically reducing my caffeine and sugar intake. I focused on easily digestible nutrition, improved sleep, detoxing, and stress reduction. I immediately noticed that my gut was happier, and my energy levels slowly started to improve; my fatigue gradually started to lessen but did not disappear. Halfway through the 90 days, I got a stomach bug that threw me for a loop, and in the second half, I didn’t do quite as well with keeping the prime offenders out of my diet, and my gut always let me know. Which leads me to believe I am gluten intolerant.

After three months, my follow-up bloodwork showed mixed results. Still, I will take it as progress in the right direction because my basic thyroid numbers all remained within range, and my Thyroid Peroxidase Antibodies (TPO) dropped 52 points, from 156 to 104, which is still out of range but is moving in the right direction. 

Test Results (June 2023 / Sept 2023) (Range):

• TGA AB - (18 / 22) (<=1)

• TPO AB – (156 / 104) (<9)

• TSH* – (2.94 / 1.10) (.45-4.5)

• Rev T3* – (10 / 12) (8-25)

• T4 Free* – (1.1 / 1.2) (.8-1.8)

• T3 Free* – (2.8 / 3.3) (2.3-4.2)

*within range

I also retested my Epstein Barr Virus (EBV) antibodies and to my surprise, my numbers increased despite taking antiviral herbal supplements. I will continue this protocol and retest in another three months. I learned that EBV may be an underlying cause of Hashimoto’s, so, staying consistent until my next bloodwork in December is essential.

After getting my annual breast ultrasound last month to check my breast implants and ensure there were no peripheral changes or tumors, they discovered that I had another rupture in my left implant and that the silicone gel had leaked outside the capsule and was under my areola. I had my original implants replaced in 2017, only four years after my mastectomy, and now it’s time to do it again. Autoimmune disease has been shown to be associated with Breast Implant Illness (BII)¹, so I can’t ignore this vital connection. It could explain why I still struggle with symptoms like fatigue and brain fog despite my primarily organic diet and consistent detoxing protocol.

I have some important decisions because this is my second rupture in ten years and may very likely be the root cause of my Hashimoto’s diagnosis. Because I had a bilateral mastectomy in 2013, removing my implants and going flat does not thrill me for many reasons, but my health and well-being are most important. So, I will schedule an MRI to confirm rupture and research local plastic surgeons specializing in explanting. And most importantly, I will continue to keep all my health decisions lifted in prayer.

I am very disheartened with this discovery of another rupture, and at the same time, I am genuinely grateful that I was given a second chance ten years ago and have remained cancer-free. I will continue to remember Psalm 112:7: “They do not fear bad news; they confidently trust the Lord to care for them.”

I believed it then and believe it still.

Watching the sunset with gratitude (September 2023).

1.https://www.fda.gov/medical-devices/breast-implants/medical-device-reports-systemic-symptoms-women-breast-implants