Ample data has looked into whether or not this is the case, and if thyroid disease can be reversed. What this data has found is that if a patient does nothing to change lifestyle or circumstance, there is a default progression of Hashimoto’s thyroid disease where:
- 25% of people experience self-resolution in time, regardless of what they do.
- 25% of people will have a slight decline in thyroid function that will then stabilize and remain that way.
- 25% of people will experience an initial slow in function (however slight), then additional slow with time and a final stabilization.
- 25% of people will have a slow progression of this disease until the gland completely shuts down.
It is important to understand that with those mentioned possibilities, individuals can do more than just wait and see where their fortunes lie. We have the unique opportunity to take action, and to dictate how this disease progresses or regresses, by undressing the underlying cause and root problems.
Let me share with you an exact conversation that I had with a new patient, one who had the goal of reversing her condition. She was a 48-year old female, diagnosed with Hashimoto’s thyroid disease (10 years prior), following the delivery of her third child.
At that time, she was experiencing many of the classic symptoms of Hashimoto’s including:
- Significant mood swings that were thought to be normal with postpartum circumstance
- Inability to lose weight
- Hair loss
- Brain fog
- Significant temperature fluctuations
She was placed on medication and told that she would need to continue to monitor her condition every year. At the time, no other substantive changes were presented to her as an option. Just to wait and see.
The smartest thing that she did was take matters into her own hands and began making changes in her life. She made a lot of progress in her overall quality of life but was still struggling with concerns of persistent weight gain, depression, hair thinning, significant fatigue, and elevated thyroid antibodies lab values.