My Top 7 Treatments That Put My Hashimoto’s Antibodies in Normal Range
Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis is a complicated ailment that cannot be ignored! It has been said that 90% of those diagnosed Hypothyroid also have the autoimmune condition Hashimoto’s which means there are damaging antibodies floating around your body attacking your thyroid and causing it to malfunction.
My Hashimoto’s Diagnosis
When I got diagnosed with Hashimoto’s many years ago, my endocrinologist at the time would test my TPO and TGaB antibodies every time I would go in for thyroid labs. I went into his office every six weeks. Each time the results came back he would simply show me the numbers and say they were a little high or they were very high and that it continued to confirm I had Hashi’s. After his results report I would proceed to tell him all of the symptoms I was suffering with and he would reply, “Hmmmmm, those have nothing to do with your thyroid, so I can’t help you there.” He was one of the top endocrinologists to one of the top Major League Baseball Teams! He was supposed to be the BEST!
Much to my dismay and regret, I ignorantly trusted him and was not my own advocate at the time. Had I known what I know now, I never would have submitted to the fact that all my symptoms were unrelated to my thyroid and antibodies. Instead, I would have simply changed my lifestyle to get my antibodies down and my thyroid numbers where they needed to be for my body to feel better.
After needlessly suffering for many years and increasing the damage to my thyroid, by the grace of God, I was able to find several ways to actually reduce my antibodies which in turn reduced the damage being done to my thyroid and eliminated the myriad of symptoms I was fraught with. At one time, I could fill an entire college ruled, lined piece of paper, front and back, with my symptoms! It was absolutely debilitating and awful. You can explore more of my healing journey if you’d like.
Healing Your Thyroid is Personal
Healing your thyroid is multi-faceted and is very much an individual process. By that, I mean that all the things that helped me may not have the exact same effect for you. They could certainly help but you may have other facets to explore and deal with in addition to these things or you may have less to deal with than I did.
There is no one size fits all treatment. My hope in sharing my experience is to give you ideas you might want to explore that can help you feel better and reduce, if not eliminate the antibodies damaging your thyroid gland which are causing your inflammation.
My Top Seven Treatments That Put My Hashimoto’s Antibodies in Normal Range
1 | Eliminating ALL Inflammatory Foods
Inflammatory foods include:
- Gluten
- Grains (including corn and pseudo-grains like quinoa)
- Sugar
- Eggs
- Nuts & Seeds
- Dairy
- Legumes
- Nightshades
- Starchy vegetables
- All processed foods.
Eliminating my personal trigger foods and allowing my gut to heal is how I saw the fastest and most amazing results.
{Learn here why these foods can be inflammatory for your body.}
Visit my Pinterest board for info on some of these inflammatory foods.
2 | The GAPS Diet
I used the GAPS diet to help me eliminate these foods. Within three days of eliminating my trigger foods, I could not believe how my energy was starting to come back and my fatigue disappearing. Before taking these foods out of my diet, my exhaustion was so bad that in between teaching homeschool subjects, every single one of them, I would have to go lay on the couch and take a nap. I would sleep for at least 13 hours per night and still wake up exhausted. My body was working overtime trying to process all the foods that I was eating that were causing inflammation in my digestive system.
Due to how sick I was at that time, I literally went cold turkey overnight and dropped all foods that were not allowed in the Intro GAPS diet which was stage 1 with cooked vegetables.
Eliminating trigger foods doused the fire of inflammation for me which in turn caused my antibodies to decrease and allowed my gut to heal.
*Read my health journey for more on this but GAPS is meant to be a temporary diet and not all the foods you initially eliminate will be permanent. The goal is to heal the gut and be able to reintroduce most of the foods.
3 | Consume Lots of Homemade Bone Broth
During the 7 months, I was doing the GAPS Diet (stage 1 and 2 only), I drank a great deal of homemade bone broth. I was making 21 quarts of homemade bone broth every four days!
Introducing bone broth into my diet was one of the most powerful ways to heal my intestines. When you deal with autoimmunity, intestinal permeability (a.k.a leaky gut) is always involved and it’s important to heal your gut in order to feel better. Drinking broth multiple times a day repairs the tight junctions in your intestines. It is filled with collagen, gelatin and minerals that help rebuild and protect your gut lining, reduce inflammatory symptoms like joint pain, eczema (which I had in an awful way), and it also helps to detox as well as aid in a good night’s sleep. Homemade bone broth is powerful!
I still incorporate bone broth into my diet every day. Sometimes in soups or even a cupful with a meal during the day. Bone broth was one potent key to reducing my antibodies!
4 | Using Toiletries and Cleaning Products Pure Enough to Eat
The price of cheap, toxic products may be your health. Feasting On Joy
What we put on our bodies is just as crucial to healing and what we put in our bodies. There are thousands of chemicals in cleaners, cosmetics, perfumes, skincare, shampoos, deodorants, and our body will absorb every single one of them. Those chemicals cause oxidative damage and negatively affect our endocrine system, fertility and gut among other things. One negative effect is increased thyroid antibody levels!
I got rid of every single product in my home that had chemicals in it. Now, I only use products that are rated a 2 and lower on EWG and I also make a lot of my own self-care and cleaning products like deodorant, & all of my home cleaners. {Click >>HERE<< to get your own kit to help you make your chemical-free home cleaners.}
Over the course of months, I changed all my make-up, my shampoo and conditioner, my face wash, my toothpaste, my laundry detergent and more. Basically, we had 365 days of change around here!
I used water and a washcloth to wash my face and we invested in a filter for all our showers so when I took baths I wasn’t soaking in chlorine. Other products I addressed as I had the energy were our kitchen pans and food storage. We got rid of all the toxins we could control in our home.
Lowering oxidative damage in my body by eliminating chemicals in my home helped lower my thyroid antibodies. Educate yourself and make these changes in baby steps over time. Visit my Pinterest boards if you want help finding Safe Cosmetics and Skincare or making your own homemade toiletries.
5 | Take Epsom Salt Baths with Grade 1 Essential Oils
Baths are relaxing, detoxing (if you are not in toxic water), and a great stress reducer. Epsom salt is also naturally detoxing, full of the essential mineral magnesium and reduces inflammation.
My body was already overloaded with stress physically and mentally especially at the beginning of this healing journey. When I was at my worst I could only take a “half bath.” It was one where the water didn’t touch my arms, neck or face because my skin, due to eczema, was raging, raw, itchy and extremely painful. Even the half baths with pure Epsom salt and soothing essential oils were efficient in helping me heal and helped my body to detox and my cortisol levels come down.
*Only buy Epsom salt with no added ingredients like “essential oils,” etc. The essential oils added to Epsom salt are synthetic and merely a fragrance rather than an ingredient that is actually therapeutic.
Baths should be warm and not hot and usually have about 3/4 – 1 cup of Epsom salt in them. Add doTERRA Lavender, Bergamot and/or Rosemary Essential oil (which are therapeutic, anti-inflammatory, anti-depressant, great for thyroid support and non-toxic) to your bath and soak in it for at least 20 minutes.
These daily baths will help you continue to purge toxins, give your body a magnesium mineral boost (which helps with digestion) and start or end your day on a relaxing note. The result is that these baths will work wonders for reducing your thyroid antibodies! I still take them multiple times a week and recommend you taking time out to take a soothing Epsom salt bath.
6 | Evaluate the Supplements You Take
Supplements, whether they are vitamins or minerals or even medications can have hidden ingredients that can cause inflammation in your body.
You need to be sure to get rid of the supplements that have hidden trigger ingredients and replace them with supplements that have clean ingredients and will promote good health rather than hinder it.
Shortly into my lifestyle change, I discovered that supplement and medication ingredients were something I had to pay particular attention to. I remember reading Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBrides GAPS book and that she said do not compromise your health progress with one supplement or medication that has inflammatory ingredients in it.
Spend time reading ingredient labels and pay close attention to the “other ingredients” on a label because one pill can hinder your progress in healing.
I became an avid label reader.
In doing so, I was shocked that many companies who claim to have non-toxic or clean ingredients are actually toxic.
I got rid of all my supplements and medications that contain dye.
Did you know that Synthroid/Levothyroxine has different colors for different dosages? Learn more about how dye affects your health with this book.
I also replaced supplements that had the following ingredients in them with ones that had healthy ingredients:
- Gluten (hides in many different words like natural flavors, etc.)
- Chemicals like Polysorbate 80 which is linked to cancer, infertility and chronic estrogen stimulation
- Dairy which is highly inflammatory for those with autoimmunity and often full of hormones and antibiotics as well as GMO’s
- Corn which is always GMO and found hidden in maltodextrin and dextrose among other things
- GMO soy which is found in soy lecithin
- Grains like rice flour which contribute to leaky gut due to the lectins, phytates and saponins
- Sugars like dextrose
- Yeasts are generally grown on GMO corn and can contribute to a microbiome imbalance which can decrease healing.
I made sure that none of my supplements are sourced from India or China
They are almost always contaminated with heavy metals which can alter the function of your thyroid and cause an increase in antibodies.
When you’re trying to heal, don’t listen to anyone say:
“It’s only a small amount” when referring to ingredients in a pill. Even that small amount can hinder an already inflamed gut and cause antibodies to rise. Consider this – even a tiny crumb of gluten can give a person who has Celiac disease flu-like symptoms for days! Additionally, those small amounts of ingredients add up in a big way when you have them in your supplements, medications, toiletries, and more.
Read all labels and, if possible, get your thyroid medication compounded so it doesn’t have fillers or dyes in it.
Powerful Gut Healing Supplements
A healthy outside starts with the inside. Robert Ulrich.
The following supplements help with ideal gut health which translates to optimal thyroid health. Each of these three supplements has a different purpose and no doubt helped tremendously in healing my gut and lowering my Hashimoto’s antibodies. Introducing these into your daily regimen will potentially help reduce your inflammation which will reduce your antibodies.
I took 5,000mg L-Glutamine daily, in powder form in a glass of water. L-Glutamine is taken to heal and seal the gut lining which is yet another way to recover from intestinal permeability. This supplement can be a bit controversial because, at high doses, 10,000mg and above per day, it has been found to increase the risk of cancer. Regardless, I personally found it to be helpful in taking it while healing. It’s certainly a personal choice.
Usually, with Hashimoto’s, you will also have low hydrochloric acid (HCL) levels in your stomach. HCL is one of the initial factors that help break down the food we eat. We need it to absorb the nutrients from our food. Because my HCL levels were low, I took Betaine HCL with Pepsin which, in turn, helped to break down the protein that my damaged digestive system found hard to process.
Betaine is something I took at the end of every meal. I started by taking 5 capsules and if I felt a little burning (not painful) in my stomach I would taper off one capsule the next meal. I did this until I found my optimal dose. Eventually, as your digestive system heals, you’ll be able to remit taking this supplement or at least only take one capsule per meal. *IMPORTANT: You need to know how to take Betaine properly and safely before you start taking it. You can learn here how to use it correctly.
Another part of our digestive system that helps to break down foods is digestive enzymes. Often with autoimmunity, there aren’t enough of these either so it’s helpful to supplement. Digestive Enzymes are to support the already ailing digestive system in breaking down, proteins, fats, sugars and carbohydrates. If you don’t have enough enzymes or stomach acid you will see undigested food in your stool. The problem with that is you are not absorbing nutrients from the food you eat and being undernourished will cause a variety of health problems. I took 2 of these capsules, 5-15 minutes before I started to eat.
7 | Prioritize Rest and Sleep
Sleep
God designed our bodies to have a resting phase every single day. During our sleep time, our systems go into a relaxed mode which allows energy to be allocated to our brain for detox as well our cells to purge the free radicals and contaminants they have come in contact with that day. If we deprive our bodies of sleep and rest, we don’t give ourselves a chance to heal and get rid of the contaminants bogging out body down.
The toxic build-up is often why we get sick in the first place. It compromises our immune systems and impedes proper function. Your nightly detox happens usually around 10 pm-2 am (I’ve also read, 4 am) every night. During this time your body regenerates and replenishes itself.
How I Made My Body Sleep Soundly
When I was so badly sick and suffering I would always get up in the middle of the night. What I found is as I implemented treatments 1-7 in this post including no screen time at least an hour before bed, I wasn’t getting up inadvertently at night anymore and that solid REM sleep that I needed was happening. This change did take some time as I was suffering from adrenal fatigue too but I started feeling better because my body was able to truly rest and my adrenal glands were able to restore themselves. If you want to learn more visit my Adrenal/Sleep Pinterest Board.
Rest
While dialing in solid sleep during the night, you’ll also need to build in some rest time during your day. During the first year of my healing, I made sure to lay down for a half-hour each day. This helped with my adrenal fatigue because it allows the adrenal glands to function better and helped my mind to slow down. Due to cortisol levels lowering, my antibodies also came down.
If you work, you could go to your car or maybe close your office door to rest or even go home for your lunch hour and take a half-hour to lay down. You don’t actually have to sleep but just the process of resting helps to rebalance your cortisol levels in your body. Don’t use a screen during this half-hour! Pick up a book, do heart math, or even close your eyes and do some biblical meditation. Here are 15 more ways you can de-stress and find rest. You can also download this QUEST Module all about rest.
Prioritizing sleep and rest will have profound effects on lowering your thyroid antibodies because you will allow your body the time it needs to clean itself up and focus on healing.
Are You Going to Put Your Hashimoto’s Antibodies in Normal Range?
As you have seen, getting your thyroid antibodies to come down will happen through a multifaceted approach. As I said, in the beginning, there is no one-size-fits-all formula but I guarantee if you do these things you will feel better and see positive results in your overall health.
If you want your thyroid antibodies to come down and potentially disappear or get into normal range then you’ll need to eliminate all inflammatory foods, consume lots of homemade bone broth, use the powerful gut-healing supplements, purge your toxic products, take Epsom salt baths with thyroid supporting essential oils, ditch the inflammatory supplements and prioritize your rest and sleep.
You got this! Take baby steps and, I promise, it will be well worth it because thriving in life is better than just merely surviving!
Hello Jennifer,
I was so inspired by your story.
Thank you for sharing your journey with us.
I have been suffering with severe anxiety, which just hit me out of the blue one night around 4am, back in 2008/2009.
All of a sudden I was jolted out of my sleep with profuse sweating, and extreme terror and dread.
I thought I was about to die.
I was having this crashing feeling like I was going over a roller coaster on the way down.
It felt like the bottom if my stomach was falling or something..
I got sick to my stomach for about 4 days.
I felt this crashing sensation that wouldn’t go away.
It lasted 24/7, i could still feel it even in my sleep.
Because of this crashing sensation it has caused the most severe fatigue. I get out of breathe now just walking from one room to another.
I feel like I could sleep for days, but when I wake up I’m even more exhausted.
Waking up are worse for me, because I feel like I’ve been through a marathon in my dreams.
My dreams cause me to be extremely tired.
Just before the crashing, I remembered i was diagnosed with Lyme disease.
I had been bitten by a tick 6 months before and had this huge ring around the bite mark.
I didn’t know if maybe that was related to my symptoms or not.
My Dr gave me a dose of very strong antibiotics, but it didn’t seem to help..
Since then my Dr has also done thyroid tests on me thinking maybe my thyroid is out of whack now…
but the test come back good everytime,….
But now I have hope because of your journey, because I haven’t heard of anyone else going through severe fatigue like I had, and to be able to help yourself out of it.
I’m going to remove all inflammatory foods, and do a detox, and do what you listed here to see if it will improve my gut, health and strength.
Thank you again for sharing your story.
Sincerely grateful
Melissa E.
Hi Melissa, it’s great to hear from you. Thank you for sharing your story and what a blessing that you have HOPE! That is a HUGE factor in being able to heal. It sounds like you have had an awful experience with Lyme – though not uncommon. A root cause to what you are dealing with is definitely the Lyme infection which can throw everything off. Until it is dealt with and fully eradicated, then you may continue to experience symptoms that feel random. I would recommend learning from Dr. Jay Davidson in regard to combatting Lyme. He is a wealth of knowledge. For my members, I use his CellCore line of supplements for killing and detoxifying. I use other things as well. You actually may be a good fit for joining my membership Wellspring™ because I walk all members through the success path for getting your health back and infections in one area that we tackle. I am so sorry you are dealing with but the best news is that you know the cul[rit which sometimes takes people even a decade to figure out! Stay encouraged and hopeful because healing can be yours! Blessings, Jennifer Brightbill, FNTP, CEOC
Hi Jennifer, thanks for sharing your inspiring work and progress, I’m so grateful. I was diagnosed with Hashimoto’s in 2006. Thankfully I had a good Functional Med /MD doc, we also did the guy healing, etc. But we never addressed my adrenal fatigue, which has just gotten worse over time. After having debilitating energy crashes for the last year, I’ve since changed my lifestyle to make healing adrenal fatigue my main focus. My hope is to next again address the Hashimoto’s using your 7 steps, along with my significant reduction in stress and emotional healing, I am hoping to one day get off of the T3/T4 synthroid meds which I’ve been on for 13+ years. Have you ever known anyone who has been able to get off the meds, after so long?
Thank you,
Dominique
Hi Dominique, It’s great to hear from you. It sounds like you have done some amazing work for healing over the years. Great job! Yes, adrenal imbalance and exhaustion are really important to deal with. It has its roots in blood sugar balance as well. I am glad to hear you will be addressing your stress and emotional issues. Sometimes those are the hardest to deal with but the most worth it because of the healing that comes along with those root causes. As far as your medication question, I don’t know anyone personally who was on meds that long and got off of them BUT don’t let that steal your hope. I believe it is possible. We are all unique individuals and I know it can be done because God designed our bodies to heal themselves under the right circumstances. If you are able to, please come back here and share the news with me! I am a #hopegiver and your success would bring a lot of hope to others! Cheers to your health! Blessings, Jennifer
Thank you for a well-written, positive and encouraging article. With all of the natural medicines God had given the Earth, I feel hopeful to be healed through my faith and educating myself. I know you are not promoting any specific products or supplements, but I am hoping that you won’t mind sharing what kind /brand of enzymes worked best for you. It can be a bit overwhelming trying to find good ones. Thanks so .much. Continued blessings to ypu!
Hi Laura,
Thanks for reaching out and for your kind words. Hope is a beautiful thing! I do actually promote specific products and supplements. However, they are only ones that I have used and trust. The enzymes I use are linked in the post (all pink words are links) but I will relink them here for you. These are my favorite trusted brand of enzymes. Hope that helps! Enjoy your weekend. Blessings, Jennifer
I live in Texas and on top of all the other junk they add fluoride to it. I haven’t find yet a filter that removes fluoride of the water. Any thought on that. Thanks.
Also Jennifer what daily food and supplements regime did you use during your healing time? and for how long?
Hi Francis,
That is a HUGE question that I really can’t answer in a nutshell. Plus, everyone is different is what they need healing from and how they need to heal. I would direct you to my health journey to find out more details of what I did. The GAPS diet was the catalyst for my healing. I then moved on to eating a modified Paleo diet. As for supplements, in this post, I talk about some of the ones I took. You will need to get nutritional testing to determine your specific deficiencies that need to be addressed with food and supplementation. Everyone is different. I did GAPS for 7 months and have eaten a modified Paleo diet for almost 5 years now. Supplementing is always changing based on where my body is at and what the testing shows.
Hi Francisca,
There are various ways to avoid fluoride in water with certain water filters. Berkey offers add-ons to their water filters that get rid of fluoride. Here’s what their website says, “By adding a PF-2 fluoride water filter to any of the Berkey Water filtration systems, you can reduce up to 99.75% of the fluoride in your drinking water. The PF-2 filter is designed to work in conjunction with the Black Berkey filters for optimal water quality along with fluoride reduction.” The caveat is that this is for drinking water. For shower water it is hard to find a filter that removes fluoride too since it is challenging to remove with high pressured water. http://www.bigberkeywaterfilters.com/ At the very least I would recommend getting a shower filter that removes chlorine. I like Radiant life’s version. Berkey also offers a filter for showers.
Hi Jennifer,,
Thank you for all of this wonderful information! Do you have a recipe for bone broth? I have just recently been diagnosed with Hashimotos and I am working with a Dr. of natural medicine. But it is very early as I was just diagnosed last Friday and I am struggling with horrible symptoms now. Thank you for all of your guidance that I see here! God led me to your page!
Hi Kelly! It’s great to hear from you. I am glad you have enjoyed my website and yes, God works in amazing ways! It’s great to hear you are working with a natural medicine doc but I am sorry to hear you are struggling. Don’t lose hope! With commitment and determination (along with God’s grace) you can get better! I wanted to let you know to be sure to subscribe to my Feasting On Joy Newsletter. You can do that anywhere in the site. There are lots of places. Here’s a couple little secrets though – if you go to the “Whole Food” section on the site and click on a recipe post, you can subscribe there and get the most EPIC recipe for Crunchy Chicken Fingers that’s only available to my subcribers who join the family in that section. They Whole Food, Crunchy Chicken Fingers are Hashi’s friendly too! Also, the Hashimotos section of my website is soon to grow in a VERY big way (broth recipe included) so be sure to get subscribed so you can stay updated. My prayers go out to you for healing. Be encouraged, it’s possible! Blessings, Jennifer
I have tried gluten free diet for last three months and wish my TPO will go down a little bit. But be my surprised, my TPO actually increases. I have increase my amour thyroid medication as well, my TSH increases too. Felt so frustrated. I thought all the change I have done will help a little bit, but no good change at all. I do use iodine salt for last two months.
Hi Kathy,
I’m sorry to hear your TPO antibodies are rising. If it were me, I would eliminate the iodine salt as iodine in some people, can cause an increase in antibodies as well as a healing crisis. I personally notice an increase in mine every time I eat sea vegetables or salt with iodine. Also, I was gluten free for 3 years after being diagnosed with Hashimotos and didn’t see much of a difference in my thyroid antibodies. Not to say going GF didn’t help in other ways – it certainly did. It got rid of my seasonal allergies and asthma. However, going Gluten free is not the only thing that needs to happen when addressing Hashimotos. There are lots of other foods that can be triggers and silent infections, toxins, parasites, nutrition (and deficiencies) as well as sleep and stress management all have to be analyzed and potentially changed. I hope that helps. Finding a good holistic practitioner who understands the thyroid is the best path to getting help and reducing the frustration.
Blessings,
Jennifer
Hello,
I manage Hashimoto’s with the following diet: Gf, grains free, carbs free, sugar free, caffeine free, dairy free. My TPOs went up too: I believe biotin interfered. So will check again soon. Otherwise feeling very good.
HI! What do you consider normal thyroid antibodies levels Mine are 208.
Hi Pauline,
Honestly, no thyroid antibodies are the best! There are two types of antibodies when talking about Hashimotos and there is a different one when talking about Graves. I assume you are talking about Hashimotos. TPO antibodies should be <9 iu/ml or neg. Thyroglobulin Antibodies should be <4 iu/ml or neg. I am not sure for you which antibodies are 208 but my guess is that you are talking about TPO. 208 is high and something you'll want to get into the ranges mentioned above. Hope that helps. Blessings, Jennifer
Hi Jennifer,
Thanks for your article. I was wondering- do you eat grains now that your better? I have Hashimotos and have struggled with eliminating so many foods from my diet.
Hello Hope,
Great question! I have not had grains in four years. I didn’t even trial grains until 3 years after my initial diet and lifestyle change. Then, I tried to trial white rice. I had some skin reactions so it tells me that there is still gut work to be done and that I need to stay away from grains. That’s not to say that someday I might be able to add back in some grains, like white rice, but for now I stay away from them. Also, I know me, and the minute I would be able to bring grains back I might go crazy with them because they are what I am naturally drawn too and are also one food that compromises gut health the most. Especially in the amounts Americans eat them. I used to be one who ate them at every single meal. I’m sorry you are struggling with eliminating foods. It is very hard. I would encourage you to keep at it because when you start feeling better it makes everything worth while.
Hello Jennifer, I have been trying to follow your suggestions but I am struggling to consume the amount of broth you reccommend. It makes me nauseous and I am just not hungry at all so I end just having the broth and not eating anything. Any suggestions how to tackle this. I suffer from serious constipation due to a very sluggish thyroid. Very glad to find your website by the way, I am sure I will get there, i believe in your method. best wishes, Paulien
Hi Paulien,
The amount of bone broth that I consumed during my healing wasn’t prescribed or a protocol. It was just what worked for my body and the amount I needed for healing and to stay full and not lose any more weight. Basically, the understanding needs to be that bone broth is ultra-healing and sealing to our gut lining and can boost levels of essential amino acids and minerals. So, in your case could you drink three cups of bone broth a day? One at every meal? Getting bone broth in as much as you can will aid in healing. It’s important to note that bone broth is only one facet or tool used in healing your gut and remitting autoimmune symptoms. Addressing food sensitivities, toxins & hidden infections, vitamin/mineral deficiencies, reducing stress and getting enough sleep all play a role as well. Everything is interconnected. Be sure that what you are putting on or in your body is always full of nutrients and devoid of toxins and that will help in healing too. For constipation I have found that coconut flour helps and be sure you are eating a lot of vegetables. If your gut is real bad off then cook them and if it just needs a little help then eat both cooked and raw veggies. These foods have a lot of fiber and help with bowel movement. You also need to be sure you are hydrated and drinking plenty of water throughout the day even if you don’t feel like it. For a sluggish thyroid (which can cause your symptoms) be sure you are seeing a functional doctor who knows what tests to run, how to interpret the results (very important), and how to adjust your medication (if your taking some) based on the results. That takes a lot of trial and error but when you find the right levels for your body it helps everything else to start evening out. I am glad you found my website too. I hope you feel better!
Thank you so much for your detailed reply. One of my problems is that I am trying to work it all out for myself but perhaps the time has come to see a doctor. Just one more thing, Epsom salt baths make me ill emotionally, I get cramps in my legs and feel generally very unwell and I am still constipated. Is it simpy not for everybody?
Hi Paulien,
Finding a Functional Doctor can be very helpful in healing. There are ways to get many tests done without a doctor but interpreting them can be a problem unless you have had an education about interpreting various tests. There are some options out there for that. As for epsom salt baths, everybody is different in their body chemistry and what their body likes and doesn’t like. The symptoms you may be experiencing could be related to how much epsom salt you are using. I have read and heard of people using way to much which can induce a myriad of side effects. Magnesium is a trace mineral so not a lot is needed.
You are on the other side of the pond and do not know me at all, yet you took the time to answer my questions. Thank you very kindly indeed! Good news is, thanks to your advice and some yoga postures, I am s tarting to feel better. Bless you!
Hi Paulien! What a praise that you are feeling better. I am so glad. I’m glad to help and think it is so cool that with technology we can connect even ‘across the pond!’ Have a great week!
a vegetarian substitute for bone broth?
Hi Em,
you could use vegetable broth but you will be missing many of the amino acids and good fats that are in animal bone broth.
I am curious what your reasons (if you weren’t going to use an EO) for doing warm baths instead of hot. My endo had me doing Epson salt baths for magnesium deficiency. I was to use a couple lbs. of Epson and as hot of water as I could tolerate.
Hi Elizabeth, For me hot baths are extremely irritating and not relaxing. They fire up my skin and do not promote rest for me, rather (at my worst) itching and hives. As I have healed I still don’t use the hottest water possible because a soothing bath is more appealing and destresses me rather than a hot bath stressing me out. I see the reason why your doctor says use hot water because heat helps draw out impurities. For that I use an infrared sauna. It doesn’t hurt my skin and still draws out the toxins. One other thing I wanted to mention is that unless you have actually used a couple of pounds of epsom salt in your bath I would caution against it. That is A LOT of epsom salt and I have known people to have reactions to using that much. Severe reactions like fainting, dizziness and hallucinations have happened. Be careful. I started slow with epsom salt in a warm bath. Slow means 1/4 cup for each bath. Currently I use about 1 cup in each bath and plan on staying there. There is also magnesium oil you can buy (I get mine at radiantlifecatalog.com) and use it slowly at first, according to the directions, and you can get magnesium through your skin that way too. I like this solution because life happens and sometimes I don’t have time to get in the bath. Hope that helps!
I would guess that your blood group is “A”?
John, it’s not.
We have well water. How do you know if your bath water is toxic?
Hi Melanie,
You can test to see what contaminants (or not) are in your well water. The best way is to google well water testing and find a lab or company who will test near you. There are also home tests you can purchase I believe. We personally knew our bath water (and other water) had toxins in it because we get a water report from the city every year telling us what is in our water. It has many contaminants that we know we don’t want on or in our bodies so we try to minimize that the best we can through filters. The other way I knew was because I could actually smell the chlorine. Yuck! I hope that give you some ideas and guidance. Many Blessings!
Hi Jennifer! This was an amazing article! Would soaking just my feet in Epsom Salt be enough to help me detox?The idea of laying in a tub does not appeal to me at all and actually stresses me
out.
Hi Amber, thank you for the kind words. I am glad you enjoyed the article. Yes, I think an Epsom salt foot bath would be a great thing to try to detox.