Identifying what causes high thyroid antibodies is crucial to heal your thyroid and Hashimoto’s naturally! In this blog post, we’re going to unravel what causes high thyroid antibodies, spotlight the usual suspects behind it, and dive deep into why our immune system sometimes turns against this vital gland. Let’s break it down.
Why Does the Body Attack Its Thyroid?
To understand the phenomenon of high thyroid antibodies, we must first grasp the basics of the immune system. Normally, this defense mechanism guards against invaders like bacteria and viruses. However, in autoimmune thyroid conditions such as Hashimoto’s thyroiditis or Graves’ disease, the immune system misidentifies thyroid cells as threats, producing antibodies against them. These antibodies can lead to inflammation and damage, affecting the thyroid’s ability to produce hormones, which are crucial for regulating the body’s metabolism.
What Causes Immune System Dysfunction?
The causes of immune system dysfunction are multifaceted and interlinked and here is the part you may not like….Emotional stress is one of the biggest drivers of immune system dysfunction and autoimmune conditions.
Chronic stress from work, relationship issues or over giving and not accepting yourself for example, elevates cortisol (stress hormone). Chronically elevated cortisol levels impairs immune function over time and contribute to the development of autoimmune diseases.
Your body is excellent at self-healing and returning to balance; however, to do so, it requires certain nutrients. Chronic stress leads to rapid depletion of our nutrient stores. Additionally, when we are in a ‘fight or flight’ state, our body activates survival mechanisms instead of healing and repair processes. This results in increasing damage over time
Common Causes of Elevated Thyroid Antibodies.
- Gut Health Disruptions: The gut microbiome plays THE MOST IMPORTANT role in immune regulation. Gut dysbiosis like SIBO for example, or an imbalance in gut bacteria, can lead to increased intestinal permeability (leaky gut). That allows toxins and undigested food particles to enter the bloodstream and trigger immune reactions, including those against the thyroid.
- Hidden Infections: Chronic, low-grade infections can be a significant trigger. That includes candida overgrowth, parasites, h-pylori or Epstein-bar virus. The immune system’s continuous effort to fight these infections increase inflammation, over activates immune system and at some point immune cells are like ‘what’s going on here, if we can’t fight these bad guys, lets attack everything to make sure we get rid of our invader’. That lead to a case of mistaken identity, where thyroid cells become collateral damage.
- Nutrient Deficiencies: Certain nutrients, including selenium, zinc, and vitamin D, are crucial for immune system and thyroid function. Deficiencies in these nutrients can contribute to the development of thyroid antibodies.
- Environmental Toxins: Toxins is another big one which is also linked with increased inflammation. Exposure to certain chemicals and heavy metals, such as mercury (fish), lead (chocolate), and pesticides (most of non organic fruits and veggies unfortunately) can disrupt both thyroid function and immune regulation. As a result leading to the production of thyroid antibodies.
- Excess Estrogen: Hormonal imbalances, particularly high levels of estrogen (a condition known as estrogen dominance) also disrupts immune function by increasing histamine and inflammation. Estrogen can increase the proliferation of lymphocytes, a type of white blood cell involved in autoimmune responses, thus potentially escalating the attack on the thyroid and increased levels of thyroid antibodies.
How to lower thyroid antibodies naturally?
High thyroid antibodies are a clear signal that the immune system is in disarray, mistakenly attacking the thyroid gland. This condition doesn’t arise in isolation and it’s important to identify what are the biggest contributors and focus on managing stress and repairing your gut. You can read here more on how to lower thyroid antibodies naturally.
If you want to check you thyroid antibodies levels you can also do a blood test to see where you are. Here is a good home blood tests that will show you also other markers like vitamin D3 and hs-CRP (marker of inflammation).
Hope that was helpful and give you more clarity on what can cause high thyroid antibodies. If you need more personalised approach and guidance how to heal your thyroid – drop me an email or book a FREE clarity session with me