In today’s episode, I answer 3 listener thyroid questions: 

Do I still have Hashimoto’s after thyroidectomy?

Does Hashimoto’s cause thyroid cancer?

Is Hashimoto’s information useful if I have a different autoimmune disease?

At the heart of these three questions is “Does this podcast apply to me?” The answer to that is YES. You need to be empowered with information so that you can be in control of your healthcare and your own path forward. This podcast will help you on that journey.

Health with Hashimoto’s is the free weekly podcast where the exhausted mom can find a path to whole health.

You will find this episode below in whatever fits your learning style best: listen to the podcast, watch the video, or read the transcript. Some links may be affiliate links that will not increase your price.

Does this info apply to me?

Today I am answering three listener questions. They’re really good questions they’re really getting to. Does this apply to me? You’re talking about Hashimoto’s. But does this apply to me? Here are the three questions: 

Number one: My thyroid has been removed. Do I still need to worry about Hashimoto’s?

Number two: I’ve had thyroid cancer, and I’m interested in knowing how are thyroid cancer and Hashimoto is related. Are they, or are they not?

Number three: I have a different autoimmune condition. Do these things that you’re talking about regarding Hashimoto’s still apply to me? 

I love all three of these questions because they really show that you are taking control of your own health. You are interested, and you’re trying to figure out. What can I do for myself? I love that. Keep on doing that. You are your own CEO, for your health. Nobody else can do it for you. I love that you are asking these questions.

Thyroidectomy & Hashimoto’s

All right, So let’s tackle these questions. Number one: “My thyroid has already been removed. Do I need to worry about Hashimoto’s do I need to take all of these things into consideration?” My answer is, Yes, you do, because you need to figure out why your thyroid was removed.

Yes, it’s removed. Yes, you’re probably on lifelong medications. You’re taking things to mimic your thyroid. But why was your thyroid removed?

If your thyroid gland was removed because of Hashimoto’s-thyroiditis. That means your immune system was going a little haywire and attacking your thyroid gland. If your thyroid is no longer there your immune system is most likely going to continue to be dysregulated, and it’s going to attack something else in your body. So yes, you definitely still need to look at the root causes. You need to figure out why is your immune system going haywire. Why was it attacking yourself? What can you do to help your immune system function the way it’s supposed to? So if your thyroid gland is already removed, yes, you still need to follow this podcast and implement the tips that I have for you for your root cause.

Is Hashimoto’s related to thyroid cancer?

Question number two was, How are thyroid cancer in Hashimoto is related, or are they? And I got this answer from the HealthMatch website. It is a website dedicated to researching health problems. I really think that it’s a very good answer, founded in facts. 

This is what they said:

Scientists have long recognized the link between thyroid cancer and autoimmune thyroid diseases, especially papillary thyroid cancer. While research has confirmed a link between Hashimoto’s disease and thyroid cancer, the exact relationship between the two conditions is still unclear.

Research has found that the risk of developing thyroid cancer is significantly higher for people diagnosed with Hashimoto’s disease. …

…evidence supports the relationship between chronic inflammation and cancer development.

And then they talked about other types of chronic information, other places in the body, and how that increases the cancer risk for those places in the body.

That goes back to the previous episode I did about “What can I take for my autoimmune condition? What can I take for Hashimoto’s?” And we talked about calming down the inflammation with your whole body by activating the Nrf2 pathway to decrease the “rusting” of your cells or the “browning” if you want to look at it like a banana or apple. We talked about how to help yourself be healthier. 

I thought that was a really good question. So the definite answer is, there appears to be a very strong correlation between thyroid cancer and Hashimoto’s. 

Is this podcast helpful for me if I have another autoimmune condition?

The third question was, Well, I have a different autoimmune disease. Do these things still apply to me?

I’m going to say: most of them. Hashimoto’s is an autoimmune condition. Your autoimmune disease is named after what is being attacked. But the problem is the misregulated immune system. Your immune system is attacking something. So within every single autoimmune disease, we need to address the immune system.

So can the things I talk to you about on this podcast help if you have a different autoimmune disease? Absolutely. Is every single one going to apply? Probably not. Are most of them? Most likely.

Your health is your responsibility not your doctor’s

It is up to you to use your own discernment and figure out if each episode applies to you. Like I said, you are the CEO of your own healthcare. I want you to take the reins. I’m giving you tools. But you get to figure out “How does this work for me?” That’s your job.

All of us need to do that for ourselves. Nobody else can or should do it for us. We should not be letting our doctors have 100% say in what happens in our health.

Medicine has come a long way

Back in the 1950s, I think, when you went to the hospital to give birth, they were in control. You gave birth, and then you laid in bed and you didn’t even see your baby much. They took it to the nursery. Well, that’s ridiculous, and we know that now. Thankfully, we are taking back control of our health care. 

But some of that mindset about “my doctor is God” has persisted. Your doctor is not God. Your doctor doesn’t know everything about you. Your doctor doesn’t know the things outside of the clinic or the hospital that are impacting your health, and they only have a very short time with you. Insurance companies have made it so that doctors cannot spend much time with their patients. Doctors aren’t any happier about it than you are. It’s insurance companies. 

It’s still a broken system

However, that means that you have to be more proactive because your doctor doesn’t know everything— doesn’t know everything about you, doesn’t know everything about your condition, doesn’t know everything about medicine! They’re specialized. If you ask your doctor about like, let’s say nutrition related to something they might not know, because they did not get very much training in that in med school.

Again, it’s not the doctor’s fault. It’s the system. I’m really good friends with a whole lot of doctors, and I really respect what they do. But I am not going to place them on a pedestal and call them God. And I am not going to give them full say over my plan. No, I am the patient. I am going to take control of my health, and I hope you do that as well.

8 common root causes of Hashimoto’s thyroiditis

As far as autoimmune diseases and their root causes—in future episodes, we’re going to talk about the eight different causes of Hashimoto’s. Most of these apply to other autoimmune conditions as well. Let me go over those eight 

Number one: We’re going to talk about stress. I might devote a couple of podcast episodes to stress because there’s a lot we can talk about.

Number two: Low vitamin d levels

Number three: Hormone changes. This could be pregnancy, menopause, or other things. 

Number four: food reactions. This could be gluten, dairy, soy, leaky gut.

Number five: Environmental chemicals—things like pesticides or endocrine disruptors, and many more.

Number six: Blood sugar, both really high and low.

Number seven: Iodine. Now this is the one that I don’t know if it’s related to other autoimmune conditions or not, because iodine is what your thyroid gland needs to create thyroid, so I do not know about Number Seven and other autoimmune diseases.

Number eight: Infections of any kind. This can be a bacterial, parasitic, mold, viruses, or a whole lot of things. 

Some of those probably apply to everyone

We’re going to tackle those in the future episodes, but most of them will apply to you if you have another autoimmune disease, and, like I have said before, a lot of times after you have Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis, your immune system will move on, and it will start to attack something else. Within a decade many people who have one autoimmune disease also have another.

Submit your own questions

I hope this has been helpful. Again, if you have a question, please head over to Instagram @EstherY.RN and ask me a question. Ask me your question; I will answer it on a future podcast episode. You can also find me on Facebook. I have a page, and it is called TheWholeYou Nurse. Look for the little flower, the five colored flower of my logo, and you will know that you have the right Facebook page. It’s harder to find those messages on the Facebook page than on Instagram, so if you want me to see it right away, head over to Instagram.

I am working on my new website, which is HealthWithHashimotos.com It’s in progress. Once I finish you will be able to submit questions right there on the website. I am recording this September 2022. Hopefully, within the next couple of months that will be up and running making it super user-friendly for you ask questions.