The human body, as I’ve mentioned before, does not respect the boundries placed upon it by mainstream medicine. As such, many are blissfully unaware of how having one disease will also increase your risk for another. This is because bad health is bad health and affects all organ systems indiscriminately, although disease states may show up earlier in certain organ systems in certain suseptable individuals.
The point here is that lifestyle changes cut across the board and that’s why they have such incredible bang for your health care buck. This particular study finds that, in those with autoimmunity to the thyroid (such as Grave’s or Hashimoto’s disease), there was a high likelihood that autoimmunity to the beta cells of the pancreas and subsequent development of Type 1, insulin dependent, diabetes.
Two take home messages here. First, ANY thyroid problem should be evaluated for autoimmunity. Never accept a mere TSH level as adequate firstline evaluation of a thyroid problem. Insist on anti-thyroglobulin (TG) and thyroid peroxidase (TPO) antibody tests. Strongly consider evaluation of gluten sensivitivy / celiac disease because a high proportion of autoimmune thyroiditis patients have gluten sensitivity that contributes to their condition.
And, if these are present, do not stop here. It is time to evaluate your lifestyle, otherwise this may be the first domino to fall in your health. Search your life for toxic chemicals (heavy metals, phthalates, BPA, pesticides, fertilizers, flame retardants, etc…) and eliminate them where possible. Without this active approach, the downfall of the thyroid will likely only be the beginning.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0026049510002532