You could be one of the millions of people who have undiagnosed thyroid disease. An estimated 13 million Americans and 2 million Canadians are walking around unaware they have a thyroid condition. It is 7 - 8 times more common in women! Unfortunately it can take decades to finally get diagnosed.

And if that doesn't sound dismal enough - once a person gets diagnosed with hypothyroidism they most likely aren't aware that they could actually have an auto-immune disease called Hashimotos that created the hypothyroidism in the first place!

Up to 90% of hypothyroid patients actually have Hashimotos Disease (also called autoimmune thyroiditis) - that means their body is destroying their thyroid gland.  <strong>By the time people get diagnosed often their gland is well destroyed.  </strong>Like most people diagnosed with hypothyroidism, I take thyroid hormone - problem solved right? Well not exactly.   By the time you're hypothyroid your gland isn't producing enough thyroid hormone so you have to take thyroid hormone - most likely for the rest of your life.

Taking thyroid hormone is not a cure and does not change the fact that you have an auto-immune disease.  There are likely triggers that increase the attacks on your thyroid and getting to the bottom of these triggers is important.  It may not be just your thyroid that   Gluten is one trigger - most experts start by recommending a gluten-free diet.

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