Interestingly, new research is suggesting people with Graves’ disease may not be able to clean up cellular debris as well7. Make it easier for your body to heal by limiting your exposure to toxicants and decreasing levels of inflammation.
Iodine
We’ve always been quite adamant about the importance of limiting iodine intake for those with thyroid disease. Did you realize that this impacts Graves’ disease as well as Hashimoto’s thyroiditis?
Once countries started iodine supplementation programs, rates of thyrotoxicosis increased8. Does this mean everyone will end up with thyrotoxicosis with too much iodine? No, many of these cases occurred in people with pre-existing goiters or pre-existing thyroid antibodies.
Sources of iodine include medications like:
Infection
There are a handful of infections with links to the later development of Graves’ disease, including yersinia enterocolitica and Hepatitis C7. In addition, many patients with Graves’ disease report a viral infection prior to onset8.
How is it possible for microbes to cause a problem with your thyroid? There are several mechanisms that are possible. Two of the more straightforward ones are molecular mimicry and the bystander effect.
Molecular mimicry means some part of the infectious agent looks similar enough to a part of your thyroid that your immune system accidentally attacks your thyroid as well as the infectious agent.
The bystander effect means that your immune system tries to attack the infectious agent, but a little bit of your thyroid gets hurt in the process because of its proximity to the offending agent.
Pregnancy
During pregnancy, there is some immune suppression to prevent your immune system from attacking the growing child. Once you’ve given birth, your immune system becomes more vigilant, and in some cases might overdo it, leading to autoimmunity.