This article is Dr Ben's follow-up notes from a Free 15 Minute Consult with Dr Ben. Helping direct you to which products, dietary changes & lifestyle products may help you.

Good talking with you today!  To find a naturopathic doctor near you, enter your zip code on the American Association of Naturopathic Physicians' website.

Aaron Henkel, ND graduated a year or two ahead of me. I am not sure how good he is as I have not worked with him. You may learn more about him here.

As discussed, here is the follow up to the phone consult we had earlier.

There is a lot of information here. Digest it over a few days. If followed, you will feel better in as soon as one to two weeks.

The vitiligo, celiac disease and hypothyroidism are all linked. It all starts with the digestive system.

1.  Controlling the autoimmune reactions

  • Celiac, and likely an autoimmune thyroiditis, combined with vitiligo and numerous food reactions tells me that your immune system is hyperactive.
  • In order to control it, your digestive system needs to be healed with nutrients. This takes time.
  • In the meantime, you can control the immune response immediately with Sterol 117. This is needed to protect your thyroid from being continually attacked by your immune system.
    • For 2 weeks, consider taking 2 capsules of Sterol 117 in the AM and 2 capsules right before sleep. Make sure you do not eat any food for 20 minutes prior to or after taking Sterol 117. 
    • After the 2nd week, reduce to 1 capsule of Sterol 117 taken at night before bed.
    • After one month of healing your digestive system which will stabilize your immune system, you can discontinue Sterol 117.
    • Sterol 117 is needed only temporarily while you are healing your digestive system and learning to avoid all gluten.
    • The smallest amount of gluten ingested will continue to trigger the autoimmune response and disrupt the health of the digestive system.
  • Avoid gluten completely and dairy products. As discussed, the immune system sees gluten the same as it does thyroid. This is due to the amino acid sequence being similar in both. This is why autoimmune thyroiditis is found in those with celiac disease.
  • Repairing your intestines directly with the nutrients they need is essential to being able to reduce autoimmune responses and absorb your nutrients.
    • The number one nutrient needed by your intestines is glutamine. This is their preferred fuel. 
    • Anytime the intestines are harmed, the demand for glutamine rises. Without glutamine, the intestinal cells die and further damage and escalation of autoimmunity occurs.
    • Soothing the intestinal tract with specific herbs such as althea, chamomile, aloe and licorice is recommended as well. These herbs reduce inflammation which allows the intestines to heal.
    • Adding enzymes to the mix further supports healing of the intestines.
    • All these can be found in Intestinal Repair Complex. 
      • Consider taking 2 scoops of Intestinal Repair Complex in a glass of water. Stir well and then drink.
      • The taste is quite decent and the results you should see quite quickly.
      • Consider taking the 2 scoops of Intestinal Repair Complex in the AM before breakfast and again sometime later in the day between meals – either before lunch, an hour after lunch or after dinner before sleep.
  • Highly potent probiotics balance the local gut immune system.
    • The immune system is predominately located in the digestive system – over 70% of it.
    • If the bacteria in the digestive tract are imbalanced, so is your immune system.
    • As this article states in the concluding paragraphs, probiotics may be the missing link between treating and preventing celiac disease.
    • Consider taking ½ teaspoon of ProBiota 12 Powder. This amount provides 200 billion beneficial bacteria across 12 strains in a prebiotic base of chicory. ProBiota 12 powder is dairy free. 
      • It is best to take ½ teaspoon after dinner each evening.  Take this amount for 1 month.
      • Once the bottle of ProBiota 12 Powder is finished, switch to ProBiota 12 capsules and take 1 capsule at dinner. This is a good maintenance dose at 25 billion beneficial bacteria.
  • Consider taking selenium at 200 mcg a day which equals 3 drops a day.
    • Selenium is needed in order to help reduce the autoimmune attack on the thyroid.
    • Click here to read an article discussing the researched findings of selenium and thyroiditis.
    • When selenium is combined with Vitamin D3, the protective effect is even greater and attack on the thyroid gland is diminished.
  • Support the adrenal glands as they release cortisol which naturally maintains the immune system from getting out of control.
    • Consider taking 2 capsules of Adrenal Support Plus in the AM and 1 capsule at lunch. Do not take within 5 hours of going to bed as it will keep you awake.
    • This will increase your energy, reduce stress, improve sleep and likely improve your thyroid.
    • I know I recommended Adrenal Support by Gaia but I believe the Adrenal Support Plus will be better for you as it contains B vitamins which is needed for your Vitiligo.
  • I am not sure if you are getting flare ups from Celiac as I did not ask. If you are, then there are hidden sources of wheat in your diet which need to be removed.
    • Please read this page and/or this page to make sure that there isn't hidden gluten sneaking in to your diet.
  • Vitamin D3 at 5,000 IU per day helps stabilize the immune system. This works as vitamin D3 is directly linked to stabilizing the zonulins in your digestive system. Zonulins are highly elevated in those with celiac disease. Please read this article. It goes into detail about celiac disease and zonulins.
    • Vitamin D360 by Seeking Health contains 900 servings of 2,000 IU per drop of Vitamin D3. This equates to about 2 cents per 2,000 IU of vitamin D3.
    • Reducing zonulins is extremely important as it reduces the immune reactivity and restores health to your digestive tract.
    • Have your doctor order a vitamin D3 blood test. You should measure around 80. If any less than that, consider taking at least 2,000 IU per day and up to 10,000 IU per day depending upon your current blood levels of vitamin D3.
  • Applying castor oil to your abdomen each evening may reduce intestinal inflammation.
    • Simply apply castor oil evenly all around your abdomen.
    • Wear an old t-shirt to prevent ruining your good clothes and linens.
    • Within 30 minutes, the castor oil will be absorbed.
    • This simple trick has improved a number of my patients' pain, swelling and over all sense of well-being.
    • Do this nightly for a couple weeks. Then stop and see if you need to continue. You likely will do it for a week, then stop for a week and keep going on that cycle.


2.  Vitiligo

  • Vitiligo will improve as you improve your absorption of nutrients.
  • Celiac disease disrupts your absorption of nutrients due to chronic inflammation. If you can reduce inflammation in your digestive tract, that will allow it to heal. Once healed, absorption of nutrients will occur and vitiligo will disappear.
  • Common nutrients needed to reduce symptoms of vitiligo are:
    • B vitamins
      • Those suffering from celiac disease are most commonly deficient in Vitamin B12. This is due to the complexity of how vitamin B12 is absorbed. 
      • I recommend you consider a liquid vitamin B12 that can be absorbed under your tongue.
        • Suggested dose is one dropperful three times a day.
      • Place under your tongue for 20 seconds or so and then swallow.A full range of B vitamins can be found in Women’s Nutrients. We have it on sale currently.
        • I would wait to start this multivitamin until your digestive system gets repaired by the vitamin D3, probiotics and intestinal repair powder, you can additional nutrients.
        • After a month of healing your digestive system, start with 1 capsule in the AM and 1 capsule at lunch initially to see how you respond. Then increase to 2 capsules AM and at lunch.

3.    Hypothyroidism

  • You need to determine which type of hypothyroidism you have. It sounds like Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis as your TSH is quite elevated and you have celiac disease which predisposes you to Hashimoto’s.
    • When you get your thyroid tested, make sure these are ordered:
      • TSH, T4, T3, anti-TPO, anti-TG
  • The Adrenal Support Plus discussed above should help your thyroid; however, it will not be enough as your TSH is too elevated. Thus, you will need to take Thyroid Support as well. Kelp is good but it is not enough as there are other factors at play in thyroid metabolism.
    • Consider taking 2 capsules of Thyroid Support first thing in the morning 20 minutes away from eating.
      • If you feel still fatigued after 1 week, increase to 3 capsules.
      • If still fatigued at 3 capsules after 1 week, increase to 4 capsules. Do not exceed 4 capsules taken at once.
      • If you feel anxiety, fast heart rate, sweating or irritability, you are taking too much Thyroid Support. Lower the amount you are taking if this occurs.
      • After 1 to 2 months, measure your thyroid. I recall you stating you would measure your thyroid again in 3 months. I think that is too long because your TSH is too far off. It needs to be corrected.
      • The Adrenal Support, Sterol 117, Selenium and Thyroid Support will benefit your thyroid immensely.
      • Taking Magnesium is also quite important as it drives the inactive thyroid hormone of T4 to become T3.
      • Zinc is also important as a cofactor in the reaction between T4 to T3. 
        • Consider taking 7 drops of liquid Zinc with food anytime of the day that you feel is right for you.
        • Typically after dinner is a good time to take zinc.
        • Always take zinc with food to prevent stomach upset.
        • Zinc is typically found to be low in those with hypothyroidism

A lot of information here.

To summarize, the main supplements you should seriously consider are:

  • Vitamin D3
  • Selenium
  • Zinc
  • Magnesium
  • ProBiota 12 Powder
  • Intestinal Repair Powder
  • Thyroid Support
  • Adrenal Support Plus
  • Sterol 117
  • Vitamin B12


After a month on those, then you can add in:

  • Women’s Nutrients


Lifestyle changes:

  • Ensure you are avoiding all gluten. This is a must.
  • Apply castor oil to your abdomen nightly
  • Chew your food very well and then swallow to enhance absorption of nutrients


With the above changes in supplementation and lifestyle/dietary changes, you will notice significant improvement likely in one to two weeks.

Do follow up with me in 2 weeks to one month. Given the complexity, two weeks may be a better idea.

The HealthE Membership is free with the purchase of any Seeking Health supplement. Vitamin D360 by Seeking Health will qualify you for a free HealthE Membership. The HealthE Membership provides you 10% off regularly marked items for one year. The discount is applied immediately during checkout.

A recording of the entire phone consult may be found here.

In health,
Dr Ben

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