Can steriods calm the autoimmune/antibodies attack in Hashimoto's?

[jeffbursens]

Dear people,

I have Hashimoto's.
I'm taking thyroid replacements and most of the time I'm 'fine'.
BUT sometimes, 2/3 times a month, I'm wrecked.
I get so swollen in my face, puffy and sunken, red eyes.
There's absolutely nothing I can do to suppress those situations.
My t3/t4 meds don't do anything in that phase and it seems like nothing could.
What is this? Is this the autoimmune attack that stands apart from being hypo? As good as it get's this week, the worse it can be the next. I basically just have to wait until it's 'over'.
Are those the insurmountable moments you will always have when having Hashimoto's?

I read something about steriod use in that period. Is anyone familiar with this?
The statement I read was in a post on a blog:
"It may be antibody/autoimmune attack causing the facial puffiness and such. It does me. Steriods keep those phases in check for me.. and only steriods."

Thanks everybody...

[Barb135]

Here's a thread with some background information that might be helpful.

http://www.medhelp.org/posts/Thyroid-Disorders/How-come-that-your-face-is-swollen-when-you-have-hashimotos-disease/show/2132027#post_10958803

[Red_Star]

Check out a great 2 part series from the Science show Catalyst called Gut Reaction. Most of the immune system is in the gut so high recommended to check out. Here is a some of the transcript from Gut Reaction....

"NARRATION
The reason vinegar could be a medicine is because it contains acetate - that molecule we met in the first episode, the very one our good bacteria make.

Professor Matt Cooper
So we now know that acetate, which is very small and can get all around the body, can stop the immune system from overreacting.

NARRATION
By calming the immune system, it promotes good health. Matt Cooper developed asthma at about 18.

Professor Matt Cooper
I ended up taking a puffer twice a day and I was taking steroids two or three times a day. I had several incidents where I was really worried, I was almost gonna go to hospital, it was that bad. I was taking puff after puff, I could barely breathe.

Alessio
It hurts your chest a lot when you cough.

NARRATION
But now he's started eating more fibre and using liberal quantities of vinegar.

Professor Matt Cooper
I radically changed my diet. I dropped certain processed foods, I made sure it was brown rice, brown pasta, brown bread, bran in the morning and lots of fresh fruit and vegetables. And now I probably have one puff a year, if that."

[gimel]

Don't know about the steroid effect, but I have read in several places that getting your Free T3 and Free T4 levels up to optimal helped dampen the effect.  Also there is a study that concluded that taking normal doses of selenium reduced levels of antibodies.  

What meds are you taking and what dosage?  What are your current levels of Free T3, Free T4, Vitamin D, B12 and ferritin, along with reference ranges?