 Hi, this is Dr. Ruscio and let's discuss how the treatment of a gut infection can actually help with hypothyroidism and with thyroid autoimmunity. Some of the context here, the most common cause of hypothyroidism is autoimmunity. And autoimmunity is a process in which your immune system attacks your thyroid gland and causes damage to the gland and that causes subsequent hypothyroidism. Now there's also a very well understood connection between your gut and your immune system. Many of the patients that I work with, for example, come to see me because they have an autoimmune condition and they want to check to see if there is any underlying problem in the gut that may be contributing to that. So this is something that clinically we certainly see quite a bit of observation that by improving one's gut health they can improve an autoimmune condition. However, this is an area where the clinical science is a little bit sparse. And for people that are very skeptical, doctors or patients that are skeptical, having the published science can be really helpful. So this is where this recent publication was or is helpful. A patient who was 49 years of age who had a blastocystis hominins infection was treated with an antibiotic for that infection. This patient experienced an improvement in their thyroid hormone levels and also experienced a decline in their thyroid antibody levels that lasted well over a year. So this is one person, so we can't infer too much from one person, but it certainly supports what many clinicians that work with the gut have seen for years and years and years now, which is that by treating problems or fixing problems in the gut we can have a positive impact on the immune system. Now I should also mention that there was another Italian study published showing that treating Hashimoto as a bacterial infection in the gut can also improve thyroid autoimmunity, and this was in a group of 10 patients. So certainly with every day I think we're seeing the published medical literature catch up to what clinicians are noticing, which is by improving gut health, one way of doing that is by clearing infections, we can have a positive impact on autoimmunity. Now the organism that was treated, again in the first study that I mentioned, was blastocystis hominins, which is also interesting and noteworthy because this organism, it's actually a protozoa, isn't really classified as being bad for you or as being good for you. It's kind of in this gray area, and usually what helps us determine if treatment of this blastocystis hominins, which is a protozoa, is warranted is the health of a patient. If you find this in someone who's healthy and has no symptoms and no conditions, then it may not need to be treated. However, if you find this in someone that has, in my opinion, any symptoms, then it may be a good idea to treat. And again, this is because this pathogen in the gut may affect multiple things, and to give a little bit more context, actually this patient saw their thyroid improve, they also saw chronic hives improve, and edema or swelling improve. So all these things really illustrate the far reaching impact that the gut can have on the rest of the body. So if you have an autoimmune condition, it's a very good idea to go through a good gut screening or a really robust gut health kind of restoration plan. Testing can be very helpful in this regard to see if there are any unwanted organisms to try to help with your autoimmune condition, or if you have any other kind of condition that you're trying to get to the underlying root cause of. Addressing the health of your gut can be a great strategy in improving how you're feeling. So this is Dr. Ruscio, and I hope this helps you get healthy and get back to your life. Thanks.