I have Hashimoto's thyroid disease. Sounds weird to say because I always considered myself healthy ...until i started to feel like crap in my late 30's... Didn't know what it was at first...like many other women, i went undiagnosed for YEARS because doctors (at least all the ones I chose) are so pathetic. I have some 'inept doctor' stories....let me tell you! and I fired most of them! Of course I was always polite, and I didn't tell them they were fired. I just didn't return.
Guess how many followed up and gave me a call to ask where I went or how I was doing???
Yup. ZERO. Sad.
My mom actually feels bad about changing doctors. Do you really think you will hurt their feelings? They obviously don't care. More patients come in all the time. So please, if your doctor isn't helping you, or makes you feel stupid or uncomfortable, fire them! Just find someone new and don't go back. It's not like they are gonna send you flowers and try to get you back. lol
This disease (along with other autoimmune diseases) is reaching epidemic proportions because of all the contamination in our environment, and the crap in our food...and even though the thyroid medication synthroid is the #1 selling drug in our nation, most doctors that I have visited didn't even THINK to test my thyroid and when I figured out that was the problem, I had to tell THEM what tests I wanted to run.
Hello???? Duh!!!
It took me several years before I learned about the antibodies to the
thyroid. I would never had imagined I had autoimmune disease. Many people suffer for years without being diagnosed. It's wasted time and misery...I could have been feeling great a long time ago!!
At first, I just
thought my thyroid was sluggish and that's why I was gaining weight and
losing the outer third of my eyebrows, among other things...
I would seriously love to teach doctors a course. All general practitioners and endocrinologists (at the least) should be trained on thyroid disease and made aware of all the specific tests that need to be run, including antibody tests, food allergy tests, Vitamin and mineral tests, gene mutation tests, and more.
Maybe if they knew how to do their job, I would have never gotten so damn sick. I'm not going to go into how bad I got right now. Let's just say I started to wonder if I was going to make it. That was a first...and disturbing to say the least. I have 2 beautiful boys to live for!
Suffice it to say, It really took me down for a while, but I'm feeling pretty great most of the time now. I really want to help other women (and men) with autoimmune problems because it's complicated...and I am a very thorough researcher. It's been my passion for over 20 years to read all about health, healing foods, cancer cures, herbs, metals toxicity, all kinds of things. So, once I finally got the correct diagnosis, I started researching and I never stopped. I am still learning and there is so much to learn. Unfortunately, many doctors out there just prescribe you some synthroid type of drug and send you on your way. It's NOT a cure, and in many people, it can make your disease worse in the long run. It's best to know the facts. And that's what I'm here to share.
Now. Inflammation - Here's how to bring it down!
For people like me, with autoimmune disease inflammation is caused by a number of things, diet being the main one. Inflammation can be silent or it may show up in the form of bloating, or pain in your joints or muscles, a headache, constipation and all the things listed in the diagram to the left, and more....
SHOCKING NUMBERS
The following is an excerpt from an article that was written by Dr.David M. Marquis, DC, DACBN and published on www.Mercola.com:
1 in 12 women and 1 in 24
men are dealing with full blown autoimmune mediated inflammation. The number of
undiagnosed people is going to be much higher. People with inflammation in the
early phases of autoimmunity will often claim no dietary involvement. This is
an inaccurate assumption however because the autoimmunity is often triggered by
factors not strictly related to diet and the diet can become a secondary
trigger later in the development of the condition. If you are dealing with
inflammation then get a comprehensive evaluation to look at what is
perpetuating your personal fire.
- Lifestyle:
Remove adverse mechanisms (Stress, Over-exercising, Poor Sleep, Blood
Sugar Dysregulation, Poor Social Behaviors.) Lifestyle factors are huge,
the stress response triggers immune marker IL6 which turns on the immune
pathway TH17 which is the fast track to Autoimmunity.
- Lifestyle:
Restore beneficial mechanisms: Create conditions of love &
appreciation, keep positive attitudes, maintain proper exercise (training
to a maximum heart range; i.e. Peak Fitness exercises), have adequate
sleep, restore blood sugar balance, and facilitate healthy social
interactions. All these things promote natural systemic opioids which
pushes the immune pathway TH3 which reduces Autoimmunity.
- Dietary
Support: Stabilize blood sugar, remove food Autoimmune triggers, and
promote intestinal integrity with proper flora and nitric oxide and
glutathione pathways. Include fermented foods and supplement appropriately
as may be needed.
All of these items are very beneficial and this was a great reminder for me! I need to step up the fermented foods and exercise (which Spring is going to greatly help with !!). All of the other things I have been working on steadily. I will be publishing blog entries here as well as publishing my newsletter to teach about this and much more
If you would like to receive my newsletter, please sign up for my mailing list at www.yourwellnesschampion.com
