I was diagnosed with Hashimotos Thyroiditis in 2008 or 2009, and it has been an uphill battle. It all started with an unbalanced hormonal teen that possibly just turned 20 er 21, whose period lasted one month and a couple weeks. (Sorry boys if you are reading this) Can anyone imagine what that would have been like? (Doctor said it was cancer, thank God he was wrong) My Iron levels went to an 11 down to a 4, (average is about 12-16) I gained about 50lbs- quicker than I gained weight from quitting water polo- my stomach stress and becoming lethargic grew out of proportion, lastly my metabolism was shot. I lost hair, had brittle nails and had high anxiety and low motivation.
Now that I've taken time to discuss elements of the disorder let me tell you what the disorder is. Hashimotos Thyroiditis: Hashimotos was the last name of the guy who discovered my disease and thyroiditis is inflammation (itis) of the thyroid.
You have an amazing immune system. When a bug enters in your body you have these antibodies that either recognize the bug or not. If they recognize it they all swarm around that bug (bacteria/virus/foriegn object) and do their best to counteract what it is doing to yourself (symptoms). This being said, my body thinks my thyroid is a foreign object. My body attacks my thyroid, through specific antibodies, this is what Hashimoto found. (I am not a doctor, so I am stating simply what I know) This then inhibits T4 from being produced so the brain shoots more signals saying, "HEY I'M NOT GETTING ENOUGH ...", so then your body continues to make T4 hormone. Part of it makes T3 too, but the biggest amount of T3 is produced from T4, and folks do you know what you need to be able to do that? Iron! This is supposed to help with metabolism.
So here I am low Iron, cannot absorb supplements without getting constipated and having other issues that created the BS diagnosis called IBS- irritable bowel syndrome- I like to think that the doctors don't know what goes on sometimes so they label this when in reality it is just their I really enjoy bull shitting you (IBS- I bull shit), and in my head I'm like "yeah! cuz I need more shitting in my life."
The point being is that I've had stomach problems since I think I was 8-10 somewhere around there. Yes, it could have been anxiety, it could have been "IBS" or it could have been something else. I was food tested somewhere around the age of 9-13. What did I find? I had a mild reaction to Dairy, Wheat, Corn, and Peanuts (the list went on of over 50 things they tested for). I didn't stop consuming those until quite recently, when I was tested again at age 27/28. Age 27 I was tested for a gluten allergy, I was curious if I had celiacs disease. The test came back as positive for being highly sensitive to gluten. When I heard they had to clip a part out of my gut to see if the silla was curled over, I figured, "eh, I'll just avoid it, I've struggled with holes in my gut before, no thanks". At age 28 I found out that the reason that those appeared in my bloodstream is that they were causing leaky gut. This is my definition of what Leaky Gut is.
Leaky Gut - This is when tiny permeable wall in your intestine starts to let bigger particle through into other parts of your body, like the bloodstream, that they were otherwise supposed to digest.
When you eat something and your body doesn't agree with it it causes more inflammation. The more you allow inflammation to continue the more autoimmune diseases could develop. I was first diagnosed with an autoimmune disease Hashimotos, then Celiacs, and it was hinted that I could possibly have Chrons in the future.
So I decided to do some research on what causes inflammation in the body. If I personally had so much difficulty with my stomach I figured I'd start there. I started researching things like how dairy, gluten, nightshades, and corn can affect us. It honestly depends on your body. There has been research done that says the amount of sugar and processed foods we consume create a higher amount of inflammation that we cannot see. Which normally means, what we cannot see we do not think about. We should! Alot of our symptoms are now what doctors think is the problem. It could be that it is your Gut asking you to help it out.
All I know, is that if our guts were healthy there wouldn't be Hahsimotos, Diabetes, Chrons, Celiacs, and who knows maybe depression and anxiety. I've known people who were diagnosed specifically with Hashimotos and Diabetes who have changed their entire diets around and have had no more symptoms- even from a medical doctors diagnosis- they just went away. Now I'm sure they had a routine excersize ya know all that, but one thing at a time. I believe that diet is huge. I've taken out gluten, I've taken out dairy in 99% of things. Now the nuts, corn, and nightshades. Then I will work on exercise... Will it be easy.... No, but I want to be who God designed me to be, the best I can be.
So I can have more energy, stronger hair, nails, joints, overall better health, less lethargic, more cooperation in metabolism. I want to be healthy and homemade. I want to have the motivation to make things home made. No more prepared soups in cans, no more boxed lunches that you throw in to microwave. No more processed things. No more high fructose corn syrup, why? because it is killing me. Let me be the one to encourage others to have a higher health standard for themselves.
Links to other sources:
http://dailyburn.com/life/health/inflammatory-foods-what-is-inflammation/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26287637
Dairy Products and Inflammation: A Review of the Clinical Evidence
MY PRAYER:
God,
Give me the strength that I need to fulfill your requests, to make my body healthy and whole. God I need you to guide me in the things I eat and do for my body. Heal my Gut, encourage me to be proactive and healthy these next few months. I know I cannot do it alone. Teach me stewardess for my body and circumstances. You've provided all and you give us no more than we can handle. I ask that more people will look into this issue of food and what we place in our bodies. Thank You for Loving me where I am.
~Chris
#Thyroid #Health #inflammation #iron #gut
