Hashimoto’s Diagnosis
It was August 2015. I wasn’t expecting it at all. I knew things weren’t quite right but I am a hustler and I just keep on truckin. I got the call when I was at work. My nurse practitioner told me I had an auto immune and needed to go on prescription drugs right away. She said in a sassy tone “You can try to do things through nutrition but that isn’t going to help you.” I don’t even think I told her anything about what I was going to do with my health, so it’s kind of odd she knew I would try a more holistic approach. I think she was just annoyed with my already “natural focused” mindset. She said I needed to go on synthetic hormones immediately and forever. I said “Well, it sounds like I have some time to think about it then.” My intuition spoke louder than it ever has. I didn’t see or talk to her for over 5 years after that.
I went on a different adventure…that will be for another post.
Let’s back up to how it went down with this diagnosis. I am actually very thankful for that sassy nurse practitioner. I was at my annual lady part visit and she was asking me lots of questions about me, like they do. I mentioned some things that she picked up on (will detail those in a bit) and she said, let’s run some labs. This was 2015 and most practitioners weren’t even running the correct labs to properly diagnose Hashimoto’s. But she did! YAY! I am very lucky that I received an early diagnosis. My numbers weren’t horrible, but they were off enough to be diagnosed with an auto immune. For example, one of my numbers that should have been 0 was in the 400s but most people don’t receive a diagnosis until they are so sick that their number is in the 2000s. And that is why I am thankful for her. And my own intuition about my body. I knew enough was “off” enough to tell her some of the things I had going on.
Below is what I shared that are signs of Hashimoto’s. I didn’t know it then but I was a classic case.
- Had a stressful event happen that year
- Gained 20 pounds within a couple of months
- Developed heart palpitations
- Was completely exhausted
- NEEDED naps all.the.time
- After a workout (even an easy one) I would be completely wiped out. This would last for over a day sometimes.
- My body would take close to 3 days to recover from the simplest workouts (and this is coming from a gal who has ran a marathon, done triathalons, rode my road bike to my dad’s house 152 miles away…something wasn’t right)
- We were trying to conceive for 3 years with no success
With my new diagnosis in hand I then went into a deep dark place. And tried all the practitioners. This is not a jab at people that do synthetic hormones. I just didn’t want to go that route for some strong reason. I didn’t believe my body “wanted” to attack itself. I was bound and determined to figure out why this was going on, instead of trying to “mute” it.
The saying “If you listen to your body when it whispers, you won’t have to hear it scream” kept coming up for me. I wanted to hear what my body was telling me and if I went on the drugs to mute it I wouldn’t be able to hear it. I wasn’t after a “quick fix” (and I sure as hell didn’t get it…ha!). I would probably do some things differently if I could. Shit, I might even go on synthetic hormones. But then it would change my story, and possibly the outcome. And I am learning to accept my story and all of the twists and turns that come with it.
I am writing about my journey in case it lands in the hands of someone someday that needs it. I know I needed it back in 2015. I needed to know there was hope. I needed to hear a similar story and a life worth living on the other side. I wanted to know that I would still be badass (maybe in a little different way). I wanted to know that I would still be able to go on adventures. I wanted to know all the hard work ahead of me was worth it.
