If I’m so healthy why do I feel like crap?

This was the question I asked myself for months before I finally got sick and tired of feeling sick and tired. I was familiar with some autoimmune diseases but I had no idea just how many there are, how unevenly they affect woman compared to men, or how difficult it could be to identify symptoms and reach a diagnosis.

In the 10 years, since beginning the journey that led to losing and keeping it off almost 150 pounds, my body had become my partner. However, after a year of feeling increasingly awful, I realized we were no longer in step.
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My list of symptoms ranged from depression and anxiety, crushing fatigue, debilitating brain fog, painful bloating, running made me feel like crap, intermittent dizziness, and a digestive system that sounded like an old church boiler and only worked 1 or 2 days a week.

Not to mention my weight was going up.

Honestly, it was the weight gain that was the kicker. I watched the scale climb bit by bit and with each tick up I felt my heart sink further. ⠀
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I went to a functional nutritionist with a background in psychology because my symptoms seemed to spread across both areas of health.
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Thankfully, she listened. She acknowledged my pain and frustration.
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From symptoms alone, it was clear that my adrenal function (and all it’s tied to) was way out of whack.

At her recommendation, I requested a full thyroid panel from my doctor. A week later the results showed several imbalances with my thyroid antibodies that indicated an autoimmune disease. That is to say, my body was attacking itself – no wonder I felt terrible.

Side note: My TSH, the primary marker for thyroid, has always tested within the range of normal. If you identify with anything I’m saying or have other symptoms of thyroid issues please DEMAND a full panel. I’d been complaining of individual symptoms for YEARS and they were either treated as one-offs or generally dismissed as lifestyle issues.

In some cases a diagnosis is devastating, in my case, it was a relief. It provided the empirical data that allowed me to feel exhausted without apologizing. ⠀
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I needed rest and some fairly significant nutrition and lifestyle shifts – NOW. ⠀

Nutritionally, gluten was the first to go followed soon after by dairy. These two changes cleared a significant amount of the brain fog and restored a small amount of the energy I’d been missing. After a couple months of still feeling like I had a belly full of pop rocks, I decided to begin a full Autoimmune Protocol or AIP diet to allow my gut to fully heal and more accurately identify food intolerances.

At this point, the list of things I can eat is much shorter than those I can – talk about a test of my cooking creativity!
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The imbalance in my body left me truly exhausted so in June I decided to go into professional hibernation. At that point even replying to a text message was challenging so forget writing an article or video script. All things considered, it was pretty easy to take the summer off.

I also cut way back on busy work around the house, generally ignored the garden, started doing jigsaw puzzles and watched a ton of Netflix.
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It was strange and freeing and such a relief.⠀
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Sure there were still plenty of things that needed my attention. Top of the list was my kiddos, providing nourishing food for the family, and a few other have to’s. But, for the most part, my job has been healing.
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As a natural go-getter, I’ve always been in the mindset that constant motion leads to success. Funny thing is when I stopped things didn’t fall apart.

Sure, it won’t be easy to pick up my entire business and get going again in the same way but I’m pretty sure I don’t want it to be the same anyway.
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While this change came out of left field in many ways it feels like coming full circle.

I get to start a new journey to achieve wholeness through wellness, but this time I have so many tools already in my arsenal.

So, ready or not, here I grow again!

Helpful resources on hypothyroidism and autoimmune disease:

300+ Hypothyroidism Symptoms…Yes REALLY Hypothyroid Mom

What is AIP – The Definitive Guide Autoimmune Wellness

The Adrenal-Thyroid Connection Amy Meyers MD