I’ve always been a rebel, preferring to go against the current social norms. My mother always said don’t do what everyone else is doing. Don’t worry about what other people say...be yourself. That’s when I was a teenager, so maybe that was her way to stop me from doing the typical teenage behaviors, it worked.
That instilled in me a questioning attitude. When I first saw commercials on TV for pharmaceutical drugs, my first thought was, “why are they marketing directly to me? Why isn’t my doctor the one recommending these products?”
I’ve struggled with health issues since I was a kid, digestion at first, including IBS and food sensitivities. I did the elimination diet on my own, avoiding the foods that triggered my symptoms. I realize now the terrible stomach pains I had from bowel movements were from constipation. The embarrassing time I spent in the bathroom to eliminate, it could be up to 20 minutes, was constipation.
My fatigue that eventually became chronic presented itself first in my early 20s. I saw a conventional doctor, had tests run - blood tests, thyroid check, sleep test. From those tests, I was told nothing was wrong and to replace the sugared cereal I ate for breakfast with protein instead. My fatigue persisted along with my IBS issues and food sensitivities. Switching to a protein breakfast did not have much of an impact on my fatigue. I worked out at the gym and stayed physically active, hoping to improve my energy and help with my digestion. I didn’t find the relief I sought.
I never realized the gluten I was eating contributed to my IBS. The digestive distress my body was under for all those years and the external stress I experienced contributed to my fatigue. Continued ongoing stress raises cortisol that impacts the adrenal, thyroid, and sex hormones, the HPATG (hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal-thyroid-gonadal) axis.
After going gluten-free with my diet, I experienced improvement with my IBS. My fatigue remained and kept getting worse, impacting my quality of life. Over the years additional symptoms presented themselves including chronic hives, insomnia, brain fog, occasional disjointed speech, plantar fascists, carpal tunnel, hand tremor, and bump on the tongue. I mention these to showcase how individual symptoms appear as a signal from your body that something is wrong. Your body is talking to you, are you listening?
From the time I started menstruating, I saw my gynecologist multiple times throughout the year for vaginal yeast or bacterial infections. I received prescriptions for pills and creams, nothing helped for long. I was told I was one of the unfortunate ones who had this recurring. I knew it wasn’t gynecological, and from my observations, it seemed like there was a link with the foods I ate that caused this kind of reaction with me. From my research and undaunting quest to find an answer to my fatigue, recurring skin issues, and digestive distress, I discovered through testing that I had adrenal fatigue and hormone imbalance with high estrogen. I’ve successfully lowered both. My fatigue (not as acute), brain fog, disjointed speech, hand tremor, plantar fascitis, carpal tunnel, and skin issues persisted. Upon additional testing for my thyroid, I discovered I am hypothyroid. I also did a test for low stomach acid and discovered I also have that. Addressing those additional two items helped to bring relief to my fatigue, brain fog, occasional disjointed speech, skin issues, and all the remaining health issues I had.
This article from Hypothyroid Mom, “300 Hypothyroidism Symptoms: Count How Many You Have” lists the variety of symptoms that can stem from being hypothyroid.
I’m still working on improving my thyroid and gut health. Educating myself with the various health coach certifications I received and am currently pursuing helped me to find my answers and get relief. I want to help you also with your health journey. Contact me to connect and see if working together would be helpful for you to find your relief and take back your quality of life.