My Healing Journey With Hashimotos

This post was originally published in February of 2023
Suffice it to say, this year is looking far different than I thought it would. In my own mind, I imagined I would be pregnant with baby #2 on the way, designing a nursery and planning my home birth. But after months of trying for a baby and dozens of failed pregnancy tests I decided I should go in for a lab workup to check on my hormone levels and make sure everything is functioning properly. After a thorough blood panel, my doctor delivered the news to me that not only do I have Hypothyroidism (an under active thyroid), but I have antibodies that are attacking my thyroid making my condition autoimmune. This news explained our struggle to get pregnant. And beyond that, it was a bit of an identity hit to my psyche- My entire adult life I’ve prided myself on being fit and healthy – I run marathons, and practice yoga, I hike and backpack and paddle board and live a very active life, I keep toxins out of our home and off of my body, cook home-cooked meals, and don’t eat refined sugar or processed foods. I was doing everything that I thought I could do to keep chronic illness at bay. Turns out our bodies are complex and we live in a toxic world.

As Charles Swindoll so famously said, “Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it.” My only choice now is to move forward and figure out how to heal my body. As I’ve been researching over the past several months I’ve come to realize just how common Hypothyroidism is. 20 million Americans struggle with some form of a thyroid disorder. 1 in 8 women will develop a thyroid disorder in her lifetime. Women are 5-8x more likely to develop a thyroid condition than men. And up to 60% of people with thyroid disease are unaware of their condition.

When it comes to Thyroid issues, conventional medicine takes the approach of – “just take medication everyday for the rest of your life and you’ll be fine”. If you know me well at all, you know that kind of mindset and approach to health and medicine doesn’t sit well with me, when it can be avoided. The reality is that there is something that is causing my thyroid to be under attack. If I can get to the root cause, I can get my thyroid condition into remission. The good news is that I caught it early.

There are many things that can be at the root of thyroid conditions whether it be a burdened liver, toxin accumulation in the body, or adrenal fatigue. Oftentimes dietary changes such as a cutting out gluten and/or dairy and supplementing with things like Selenium and Thiamine can get thyroid conditions into remission quickly. And while food triggers are important to address in order to lower inflammation and begin the healing process, I acknowledge that most often the root issue goes much deeper. And healing your body at the cellular level can take time…years in fact. 

So I am embarking on a healing journey, one that focuses on healing my body and balancing my hormones naturally. I will be sharing more on the approach that I am taking to healing in the coming weeks and months. But suffice it to say, my approach to healing takes into account the importance of deep nourishment, addressing food intolerances, healing my gut, mineral balance, and toxic load. There are so many variables. But I am excited and committed to getting to the root of my autoimmune condition. And I have no doubt that through it all, God is going to teach me a new level of reliance on Him. I am so ready to do this thing and heal my body from the inside out. I’ll be sharing more in the coming months on this page. Or for more frequent updates on my healing journey you can follow along with my story highlight “Healing Journey” on my Instagram account @wholisticmandy