Everyday I read posts from people who are incredibly frustrated with their GP or endocrinologist.
I have hashimoto's and for a few years I suffered all the usual symptoms and a few weird ones too.
I moved to Hong Kong and ended up so ill I decided I'd had enough and I was going to understand my disease and find someone to help me get my health back. I found an integrated doctor who was so well informed and together we set on a path to get me well.
Armed with a lot more information, I had choices to make. My diet needed to change. No dairy, no grains, no sugar no alcohol, no eggs. Just fresh and organic fruit, vegetables, meat, fish, nuts and seeds. And lots of filtered water. It's pretty much a ketogenic diet. I also switched from Levo to Naturethroid.
I am now two years into these changes. I'm 53 years old. I practice yoga 4 x per week. Swim 1mile 3 x per week, run 2 x per week and have a personal training session 1 x week. I have no aching joints or pain. I maintain a healthy weight between 65 - 68 kg.
I sleep like a baby, my libido is high and I have a fantastic sex life with my husband. I have no brain fog. I have a demanding job that I love where I have to be a quick thinker and concentrate for long periods of time.
I don't see my restrictive diet as a curse but as a blessing. My body is able to do everything I want it to do and more. I have gone through menopause with no symptoms.
I am now convinced that diet is the key to improving health while living with an autoimmune condition.
I moved to London in August 2015 and found an integrated doctor to prescribe my NDT. I get my blood work done by my local GP and she and my endo are both happy with my progress (other than the usual comment about suppressed TSH due to the NDT). I now only have a telephone clinic every 6 months.
The reason for my post is, you can be well. But there is discipline required. I do not deviate from my diet. There is never 'just a little bit of cake, it won't hurt'. I still take my temperature every morning to check that my NDT dose is doing what it's supposed to. Exercise is just as much for my mental wellbeing as my physical health.
Don't take any crap from those GP's who know nothing about thyroid disease. Find an integrated/functional doctor who really knows what he/she is talking about and be prepared to make changes to your diet. And take up yoga!
Written by
Geniler
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My gran (terrible diet, no exercise) went through the menopause w no issues whatsoever and was forever saying she couldn't understand why my mum (excellent diet, loads of exercise) had so many problems. I'm afraid I can't vouch for their respective sex lives.
Well said. I do despair when I read that people are 90% glutenfree. I know that we are all different but for most of us we just have to accept that certain things are not good for us and move on.
You are fortunate to have had an reasonably early diagnosis and yes I agree with you - eating is key ! However I was 59 when I was diagnosed here in Crete after a lifetime of various conditions - started teaching yoga at 65 and am now over 70 but still have things to sort ! Ah I see - it could be that odd glass of wine
Currently suffering with Trochanteric Bursitis - and it is possibly caused by being Hyper Mobile and going a step too far with some asanas. Tiz a Thyroid thing apparently ! - so am having to pull back on the yoga - which is a pain - literally. The actual hip joint is fine
Keep up the good work and grab all the sex you can ! - good for the complexion !
My diagnosis was after a few years of my GP refusing to test and telling me to get used to getting old! I had to get really sick, unable to work, practically bed ridden for me to stop listening to the GP and endo and find the help I needed. Sorry to hear about the yoga problem, but my yoga teacher keep reminding me that it's not the asana that's the important part of yoga.
Well, yes. I too have taken control of my diet, and now eat very low carb, so stricter than yours. I exercise rather less. But my temperature has never reflected my thyroid status, so I cannot manage my thyroid dose that way.
And there are so few integrative doctors here in the UK, every one private, that there aren't enough to go around, and not everyone can afford to go private anyway. Add to that the fact that many are addicted to their inappropriate food, and brainwashed by a medical establishment that is way behind the times. You also find that many are simply not cut out to be in constant conflict with their doctors, family and authority figures. So in reality most of the members of this board don't have access to the help and support that would enable them to take control.
Don't judge them. Being 100% gluten free, and 100% sugar free is not easy. I am pretty well there after six months, and was proud of myself refusing sugar and carbs at a social event yesterday. But its not been an easy road. I have had fantastic results, and basically feel as I did before my thyroid decided to retire twenty years ago. That is what has kept me going.
So in saying 'you can be well. But there is discipline required. I do not deviate from my diet' etc you are not suggesting that you believe unwellness results from indiscipline? Maybe I'm misreading your meaning.
The sun doesn't rise because the rooster crows and all that.
Anyway, Louise should have the name of your integrated person to put on the list if they aren't on it already: louise.roberts@thyroiduk.org.uk
I'm only saying what works for me. I have over the years fallen off the wagon and it sets me back. Now I stay disciplined and I stay well. Everyone has to do what's right for them.
Many people would just like a GP that actually heard what they had to say, that saw them as a real and valid person, that didn't judge them on first appearances (overweight = too may pies, slim = you clearly aren't hypothyroid), that had at least some degree of empathy, and that did more than a TSH test.
I am now 52 years old and 2 years ago I went to my GP for what I believed were peri-menopause symptoms. I had always enjoyed reasonably good health and was active. Since that time things went noticeably but consistently downhill, and with hindsight they had been declining at least 5 years earlier but I'd dismissed symptoms for just getting older. Until Dec last year when I felt like life was being sucked out of me, and I first found Thyroid UK, and then this forum. It has been the equivalent of your integrative practitioner, and has quite literally enabled me to begin to turn my life around. I am however very aware that I am in the early stages of being treated with, what is standard in the UK (if you are lucky enough to get diagnosed by your GP that is) Levothyroxine. I hope that this good start continues, and that I am not one of the many that find myself having to self treat because it no longer works for me.
I wish you continued wellness and hope that you thanked your lucky stars when you found your integrative practitioner - just imagine how different your life might be 2 years on had you not? For many that is the stark reality. Because they don't have the means to go private, and even then, there is no guarantee that you'll get treated properly.
Many of us thought we already ate a healthy diet, I certainly did, but it was the diet I was always told was healthy - high carb, low fat, and limited red meat. Sadly, clean, paleo type regimes are considered to be a fad and are the latest trend, rather than being seen as back to basics honest good food. If you decide to eliminate gluten from your diet, you are thought of as being fanciful ("Oh another one of those") rather than thoughtful about your diet. Even worse with low carb and higher (but good) fat. Until society and especially the health and medical establishments start to wake up to this growing epidemic of how bad food (and not just cakes, pies, and sugar) = poor health, many will continue to suffer without knowing the harm this doctrine is doing.
And then there are those who even with the best diet in the world will suffer because of faulty genes. What then for them?
Hey, just sharing my story about regaining my health. Some of the symptoms of menopause that can get worse as a result of thyroid disease is low libido and dryness so, unsatisfactory and painful sex.
Not making any assumptions, just sharing my story of what it took for me to regain my health. I know what I do may not work for everyone but I hoped it might gives some people a few suggestions they might consider if they haven't already.
I'm recently diagnosed and was very active! I am convinced diet is he key however the ketogenic includes eggs and cheese etc, you're saying avoid? And the root cause book talks about eliminating everything the slowly re introducing?? I'm not sure which plan to follow?
You're right! Life is short. Too short to be lived in debilitating pain and fatigue. Now I can work in a job I love, enjoy activities with my family, travel,socialise and really enjoy my life. My diet is full of gorgeous fresh fruit, nuts, and vegetables, organic meat and fish. Food tastes so much better when you take sugar away. And I indulge in a double espresso every day!
Thanks for telling me your docs name. Does he still prescribe you NDT ? Only this is the same private doctor who I have spent a fortune with - only to be told he "cannot" prescribe NDT anymore!!!
Geniler well done for sharing your post I agree I find the key to managing any symptoms relating to Thyroid is very much watching what you eat and avoiding overally processed and high sugar foods and definitely alcohol as much as possible. Due to multiple allergies I also have to avoid dairy and eggs but I probably would have cut them out anyway. I may still get some symptoms on occasion that I can't control but for the most part being very conscious of what i put into my body along with regular exercise definitely does help.
Mine and my GPs view is try to look after you insides as well as your outside and he will fill in the gaps It seems to be working for me at the moment.
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