Why you should listen to your body?

What would happen if we just stopped and listened to our bodies? To do that, we have to recognize the signals it is sending. When we are reluctant enough to believe that we can take more than we are currently capable of, our body stops us. Here is my story about Hashimoto’s condition. I did not recognize the signals.

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First, unnoticeable, maybe for 5 years, it was slowly progressing with symptoms that I thought it was because the baby was tiny and demanding, I have a big family, then I went back to work full time and so on. The stage I was diagnosed with was the third stage of Hashimoto’s autoimmune condition. But then it struck me. Suddenly, I was so tired that I had to sleep every afternoon, and before, I never did, no matter how tired I was. I began getting headaches and feeling dizzy. If you know the feeling, it was like I was in a boat the whole time. It was the time of year when we have an annual physical examination that my firm provides for employees. The hormone TSH was high, a signal that the thyroid gland was not working properly.
Then I waited for an ultrasound check and was feeling every day worse. I had brain fog, wanted to sit and did not care if I did what I had to or not. But still, I was very nervous for no reason. It was all conducted by the small gland in my throat, the thyroid gland.

Then, I had an ultrasound checkup, and it was evident that my gland was not doing its job. The next step was going to a specialist endocrinologist. The doctor was understanding. It was a stage of the disease where conventional medicine takes a “wait and watch approach”, and my doctor explained that it is because once you start taking pills, it is for life. My TSH level was elevated in this stage, and the free T3 and free T4 levels were standard. The thyroid antibodies at this time were still expected. But my condition was so bad, hair loss, constant fatigue, nervousness, and my joints ached, and she decided I should take the pills.
After a week, I was feeling better. The biggest fear was joint aches because my mother and her mother have the autoimmune condition rheumatoid arthritis. It is a disease that affects joints. But my joints did not hurt anymore, and my hair started to grow again.

I was really feeling good until a month ago. Now, I started to have some symptoms again. And now, after 7 months of the first checkup at the endocrinologist, my thyroid antibodies are high. My hormone levels are normal. Now my fear is back; my joint hurts me a bit, and I will take a blood test to be sure what is happening.
I think I am at the 4th stage of the disease, overt hypothyroidism. My next checkup is months away, and I am not feeling optimistic.

I did not mention the first and the second stages because I was in the third when I was diagnosed. The first stage is a genetic predisposition, and I have an aunt with a thyroid condition. I learned that maybe a year before I was diagnosed. Perhaps there are more, but they were never found because people for years don’t know they have a problem and get cured of other diseases instead.
The second stage is the immune cell infiltration of the thyroid gland. In this early stage of Hashimoto’s, a person usually has elevated thyroid antibodies. Some people may never have thyroid antibodies in the blood, but with a thyroid ultrasound or biopsy, changes in the gland consistent with Hashimoto’s will appear. So, it was my case. There were no antibodies, and the ultrasound showed permanent thyroid changes.
The third phase is subclinical hypothyroidism. This is where my story begins. I will not write more about it here.

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The fourth stage is overt hypothyroidism, and the person has elevated TSH and low levels of T3 and T4. Thyroid antibodies may be even higher than in previous stages. This is the stage when it is most commonly diagnosed because the person usually has many thyroid symptoms at this stage.
The fifth stage is a progression of the autoimmune response, as the immune system continues to be imbalanced. In a healthy body, antibodies are created when the body is attacked with a virus. An autoimmune disorder is when the body attacks its own healthy cells because, for unknown reasons, it gets an impulse that those are the enemies. This is why a person can get some other autoimmune diseases at this stage.

The person takes medications at this stage, and their TSH, T3, and T4 levels should be in the reference range.

But unfortunately, thyroid medications do not help with antibodies, and the disease progresses.
Life changes are the only thing a person with this disease can and should do to feel better. I changed my diet. I obliterated white wheat flour, actually gluten, completely. I also cut on the dairy; this was the most challenging thing. I succeeded, and now I feel so good that I have no problem avoiding it entirely. I was on a low-carb diet for almost two years, and now I prefer a blood-type diet by Doctor D’Adamo.

After I was diagnosed, I tried to remember when all this could start and figured out it was after my third childbirth. I did not lose the weight I gained in pregnancy, and with the first and second pregnancies, I had no problem. I was always skinny, maybe too skinny for a long period, but I was built like that. After that, I recalled how exhausted I was and thought it was because of the baby. It was but that much. When the baby was two, I had the will and strength to be on a diet. It was a low-carb, high fat diet. I lost all the weight that remained after childbirth, 6 kilos in 6 weeks. After reaching my weight before pregnancy, I started slowly losing weight. I also attended Pilates lessons, and I felt excellent.

Now, I eat following the blood type diet and practise Yoga. As an A blood type, I should eat vegetables and fruits, grains and fish occasionally, and no red meat, only turkey and sometimes chicken. This suits me well, and I feel good when I follow the diet. I will write more about the topic in my next post. I have already written about Yoga and its positive impact on my body. You can check my posts here.