Today, I have an incredibly blessed life. I’m married to an amazing man, my kids have gone from trauma and drama to living successful lives and contributing to the protection of our beautiful country, and I get to travel while exploring my passion – Argentine Tango. But it wasn’t always like this. I have been very ill, exhausted, with frustrating and debilitating symptoms.
As a holistic healthcare provider, I understand the medical and emotional sides of many symptoms and the dis-ease processes. What you may not know, is that I’ve been a patient as well. Twenty-one years ago, I had horrible symptoms of fibromyalgia. I got to the root of it and completely healed it within two years. Then, years later I developed different symptoms and went misdiagnosed and undiagnosed for years. It turned out I had Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis, an autoimmune disease. I did everything from food sensitivity testing, to apitherapy (bee venom therapy), and supplementation of nutrients to help the conversion from T4 to T3, to stem cell therapy. Nothing seemed to make a huge difference until I committed to following a ketogenic gut repair nutrition and lifestyle plan for several years. Many other patients and colleagues had great luck with the other things I tried, but I didn’t always get good results myself. I spent a few years healing the root of it – the gut stuff and immune regulation, food sensitivities, and high stress with my kids. Recently, early perimenopause began. I began experiencing many life-stopping symptoms such as dozens of nightly hot flashes with profuse sweating, heart palpitations, day hot flashes that drenched my clothes, a little weight gain, odd cravings, unusual mood swings, and cysts in my breasts. I implemented my healing tools and “poof” – those symptoms vanished in just a few days! (It helps to have the right tools and know how to use them.)
What I didn’t realize is that those hormone surges triggered the Hashimoto’s autoimmune issues and symptoms again and I began to experience severe hair loss. It was the kind that freaks you out in the shower, handfuls and handfuls of hair. Hair falling down my back all day long, left on my pillow each morning, and accumulating what seemed like small animals in the bathroom wastebasket. I’m not a super vain person, but this was really impacting me. I found my hair loss to be very stressful. I imagined leading workshops and speaking on stages with short and/or very thin hair. I wondered if I should shave it off, but then people might have thought I had cancer. I spoke with several colleagues and my stem-cell doctor, but no one really had an answer. Eventually, I turned to functional blood chemistry analysis (FBCA). I ran a full thyroid panel. Sure enough, my thyroid was way off and my antibodies, which had dropped from 1000 to 50 were back up to 150 (below 36 is considered normal, although not in functional healthcare book). I confirmed that the symptoms I was experiencing were in fact due to my thyroid.
I altered my thyroid medication and kept listening to my body. I struggled to surrender to the emotions that lay underneath the symptoms and stress I was experiencing. I felt deeply, and found myself going through a full range of emotions. I spent time in nature and I continued on a gut repair program to help quell the autoimmune flare-up. It can take 6-8 weeks for thyroid medications to regulate. After two months I did another full thyroid panel and I saw some changes for the better, but it was still off, so I adjusted my medication again. I didn’t want to play a guessing game with my health, I wanted guided proof. I received neural therapy to help my nervous system chill out. I began learning guitar to stretch my brain and feed a passion for music. I wanted to push beyond a fear of failure and the old programmed belief that my voice and talent isn’t good. And I’m healing. I know I will cure this latest flair.
While I knew that hormones greatly impact thyroid, and vice versa, I didn’t realize how their impact on autoimmune issues. This new health experience made me better able to assess the impact of hormones on my patients’ autoimmune challenges. What a gift!
I was about 90% healed from Hashimoto’s before the pre-menopausal flair. I have had a little backslide but I’m back on track to 100% healing of this autoimmune disease. Even though conventional doctors say it can’t be done, I’m going to prove that it can, just as I’ve done with my patients. I’m grateful that my healing hasn’t always been easy and what has helped others hasn’t often worked for me because it has made me better equipped to support people who feel exhausted, frustrated, hopeless and who don’t fit into the standard protocols. It may be a gift in strange wrapping but it’s a huge blessing.
Blessings of Vibrant Health,
Kristin Grayce McGary
Health and Lifestyle Alchemist