Beth has her life back with Hashimoto’s treatment

With Hashimoto’s and T4-only failure, Beth turned to Natural Desiccated Thyroid (along with Low Dose Naltrexone to lower her antibodies) and has her life back! Thanks to a better hypothyroid treatment, she can exercise again, pursue hobbies, and looks forward to the increased possibility of having children.

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I was diagnosed with Hashimoto’s about 18 months ago. Lucky for me, a friend of mine had been wrestling with hypothyroidism for decades and when I mentioned my diagnosis to her, she immediately linked me to the Stop the Thyroid Madness website.

I started reading and slowly accumulated knowledge and understanding of my body’s dysfunction. When I OD’ed on T4 because my body wasn’t converting it, I knew to ask my Endo to switch me to Natural Desiccated Thyroid (NDT). I began pressing her for better symptom control, because even though my levels were “improving,” I still felt crummy. She referred me to a functional doctor and I wasn’t afraid to schedule an appointment, since I had learned from you that functional doctors often treat thyroid disease more successfully than endocrinologists.

When my thyroid antibodies unexpectedly rose about 8 weeks ago, I asked my functional dr. for Low Dose Naltrexone (LDN), and that along with raising my NDT dosage based on symptoms, not blood work, has begun to transform me back into the person I remember before I got sick!

I’m able to exercise again, and am slowly but steadily (and easily!) shedding the pounds I packed on despite my daily efforts to eat healthy and exercise even though I was running on fumes. I am able to pursue hobbies and projects that had been on hold for YEARS because it was all I could do to hold down my job through bone-deep exhaustion.

I am on the road to normalcy and my husband and I have renewed hope for having children. When I was first diagnosed (at age 31), I was so relieved just to have a name to put to my chronic fatigue, brain fog, and itchy, brittle skin. But I immediately wondered if I would ever have the energy to bear and care for children. We feared that our fertility window would close while I was still searching for wellness.

Now I know it will be a difficult journey. My autoimmune disease, along with my being insulin resistant and having a genetic folic acid conversion issue, raises my risk of miscarriage and pregnancy complication by a lot. But I have renewed hope and am armed with useful knowledge to present to my doctors (and to keep them accountable!) to keep me and baby healthy. I can’t thank you enough for that!

I realize I am SO lucky to have begun seeing positive treatment results in less than two years after diagnosis. My heart breaks for those I see posting about living for decades without relief, going through treatment after treatment without success. It’s so easy to lose hope that you’ll EVER feel better again.

But I hope my story inspires you, Janie, to continue your work. Y’all have SAVED me! And I hope your work saves more. I have gained the courage to speak out about my disease, to share my experiences, and to encourage friends to get their thyroid levels checked (the RIGHT way, including free T3 and Reverse T3!) if my story sounds familiar to them, as too often it does. I ALWAYS send them to stopthethyroidmadness.com to start their journey to wellness!

Love and gratitude,
Beth

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