Do I Look Unwell Here?

Do I look Unwell here?

"I'm not crazy I'm just a little unwell, I know, right now you can't tell. But stay a while and maybe then you'll see, a different side of me".

Anyone know this song by Matchbox Twenty?

These lyrics make me think about anyone who has what I call a “hidden” health issue, whatever it maybe as there are so many.

In my case, my specialty is talking about, educating about, thyroid disease. Look at me in this photo, a happy mama with a 3-month-old baby and a 4-year-old.

Healthy.

Glowing.

Meanwhile, inside thyroid issues were brewing. This is where it all began.

No one could tell me why I was so low on breast milk, having to supplement with formula. Yet after the birth of my first child, I had so much breast milk. I’m sure my TSH was within the “normal” range…well, “normal” at the time of that annual blood test I’d get done, right?

No one could tell me why, after 3 months, I kept losing weight so rapidly, yet after my first pregnancy it took me 2 years to lose the pregnancy weight. I was told every pregnancy is different.

No one could tell me why I was so anxious, why I wasn't able to sleep. Why was my nervous system so out of control?

Suck it up, mama, you’re a new mama. You’re not supposed to sleep.

Some mamas do fine. Whereas others may not. We are all wired differently because of a thing called epigenetics and life experiences including trauma and more. Some may see their health deteriorate because of not knowing how to care for themselves coupled with creating a life within their own bodies. Putting themselves at risk of depletion for this miracle called giving life, called motherhood.

My father’s mother, my grandmother, died giving birth to my dad in 1937. Childbirth was respected and revered and most even back then understood the risk every woman carrying life carried…

Yet in 2005, I can’t recall being asked if I was okay. I can’t recall anything but the numerous routine visits for the baby and vaccination upon vaccination for the baby…

No one educated the mama on how to care for herself. No one told me how I could preserve and protect this crucial little gland, the thyroid gland and how it could be affected at pregnancy. No one educated me on how connected the thyroid is to all other hormones, and so intricately connected to those little glands that sit atop our kidneys that control stress hormones, the adrenal glands.

Medical misses all along.

Years went by. Stresses amounted while nutrient deficiencies worsened, and sleep continued to remain on the backburner. My thyroid gland continued to try to survive, but not thrive, in a body with a person that didn’t know how to take care of it. In a body that never even knew this gland existed or how important it was.

TSH was likely tested all along and was likely within this vast, so called “normal” range.

But I didn’t feel normal. I felt even worse when it was removed in 2011 and told that one little T4 pill called Synthroid would do it all and I’d feel normal.

Yet here we are, still today, going to the ER for a cold, asking our GPs for advice on supplementation, going to our GPs for advice on nutrition and how to optimize health using diet, and nutraceuticals. We are craving more knowledge now as it relates to our wellness but getting less in return.

According to Medscape’s 2017 Physician Compensation Report, 29% of physicians spent 13-16 minutes with each patient. I can’t recall spending more than 10 minutes with any of my physicians. I welcome you to review the health quality specifically for Ontario here: https://www.hqontario.ca/System-Performance/Primary-Care-Performance

Here are more stats by country on the amount of time primary care physicians spend per patient for routine visits:

https://www.statista.com/statistics/1097241/proportion-primary-physicians-by-time-spent-with-patient-select-countries-worldwide/

Today, we have numerous resources to support our wellness journey and be proactive and preventative with it, yet somehow so many in this world of wellness are gaslit because we do not hold a medical degree…

You’ll get deficient advice if you ask your GP on how to optimize your thyroid function. You might get medication to support function of it, but you won’t get advice on how to keep the gland healthy and optimized.

GPs and other medical professionals have their place and do their best within their wheelhouse. I have respect for physicians who are excellent within their scope of practice.

My wheelhouse is optimizing wellness from a perspective of diet, lifestyle, biohacking, and nutraceuticals. My wheelhouse is prevention and proactive health, and knowing possible deficiencies based on diet, lifestyle, genetics and more.

All of us deserve to be respected for our contribution within our space. I certainly don’t claim to be an expert in dental surgery…and most have followed my journey over the last year with issues I’ve had here. So, as an educator, I learn, and I educate to try to help others be proactive.

There are a couple of books out there, not many, that link how to feel well through menopause with thyroid disease. The one I respect the most as it’s through patient advocacy and education is the one written by Mary J. Shoman.

This spring I will be releasing The Essential Thyroid Guide. My guide will not be a book and it will be a series of videos and a printable, shorter guide (my full book is still coming for 2024 Bridging the Gap Between Science and Soul, I just need this creation out sooner). There will be pages you can print off and bring with you for a discussion with your doctor. None of this is medical advice and all of it is for you to learn and advocate for yourself and feel better.

The main difference between my guide and what’s out there is that I connect not only the science, but also the spirit side to thyroid disease. Also, it’s shorter & easier to understand, read, and with the audio/visual component.

Let me end with a few facts…

- It is estimated that over 200 million people in the world have some form of thyroid disease. – Thyroid Foundation of Canada

- Recent studies indicate that 1 in 10 Canadians suffer from a thyroid condition of one type or another. As many as 50% are undiagnosed. – Thyroid Foundation of Canada

- Most people have no idea how to eat what supplements to take to optimize thyroid function.

- Many are within this vast “normal” range of TSH but have lingering symptoms and receive no proper medication and no diagnosis.

- TSH-only testing often cannot diagnose thyroid disease, yet it's typically the only bloodwork done and if it's within the "normal" and vast range, no doctor will test further. TSH can be within the normal range, but other markers would show abnormal. This is a huge problem.

- The standard of care is still T4 only medications, which is a huge miss in helping others feel optimized in their health.

Something needs to change.

Nothing here is written using AI…I just feel nowadays it’s important to clarify this for full transparency.