It wasn’t until after I gave birth to my first child that I found out and was diagnosed with Hashimotos disease, a form of thyroid disease. Of course, at the time I felt that my doctors recommendation of treating my Hashimotos with prescriptions was not only my best option, but my only option, as I wasn’t familiar with the disease, and did what I was told. It was over the next 6 years of constantly feeling fatigued, irritable, having mood swings, heart palpitations, dizzy, light headed, experiencing hair loss and a plethora of other symptoms, that I realized that what we were doing was only trying to manage my symptoms (which obviously wasn’t working) and not actually trying to treat and eliminate the disease that was causing them.

I learned over that time, that If I wanted to feel better, I had to take matters into my own hands. I dove into researching and learning more about Hashimotos and the best ways to manage it, which eventually led me to Functional Medicine. 

Functional Medicine is a patient centered approach of identifying the root causes of disease and addressing those causes to restore health. It is about treating the individual as a whole, and not simply managing the symptoms or trying to cover them up with prescriptions. I began to understand how my body really works, and what it needed to function properly and thrive. I eliminated recommended foods from my diet that were common causes of triggering Hashimotos symptoms, and started to incorporate anti-inflammatory foods along with targeted supplements, and began to feel the difference in how my body was performing almost immediately. 

In less than 5 months, I lost 40 pounds and it felt almost effortless. My mood improved tremendously and I was sleeping better than I had in years and waking up feeling rested and energized. My mindset towards eating and being more in tune with my body was very powerful.