May 16, 2024 • 21 mins
This winter, unlike the last several, Esther did NOT have a Hashimoto's flare-up. In this episode, she will tell you how she avoided it and give you her process. There was not one sole thing, but rather multiple things that all came together to give her the best winter in years.
Find this episode written in a blog format on the website: https://healthwithhashimotos.com/
DOWNLOAD THE HEALTH WITH HASHIMOTO'S APP
Unlock your wellness journey with the free Health with Hashimoto's app! Join a supportive community that's here for you every step of the way. Binge your free mini-course, Hashimoto's Decoded, designed to answer your questions and cut through Hashimoto's confusion. Ready to take control of your health and feel like yourself again? Enroll in the full Holistic Hashimoto's course. Download the free app now and get started!
FREE MINI-COURSE - Hashimoto’s Decoded:
In this free course, you will learn what causes Hashimoto’s, and why you might have Hashimoto’s. You will finish the course with clear steps to regain control of your health. Access the course within the Health with Hashimoto’s app.
THE HOLISTIC HASHIMOTO’S COURSE:
Are you grappling with the fatigue, brain fog, or weight struggles of Hashimoto's thyroiditis? Now, there's a solution! The Holistic Hashimoto's Course will guide you in uncovering your autoimmune root causes and taking clear, simple, and sustainable steps so you can regain your energy and feel like yourself again.
https://healthwithhashimotos.com/holistic-hashimotos-course/
ABOUT THE PODCAST & ESTHER:
The Health with Hashimoto’s podcast will help you explore the root causes of your autoimmune condition and discover holistic solutions to address your Hashimoto’s thyroiditis. It is hosted by Esther Yunkin, a registered nurse, holistic health educator, and Hashimoto's warrior.
This podcast is for informational and educational purposes. Please discuss any questions or concerns with your healthcare professional.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Welcome to episode 95 of the Health with Hashimoto's podcast.
On this podcast, for the last 95 plus episodes, because I've done some bonus episodes,
every single time I give you simple and sustainable things that you can do to
identify and address the root causes of your Hashimoto's, because nobody wants
to be sick, nobody has time to be sick.
(00:20):
We need our thyroids working well, we need our immune systems working well,
because we have lives to live, right? So that's what I give you on this podcast.
And if you have not left a rating and review, would you do that before we hit 100 episodes?
Ratings and reviews really do help the podcast platforms push this episode or
(00:42):
push this podcast out to more people.
And it is my goal to reach so many more people who have thyroid problems and
Hashimoto's because they need hope.
They need hope. they need to know that there is something that they can do.
And there are simple things.
You know, you go online and everything is so overwhelming. It's so confusing.
Everything contradicts everything else. You just don't know where to turn.
(01:04):
And through this podcast and through the app, the Health with Hashimoto's app,
and through my course, I want people to know that it can be simple.
You can have simple and sustainable things to do for your health.
So if you haven't left a rating and review yet, please do that.
And I would also love to hear your stories of how things have changed for you
(01:28):
over the first 100 episodes.
Obviously, this is episode 95, so you don't know what the next five are,
but I would love to hear your stories so that maybe I can share them or just so that I can know them.
Love that. So today I'm going to share about how I prevented my own Hashimoto's flare.
And I know the, is it FDA or FTC or FCC or whatever, you know,
(01:52):
those initialed government agencies, they say that you can't talk about preventing,
curing, or what's the other one? Diagnosing maybe?
You can't do those. And so I can't tell you that I prevented it.
But what I can say is that for the last, I don't know, three or four winters,
I have had a flare every single year.
(02:15):
And that is actually what drove me to find out like what is going on, I needed help.
And that's how I found out that I had Hashimoto's. And I made some progress,
but I still had that flare.
And then the next winter, I did some more stuff. And this winter,
I had like teeny tiny hints that one was trying to start.
And then I increased what I was doing.
(02:36):
So I can tell you definitively, I did not have a flare up this winter,
whereas the last multiple I have.
So you take that for what it is. I believe in my own mind that I prevented it.
But legally, I cannot say that.
And I can also not tell you that there was one specific thing.
Because if you've been listening to this podcast for any length of time,
(02:59):
or if you've gone through the free Hashimoto's Decoded course,
course which helps you figure out the main causes for Hashimoto's and why you
might have it and what to do.
If you've gone through that, you know that there's a lot of different things
that all contribute to somebody's Hashimoto's journey and to their healing.
So there's not one thing, but I can tell you that I did a whole lot of things
(03:24):
and I did not have a flare this year.
So if you want to hear my earlier stories, it is episodes 27 and 28 when I talk
about what is a Hashimoto's flare and what do you do if you're in one?
And so today in episode 95 is the follow-up. It's what I did and what worked,
(03:44):
and I am thrilled to pieces that it worked.
So first, a quick recap of those two episodes. Number one, what is a flare?
It is when your your Hashimoto's symptoms flare up when they get worse.
And this could be like they get worse and then they stay worse,
or it could be like a match flares up and then it goes down.
It could be either one of those, but a flare is a worsening of your symptoms.
(04:06):
And my own symptoms, my own flare, it was primarily in my skin.
It started in my legs the first year, and then it spread and it was on all extremities.
It was on my trunk a little bit.
Thankfully, it was not on my face. It was red, angry, looked kind of like psoriasis,
(04:27):
if you're familiar with that, kind of scaly.
And it was painful, burning, itchy. it was horrible.
I would have like sweat going down the back, down my back because it was so
uncomfortable at times.
I was completely distracted at other times.
And even when I wasn't completely distracted by pain, it was always present,
(04:52):
that pain, burning and itching. It was horrible.
My husband would get frustrated, not at me, but on my behalf,
like because I was clearly severely so uncomfortable and interfered with everything.
It interfered with my, like, being
a wife, being a mom, being a homeschool teacher, being a business owner.
(05:13):
It interfered with every single aspect of life.
And if you have Hashimoto's, you know what that's like.
Having something, having symptoms, whatever your symptoms are,
having them interfere with your life is horrible. And I don't wish it on anybody.
Now, I did have other symptoms as well, but the skin was the first thing that I noticed.
(05:34):
The other ones were like more gradual, like, you know, being really tired,
a little bit of depression.
Now was the depression because I was insanely itchy and painful or was it the
Hashimoto's or was it both?
I don't know, probably both, but I was miserable.
I was miserable. So that was my experience. And like I said.
(05:56):
I first went to find help to figure out what was going on.
And that's how I found out that I had Hashimoto's. And then I did everything I could on my own.
So step one of me preventing my own flare this year was I looked for patterns.
I noticed, obviously, that it was every winter, like probably October,
(06:17):
November, I would start to have symptoms.
And then in April-ish, they would gradually go away.
So I knew it was something winter related. Now, I did not know,
was it my vitamin D level because it's winter? Was it the cold?
Was it the dry air in the house? I didn't know. I tried to address every single one of those.
(06:39):
We got whole house humidifiers. I got a humidifier for next to my bed,
the dry air. So that was, you know, check.
We did that. As far as the cold outside, I live in Minnesota. It's going to be cold.
I also live in a house full of males.
And physiologically, males run warmer than females.
And then when you throw Hashimoto's into the mix too, well, you know,
(07:01):
I'm not going to heat the house so that the other five members of my household
are uncomfortable and dying of heat.
So I bought a whole bunch of long johns. I bought a whole bunch of sweatshirts.
I had, you know, fleece pants, although I was also trying to to do natural fibers.
So doing all of this stuff for warmth while also trying to be skin friendly, I was doing all of that.
(07:23):
So cold weather, check, addressed that.
And then the vitamin D, I got my labs checked and I increased my vitamin D supplementation
because I was not up to the level that I wanted.
My goal was around 80 and I was not there yet.
I think when I initially checked it, I was maybe in the 20s or maybe...
(07:43):
High teens. I can't remember, and I don't know. My lab is pulled up right now.
So those were the first things I did. The first things was looking for patterns
and addressing what was obvious to me. Well, none of those worked.
And that's really around the time when I first was seeking help.
I was doing all of those things. So then when I found out that I had Hashimoto's
(08:05):
and that I had thyroid problems, then I also started addressing the root causes causes of Hashimoto's.
Specifically, I was addressing my inflammation, my overall inflammation.
My detox pathways, because I wanted to make sure that I was getting out all
the chemicals or anything that was in me that wasn't supposed to be.
I was helping my liver because your thyroid is hormone related.
(08:30):
Of course, it's putting out hormones and your liver processes all of the hormones
in your body or the majority of them.
So I really wanted to support my liver. I also started to address my collagen
because as somebody with an autoimmune problem,
I automatically know that I have a gut component to what's going on.
(08:50):
Now, what does that have to do with collagen?
Well, one of my friends who is a chiropractor, she describes it this way.
She says 90% of your body is made up of tissues and 90% of those tissues are made up of collagen.
So you have a lot of of collagen. It's not just hair, skin, and nails that rely
on good amounts of collagen.
(09:12):
It's, you know, of the 90% of your body that's made of tissue,
it's 90% of that. So it's a lot.
It's also really important for your gut. And your gut is very important when
you have an autoimmune condition.
If you have an autoimmune condition, you have something with your gut.
Even if you you don't feel like it, there is a gut component.
(09:33):
So I started addressing my collagen.
There are a billion kajillion collagen products on the market. You know that, right?
Well, I started taking the first, and as far as I know, the only one on the
market that activates your own body to produce collagen.
It also replenishes. It has 10 different types of collagen, which is the most
(09:57):
I've found on any supplement collagen.
And it also stops your body from breaking down the collagen.
I have not seen any other collagens on the market that do all of those three things.
In fact, I've only heard of one other one that might activate your own body to produce collagen.
And when I went digging into it, I could not find the science and the studies to back up their claim.
(10:21):
So I started taking a collagen that, like I said, it activates my own body to
produce more, it replenishes and it maintains.
I started doing that to support my tissues because obviously my skin was my
number one symptom. So I wanted to address the skin itself.
And I also wanted to address the gut component.
(10:41):
So I did all of that and I still wasn't a hundred percent. I was still so frustrated.
So number one, I looked for patterns, tried to address them.
Number two, I addressed my own root causes once I identified them.
And then it was time for number three, because I still wasn't making progress
or I was making progress.
I just wasn't, you know, I was still in pain. I was still itchy. It was still a problem.
(11:04):
And it was late last winter. So almost spring when I made an appointment with
a new nurse practitioner, she was new to me. She's been a nurse practitioner for many years.
And so what I was doing here is I was expanding my team. I have told you on
this podcast before that you are the CEO of your own health.
(11:26):
That means you are in charge. You are the ultimate decision maker.
It's also your job as the CEO to build your like,
board of directors. You want people who are experts in their field helping you
make the best decisions.
And I knew it was time to expand my board of directors for my health.
So I looked and I found a nurse practitioner who seemed that she had values very aligned with mine.
(11:54):
I knew that she would help me look for a root cause, even though she is not
technically technically functional medicine.
She had that vibe in her bio. And I was like, yes, she's somebody who I can
at least go see for the first visit.
We clicked. It was amazing. She really was helping me.
So when I expanded my board of directors and I brought her on to help me, that was step three.
(12:19):
And she looked at everything with fresh eyes.
And I really needed that fresh perspective. It was so nice to not be relying
on just my own thoughts and my own research, but to have an expert coming alongside me.
So she looked and she heard my whole story.
She looked at my labs. She had me do some additional labs and she recommended a couple of things.
(12:42):
She wanted me to do more anti-inflammatory stuff with my diet.
She also wanted me to drastically increase my vitamin for a short amount of
time because she wanted it up between 80 and 100.
My goal was around 80 and she wanted it a little higher.
So she said, you know, since there's
a winter pattern, let's check your vitamin D and try to get that up.
(13:05):
So we tried both of those things. And then she also prescribed a medication
that I don't think I have talked about before on any of the 95 episodes.
And it is L-D-N.
Oh, this reminds me. Did you hear last episode when I paused my recording so
that I could look up how to pronounce T3 and then I must have got distracted
(13:29):
and I forgot to tell you how to pronounce T3?
So T3 is the three molecules of iodine on the thyroid hormone.
And so it starts with tri, T-R-I, because of course that means three.
And it's a really long word. And it just cracked me up and made me a little
embarrassed when I was listening to the podcast.
And I was like, oops, I forgot to come back and tell you how to say that.
(13:50):
It is triiod, oh goodness.
And this is why I had to pause because I couldn't, I couldn't say it just like, it doesn't flow.
Triiodothyronine Isn't that a tongue twister?
Triiodothyronine. That's T3. Now you know. Okay, I distracted myself from LDN.
(14:12):
I was going to tell you about LDN.
Now, LDN stands for low-dose naltrexone.
Naltrexone is something that the medical
community will give to alcoholics and
opioid addicts to get them off of that stuff because it takes away the high
it it makes it so that you don't get what you're looking for from the from the
(14:35):
drugs or the alcohol but what they found when they were giving people these
high doses or regular doses of naltrexone that as they weaned them off.
They were having autoimmune and pain improvements at the very low doses.
So now there is an off-label use for LDN. The L and D stand for low dose.
(14:57):
So LDN or naltrexone at a very low dose is given for autoimmune diseases like Hashimoto's.
And because this drug is approved for other uses like, you know,
alcoholism and opioid addiction, giving it in a very low dose is considered
off label, and there is not a lot of published literature.
(15:21):
But if you go to Paloma Health, which is a thyroid-specific medical community,
they say that LDN works as an immune modulator.
It changes the function of your immune system a little bit, and it helps reduce
inflammation, and it can also help increase endorphins.
(15:44):
They say that it might positively affect your mood and your quality of life.
It also seems to be associated with reduced thyroid antibodies,
improved energy levels, better sleep quality, reduced depression,
and like I already said, reduced inflammation.
So that is why LDN has been used for Hashimoto's.
(16:09):
So my nurse practitioner said, let's try LDN.
And then we both kind of got a laugh out of it because I was talking to her.
Like I said, in the very late winter.
And she said, we're not going to know if what I'm telling you works.
We're not going to know if what I'm prescribing and the lifestyle changes that
(16:29):
I am telling you to do, we're not going to know if they work because you always
get better in the spring.
We're not going to know until a year from now.
So I started on that journey. I was so thankful to have her on my side as my
advisor and to help me work through this.
And now a year later, I can tell you that it is working. It worked.
(16:51):
So doing the different things that I was doing, addressing the patterns,
trying to stay warm, humidifying the house, things like that,
addressing my own root causes, absolutely was beneficial.
And then partnering with somebody who had expertise that was beyond me and who
could prescribe, that was also helpful.
So a combination of all of those things. And I went into the winter still a little nervous.
(17:16):
And then my legs started to have a little bit of that skin stuff that I noticed.
And so I contacted my nurse practitioner. We talked again and she increased
my LDN dose just a smidge.
It's still a very low dose, you know, to stay with the L and D low dose,
but it was a little bit more and it worked.
(17:39):
I had no symptoms. I did notice that if I tried to stop taking my LDN,
then my skin would start to flare up.
So I knew that that was key for me.
I also knew that the other things I was doing, I had to continue doing them
because they made a difference back before I started the LDN.
(18:00):
So like I said, there's not one thing that I was doing.
There's not one thing that you're going to do that's going to make the difference.
It's a collaboration collaboration of so many different things,
because you are a whole person, body, mind, spirit, diet, environment,
and they all come together to create your health, and they all interact with each other.
(18:21):
So you really have to address everything, even though you can do it simply.
You can do simple and sustainable things.
So that is my story. That is how I believe that I prevented my own Hashimoto's
flair this year, and I am so grateful.
Oh my goodness. I had my life back. I could concentrate.
(18:42):
I could go through my day without constant pain and burning and itching.
I was going without fatigue. I had so much more energy this year because, well, of everything.
My energy honestly has been improving since I got my diagnosis and started making changes.
So several years I have seen an increase in my energy.
(19:03):
Absolutely that was not just related
to the flare but like I said a flare is
just an acting up of the symptoms and so everything went down
and I am so grateful and I want that for you I want you to also have your life
back because it's so nice so wonderful to have a good winter versus what I have
(19:27):
experienced over the last couple so if you have not taken the Hashimoto's Decoded
course yet But remember,
step two in my process was figuring out my own root causes.
If you have not figured out your root causes and figured out simple ways to
address them, sign up for the free app.
It's the Health with Hashimoto's app. There'll be a link down in the show notes.
(19:47):
But if you're on Apple, you can search for Health with Hashimoto's in the app
store, and it's right there. Android, you have to click the link down below.
And in the app, there is the free Hashimoto's Decoded course. Take that course.
It'll only take you an hour if you binge it so that you can figure out your
own root causes and you can figure out what to do.
(20:07):
And then if you want help to do the do's, that's what the holistic Hashimoto's course is for.
And that is also within the app. All right, so that's a couple different things
for you to do. Number one, I asked if you would leave me a rating and review.
Two, I asked if you would share your experience of how this podcast has helped
you over the last, over the first 100 episodes.
(20:28):
And then three, I told you to get the app and go through Hashimoto's Decoded.
That's three different things.
And they say when you're doing a podcast, you're only supposed to tell people to do one thing.
So I guess if you can only pick one of those things, do the one that's going
to impact your health. Go through Hashimoto's Decoded.
And I will see you back here for more episodes of Health with Hashimoto's.
(20:51):
This podcast is for informational and educational purposes only,
please discuss any concerns and plans with your trusted healthcare professional.
If you found this episode helpful, will you please share it with a friend?
I'll see you next week on the Health with Hashimoto's podcast.
Music.
Welcome to episode 95 of the Health with Hashimoto's podcast.
On this podcast, for the last 95 plus episodes, because I've done some bonus episodes,
every single time I give you simple and sustainable things that you can do to
identify and address the root causes of your Hashimoto's, because nobody wants
to be sick, nobody has time to be sick.
(00:20):
We need our thyroids working well, we need our immune systems working well,
because we have lives to live, right? So that's what I give you on this podcast.
And if you have not left a rating and review, would you do that before we hit 100 episodes?
Ratings and reviews really do help the podcast platforms push this episode or
(00:42):
push this podcast out to more people.
And it is my goal to reach so many more people who have thyroid problems and
Hashimoto's because they need hope.
They need hope. they need to know that there is something that they can do.
And there are simple things.
You know, you go online and everything is so overwhelming. It's so confusing.
Everything contradicts everything else. You just don't know where to turn.
(01:04):
And through this podcast and through the app, the Health with Hashimoto's app,
and through my course, I want people to know that it can be simple.
You can have simple and sustainable things to do for your health.
So if you haven't left a rating and review yet, please do that.
And I would also love to hear your stories of how things have changed for you
(01:28):
over the first 100 episodes.
Obviously, this is episode 95, so you don't know what the next five are,
but I would love to hear your stories so that maybe I can share them or just so that I can know them.
Love that. So today I'm going to share about how I prevented my own Hashimoto's flare.
And I know the, is it FDA or FTC or FCC or whatever, you know,
(01:52):
those initialed government agencies, they say that you can't talk about preventing,
curing, or what's the other one? Diagnosing maybe?
You can't do those. And so I can't tell you that I prevented it.
But what I can say is that for the last, I don't know, three or four winters,
I have had a flare every single year.
(02:15):
And that is actually what drove me to find out like what is going on, I needed help.
And that's how I found out that I had Hashimoto's. And I made some progress,
but I still had that flare.
And then the next winter, I did some more stuff. And this winter,
I had like teeny tiny hints that one was trying to start.
And then I increased what I was doing.
(02:36):
So I can tell you definitively, I did not have a flare up this winter,
whereas the last multiple I have.
So you take that for what it is. I believe in my own mind that I prevented it.
But legally, I cannot say that.
And I can also not tell you that there was one specific thing.
Because if you've been listening to this podcast for any length of time,
(02:59):
or if you've gone through the free Hashimoto's Decoded course,
course which helps you figure out the main causes for Hashimoto's and why you
might have it and what to do.
If you've gone through that, you know that there's a lot of different things
that all contribute to somebody's Hashimoto's journey and to their healing.
So there's not one thing, but I can tell you that I did a whole lot of things
(03:24):
and I did not have a flare this year.
So if you want to hear my earlier stories, it is episodes 27 and 28 when I talk
about what is a Hashimoto's flare and what do you do if you're in one?
And so today in episode 95 is the follow-up. It's what I did and what worked,
(03:44):
and I am thrilled to pieces that it worked.
So first, a quick recap of those two episodes. Number one, what is a flare?
It is when your your Hashimoto's symptoms flare up when they get worse.
And this could be like they get worse and then they stay worse,
or it could be like a match flares up and then it goes down.
It could be either one of those, but a flare is a worsening of your symptoms.
(04:06):
And my own symptoms, my own flare, it was primarily in my skin.
It started in my legs the first year, and then it spread and it was on all extremities.
It was on my trunk a little bit.
Thankfully, it was not on my face. It was red, angry, looked kind of like psoriasis,
(04:27):
if you're familiar with that, kind of scaly.
And it was painful, burning, itchy. it was horrible.
I would have like sweat going down the back, down my back because it was so
uncomfortable at times.
I was completely distracted at other times.
And even when I wasn't completely distracted by pain, it was always present,
(04:52):
that pain, burning and itching. It was horrible.
My husband would get frustrated, not at me, but on my behalf,
like because I was clearly severely so uncomfortable and interfered with everything.
It interfered with my, like, being
a wife, being a mom, being a homeschool teacher, being a business owner.
(05:13):
It interfered with every single aspect of life.
And if you have Hashimoto's, you know what that's like.
Having something, having symptoms, whatever your symptoms are,
having them interfere with your life is horrible. And I don't wish it on anybody.
Now, I did have other symptoms as well, but the skin was the first thing that I noticed.
(05:34):
The other ones were like more gradual, like, you know, being really tired,
a little bit of depression.
Now was the depression because I was insanely itchy and painful or was it the
Hashimoto's or was it both?
I don't know, probably both, but I was miserable.
I was miserable. So that was my experience. And like I said.
(05:56):
I first went to find help to figure out what was going on.
And that's how I found out that I had Hashimoto's. And then I did everything I could on my own.
So step one of me preventing my own flare this year was I looked for patterns.
I noticed, obviously, that it was every winter, like probably October,
(06:17):
November, I would start to have symptoms.
And then in April-ish, they would gradually go away.
So I knew it was something winter related. Now, I did not know,
was it my vitamin D level because it's winter? Was it the cold?
Was it the dry air in the house? I didn't know. I tried to address every single one of those.
(06:39):
We got whole house humidifiers. I got a humidifier for next to my bed,
the dry air. So that was, you know, check.
We did that. As far as the cold outside, I live in Minnesota. It's going to be cold.
I also live in a house full of males.
And physiologically, males run warmer than females.
And then when you throw Hashimoto's into the mix too, well, you know,
(07:01):
I'm not going to heat the house so that the other five members of my household
are uncomfortable and dying of heat.
So I bought a whole bunch of long johns. I bought a whole bunch of sweatshirts.
I had, you know, fleece pants, although I was also trying to to do natural fibers.
So doing all of this stuff for warmth while also trying to be skin friendly, I was doing all of that.
(07:23):
So cold weather, check, addressed that.
And then the vitamin D, I got my labs checked and I increased my vitamin D supplementation
because I was not up to the level that I wanted.
My goal was around 80 and I was not there yet.
I think when I initially checked it, I was maybe in the 20s or maybe...
(07:43):
High teens. I can't remember, and I don't know. My lab is pulled up right now.
So those were the first things I did. The first things was looking for patterns
and addressing what was obvious to me. Well, none of those worked.
And that's really around the time when I first was seeking help.
I was doing all of those things. So then when I found out that I had Hashimoto's
(08:05):
and that I had thyroid problems, then I also started addressing the root causes causes of Hashimoto's.
Specifically, I was addressing my inflammation, my overall inflammation.
My detox pathways, because I wanted to make sure that I was getting out all
the chemicals or anything that was in me that wasn't supposed to be.
I was helping my liver because your thyroid is hormone related.
(08:30):
Of course, it's putting out hormones and your liver processes all of the hormones
in your body or the majority of them.
So I really wanted to support my liver. I also started to address my collagen
because as somebody with an autoimmune problem,
I automatically know that I have a gut component to what's going on.
(08:50):
Now, what does that have to do with collagen?
Well, one of my friends who is a chiropractor, she describes it this way.
She says 90% of your body is made up of tissues and 90% of those tissues are made up of collagen.
So you have a lot of of collagen. It's not just hair, skin, and nails that rely
on good amounts of collagen.
(09:12):
It's, you know, of the 90% of your body that's made of tissue,
it's 90% of that. So it's a lot.
It's also really important for your gut. And your gut is very important when
you have an autoimmune condition.
If you have an autoimmune condition, you have something with your gut.
Even if you you don't feel like it, there is a gut component.
(09:33):
So I started addressing my collagen.
There are a billion kajillion collagen products on the market. You know that, right?
Well, I started taking the first, and as far as I know, the only one on the
market that activates your own body to produce collagen.
It also replenishes. It has 10 different types of collagen, which is the most
(09:57):
I've found on any supplement collagen.
And it also stops your body from breaking down the collagen.
I have not seen any other collagens on the market that do all of those three things.
In fact, I've only heard of one other one that might activate your own body to produce collagen.
And when I went digging into it, I could not find the science and the studies to back up their claim.
(10:21):
So I started taking a collagen that, like I said, it activates my own body to
produce more, it replenishes and it maintains.
I started doing that to support my tissues because obviously my skin was my
number one symptom. So I wanted to address the skin itself.
And I also wanted to address the gut component.
(10:41):
So I did all of that and I still wasn't a hundred percent. I was still so frustrated.
So number one, I looked for patterns, tried to address them.
Number two, I addressed my own root causes once I identified them.
And then it was time for number three, because I still wasn't making progress
or I was making progress.
I just wasn't, you know, I was still in pain. I was still itchy. It was still a problem.
(11:04):
And it was late last winter. So almost spring when I made an appointment with
a new nurse practitioner, she was new to me. She's been a nurse practitioner for many years.
And so what I was doing here is I was expanding my team. I have told you on
this podcast before that you are the CEO of your own health.
(11:26):
That means you are in charge. You are the ultimate decision maker.
It's also your job as the CEO to build your like,
board of directors. You want people who are experts in their field helping you
make the best decisions.
And I knew it was time to expand my board of directors for my health.
So I looked and I found a nurse practitioner who seemed that she had values very aligned with mine.
(11:54):
I knew that she would help me look for a root cause, even though she is not
technically technically functional medicine.
She had that vibe in her bio. And I was like, yes, she's somebody who I can
at least go see for the first visit.
We clicked. It was amazing. She really was helping me.
So when I expanded my board of directors and I brought her on to help me, that was step three.
(12:19):
And she looked at everything with fresh eyes.
And I really needed that fresh perspective. It was so nice to not be relying
on just my own thoughts and my own research, but to have an expert coming alongside me.
So she looked and she heard my whole story.
She looked at my labs. She had me do some additional labs and she recommended a couple of things.
(12:42):
She wanted me to do more anti-inflammatory stuff with my diet.
She also wanted me to drastically increase my vitamin for a short amount of
time because she wanted it up between 80 and 100.
My goal was around 80 and she wanted it a little higher.
So she said, you know, since there's
a winter pattern, let's check your vitamin D and try to get that up.
(13:05):
So we tried both of those things. And then she also prescribed a medication
that I don't think I have talked about before on any of the 95 episodes.
And it is L-D-N.
Oh, this reminds me. Did you hear last episode when I paused my recording so
that I could look up how to pronounce T3 and then I must have got distracted
(13:29):
and I forgot to tell you how to pronounce T3?
So T3 is the three molecules of iodine on the thyroid hormone.
And so it starts with tri, T-R-I, because of course that means three.
And it's a really long word. And it just cracked me up and made me a little
embarrassed when I was listening to the podcast.
And I was like, oops, I forgot to come back and tell you how to say that.
(13:50):
It is triiod, oh goodness.
And this is why I had to pause because I couldn't, I couldn't say it just like, it doesn't flow.
Triiodothyronine Isn't that a tongue twister?
Triiodothyronine. That's T3. Now you know. Okay, I distracted myself from LDN.
(14:12):
I was going to tell you about LDN.
Now, LDN stands for low-dose naltrexone.
Naltrexone is something that the medical
community will give to alcoholics and
opioid addicts to get them off of that stuff because it takes away the high
it it makes it so that you don't get what you're looking for from the from the
(14:35):
drugs or the alcohol but what they found when they were giving people these
high doses or regular doses of naltrexone that as they weaned them off.
They were having autoimmune and pain improvements at the very low doses.
So now there is an off-label use for LDN. The L and D stand for low dose.
(14:57):
So LDN or naltrexone at a very low dose is given for autoimmune diseases like Hashimoto's.
And because this drug is approved for other uses like, you know,
alcoholism and opioid addiction, giving it in a very low dose is considered
off label, and there is not a lot of published literature.
(15:21):
But if you go to Paloma Health, which is a thyroid-specific medical community,
they say that LDN works as an immune modulator.
It changes the function of your immune system a little bit, and it helps reduce
inflammation, and it can also help increase endorphins.
(15:44):
They say that it might positively affect your mood and your quality of life.
It also seems to be associated with reduced thyroid antibodies,
improved energy levels, better sleep quality, reduced depression,
and like I already said, reduced inflammation.
So that is why LDN has been used for Hashimoto's.
(16:09):
So my nurse practitioner said, let's try LDN.
And then we both kind of got a laugh out of it because I was talking to her.
Like I said, in the very late winter.
And she said, we're not going to know if what I'm telling you works.
We're not going to know if what I'm prescribing and the lifestyle changes that
(16:29):
I am telling you to do, we're not going to know if they work because you always
get better in the spring.
We're not going to know until a year from now.
So I started on that journey. I was so thankful to have her on my side as my
advisor and to help me work through this.
And now a year later, I can tell you that it is working. It worked.
(16:51):
So doing the different things that I was doing, addressing the patterns,
trying to stay warm, humidifying the house, things like that,
addressing my own root causes, absolutely was beneficial.
And then partnering with somebody who had expertise that was beyond me and who
could prescribe, that was also helpful.
So a combination of all of those things. And I went into the winter still a little nervous.
(17:16):
And then my legs started to have a little bit of that skin stuff that I noticed.
And so I contacted my nurse practitioner. We talked again and she increased
my LDN dose just a smidge.
It's still a very low dose, you know, to stay with the L and D low dose,
but it was a little bit more and it worked.
(17:39):
I had no symptoms. I did notice that if I tried to stop taking my LDN,
then my skin would start to flare up.
So I knew that that was key for me.
I also knew that the other things I was doing, I had to continue doing them
because they made a difference back before I started the LDN.
(18:00):
So like I said, there's not one thing that I was doing.
There's not one thing that you're going to do that's going to make the difference.
It's a collaboration collaboration of so many different things,
because you are a whole person, body, mind, spirit, diet, environment,
and they all come together to create your health, and they all interact with each other.
(18:21):
So you really have to address everything, even though you can do it simply.
You can do simple and sustainable things.
So that is my story. That is how I believe that I prevented my own Hashimoto's
flair this year, and I am so grateful.
Oh my goodness. I had my life back. I could concentrate.
(18:42):
I could go through my day without constant pain and burning and itching.
I was going without fatigue. I had so much more energy this year because, well, of everything.
My energy honestly has been improving since I got my diagnosis and started making changes.
So several years I have seen an increase in my energy.
(19:03):
Absolutely that was not just related
to the flare but like I said a flare is
just an acting up of the symptoms and so everything went down
and I am so grateful and I want that for you I want you to also have your life
back because it's so nice so wonderful to have a good winter versus what I have
(19:27):
experienced over the last couple so if you have not taken the Hashimoto's Decoded
course yet But remember,
step two in my process was figuring out my own root causes.
If you have not figured out your root causes and figured out simple ways to
address them, sign up for the free app.
It's the Health with Hashimoto's app. There'll be a link down in the show notes.
(19:47):
But if you're on Apple, you can search for Health with Hashimoto's in the app
store, and it's right there. Android, you have to click the link down below.
And in the app, there is the free Hashimoto's Decoded course. Take that course.
It'll only take you an hour if you binge it so that you can figure out your
own root causes and you can figure out what to do.
(20:07):
And then if you want help to do the do's, that's what the holistic Hashimoto's course is for.
And that is also within the app. All right, so that's a couple different things
for you to do. Number one, I asked if you would leave me a rating and review.
Two, I asked if you would share your experience of how this podcast has helped
you over the last, over the first 100 episodes.
(20:28):
And then three, I told you to get the app and go through Hashimoto's Decoded.
That's three different things.
And they say when you're doing a podcast, you're only supposed to tell people to do one thing.
So I guess if you can only pick one of those things, do the one that's going
to impact your health. Go through Hashimoto's Decoded.
And I will see you back here for more episodes of Health with Hashimoto's.
(20:51):
This podcast is for informational and educational purposes only,
please discuss any concerns and plans with your trusted healthcare professional.
If you found this episode helpful, will you please share it with a friend?
I'll see you next week on the Health with Hashimoto's podcast.
Music.
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The Nikki Glaser Podcast
Every week comedian and infamous roaster Nikki Glaser provides a fun, fast-paced, and brutally honest look into current pop-culture and her own personal life.