Have you ever had a health diagnosis that made you change everything? I did 10 years ago and it seems ever since then, I keep having more issues and need to keep changing things. It’s exhausting. Here’s what I’m doing currently.
Initial Diagnosis: Hashimoto’s
Ten years ago almost to the day I was diagnosed with the autoimmune disease Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis. In terms of conventional medicine, they wouldn’t treat it other than prescribing thyroid replacement medication which I’d been on already for 17 years by the time I was diagnosed.
I had been diagnosed with hypothyroidism in 1998 when I was 12 and put on thyroid replacement medication. I was never tested for Hashimoto’s because they wouldn’t have treated it differently. It wasn’t until 2014 when I became horribly ill, anxious, fatigued, and unable to sleep that I started doing my own research, and I knew to ask for the blood test for Hashimoto’s disease.
The treatment of a pill wasn’t cutting it for me anymore. I needed MORE than just thyroid replacement meds but that’s all conventional medicine does.
However, if you look at a more functional medicine and nutritional perspective, there is a lot that can be done. But it’s a lot of work.
Within 2 days of my diagnosis I started the Autoimmune Protocol which I go more into in this blog post. Beyond cutting the basics that everyone with Hashimoto’s should cut which is gluten, dairy, and soy, I had to cut out so much more.
It was extremely difficult, especially because I got pregnant with my first child within the first month of trying and the first month of eating this way. I truly think the two are connected because often it’s more difficult for women with Hashi’s to conceive and sustain a pregnancy.
Those first three months though, the first trimester, were full of me starving because of the limited amount of foods I could have and the foods that I couldn’t tolerate due to food aversions that are common during pregnancy. Sadly, neither one of my pregnancies, did I get to binge on pizza, ice cream, and whatever I was craving. But…at least I kept all my babies, which I truly think being AIP was a huge contributor.
Plus, insisting that doctors check my thyroid levels every 4 weeks throughout the first half of pregnancy which is the American Thyroid Association’s recommendation, yet doctors…even an endocrinologist I used to go to, didn’t typically do. It is believed that the lack of testing and keeping TSH around 1.0 is a huge reason women lose pregnancies when they have hypothyroidism.
In the Years Since…
Since my initial diagnosis and change, a lot has happened. Not only did I have one baby, then I went on to leave my career I had worked so hard for (two graduate degrees…just sitting there now) and had identical twins.
At the end of my high-risk twin pregnancy, I developed a severe form of preeclampsia called HELLP syndrome. There was a lot of trauma around their births and the first year of their lives. I developed postpartum depression and almost took my own life several times before admitting I needed help.
I started weekly therapy when the twins were 6 months old, right after we had moved to a bigger home, and six months after that I started anti-depressants. The combination saved my life. No doubt about it.
However, for the past 4 years, I’ve been trying to regain my health. The first few years with twins and their sibling, just 2 years older than them, was pure survival mode, especially as a stay-at-home mom.
Once I felt I was out of survival mode, I started to look at my own health, as I promised myself I would do after having children.
In 2022, I started with HTMA which is hair testing for minerals. I started supplements and changed my way of eating again (I’ve always been gluten, dairy, soy, and many other sensitivities free since 2015). I felt somewhat better but felt I could do better.
In 2023, I was having horrible PMDD symptoms including immense abdominal cramps/pain 3 weeks of the month. I was miserable and it was hard to get out of bed. I came across a hormone specialist and started working with her. Through urine and stool testing I found out a lot of things about what I needed to further change in my diet and supplements, and again, felt somewhat better but felt there was something more I was missing.
In 2024, I went back to my roots of when I was diagnosed to see what Izabella Wentz, Pharm.D. said about what I should do next. She’s my #1 trusted resource for everything Hashimoto’s and beyond. I started her Hashimoto’s Program to help with my liver, adrenals, and gut. This was another intense program with a lot of dietary changes and supplements to take. I got through it, felt better, and even lost 10 pounds! (Sadly this came back…)
In 2025, I wanted to treat the H. Pylori infection that had been discovered via stool testing in 2023. I started treating that with Dr. Wentz’s recommendations. In the mean time, I started a new hormone treatment wherein my hormones were tested and I was found to need more progesterone. Now I use topical bioidentical progesterone every day. I feel this has helped as well.
There is a traditional H. Pylori treatment which includes two antibiotics and a proton pump inhibitor. I’m not able to do this because I’m allergic to the antibiotics, and this would cause more inflammation in my gut.
Late 2025:
Once I finished my H. Pylori treatment and waited a couple months, I knew I was supposed to repeat the GI-MAP test I had taken in 2023 to see if it was gone.
The good thing is the infection is lower than it was but the bad thing is it’s still there so we have to retreat (it’s spread via kissing so both my husband and I have to treat). In addition, it was found that I still have leaky gut, am somehow ingesting gluten despite my best efforts, and the inflammation in my body is off the charts.
Shit.
Luckily, the people I got the GI-MAP test through are the ones I get my hormones through and they have an amazing and knowledgeable team.
They laid out recommendations on supplements to take (3 months of nearly $1,000/mo…) plus a different way of eating called the Anti-Inflammatory Diet.
It wouldn’t be so bad if I didn’t have so many food sensitivities… plus there isn’t a clear consensus on WHAT exactly an anti-inflammatory diet consists of.
Another NEW Way of Eating
As I noted above, I’ve had to go through this kind of thing before, not for inflammation specifically but for my autoimmune disease, Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis. Since that diagnosis, I’ve been strictly gluten-free, dairy-free, soy-free, and many other things free for 10 years as of last month. Crazy to think it’s been that long.
Now, 10 years in I have test results showing that gluten is somehow getting into my body and causing issues, so I’m rechecking everything I ingest to see if there is even a chance of a trace of gluten being in it.
We even have the whole household being gluten-free because my eldest had testing done last year that showed he was still ingesting a small amount of gluten which was upsetting his body, so we removed all gluten in the house.
It’s to the point that more than ever I don’t trust eating anything. It’s a terrifying place to be. Something I’m ingesting is causing immense inflammation in my body which can lead to more autoimmune diseases, Alzheimer’s like my young mom has, and more health issues, including cancer, heart disease, chronic kidney disease, inflammatory bowel disease, and countless more. Inflammation is considered a major contributor to several diseases, many of which I have in my family history already.
I have to get this figured out.
I’ve been emailing companies that I get food from who say they’re gluten free to see if they actually have a gluten free facility, which means they’re safe, or if they just ‘clean’ the facility between gluten and non-gluten items. I’ve already cut ties with a few companies during this.
Of course, makes no difference to them, but for me it’s huge because I’d already vetted all of them 10 years ago, then last year when my son was showing he was still ingesting gluten, and now again this year when my results show that as well.
Just because something says ‘gluten-free’ or ‘certified gluten-free,’ it doesn’t mean that it’s actually free of gluten. It means it’s below 20ppm which can still cause horrible health consequences for people like me who are so sensitive to it.
I’ve contacted the pharmaceutical companies that I get medications from and have even switched from a very inexpensive generic medication to one that is quite expensive, just because I trust it to be more gluten-free than the other one I’d been taking since 1998.
It’s exhausting.
I also need to start a bunch of supplements to try and get the inflammation down and deal with some other issues that the testing shows including a lingering H. Pylori infection that I already treated once but have to keep treating.
Apparently, it’s very common though most people don’t know they have it.
It isn’t an STI but it’s passed through kissing and things of that sort so my husband and I have already gone through treatment for this and now will need to again.
Luckily, he doesn’t have to do all the things I do in terms of the diet change, but uff.
Now I can’t just grab and go anything to eat, I have to make everything from scratch and no gluten-free breads of any sort so no more toast, sandwiches, etc. No granola bars, flour other than cassava flour, white rice, potatoes, etc.
I’m also sensitive to almonds, bell pepper, black pepper, blackberry, cauliflower, chai seeds, cocoa, coconut, codfish, grapes, green beans, kidney beans, lettuce, mango, mushroom, peanuts, sweet potatoes, scallops, sorghum, soy, rhubarb, tomato, turkey, turnip, watermelon, whey, yeast, garlic, flounder, ginger, spinach, avocado, quinoa, and of course wheat and dairy.
So…when you look at what one can eat on the anti-inflammatory diet…there isn’t much left.
Most of the things that are on the anti-inflammatory diet, I can’t eat because it may contain gluten, cross-react with gluten, or are foods that I am sensitive to. I’m basically down to 30 foods I can eat. It’s incredibly difficult to just eat 30 foods and rotate them. I’m always hungry, which isn’t good for me either, but I’m at a complete loss here. I just want to cry.
It’s not that I ate unhealthy by any means but apparently, things like white rice, ground beef, sausage, pork, white potatoes, and anything processed may be causing issues.
I’m trying to keep positive and move forward with everything while also taking care of my 3 boys everyday as a stay-at-home mom who helps them with their online school and everything else. Last time I had to go through all of this I was working full-time as a school psychologist but didn’t have kids yet.
Not sure which one was harder to find the time to do all of this. I’m so exhausted though, I just want to feel better, not have chronic inflammation, a gut infection, etc.
Managing all of this on top of everything else is A LOT.
Especially feeling like I’m doing this all on my own. It’s not like conventional doctors help with any of this, sadly, they just aren’t trained in it. The conventional way isn’t enough.
I’m trying to stay strong but holy crap.
This will be the last thing I do to try and feel better for quite a while. I’m sick of trying so hard and sick of spending thousands of dollars on supplements and tests every year. Maybe I just always will feel fatigued, have difficulty getting up in the morning, be in chronic pain, and unable to lose weight, among so many other things. Maybe I just need to accept that I’ll always feel miserable.
Foods I Can’t Eat
Below are the foods I can’t eat due to food sensitivities:
Below are the foods I can’t eat due to inflammation in my body:
What I CAN eat right now:
Why Am I Sharing This?
I don’t share this to complain but to update you on what’s going on in my life and that you see me as an actual person with chronic health issues and all the baggage many of us have, instead of just some mommy blogger talking about happy things.
I’m real, just like you.
I also hope to help people going through similar experiences know that they’re not alone and give resources if they are looking for them. I don’t know all the answers and am NOT a medical professional, just a person with chronic illnesses who is trying to piece this all together.
Quick Tip: When it comes to prescription medication, if you need to make a change to a name brand instead of a generic, check their website for discounts! I was able to get a new prescription down from $396 to $96 using a prescription savings card I got for free off the manufacturers website!
I’d never asked for a name-brand prescription before but after realizing that I was somehow ingesting gluten though I’ve been strictly gluten-free for 10 years, I looked into my few prescription medications and found my primary one may be the culprit. Now I’m trying to switch to a name brand alternative that is going to cost more than usual but hopefully will be worth it.
I’m just hoping that I can continue to get the discount even with the new tariffs and everything else going on in the world…
As a mom of identical twins and a son two years older, I have gained invaluable experience in the realm, and chaos, of parenting. With a Master's Degree and Education Specialist Degree in School Psychology, I spent years as a school psychologist, helping children navigate through their educational and emotional challenges. Now as a stay at home mom and professional blogger, I combine my areas of expertise to help you in your parenting journey.