I was recently diagnosed with Hashimoto’s, an autoimmune thyroid condition. When i was diagnosed with celiac 10 years ago they never told me that I was likely to get another autoimmune disease, although experts know this. In fact, I think I probably had Hashimoto’s first and then got Celiac. I’ve been sharing my experience with Hashimoto’s a bit on FB and thought i’d share here as well. The piece on Anxiety i wrote about a month ago. Fast forward to today and the paragraphs on Peace. Information is the best tool for healing, so i’m sharing!
ANXIETY. Do you sometimes (or often) have low level anxiety? By itself or sometimes alternating with low level depression? ME TOO. Guess what? Mine was TOTALLY food induced.
About a year or more ago, I realized that i was waking up every morning anxious about everything that had to be done. Even when on vacation, i’d wake up anxious about nothing — until my mind grabbed on something to be anxious about. I decided enough was enough and i prayed to the Universe for help getting to the root of my anxiety. Haha, be careful what you pray for. I’ve spent the last year unwinding health issues i’ve probably had for decades, and eventually getting diagnosed with Hashimotos –an auto immune thyroid condition. (I also have celiac, which could have been caused by undiagnosed Hashimotos!) With Hashi, one goes back and forth between hypo and hyper thyroid. (Has a scientific name, but i’ll use “thyroid.”) Hyper often causes anxiety and Hypo often causes depression. Hashimotos is triggered by something — for most people usually food. The bottom line for me is that dairy and chocolate (yes, very sad to say) trigger anxiety and hyper, and gluten, soy and commercial cellulose trigger hypo and low grade depression. When I avoid these foods, i don’t have either anxiety or depression (even if i have something to be anxious or depressed about! Instead i feel calm and able to face the problem.) If you have anxiety or depression, try keeping a food journal to see if certain foods are triggering your moods. Find a good, progressive Dr. Or pray for help. . . and be prepared for what comes.
PEACE. It has been 6 weeks since I’ve eliminated all my core auto-immune triggers, and the biggest benefit has been an all encompassing sense of well-beingness and peace. Daily and continually. It is not that I am not facing problems, it is that my perception of problems (big and small) has shifted. Whereas before I often felt like a deer caught in headlights, now problems can feel even a little invigorating, as I shift into problem-solving mode.
For 30 years I’ve been on a spiritual quest, seeking out methods and healers – yet I confess, nothing has helped me find peace more than getting to the core root of my autoimmune disorder. I know now that for years my body has been at war with itself – attacking my organs like a thug in my own personal neighborhood, creating an emotional reaction inside me that felt akin to PTSD. When we don’t perceive the war inside us, we attribute our feelings to the world outside. I thought I felt the way I did because I was a highly sensitive person, or because I was an introvert, or because the world was an inherently sucky place. The truth is that I am highly sensitive and an introvert, but that’s not why I was feeling so off. And yes, life can often be sucky, but I have found that once I began to feel at one inside myself – instead of divided by the war of my autoimmune reactions–that regardless of the lemons life hands me, I am okay.
Wholeness – I am no longer pieces of self vying for my attention and fighting each other to survive in a hostile environment. I am a family of parts working together. Feeling content.
