There will be times,
When even though you are doing all the right things: eating right, exercising, meditating, dealing with stress, etc.
That you will still have set backs.
And some of these set backs may seem like they bring you right back to zero.
But, I can tell you from experience with working with many people that often:
The biggest implosions happen before the biggest insights.
The biggest defeats come before the biggest victories.
As one of my teachers, Jesse Koren, says, the biggest breakdowns happen before the biggest breakthroughs.
The worst doubts come before the miracle.
So, it comes down to believing.
Have faith, it will be rewarded.
Have faith.
Life with Hashimoto’s is a Carnival
Sometimes living with Hashimoto’s is like being on a ride at a dark amusement park.
You get better, you get worse, you get flare ups: aches & pains, mood swings, you forget and just want to lay down.
It all seems random.
It’s not.
Start keeping a journal and you will start to see the things that take you for a ride.
What should you look for?
One of the most important things for you to learn to identify are your “triggers”. Triggers are the things that cause an immune reaction.
This immune reaction ends up triggering a more aggressive autoimmune response which means inflammation and tissue destruction.
These “triggers” cause “flare ups” or a worsening of your symptoms. One of the best ways to find your triggers is by observation.
Note the foods you eat, note the experiences you have especially those that are very stressful or emotionally draining.
Note what chemical toxins you are exposed to: cleaning products like bleach, cigarette smoke, formaldehyde, exhaust, etc.
Another thing that is really important to understand about Hashimoto’s is that how you feel is diagnostically relevant and clinically significant.
Somehow, inexplicably, many doctors have forgotten that one of best tools of diagnosis and treatment is clinical observation.
For some reason with Hashimoto’s and hypothyroidism this has been erased from their brains and the only relevant finding has become TSH and, if you’re lucky T4 blood test results.
There are about a dozen reasons why TSH and T4 testing is unreliable at best and clinically useless at worst. Check out this post to learn more about this sorry state of affairs.
Really, being a good doctor is a lot like being a good detective.
And in today’s conventional medical model you’re pretty much on your own when it comes to figuring out your Hashimoto’s.
So, don’t rely on anyone else.
Keep a journal, be your own detective. Identify your triggers and eliminate them.
Then your life will stop being such a dark amusement park ride.
I have a confession to make. I tend to be rather obsessive. Lately, I’ve been obsessing about how to make affirmations work if you suffer from low self esteem.
Let’s face it, Hashimoto’s can definitely impact your self-esteem because it can affect the way you look and feel and it can deplete you of the energy to do something about it.
I think the issue here may be one of believing what you say to yourself. Sometimes, we say an affirmation and we believe it and it resonates. Other times we say something and a louder inner voice shouts it down and tells you its not true or its a bunch of baloney (not my first choice of words).
So, I pondered obsessively, how can we use some internal tai chi move to quiet that inner voice and get ourselves to believe the affirmation long enough to make it work?
EFT. EFT or Emotional Freedom Technique can be a powerful tool to get the negative emotions out of your body even if that inner voice is drowning out the good stuff. EFT uses acupuncture points to help you access emotions held in your body.
Dr. Candace Pert is a researcher and really smart person who wrote a great book called Molecules of Emotion that explores that mind-body connection. For me the book was basically saying that the body is the subconscious mind. Your emotions get buried in your cells.
You can use EFT to unbury them. There is a place you can tap right below your pinky finger on either hand.If you trace the outside of your pinky down to the bottom, there is a bone there. Continue down to the bottom of that and there is a tender spot. It’s where you might do a karate chop.
Tap your way to hap, hap, happiness!
In this photo, I permanently disfigured myself with a Sharpie to show you the exact spot.
You can say an affirmation like “I deeply and completely love and accept myself” or “I completely forgive myself” while you are tapping this point.
As you do it check in with your inner voice, if you here the screams from the inner peanut gallery, don’t fight them.
Acknowledge them, and say “Even though I think this is total crap ( or whatever word comes to mind), I deeply and completely love and accept myself.” or words that resonate for you.
And observe how you feel. Often with repetition and determination, you can take the sting out of that negative self talk and start to replace those neural pathways with more positive self talk that you start to believe.
Social psychologist, Amy Cuddy, explains in this TED Talk how to use physical postures to change the way you feel about yourself, as well as how others feel about you.
By spending just two minutes “power posing” with their arms or elbows out, their chin lifted and their posture expansive. (Think Superman or Wonder Woman).
Cuddy’s research, done in collaboration with Dana Carney, has shown that adopting the body language associated with dominance for just 120 seconds is enough to create a 20 percent increase in testosterone and a 25 percent decrease in the stress hormone cortisol.
In other words, adopting these postures makes a person feel more powerful.
It also makes you feel more positive and happy. Do it with a smile and see what I mean!
Another positive pose is the “victory pose” that most athletes do naturally. Arms raised above your head in a “V”, legs spread wide.
I’m doing them all day long! What makes you feel more powerless than Hashimoto’s?
No longer, people!
To learn more, check out this article:http://www.huffingtonpost.com/amy-cuddy/body-language_b_2451277.html
Please share your obsessive insights about making positive changes in your life.
Hashimoto’s is a web of complexities.
Today’s health tip concerns how to wrap your mind around the complexity of this disease and why half measures usually don’t work.
One of the things I often encounter in working with people with Hashimoto’s is that they have tried this or that and been prescribed this or that and they have arrived right back at zero.
There are many reasons for this, but if you look at the big picture, one of the main ones is that what they have tried has simply not been enough.
It has not been nearly enough.
In order to understand how this all works, you really need to view this globally. There is usually no single drug or single supplement that is going to just make everything perfect again.
This is a multi-system disorder and the only way to properly deal with it is to have a multi-system strategy.
The unfortunate thing is that we are all conditioned by our current medial model which says that this pill or even that natural supplement should be prescribed when you have this group of symptoms.
Well, often with Hashimoto’s you have a web of things overlapping causing a vicious cycle of symptoms that don’t only have one cause. They have multiple causes. And sometimes, things are moving in multiple directions at the same time.
The result is a downward spiral that can seem overwhelming and endless. Blood sugar issues and adrenal problems lead to thyroid problems which lead to intestinal problems which lead to brain problems which lead back to more thyroid and adrenal problems. And on and on…..
Yikes!
Well, the good news is that if you can wrap your mind around this big picture concept and you devote the time ,energy and effort to make enough changes and do enough, then you can turn these downward spirals on their head.
They become positive upward spirals of healing because all these connections can work in a positive direction as well.
Once you start healing these various pieces they start healing each other.
You just can’t do it in a half hearted way.
Half measures don’t give you half results, they often give you no results.
It occurred to me today that if we are going to heal, we need to have a vision. A healing intention of where we want to be.
So often, we are focused on not being healthy or this unpleasant symptom or that. Or everything we have lost. Or the science of blah, blah, blah.
Well, what would you like? Let’s brainstorm on what healing your Hashimoto’s looks like, feels like and is.
Answer these questions:
1. What would you like? (Try to answer in the affirmative: for example: abundant energy, beautiful full hair, mental clarity and focus, happiness, joy, days on end without pain, being my perfect weight, etc.)
2. How would it feel in your body? (Absolutely awesome! I would feel joy and peace, deep inner happiness, love for myself and everyone else, etc.)
3. What will feeling that way do for you? (Allow me to have my life back, let me spend more time with my kids and my family and friends, restore my lust for life, help me have fun again, etc.)
4. How will you know when you have it? (Be specific.)
5. What might stop you from getting there? (Is that your belief or someone else’s?)
Write down your answers and read them every morning. This can help to rewire your brain. This is your vision, your intention, the place you want to be. And be aware, number 5 may be something you need to work on…..
Today’s Hashimoment concerns learning that someone close to you has the disease.
There definitely is a genetic component to Hashimoto’s and sometimes its harder to hear that a family member has been diagnosed than learning about it yourself.
Recently, a close family member was diagnosed with this and I have to say it seems to have hit me harder than my own diagnosis.
Sometimes, it’s easier to get news like that for yourself than for someone you love. I don’t know why exactly, but maybe it comes from wanting to protect them and save them from suffering.
I feel like I can handle most anything, but when I see someone else is hurt by this disease I feel a little more powerless and a little more defensive.
It can really make me angry and want to lash out. But who do you lash out at?
I’ve been mad at God, mad at fate and mad at the universe. Wondered why, wondered if I had failed to do something I should have.
I don’t want them to go through it. I’d much rather it were just my burden. The good news is we have each other and we have all the accumulated wisdom and experience of dealing with this to bring to bear and to share.
But, I sure wish it was something I could have prevented instead.
Of course, hindsight is 20/20. If I knew several years ago what I know now, I would have done a number of things differently. But I wouldn’t know what I know now if I hadn’t gone through all of this.
We all have our journeys and we all have to go through what we go through. I’m grateful we have each other.
I’d love to hear your thoughts on this, people. Please comment below.
Having Hashimoto’s is a lot like being an alcoholic. It never goes away and you have to make big changes in your life that may involve giving up people, places and things. You have to create room to heal.
What’s your Hashimoment? Please leave a comment below.
I spent the weekend at a spiritual retreat and was reminded of the importance of forgiveness. We must forgive our immune systems for attacking our body, forgive those who don’t understand what we are going through, forgive ourselves for not being perfect. It is in forgiveness that we find healing.
