July 24th, 2018

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Today I woke up early, I took my dogs hiking, I made pinto beans in the crockpot, rice to go with them, homemade eggless salad (vegan of course!) for sandwiches at lunchtime, a jug of iced tea, a frozen lasagna for my husband's dinner, raspberry vanilla mousse for dessert and lavender lemonade. Somewhere in between all of this I brought some food over to my mom's.  Whew!

Now this may not seem like such a big deal, but to me this is huge.  This is the grand prize, like hitting the lottery.  Today, was a reckoning.  Today, was coming home.

There was a time, not long ago, that I couldn't have done any of this, much less all in one day.  Toward the end of 2016 I started getting sick.  I really didn't know what was wrong, but I knew I wasn't right.  I spent a lot of money and time going through doctors trying to figure it out.  Eventually, in the summer of  2017, I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism.  Finally, it had a name.  Finally, my feelings were validated.

During that time of not knowing what was wrong with me, I have never felt so tired in all my life.  I was always cold, I was dizzy, and my brain was foggy.  I was severely depressed.  I was literally an empty shell, devoid of any feelings, energy, passion and possibly a pulse.  I wrote about my experience in a previous blog.  I was barely able to make it through the work day.  I went from being a bubbly, energetic person who obsessively worked out every day most of my life (my husband and sister will chuckle reading this because they both know! Lol) to barely being able to make it through the work day.  Such a horrible feeling becoming someone you don't even know.  And as a woman, you experience guilt over not being able to clean the house, not wanting sex and not being able to exercise, etc.  Feeling completely worthless because you're unable to do all of the things you normally would do.  And swearing up and down to anyone who will listen that you are not lazy, something is wrong!

I was put on thyroid medication.  It takes a while to get the dosage right.  The medication helped, but I still was not myself.  I still carried 20 plus extra pounds and no matter what I did it wasn't budging.  I still did not have the energy I normally felt.  I was better than I was but I wasn't where I knew I should be. And of course many people might blame it on age (I am 50).  I knew better. I researched everything, bought  meal plans, diet plans, you name it. To no avail. Either they didn't work or I just couldn't stick to them.  One night I picked up this used "thrift store" book I bought somewhere and left sitting on a shelf at home.  The book is "THE HORMONE SECRET" by Tami Meraglia, MD.  This book saved my life.  By following Dr. Tami's protocol, I lost 9 pounds and I feel better than I've ever felt before. Within a week I started to notice a difference! I actually have energy! I don't get vertigo like I used to, I am able to actually go home after work and cook dinner.  I get up in the morning early enough to do some yoga, morning prayers/chants and meditate.  All of these things are small victories! All things I could not do before.   These  things have all helped with the depression. I am pretty happy with myself for the most part.

Just to clarify, I am in no way being paid to promote this book, I absolutely got lucky picking this book up!  Dr. Tami's protocol is clear and easy to follow.  You are required to do a 15 day liver cleanse (sounds worse than it is) by avoiding certain foods, eating whole foods on a schedule and taking certain supplements.  Once that is done, you do a 15 day adrenal reset.  Same thing, avoid certain things, stay on schedule and take supplements.  Easy. And so worth it. Dr. Tami also addresses the stress factor in everyone's life and how to deal with it through natural healing such as yoga, meditation, etc. Now I am just trying to stick to eating a whole food plant based diet, continuing to walk on my breaks at work, continue to do yoga and meditate in the morning.  So far it's working for me.  2 years later and I finally feel free!! Lol.

For anyone who is suffering from hypothyroidism or any other type of hormonal or auto-immune issues, please consider reading this book.  If I can help just one person feel normal by having them read this book- it will be totally worth it.  I want to tell the world about this book because that is how much it saved me. I feel like myself again.

Happy Independence Day to me!!

Love and Light,

Michelle