I Was 22 & Healthy When I Got This Autoimmune Diagnosis—What I've Learned Since

I was a healthy, active 22-year-old when my doctor delivered an unexpected blow at my annual check-up: I had Hashimotos Thyroiditis. 

An autoimmune condition, Hashimotos Thyroiditis occurs when the body creates antibodies that attack the thyroid, causing inflammation. Long term, this kind of immune response can disrupt the thyroid’s ability to make necessary hormones.

Though I didn’t realize it at the time, I was lucky. Often, people with autoimmune issues spend years searching for a diagnosis to explain their symptoms. Symptoms like weight changes and mental health issues carry other possible explanations, and standard blood tests don’t include metrics (like thyroid antibodies) used to diagnose Hashimotos. My doctor was the exception. She ordered unusually comprehensive bloodwork–a full thyroid panel–which uncovered the issue before I even showed symptoms. 

The news was unexpected, but my doctor told me not to worry. Hashimotos is treatable - I would just have to be on medication for the rest of my life. In some ways, that was the harder pill to swallow. 

For a few months, denial worked fine, and my symptoms remained at bay. While the telltale antibodies were there, my thyroid hadn't started the slow process of breaking down. Even my doctors didn’t seem too concerned, probably because I wasn’t gaining weight, a trademark symptom. I actually lost weight that year, but wrote it off to the fact that I was out of college and no longer eating as much 3 am pizza.  

Eventually, more symptoms kicked in. Despite all day fatigue, I couldn’t sleep at night, and would wake in the middle of the night in pools of sweat. I had to stop running because I got such severe cramps each time I tried, and most meals left me keeled over in pain. I didn’t immediately tie any one of these things to my thyroid issues. If I’m being honest, it was my vanity that finally inspired me to seek help. When my skin went downhill and I started losing hair, I started paying attention. 

I sought out a functional medicine doctor who suggested I try an elimination diet to narrow down my triggers. Cutting out gluten helped some, but it didn’t get to the root of the problem. In my search for solutions that would help me feel better I went all-in on holistic remedies. I removed as many processed and unnatural things from my diet and home as possible, but my symptoms remained, and now I found myself overthinking even the simplest of pleasures. 

From there, I embarked on a year-long journey to figure out which habits were worth it (which became the subject of my second book, The Wellness Project.) I dedicated each month to a different habit in search of the tools that would help me feel my best without taking over my life. In January, I gave my liver a much needed break by cutting out sugar, alcohol, and caffeine. February was all about clean beauty and finding healthier personal care products. During later months I tackled hormones, home cooking, hydration, and hair health. Spring and summer were about posture, sleep, stress, and digestion. I finished off the year zeroing in on spirituality. 

I walked away from that year feeling more capable of taking care of myself than ever, but two years later I hit another health roadblock. Book tour had left me burntout, so I dismissed my bloating as a side effect of being overbooked. But when I went to the doctor for routine bloodwork, I found out I had small intestinal bacterial overgrowth, or SIBO. 

I started on a low fodmap diet and began taking herbal antimicrobials. Within a few weeks I started feeling better, and by month four, tests showed I was SIBO-free. However, it took me the better part of a year to heal my gut and repair all the damage that both the SIBO and the treatment had caused. Now, when I advise people on their SIBO treatment, I always tell people to give themselves a long runway for healing. 

Today, my gut is in pretty good shape. I’m on thyroid medication, but don’t plan to be on it forever. I still have days where I’m bloated or having GI issues, but I know now that having one bad gut day doesn't necessarily mean I’m back at square one