Many of you (mostly family and friends) know I have been struggling with health issues the past couple years and have had countless doctor appointments, blood tests, had an Upper GI Endoscopy ALL leading to no answers. It has been so difficult that I finally gave up for the past 9 months or so and decided to try and live with it. I decided to share all this with everyone because these symptoms are so common and many people think that this is just the way they are and there is no way to fix it and no answers to why they feel this way. So I thought if I share this with other people in hopes that maybe they can find answers too! :)
My biggest concern is my stomach and digestive issues. I say that they began about a year and a half ago... but honestly this is just when the symptoms hit their peak and I finally realized something was wrong. Symptoms I was noticed was that it would
take days upon days for my food to digest and leave my system, I would be
bloated, have
stomach cramps,
pains and
constipation. This would come from eating something as simple as a
peanut butter sandwich. I would look in the mirror and literally think that I looked
6 months pregnant. At the time I worked for a Pediatrician as a medical assistant. I was explaining my symptoms to him and he thought that it sounded similar to Celiac Disease. So for a little while I decided to cut gluten out. The issues got a little better... but not perfect. I finally decided to run the blood tests and everything came back
normal. (come to find out if you have not eaten gluten for a while... these tests will be inconclusive) Well a couple months went by and I was eating completely
gluten free, I felt a little better, but something was still wrong. So I went and saw my family practitioner who ran a bunch of tests and decided to refer me to a GI specialist. When I met with them...AGAIN
more blood tests and they scheduled me for a GI Endoscopy.
-This is where they put you out and put a tube with a camera on the end down your throat into your stomach to check it out. Well.. of course results came back and everything looked
fine. I began to feel like maybe it's just me, maybe nothing is wrong. During this time I had also noticed that milk bothered me a little as well. So the doctor told me that it was likely I just developed an intolerance to milk and gluten. At this point I honestly
did not want to do ANY MORE tests... so I just decided to change my diet and start taking various things I could find at Whole Foods that might help....
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| This is me before my Gastrointestinal Endoscopy I had about a year ago... |
Well once I changed my diet I found it more and more difficult to find things to eat. I basically lived off of fruits and veggies (I don't eat much meat as it is already). Eating that food is healthy, but I was starting to deprive my body of certain nutrients and protein. I literally got down to about 103 pounds (which is considered underweight for my height of 5'6). My clothes were literally falling off of me and it looked like I had an eating disorder (looking back I now kind of feel like I did because I started to
obsess over my weight because if I ate one thing that took my stomach longer to digest I would immediately bloat up and I felt
DISGUSTING).
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| This is about the time I hit the lowest weight... I didn't really notice it then, but when I look back now I feel like I looked sick. |
After losing all that weight, it began affecting other things in my body and my hormones were completely out of wack (that is another part of the story I'll explain later).
So.. onto another doctor to find out what was going on with my hormones. He ran tests.. and they all looked normal. I was seriously getting so frustrated after paying for all these tests and not having ANY ANSWERS. The one thing the doctor did tell me... I needed to gain weight. AT LEAST 15 pounds.
So after that I decided I would not be so strict on my diet, I'd still try and avoid gluten and dairy, but I wouldn't freak out if I did eat some. Well.. I gained the weight back, but with that I started feeling sick again. Stomach pains, bloating, irritability, nausea, etc. etc.
Now I want to back up a little before I get to telling you my end results, to about 3 years ago, and explain my issues with my lovely hormones. As I mentioned above, my hormones got more out of wack when I lost all that weight, but to be honest they have been a little crazy for the past few years (Just ask Caden ;) ). Symptoms I had included: irritability, irregular period, extreme moodiness and fatigue just to name a few. Literally I was PMSing the entire month... not just a few days before that time of the month (sorry if this is TMI). It was awful. (Again, poor Caden). So this on top of feeling bloated with stomach pains was honestly just one giant mess!
So back to the story... about 1 month ago I decided to start researching all this stuff and see if I could find some sort of hormone therapy or something that might help. I turned to look into a more "alternative medicine" approach.
Thus I found.. Dr. Robert Jones at Utah Wellness Institute in Draper. He is a Chiropractor, but he also specializes in all natural hormone therapy. I decided to research him a bit and found a TON of people raving about him and how much he has changed their lives. Symptoms all sounding so similar to mine. However... many of these women were 40+ years old. I am only 21... I can't be classified the same can I? BUT... I called anyway and talked to their sweet assistant, Anna. She told me they treat people of all ages and that she thought I could benefit from meeting with Dr. Jones.
So I met with him.. He was so awesome, he listened and understood and never once made me feel dumb with all of these symptoms (as the many other doctors previously did). He literally helped me get down to the root of everything, not prescribe me some pill to mask my symptoms. After we discussed everything... he told me he was going to do more blood tests, but he is running tests that most doctors don't think to look for. So.. again I went and got my blood drawn (however, this time I felt a little more hopeful).
So results came in and I met with him earlier this week and guess what? Things were definitely NOT NORMAL!!! I never thought I would be so happy to hear that. haha.
Here is what we found:
I have hypothyrodism (underactive thyroid) - it was below about 100 points from where it should be.
I am anemic (which contributes to the function of the thyroid)
I have low iodine (also contributes to the thyroid)
I have very low Progesterone
I have EXTREMELY low Vitamin D
and I am also slightly hypoglycemic
So here is why I am experiencing what I am experiencing. People with low thyroid have a lot slower metabolism. It takes them longer to metabolize their food. They experience constipation, fatigue, unexplained weight gain, irregular period, irritability. There are other things people with hypothyroidism suffer from that I do as well, just did not realize an under active thyroid was to blame... Such as cold hands and feet, brittle nails, low heart rate and impaired memory.
Being anemic can also cause stomach pains, constipation and bloating.
Progesterone is called the "happy hormone", and also works hand in hand with estrogen with all the "girly" stuff. So being low explains my irritability, mood swings, fatigue, irregular period etc. etc.
Now the others things.. low Vitamin D and Hypoglycemia were kind of a shock, but something that can easily be taken care of.
So now I have to take some all natural supplements to get my body back on course. I will be taking naturally derived hormones rather than that chemically made stuff normally prescribed. All the stuff I am taking are all natural and are much better for your body. They are also not meant to be taken for the rest of your life.. they are just meant to get your levels up to normal and get your body regulating them by itself.
So I started my supplements yesterday so we shall see the results. I am so hopeful that this will work and I will keep you all posted with results.
This can literally change my life!! YAY!
Thanks for those of you who stuck it out and read this entire blog post. I know it was a long one, but I really think that people who suffer from similar symptoms and feel that these symptoms are controlling their life should check into this... or something. You are not alone and it is completely normal. I learned that hormones literally affect EVERYTHING and if they are out of balance, it can make you feel really crappy!
Again, thanks for all the love and support from my friends and family and especially to my husband for putting up with me through all of this. I know I definitely was not pleasant to be around some days and he was a definite trooper and stuck by me not matter what.
