“Your body is acting the way it is because it thinks you’re running from a saber tooth tiger. You’re in fight or flight. Your body is ready for an attack; not a baby.”
My son was a year and a half old. I felt like something was terribly wrong. This isn’t an exaggeration, as I was fearing the worst. The fatigue, always feeling cold, brain fog, mood swings, sugar cravings, dependency on caffeine, and feeling much older than 30 were pretty alarming.
Initial Diagnosis and Second Opinion
Initially, I was informed by an endocrinologist that I had sub-clinical hypothyroidism. I got a “we’ll see you in 6 months to see if anything has changed” from him. I started overhauling my diet, and did a hypothyroidism eating plan. The plan included “fun things” like taking my temperature every morning, and eating a carrot salad at 2 p.m. each day. I can’t have carrots with coconut oil again. I just can’t.
In the meantime, I decided to get another opinion. The carrots and timed eating was losing its luster fast. I met with a hormone specialist in January of 2015. I’ll never forget what she said to me after my saliva testing and blood work results: “Your body is acting the way it is because it thinks you’re running from a saber tooth tiger. You’re in fight or flight. Your body is ready for an attack; not a baby. If you stay in this internal cycle, you’re going to have a sluggish thyroid and have difficulty getting pregnant. There’s no progesterone because your body is too busy preparing for the battle. This is sending you into peri-menopause.”
HPA Axis Dysfunction: Keeping Up with The Saber Tooth Tiger
This is also known as HPA Axis Dysfunction. There’s a feed; a loop that runs between the hypothalamus gland, pituitary gland, and adrenal glands. That loop gets disrupted by the production of stress hormones coursing through the body. Caffeine and sugar fuel stress hormones, and so the loop becomes more and more deteriorated. I was exhausted because the caffeine, especially, was wearing down my adrenals. My lifestyle was wearing down my adrenals and my thyroid. The adrenals pick up slack for the thyroid, so they were really getting tired. My glands and organs were like me; tired and pissed off.
Well hey, what do you know?
The Roots of HPA Axis Dysfunction and Fight or Flight
The hormone specialist continued to tell me how she only had one child, a son, because her body shut down after having him. “I just accepted it at the time. You can probably get pregnant. It’s possible, but you’ll need some serious interventions.”
Just like at the endocrinologist, I felt that this wasn’t true. I also didn’t want to force my body into pregnancy with “interventions” if there was a foundational reason behind pregnancy not happening on its own. If I’m in stress mode, and my progesterone is wiped out, then I need to get in rest mode, and build that progesterone back up to get pregnant…right? Yes.
If I’m in stress mode, and my thyroid hormones can’t be produced or converted properly, then I need to get in rest mode, and get those processes happening..right? Yes.
So, here’s the highlights of how I healed:
Armour Thyroid and Progesterone Cream to Start
I thank God everyday that I believed healing could happen sans fear and “interventions.” I did allow the hormone doctor to put me on Armour Thyroid. I took that for about a year until my iodine and other nutritional levels rose. I knew it would take time, and it did. She also put me on a progesterone cream. I thought this was ok at first, but I quickly learned that I was better off without trying to rush my body into building progesterone. The bleeding, uncertainty of bleeding, and feeling crazy were not worth it to me. I was assured the symptoms wouldn’t last forever, but it didn’t feel right. I stopped. Follow your feelings; you can’t go wrong.
Time, Love, and Tenderness
I preferred to build and wait. I think it’s the kindest thing for the body. It’s comfortable, and it’s the choice that personally gave me the least amount of anxiety. Food, vitamins, herbal supplements, rest, yoga, and sweet time. Using those tools for healing made me feel the most at ease.
One of the most important was love; good old vitamin L. In the midst of hectic times, my husband and I had lost sight of nurturing our relationship, which meant we were losing out on nurturing each other. Life has always been a crazy ride with my husband. We’ve tackled a lot in a short amount of time. We have varied interests, a lot of ambition, and probably try to do too much. This seems to be typical with a lot of people. Burning the candle at both ends is seen a lot in this day and age. This is especially true for women, and if you have kids….well…
Recognizing and Recovering from Postnatal Depletion
I learned first-hand how overdoing it really can impact your health, but more so after having a child. I was able to handle stuff in the years before when it was just me, but once you have a child, your body goes through a kind of depletion that I didn’t realize. It wasn’t something that was discussed amongst the topics of building a registry at Babies R Us, or going to Lamaze class. This depletion makes us more fragile, and it’s more challenging to handle stress.
You’re Not Crazy; You’re Malnourished
That’s why I always emphasize with my clients and other women I care about that you’re not crazy. You most likely need some nutritional gaps filled in from having your babies. Pregnancy, birth, and breastfeeding require us to be hosts for building other humans. It’s kind of a big deal. If you’re having issues, and you’ve never had kids, you can still have nutritional gaps because of our modern food supply, environmental toxins, alcohol/caffeine consumption (the backstabbers), and of course, stress. Dehydration is another common problem that many people don’t even realize they have! Fatigue, brain fog, loss of focus, and other symptoms are from not having enough water in your diet.
Seeing a Health Coach
After the hormone specialist, I started meeting with an Integrative Nutrition Health Coach, who then helped me see that I had a lot of the answers already. I had emotional triggers, poor dietary choices, lack of joy, and lack of kindling interests I longed to do. I was hard on myself, and neglected myself. He helped me see I needed to overhaul many things.
Hot Yoga
One of the first things I started doing for myself was hot yoga. Hot yoga became my elixir. I drank that up 3 times a week. I’d sweat and bend, and move in ways I never thought I could. Every pose put my body, mind, and spirit into a flow; a beautiful current that sent healing vibrations all through me. The poses turned on my “rest and digest mode” or the parasympathetic state that I desperately needed. Yoga made me want to do things like make smoothies again, or prepare healthy meals. It made me implement small, consistent actions in my life.
Visualization, Action, and Faith
Everything from imagining my thyroid shrinking, to visualizing my daughter be born vaginally, has played a major role in healing and accomplishing health-related goals. When I was a teenager, I high jumped. I would stand at the line before my jump, rocking from heel to toe and visualizing my body flying over the bar. I’m telling you that seeing yourself doing something brings it to life. Saying it out loud makes it even more real.
God is my Father and spiritual support system. I believe with all my heart that our Creator puts us in different situations because we need the lesson, and then we need to share it. Nothing happens by chance, and it certainly doesn’t happen because you’re a bad person or “unlucky.” You’re actually blessed to have challenges. You’ve been chosen to find a way through it, and share your light with others.
Proof of Healing
In the fall of 2016, roughly two years after the journey started, I became pregnant 100% naturally with my daughter. I then went on to have a 100% natural labor and VBAC. It still seems like a dream to say that, but it’s the result of consistent action and consistent faith. I knew it would happen, and I worked for the results I wanted. Again, see it, do what’s need done, and believe it will happen.
Here’s a few last points I want to share regarding managing stress for the benefit of your thyroid and overall health:
People Pleasing
Look at your schedule and take out things you’re doing that make you feel anxious. I have always struggled with being a people pleaser. More apt to say yes, I used to run myself into a hole of regret in loading up my days. The thing is, I have such a full plate as it is, and then would agree to do more. It’s just a drain. Say no.
Your Relationship With Yourself
When we do a better job at having a good relationship with ourselves, then we have better relationships with others. Yes, it’s important to stay away from connecting to people who bring you down or drain you, but once you strengthen yourself, you can let a lot of things go that other people do or say. Many of my clients have issues with family, and as they have focused more on what they need to do for themselves to get healthy, they find themselves actually being unable to maintain a capacity to agonize over things anymore. You can crowd out the bad with the good in any area of life.
What You Eat, Use, and Support Yourself With
When it comes to your eating, choose whole foods and stay away from processed food products. You can check out my healing eating plan for more info.
Personal care items for women can contain a lot of chemicals. Visit this page for more on great products you can use that are safe and effective.
Incorporate herbal supplements to support your liver and adrenals for a short time until your lifestyle changes make a significant impact. I always recommend getting on good vitamins, a probiotic, and an omega 3/essential fatty acid supplement. Again, many of us are low in various nutrients and need to supplement.
Chill to Heal and…Chewing?
Make relaxation and rejuvenation a job. Women especially need to wind down at night. Take a bath with essential oils, get a massage every now and again, have quality time with your partner, read a book, and really prioritize preparing your body for sleep.
Chew your food well. Good digestion helps your body absorb everything from your food, so that it can heal. Moms especially don’t have time to chew their food entirely, and sometimes we struggle to eat! Check out my post on healing liquids to fast track nutrient absorption. This is especially helpful if you’ve just had a new baby.
The Saber Tooth Tiger Will Always Be Here
Stress won’t go away, but how we dance with it makes the difference. You don’t have to run from the tiger all the time; you can walk. You can also hide out in a cave to collect yourself for a bit. Let’s face it, the tiger can’t run all day and night either, so why run ourselves ragged?
We are living in a new world, and when I say that, I mean that the environment, food, and everything we interact with is not what it was years ago. Everything has changed, and will continue to change. The good news is that we are evolving too. In order to thrive in a place where there’s plenty of toxins and high speed information slamming us in the face, you need to take charge.
Who knows, maybe we can even teach the tiger some new tricks. 🙂
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