Almost 7 years ago I was working for the school district as a dietitian in the child nutrition department. You know those people who come up with the lunch menus and the people who decide what your kid(s) are going to eat for school breakfast and lunch. Yup, that was MY job. You are welcome! I know your kids just rave about how much they love school lunch (I am joking, clearly).

Well, it was during this time I started to notice changes in my body. Not only did I JUST give birth almost 6-9 months prior to feeling these symptoms but the stress in my life was also high.

I was now a mom of two, breastfeeding, working a full-time job that I wasn't crazy about, and my oldest child was having some behavioral difficulties in school. Finances were also tight.

Let's just say, it felt as though the world was pressing down on me mentally, physically, spiritually.

I wasn't sleeping well AT ALL, my diet was below sub-par because of the highly processed foods I ate from testing out the school breakfast and lunches. It was required that I test and try every food that came through our cafeteria. After this experience, I NEVER wanted my kids to eat school lunch EVER again. It is HIGHLY processed proteins and carbohydrates in order to keep food costs down (unfortunately).

In order to keep my energy up and work I relied on caffeine throughout my morning and days. To say I came home exhausted was an understatement. I had to pick my son up from daycare, come home to my, then 5 year old, daughter who was throwing severe tantrums at this time. I cried a lot during this period because I felt like a failure. It was becoming unbearable, until I went to see my doctor.

I honestly wasn't going to the doctor to complain about how I was feeling. I was so oblivious to how I was functioning, NEVER, did it cross my brain to think "This isn't normal, Annette. You should get checked out."

I know! I'm so smart but I was so out of it!

It wasn't until he asked me, "So, how are you feeling?"

I remember it so clearly. No one had asked me that lately and all I could say was, "I'm tired."

He exclaimed with, "I bet you are!"

This is when he busted out the labs and broke the news about my Hashimoto's and Thyroid being hypo.

Not to mention my cholesterol was elevated, my vitamin D was WAY low and I was anemic.

I was SHOCKED. I really should not have been so shocked but again, I wasn't connecting the dots because I was so caught up mommy-ing I didn't have time to reflect on exactly what I was putting my body through.

Let's just say this was a trial and error journey. It didn't start out well for me and honestly, it really doesn't start out well for anyone. At least for the majority of clients that I work with, EVERYONE seems to have a story.

My doctor initially wanted me to get on Synthroid.

He also recommended the AIP diet and a series of supplements from one of favorite supplement companies, Pure Encapsulations.

After I left the office I decided to make it my mission to get control of this disease.

WHY?

Let me back up a little bit before we go any further about my thyroid treatment process. This disease plagued EVERY woman in my family. My grandma died at a very young age of 55 due to a series of issues related to autoimmune disease and wrecking gut issues. She didn't have proper care because they couldn't afford quality doctors in the late 70's.

She also knew nothing about diet and chronic illness - I mean who did back then!

Let's just say, her spirit is with me.

So - I refused to take the Synthroid thinking I could fix this myself. After all, I am a dietitian! I thought, "I can heal this!"

I believed food was medicine and that's exactly why I became a dietitian in the first place.

Fast forward 3 - 4 months, I was doing AIP, taking supplements, and I was feeling better!

I honestly think, cleaning up my diet and prioritizing my health started to influence my energy. I became a more conscious parent and I now had more energy to be more playful and at least try to be a better mom to daughter who required so much of my (our) attention.

However, I still was not taking medication and I thought, I should go back to my doctor to see if there was a "natural" medication to get on.

This is when he recommended NP Thyroid medication.

NP Thyroid medication is an NDT drug that contains T3 and T4. You can read more about NDT drugs here and why I always recommend them over Synthroid or Levothyroxine.

What was even better is he recommend getting the medication compounded through the office compounding pharmacy. You can check out the top compounding pharmacies for NDT's here.

This was such a God send (Thank you Grandma!)

Doing this was enough to make me feel like I was "normal." I honestly had forgotten what feeling "well" felt like.

I started to read through Anthony William's first book The Medical Medium Book 1. I couldn't put it down. It felt like something was sucking me into the book. I took a 2 hour lunch break one day because I just could not part ways from the book. It ALL made sense. Not just from a logical perspective but ALSO my internal "knowingness" just made sense of it. I started to do all the things! Juicing, eating a ton of fruits, and reducing animal protein!! Immediately I noticed a difference. My skin looked clearer, I could think clearly and with a sharp focus. I felt soo good. My weight didn't fall off as I thought it would but I wasn't too concerned about it because I just felt ALIVE. My gut issues improved drastically and the bloating subsided.

My weight fluctuated up down 5 pounds but I never had a strong desire to lose weight because I was comfortable with how I looked. I'm not the type to want to look "thin" or look a certain way. Personally, My main goals are to feel energized and feel love, kindness, gratitude. Often with the lethargy and eating foods that weren't optimal, I found myself impatient and down right moody.