Late last year I decided I needed to join a gym. I’d put on a few kilos (about six) since July when I started studying. My diet was appalling – frozen pizza, nuggets, garlic bread, toast, lollies. Goodness, I can’t go on listing these foods. My knuckle joints were hurting, my wrist was getting shooting pains in it, and my jaw was getting worse, despite the fact I’d been to a TMJ specialist and had bought a not-cheap ‘mouthguard’ from him.
So I knew that the foods I was eating would’ve been contributing to inflammation and that if I improved my diet and moved a bit more, I would see improvements. I decided to join the gym because I had a feeling I wasn’t going to be able to shift my habits by myself. In the past I’d been able to – I had like a threshold weight where, once I got to it, I’d clean up my diet and start exercising (or I’d join Michelle Bridges’ 12WBT or Sarah Wilson’s I Quit Sugar 8-week program). But I just knew I wasn’t going to be able to motivate myself this time.
So, I called Fernwood, and they didn’t ring me back for like two weeks. I called Next Generation and discussed payment plans, and the girl was going to call back after she’d spoken to her manager about giving me a student discount, but she didn’t call when she said she was going to. So I looked online and found Goodlife gyms, saw I could sign up for a month-to-month membership then and there – so I did. I loved that they had that facility because I wanted to be committed, you know? This was in December.
Well then when I went for my intro, and to provide ID, the girl I saw asked if I wanted to take advantage of their deal of three personal training sessions for $59. I said yes. I’d decided I’d use my credit card for the gym membership and that I was prepared to do what it took to really establish and embed some good habits again because I’d slipped so far (in my eyes.)
So out of the many PTs at the gym, I was assigned to Nicole. Nicole happens to also be a naturopath and western herbal medicine practitioner. We got talking, and I told her I was happy to have a naturopathic consult. She prescribed clean eating, cutting out gluten and dairy, bone broth, probiotics, good fish oils and some powdered greens (!). Also advised I get some blood tests.
Okay well, I’m dragging this on long enough. To cut a long story short, I have been diagnosed with Hashimoto’s. I’m in good company – Sarah Wilson and Gail Jessen have it. And many others, which sounds trite, but I’ve only just started researching it so don’t have too much depth to share yet 😉
And my point is this, for now: I am so guided. Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world… Not Fernwood, not Next Gen, but Goodlife, where Nic works. Not any of the other PTs who work there, but the one who’s a naturopath. Meant. To. Be.
It’s like when I enrolled in uni – I honestly barely knew what was going on, but I just kept trusting and doing, as Glennon Doyle says, the next right thing.
So I’ll write again about how I feel, the symptoms I experience (the a-ha’s Hashimoto’s has given me so far.)
I’m reading The Thyroid Solution by Ridha Arem, MD (from the library); Hashimoto’s Protocol by Izabella Wentz (suggested by Nicole); and Medical Medium by Anthony William (as recommended by Danielle LaPorte.)
Seems I’m at a pretty early stage, thankfully. Nic agreed with me when I said I’d dodged a bullet with this early diagnosis. So happy I listened to my sore knuckles, sore jaw etc and knew there were things I could do about them. Very grateful (where’s my namaste emoji when I need it?!)
spacious + wild 