Episode 36 - Hashimoto's, Thyroid Disease and Perimenopause

[Music] Welcome to GenX Adulting and today we are going to talk about Hashimoto's Disease, Thyroid Disease, and Perimenopause. I'm going to be sharing my personal journey of going through all three of those situations. And this is a very special episode for me because I like to get as much information out about Hashimoto's Disease and Thyroid Disease, especially for women. Because I think from what I found through the years from talking to women is so many women suffer from either Hashimoto's Disease or Thyroid Disease. Many go undiagnosed for much longer than they should have and suffered for much longer than they should have and were treated for the symptoms without getting to the root cause of what it was. So, I'm going to start with Hashimoto's Disease. I think I had, with my third pregnancy, which was when I was, I got pregnant at 38 and I think I had Hashimoto's Disease probably right before that. I think I had something going on. Something was a little off but, and it would have been right before I got pregnant. But then either the stress that was going on during the pregnancy, not the pregnancy but there was stress surrounding the pregnancy. So, either the stress surrounding the pregnancy or right after I gave birth basically is when the Hashimoto's presented. So, it was triggered somewhere in there. I was at my six week appointment with my OBGYN. She happened to, she checked my neck. So, your thyroid is like a butterfly shaped organ. I don't know if it's an organ, it's a gland. It's right at the base of your throat kind of, right in the center. So, she was checking and she had me swallow and I think she felt like a little bump and so she referred me over to an endocrinologist who I still go to this day.

of, right in the center. So, she was checking and she had me swallow and I think she felt like a little bump and so she referred me over to an endocrinologist who I still go to this day. So, I'm very grateful to my OB during that time because she was the first one to discover and that was at my six week post-op checkup. I have a question. Are you normally supposed to be able to feel it or was that abnormal? Like, was she feeling your throat like they normally do, right? We all think it's innocuous but then did she feel it and was like, you need to go get it checked? You're not supposed to be able to touch it, are you? Well, what she felt, so when the doctor normally checks your glands, they're checking like your lymph nodes up here, like under your jaw kind of. This is more down below in the center and she felt like a nodule. But I wouldn't... Like swollen or something? Yeah, like a nodule, like a bump. But I wouldn't have been able to recognize that's what it was, if that makes sense. So, I go to an endocrinologist, I do have blood work done and the endocrinologist did an ultrasound and that's where she really saw how bad the Hashimoto's disease was and how it had started to destroy my thyroid. What was presented on ultrasound was not reflected as strongly in the blood work. And that's one piece of advice if I can give to all women and thyroid disease does affect men too but it affects women 10 times more than men. Is if possible, if you're able to find a provider that will do an ultrasound on your thyroid, insist on that and not just blood work because so many symptoms of thyroid disease, you'll start feeling so many symptoms of Hashimoto's disease which causes thyroid disease. You'll start feeling that before it

because so many symptoms of thyroid disease, you'll start feeling so many symptoms of Hashimoto's disease which causes thyroid disease. You'll start feeling that before it presents some blood work. But if you have an ultrasound done, your doctor can see what's actually going on with your thyroid. So, a woman can suffer for a couple of years with symptoms from thyroid disease before it finally presents the severity of the situation on her blood work. So I think ultrasound should be part of an annual checkup for women on her thyroid. Of course, that's not how it is. But if there's any way you can ask, even if it's every other year, if you're feeling some of the symptoms that we're going to discuss, insist on an ultrasound because that's where she really saw what was going on with me and what was going on with my thyroid. I would actually go one step further and insist upon it because to your point, you suffered for a while. All these weird symptoms, you were doing blood work, your blood work seemed fine. And then it was like, I remember you kind of coming home that day or whenever you found out your results like, "Oh my gosh, I think I have answers." And I think you have to drive your own health as a patient, right? You have to advocate on your own behalf. So if you think you have them, especially when we're done, right, with this and you talk about the various symptoms, my advice would be push for it. Yeah. I mean, everyone has different insurance. If you have insurance, like what their insurance will cover, if they won't cover it, it's too expensive. Honestly, work with the doctor, make something up, have them work with you. Yeah, absolutely. If there's any way you can get an ultrasound done, it's life changing because then she

expensive. Honestly, work with the doctor, make something up, have them work with you. Yeah, absolutely. If there's any way you can get an ultrasound done, it's life changing because then she really saw the severity of it. She told me of Hashimoto's disease. And what Hashimoto's disease is, it's... So what Hashimoto's disease is where your immune system attacks itself. So my immune system attacked my thyroid gland and caused hypothyroidism. So from the disease, from the immune system attacking my thyroid gland, I ended up with hypothyroidism. And it basically kills the thyroid cells. And so then your thyroid stops making thyroid hormone, which you need to survive. And the thyroid affects every cell in your body. And so this affects every organ in your body, your brain, your heart, everything is affected. But your thyroid is like the central nervous system or the central command system of your body. If that's off, you're off. And I can't stress that enough. That's why I think it's so important that women need to be on top of their thyroid health and again, you could be feeling symptoms before it's showing up in blood work. So that ultrasound is important. But so once I found out I had the Hashimoto's disease, then and then thyroid disease, that explained all the symptoms I was having. So the symptoms of thyroid disease, this is fun. The symptoms of thyroid disease is the first thing I noticed was fatigue. And it's not like normal fatigue. It's like you've been hit by a truck and you can't get up. You are flat down. It's an exhaustion I'd never experienced before. And it was hard to even describe to you, to anyone, my friends, family, it was just you feel, I can't even describe it, you're down.

It's an exhaustion I'd never experienced before. And it was hard to even describe to you, to anyone, my friends, family, it was just you feel, I can't even describe it, you're down. And doing anything requires so much effort. Just doing your normal stuff through the day. It was exhausting. So it was a different type of exhaustion than just, I'm tired from the kids waking me up in the middle of the night or I'm tired from running around or I'm tired from work. It's in your bones. Your body is beyond depleted, depleted, you're depleted. That's the best way I can describe it. So that was my number one. Number two, your thyroid affects the speed of your metabolism. So if your thyroid is off or dying because your body's attacking it and you have thyroid disease, you gain weight because your metabolism basically screeches to a halt. So I mean, I've read about women who've said I could eat air and gain weight when you have thyroid disease because you literally have no metabolism, but you don't know, you didn't know, oh, that's why I gained 10 pounds in two months. And I didn't change a thing. I was exercising, eating right. And I still gained all this weight. So weight gain, bloating, a foggy brain. And this is more than just, because once you hit a certain age, like midlife, you walk into a room, you forget why you're there. This could be going on. It's not like that. You end up somewhere, whether it's a room in your house or you're doing a task at work and you literally have blanked on what you were doing before that. It's like somebody might as well have moved you in time from one place to another and you don't know how you got there. You're just standing there and you're paralyzed because you can't remember.

you in time from one place to another and you don't know how you got there. You're just standing there and you're paralyzed because you can't remember. There's nothing jogging your memory. It's like you might as well have woken up from a dream and you don't know where you're at. And then the short term memory, the forgetfulness. I remember I would tell you, you need to remind me of this or I'm going to forget it. Like if I needed to give the kids friends a ride home, I would say, you need to remind me we're giving them a ride home. I do not want to leave without this child, but because you could be told something and it's gone. It's gone. And when you're reminded, it's like a flash of light because it was so gone in your head. So the foggy brain, the lack of memory, sensitivity to cold, you all of a sudden feel cold. It could be super hot out and you're freezing. Key joints and like joint pain and then dry skin. That's another one. And inflammation, inflammation, inflammation. You become so inflamed and I think it's your body's the immune system. It's attacking your thyroid. Your body's having this visceral response to that going on and you are just becoming inflamed which adds to the weight gain, which adds to the bloating. It affects all your organs, you know, and then hair loss. That's the one I was just about to mention if you didn't get it. Hair loss. So I would be in the shower and you know, for a lot of women, when you put your conditioner and you either run your fingers through your hair or you use one of those combs in the shower and you have some hair. We're talking clumps, clumps and clumps of hair. And you notice that, oh, for me, so I'm half Armenian. So I always had really nice eyebrows. I did.

shower and you have some hair. We're talking clumps, clumps and clumps of hair. And you notice that, oh, for me, so I'm half Armenian. So I always had really nice eyebrows. I did. They were very thick, defined. I lost, you know, I have anyone watching this on YouTube. I obviously use makeup on my eyebrows because you can actually see them. If I didn't have makeup on, you wouldn't with the lights that were under, you wouldn't be able to really see my eyebrows. You see just faint. I do still have eyebrows left, but it's like a quarter of what I had. And I lost those first, I'd say my eyebrows and my hair thinning went first. I noticed your hair thinning for sure. I remember being like, wow, what's going on here? Yeah. Cause I had from my Armenian roots, I had super thick, super thick, super healthy hair long and it could grow long and it wouldn't get like wispy or thin at the ends. So my, everything changed with that. Digestive issues, which goes with the bloating constipation. That's one. And then mentally you can end up with depression, anxiety, or it exacerbates it. If you already have it, it makes it worse. Puffy face. They call it moon face. It's where you're fit. Now I have a round face anyways, not, I still have one, but when I was younger, like in my twenties and thirties, it was very round. Um, genetically speaking, but when I got my thyroid disease, my face got even rounder and they call it moon face. And you can almost, I can sometimes tell by looking at someone, I think they have thyroid disease because they're, they have the moon face. It's, and when you get, get on meds, um, when you get on meds, then you can tell your face, you lose that moon face and you see the inflammation going down. So you think you can identify it.

It's, and when you get, get on meds, um, when you get on meds, then you can tell your face, you lose that moon face and you see the inflammation going down. So you think you can identify it. Have you ever done that? You've asked someone you're like, do you have thyroid issues or, you know, problems? No, but talking to friends about when they've talked about different things, invariably I've always said, get your thyroid test in because anything they've talked about, whatever issue they've had going on has matched up with thyroid disease. And for some of them, they ended up finding out they had thyroid disease. For others, their blood work was fine and their doctor said, we'll just keep checking it and they didn't get an ultrasound done. That's the one thing I just, I'm like, oh, try to get that ultrasound. So you really know what's going on because thyroid disease can make you feel crazy. Like let me stress on the mental part, just not just the anxiety and depression, it can trigger, but not being able to remember things. You just have a sense of no control sometimes in your brain because the chemistry is so off and you know something's off, but if a doctor keeps saying your blood works fine, your blood works fine, then you feel nuts when you leave. And that's why I say, have the ultrasound done so you can truly rule out thyroid disease. You can't rule it out until you have an ultrasound in your thyroid done. That's how I feel. If your blood work's coming back normal. I feel like it spirals too, right? Because it affects your interactions with the people closest to you who don't understand. Admittedly here, I'm pretty good at this. Now I get it. I understand it, but for a while, for years, go ahead. Like, come on, let's go.

the people closest to you who don't understand. Admittedly here, I'm pretty good at this. Now I get it. I understand it, but for a while, for years, go ahead. Like, come on, let's go. What do you mean you're tired? What do you mean you can't forget or remember things? There's an impact there. There is. And I remember with our first two, after our older son, I was back in the gym pretty quickly putting him in that little daycare at the gym and got myself back where I was post baby. And then with our daughter, same thing. And so I just assumed with our last one, oh, I'll just, I was running at the time. So I was like, I'll just start, I'll be running once I get the clear and I'll never forget. I put him in one of those baby joggers and I went to have my regular run. And it was like my feet were in cement. They were cement blocks and my body was not doing what it was supposed to be doing. This is before I was diagnosed, I think, or it was right after. And that's when I thought it was, oh my gosh, is this because I had him at 39 and I'm getting older and maybe this is what it's like when you're an older woman. Because I had my other two at 26 and at 29. So I was like, okay, so this must be if you're older, having a baby, not knowing, no, it was a thyroid disease because let me also go back to the reason I know I had it going on when I was pregnant is with my first two, I breastfed and had so much milk, like crazy, crazy amounts of milk. The babies were fine with our third. I did not produce nearly enough milk. I didn't realize what was going on until I took him to a six week appointment and he had not gained the weight he was supposed to. Of course, this is something I struggle with still that I have guilt over.

took him to a six week appointment and he had not gained the weight he was supposed to. Of course, this is something I struggle with still that I have guilt over. So then she said supplement. So he would have a bottle two hours and then he would nurse at two hours because it would give my body a chance to actually make more milk. So then I still could breastfeed him, but we had to supplement and I know you remember that and then you know and then of course you look and you're like, oh my gosh, my baby wasn't getting enough food and that's a whole thing for me. But I didn't understand I had thyroid disease and so it affects your milk production. So that's something else is to look into if you've had a baby before and you were fine with your breast milk and all of a sudden you're not, there's a chance you might have Hashimoto's thyroid disease. It's something to consider. But that's what I knew with my exercising. I'm not going to lose the weight, not knowing. I'm also not going to lose all the weight because I have thyroid disease and my metabolism came to a screeching halt and yet my body was completely failing me so I couldn't exercise. So this is all happening like starting like 3940 and I went through my 40s. So then the endocrinologist put me on. Well, let me finish with the symptoms. I have a question too once you hit a stopping point. Okay. Well, I was just going to say another one is horse voice because especially if you have nodules, they can get bigger and cause your voice to get hoarse. And then coarse skin and hair, muscle weakness. And I remember feeling some muscle weakness. And then other than the aches and pains, also some muscle tenderness. So those are kind of the main ones, but I

and hair, muscle weakness. And I remember feeling some muscle weakness. And then other than the aches and pains, also some muscle tenderness. So those are kind of the main ones, but I would say the top ones are fatigue, foggy brain, constipation and weight gain. Yeah. Yep. You know, my question is, do you remember you went through that period where you went and saw someone and they took a blood test and everything. They didn't do the MRI or the, um, they didn't look at your thyroid, but they tried to match the lab results with the bunch of their vitamins. Remember that place? I was going to talk about this. Yeah. Okay. So it was, that was related. Was that pre-diagnosis? No. No. No, that was. Let's go back to this. If you're going to talk about it, I don't want to throw you off. Yeah. I remember that phase and it didn't really work actually. No, no. What happened was actually there were two more symptoms. Your menstrual period can become heavier than normal and you can end up with irregular, irregular periods and slower heartbeat. So now I've covered all the symptoms. I want to make sure I name them all because there could be women that are experienced and there could be men too. It does happen to men. So what happened was is, um, my endocrinologist put me on Synthroid. There's a lot of people that don't like Synthroid. Um, she put me on Synthroid and then, which is a T four. Um, I'm not going to get too scientific here. I'm not, I'm going to put a disclaimer. I'm not a doctor. I'm just sharing my personal experience. Um, if you hear jingles, it's one of our dogs is in here and it's her collar. Um, and there you go. She made herself present, but, um, so that was a T four because your, your thyroid hormones, T four, T three, right?

dogs is in here and it's her collar. Um, and there you go. She made herself present, but, um, so that was a T four because your, your thyroid hormones, T four, T three, right? So I didn't have that anymore. So the T four was being replaced by the Synthroid. And then she also eventually put me on SIDML, which is my T three. There's a whole conversion thing and all that, which you can Google all that, but, um, it worked. It did work. Like I, um, started to feel, I think the first thing I noticed was my fatigue had significantly decreased and that my brain felt normal again. I felt, I was like, Oh, okay. Things leveled out. Um, I felt my foggy brain cleared. So my foggy brain cleared. Um, I wasn't as exhausted. I still struggled to lose weight. Um, but I could tell I felt like me again more. And then, um, I had been doing research and I knew there was other options. Synthroid is the synthetic made. There's another one called armor. And I think they use, um, stuff from a pig's thyroid gland for that. It's more natural, naturally made. There's another one. The armor's more natural. Yeah. And then there's another one. It's like nature or something, but it's a compound. I think armor is a compound. So I started going to a, um, functional functional medicine doctor and she, she was both natural and, um, traditional medicine, Eastern and Western. That's when I tried armor and the supplements you're talking about. Yeah. Um, and I did that for quite a while in the hopes that it would. Help me more than the Synthroid was. Cause I still wasn't losing weight. I still was having constipation. I still was having bloating. So the Synthroid helps, but I was still having all these nothing. It wasn't, I wasn't back to myself. So I put on 20 pounds.

I still was having constipation. I still was having bloating. So the Synthroid helps, but I was still having all these nothing. It wasn't, I wasn't back to myself. So I put on 20 pounds. Um, like that, like, like I blinked and I had like, I lost the baby weight, but those 20 pounds I could not lose. I think I ended up putting on more like probably between 20 and 30 pounds over my forties. Um, I think too, not, it was more of a bloated weight too, right? As opposed to like just normal healthy. No, I mean, my size, my dress size went up. Like I went, you know, I went from a four, six. I think my highest at one point when I was trying to enclose was a 12. That's a significant change in your body. As a guy, I'm not totally sure what all that means. That'd probably be going from like a 34 waste to like a 38 waste. Okay. Um, I carried it all in my belly pretty much. That's where I carry my weight. So, um, and then the bloating was, was vicious and so uncomfortable. So I stayed with her for a while and was not getting any relief. Um, and I finally went back to my original endocrinologist and went back on Synthroid and I finally got relief again. And she told me something interesting. She's been on the forefront. Like she, she's one of the best endocrinologists, if not the best in South Florida, I can say that she's known for that. Um, she's on the forefront of all the research and everything new. And she said that they did studies and found that armor works better for people that are, um, like European Anglo descent, like blonde blue eyed people. She looked, she literally said that she said blonde blue eyed people. Whereas the Synthroid is more for darker hair. Like I've got brown hair, brown eyes. And, um, they can't, they found that out.

said blonde blue eyed people. Whereas the Synthroid is more for darker hair. Like I've got brown hair, brown eyes. And, um, they can't, they found that out. So I don't know if that's why the armor wasn't working for me, but it didn't. But I know it works for many people. Many people are happy with it. Yeah. Um, and that's wonderful for them. So, um, I went on the Synthroid, I went on the Saitamao, but I do want to say, again, women are 10 times more likely to get thyroid disease than men or to get Hashi's, which causes the Hashi modal disease causes thyroid disease. Cause it attacks your thyroid. And the most common age to get diagnosed is between the ages of 30 to 50. But I really think what girls in their teens just start getting their thought, their blood work done at the very least. And once you're in your twenties, if you can get that ultrasound, even if it's every other year, along with your blood work, because it could be hitting you. I think I, like I said, I think I had something going on before I finally got diagnosed. No doubt. You know, for sure. And I didn't have to suffer. I think you suffered for a while with all the symptoms you just talked about looking for answers, wondering what the hell's going on. And then you finally kind of struck gold in a sense. Yeah, no. And well, and there's something about having answers, especially when it comes to health. Well, I was going to go there. I think there's a lot more information out now in the internet's far more evolved with a lot more health information now than it used to be. It's far more mature, right? And there's podcasts where people talk about this now, which is a good, good thing. But back when you were looking and I remember Googling too, it's like, well,

It's far more mature, right? And there's podcasts where people talk about this now, which is a good, good thing. But back when you were looking and I remember Googling too, it's like, well, there's not a ton of information. There was not a lot of information. Um, there wasn't social media, like there is now. Nope. Um, there wasn't TikTok university, as I like to call it, um, where you can put something in and there's somebody on there talking about something. Yeah. And I think Instagram has gotten to be that way too. But, um, I will say when it comes to auto immune diseases in general, women uh, suffer way more than men. And in addition to various factors like hormones and different things that go on, one of the biggest triggers is stress. And I know that men are under stress too, like at work and stuff. I know that they have different stresses, but the weight a woman carries in her life, especially when she's married or in a relationship. And there's children and a home and all the responsibilities that go along with that. She's 24 seven. There is no punch out. Her brain has no punch out the stress, the high stress that her nervous system is under contributes to getting autoimmune diseases. No doubt. Yeah. There's no way it doesn't know stress is evil. And so that high stress can trigger an autoimmune disease. And I think for me, it definitely was part of me getting Hashimoto's disease and thyroid disease. I'm I know it is. There's no question. So I think that's just another reason, besides all the reasons we've discussed in other episodes of that, the domestic load needs to be shared at home, that your partner needs to help. There has to be as equal as possible distribution between childcare and the domestic load,

other episodes of that, the domestic load needs to be shared at home, that your partner needs to help. There has to be as equal as possible distribution between childcare and the domestic load, because it's literally affecting the health of women. Women are suffering health wise from the stress of doing everything. And whether some women may not even realize it. And some women are suffering undiagnosed with things like thyroid disease and other autoimmune diseases and going to the doctor and getting, let's say, oh, you're just have depression, depression, or you just have anxiety. So they're band dating it with medicine for that, not getting to the root cause. Things like thyroid disease contribute to depression and anxiety, or you're just gaining weight. You just need to diet and exercise more. Well, when you have thyroid disease, you don't have a metabolism. That has a lot to do with maybe why you're gaining weight, or maybe why you're so exhausted. So I think it needs to be addressed. Women's mental health and physical health is suffering under the weight of what they carry. I have a question on this. I'm not disagreeing with anything that you just said. But do you think so the women's lifestyle or the woman's lifestyle of all just have a glass of wine. Alcohol is a contributing alcohol is not good for it, right? I'm not necessarily saying it's a contributing factor, but it doesn't help, right? So alcohol causes inflammation. Yeah, alcohol will 100% make an autoimmune disease worse. And so yes, the coping mechanisms that many women may choose to deal some of them to deal with the stress that they're under can help contribute to worsening or triggering an autoimmune disease. Yes, there's no question about that. I will

women may choose to deal some of them to deal with the stress that they're under can help contribute to worsening or triggering an autoimmune disease. Yes, there's no question about that. I will say one of the number one things I did to help with my success in treatment because it's a whole treatment. It's medication. It's the food you eat. It's your exercising. It's your sleep. It's your alcohol consumption. It's your supplementation. It's your stress management, all of it. So one of the first things I did was cut out gluten. I cut it out. That's right. I cut out gluten. And that decreased my inflammation significantly and my digestive issues. It helped my digestive issues a lot. And gluten is interesting. Gluten is not you can't have one foot in one foot out because one molecule of gluten can be like you had a whole piece of pizza. You can't you can't have a little gluten. You're either in or out. So I know I've talked to some people who said, well, you know, I try to not eat a lot of glue. It doesn't matter. You might as well eat all the gluten. You need to not eat any gluten. Yeah. If you want to have the effects of it. So cutting out gluten was my first thing. I did not reduce my alcohol through my 40s. And I regret that because I know I contributed. I slowed down the recovery process or the healing process of my body because I was trying to heal my gut, but you can't truly heal your gut if you're drinking. Yeah, it's just not going to happen. Well, there are good gluten flick gluten free vodka, wine, spirits, etc. But gluten free doesn't mean you're healing your gluten free is one thing, right? Yeah, I love when they advertise. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, you can't again, there's a past episode where I talk about my

doesn't mean you're healing your gluten free is one thing, right? Yeah, I love when they advertise. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, you can't again, there's a past episode where I talk about my alcohol use. And through my 40s, there was times where I would have a drink every night, depending on what was going on with our lives. So that regular alcohol use, it was pretty much stalling any, any progress I was trying to make cutting out the gluten helps so much with my comfort level. And I know it took down inflammation, but I really wasn't going to get anywhere until I cut down on the alcohol. And since I did that starting at 5051, so it's been like night and day with my body, the inflammation just I could tell almost immediately everything. So the number one thing that I did that helped though, again, is my gut health. So I was taking supplements, celery juice, eating as clean as possible, exercising. But I will say, it wasn't until I cut out the alcohol. Now I will still have alcohol on special occasions once in a while, and we're talking a glass or two of wine. But I don't really drink. And that goes into our age and and hangovers and giving up I don't feel like giving up two days of my life to a hangover anymore. So there's other reasons. But cutting out the gluten is and then I also I significantly limit dairy and dairy for me, I'm not as sensitive to dairy as I am to gluten. What's interesting is I've read that if you put a gluten molecule under a microscope, and you put a dairy molecule under a microscope, they're almost identical. So you're if you're already gluten intolerant, or have celiac, it's hard for your body to differentiate the dairy. And you may end up or have also an intolerance to dairy. I know that

So you're if you're already gluten intolerant, or have celiac, it's hard for your body to differentiate the dairy. And you may end up or have also an intolerance to dairy. I know that if I ingest lactose free, or non dairy foods, I do significantly better with my gut health. Then if I don't, I pretty much avoid dairy. Like it's rare. Yeah. But I don't have the same issue as if I get quote unquote, gluten, we've been out to eat and I've told you I got gluten. And I knew it. I knew it because for me, you blow it up like you're four or five months pregnant, you have diarrhea, and then you have constipation. And then you also can feel like you have the flu. And you're down for the count. I feel that way. If I like if I eat ice cream, other I eat a ton of yogurt, but I don't if I eat ice cream, I can feel it the next day. It's almost hangover in some ways. I do have a question, though, just to go back to the medication and since or Synthroid, I don't know if you plan to talk about it, but you've had to dial that in. Right. I know you've said, Oh, I'm it's too, too much or too little. Yeah. Can you talk about that? And for listeners who might go through this, you really got to dial that in or else you're not feeling right. Right. Yeah. So whatever doses so yeah, you'll know if you're not feeling a significant improvement, you need more Synthroid. But sometimes if you have too much, it affects your sleep and you struggle getting to sleep or you may get heart palpitations. That's happened to me and you may end up with really high anxiety. So the medication may cause you also to have high anxiety. You could become kind of edgy. You get you get like jittery at all like kind of wired, like too much. You're a little wired. You're just edgy. Yeah,

may cause you also to have high anxiety. You could become kind of edgy. You get you get like jittery at all like kind of wired, like too much. You're a little wired. You're just edgy. Yeah, you're a little wired and you're and you feel you can stop but you feel you have an edge to you. And but it's a medicated edge. I can't explain it. There's a difference completely synthetic edge. It's a synthetic edge. And then the one I know is because you know what I is because when I can't get to sleep at all, like when I'm like, I feel like I'm on something and I can't get to sleep. I will say also your dosage can be based on your weight. So you may get a certain dosage when you're at one weight. And if you lose weight, you may have to have your dosage adjusted because you're getting too much because you lost weight. So it's something to also keep in mind if you're on a dosage, and you've lost like 10 pounds, and you start to feel weird, you need your dosage adjusted. Now the side amount, that doesn't make me feel that way. That's t3. That's a totally different hormone. So but another thing to talk about with thyroid disease are flare ups. So flare ups and I think other autoimmune diseases, I'm assuming like MS, lupus, I assume they have flare ups. Not high. No, it's much more minor hives or symptom of flare ups. Yeah. So flare ups are when you for me, they're stress induced. It's either I'm under too much stress, or I've put my body through too much stress, lack of sleep, or I it's mainly stress in the home. That reminds me of a question I'll ask it real quick before I forget. Because when we talked about this the other day, I was thinking something that I've noticed you do is you won't work out super, super hard, because you're afraid

it real quick before I forget. Because when we talked about this the other day, I was thinking something that I've noticed you do is you won't work out super, super hard, because you're afraid of it impacting you and getting into a flare up right or creating inflammation. Like I'm all if we're pushing the sled, I'll be like, okay, I'm ready to go and I'll push, push, push. But you you push to the to like a limit or an edge that you know about through your experience. But you won't go past that. And you've mentioned it's because you don't want to have a flare up. Yes. So and also I don't want to raise my cortisol. That's what it is your cortisol cortisol levels also tie in all this cortisol levels tie into women, especially midlife, very menopause, menopause, thyroid disease, you want to watch your cortisol. And if you work out, you hit a point in your life for women that you get a lot more out of your workouts, if you're not stressing your body, where when you're young, and you stress your body can handle it better. But not anymore. So if I push myself too far, I release too much cortisol, and I can end up in a flare up. In fact, you and I did a 5k, like a year and a half ago, I'd say. And I ran it and I used to be a runner and I loved running. And then I had to stop running because I had a back issue. But we've been walking a lot, we were in good shape. And we decided to run it, we ran walk it, we run and then walk. And I'm and I did it. And I felt amazing. But I remember I was in bed the next day. Oh, really? I was because I had a flare up. Yeah, my body was like, okay, now you can lay down. Yeah. So but and that was so that's a physical that's an example of a physical exertion causing a flare up trigger, a trigger. But for

like, okay, now you can lay down. Yeah. So but and that was so that's a physical that's an example of a physical exertion causing a flare up trigger, a trigger. But for me, typically, it's a stress. So if there's stuff going on in the house or stuff going on in my life, or if I'm just not resting enough, like, for me, I need to stop doing things by a certain time in the evening. Or else I have overexerted myself physically and mentally, which affects my sleep, which if I do that too many nights, I'm going to end up with a flare up. And I can feel when the flare ups coming. And I know I've said you I'm going to end up with the flare up I have to stop. One of the number one symptoms for me of a flare up is dizziness. I'll wake up and I sit up and it's like vertigo, the room's spinning and I'm walking sideways like on a ship to go anywhere and I go another early symptom or do you know it now because it's indicative of a flare up? It's more dizziness. I don't think I'm having actual vertigo. I don't think I've had vertigo because that's serious stuff. It's more I know, you know, it's more dizziness and feeling like I'm walking sideways on a ship. But I'm not like when you've gotten vertigo and you literally like can't see and stuff. It's not like that. Migraine, I'll lose my eyesight a little bit with spots in my eyes and end up with a migraine. There's been times I've had a flare up and I feel like I have a horrendous flu. And that old fatigue of the truck hitting me is back. And I don't know if you remember, but there's been times where I've been in bed that day and I'm like, I'm done. There's been times I know I've said to you, I need to stop or we need to change this or you're going to have to deal with me in bed for two days.

been in bed that day and I'm like, I'm done. There's been times I know I've said to you, I need to stop or we need to change this or you're going to have to deal with me in bed for two days. So make your choice. If you want me here active, active right now in this family, things need to change or else your wife's going to be in bed for a day or two. I think that's an interesting topic though is the evolution of the family impact and it right you have to you're a communicator. And so we've I think we've all know what you're going through, but there's I don't I don't know if there was friction or misunderstandings in the beginning or you just don't get it. And I'm not saying we had turmoil here or anything like that. It was just like, okay, what's wrong? Why? Why? Why do you need to sleep? Why do you know? Right? Why are you so tired? Why? How the hell did you not pick that kid up? Right? Right. That kind of stuff. Right. I don't know where I'm going with this per se, but I think for people who are going through this, it probably helped that you have to communicate to the people closest to you and then encourage those people to go do a little research. Yeah. Because I'm pretty well versed in this at this point because I don't know how long have you had it actually? Well, I'm 54 and I had Dylan at 39. And so we can say at least 15 years, but probably secretly quietly. It was a little longer than that. Yeah. But we've been dealing with this medically. And I look at my 40s at that decade and I realized now I was surviving, you know? So just if I knew now what I knew then, I could have adjusted 100% so many things and it wouldn't have, I wouldn't have suffered as much. But so it's another reason I'm talking about it right now. Yeah. Because I don't want,

I could have adjusted 100% so many things and it wouldn't have, I wouldn't have suffered as much. But so it's another reason I'm talking about it right now. Yeah. Because I don't want, because I know there's women out there that either undiagnosed or diagnosed and are still trying to, it is a very delicate balance. It's like one year, one dosage of medication works and eating this way works and doing this exercise works and then it doesn't. And then you have to change again. It's being so nuanced at times and it's being so in tune to your body. It's such a form of self-care. It has to be addressed. Yeah. It has to be addressed. The woman or the person, I'm going to focus on females. The woman has to acknowledge it and take responsibility for her own care, going to the doctor, doing her own research, saying, "No, I need to do this for myself right now to her family." Okay. So another thing I do for the stress relief is massage. I'll go get massages. I'll do lymphatic massage. I can't stress lymphatic. And I know what I'm talking about costs money. I get that. It's not like I'm doing that all the time. But when I can, if I had to pick between a traditional massage and a lymphatic massage, I'm always going to pick the lymphatic massage. You know, it's another example of something where you can tell your significant other or partner or whatever, "Hey, don't get me this. Get me the lymphatic massage," that kind of thing. Yeah. Be creative with it. I asked for that stuff for gifts. Yeah. I'm like, "But it's part of my stress relief." But I will say the lymphatic massage is a health... It's for my health too. I feel 100% different. My inflammation is affected. I am healthier because of it. It's a detox in my

my stress relief." But I will say the lymphatic massage is a health... It's for my health too. I feel 100% different. My inflammation is affected. I am healthier because of it. It's a detox in my system. So it is not just... It's not one of those things where I'm going in for this luxurious massage and I leave. They're like, "Oh, I'm so relaxed. I was at the spa." I view it as a medical procedure. I know that sounds very privileged, but for me it is. And another thing that's much cheaper is dry brushing. Get yourself some dry brushes. You need soft ones for your face, neck, and chest area. And then the traditional strength for the rest of your body. Get some dry brushes and do dry brushing. It's the same stuff they're doing in the lymphatic massage. It's just not as intense because you're not having someone else work on you. But when I do dry brushing, I have the same feeling in my brain as I do when I get a lymphatic massage. What are dry brushes? Is this something you get on like Amazon or something? You can get them on Amazon. You can research how to do it. You can go on TikTok. People talk about it. You can go to a place that offers lymphatic massage and just buy the dry brushes. And they usually have like a pamphlet or a shirt showing you how to brush your leg, how to brush your foot, how to brush your calf, how to brush your knee. There's lymphatic drainage spots all through your body. And you're trying to move everything towards the empty, right? You move it to the lymph node and then it can empty because after you do lymphatic massage, after you do dry brushing, you need to drink a lot of liquids because you're helping flush everything out of your body. But dry brushing is a lot less expensive and convenient. I mean, I

after you do dry brushing, you need to drink a lot of liquids because you're helping flush everything out of your body. But dry brushing is a lot less expensive and convenient. I mean, I try to dry brush as much as possible. You know, you could brush dry brush every day. And once someone does it or goes and gets a lymphatic massage, they'll understand what I'm saying about how your brain feels. You just feel you're you feel it you almost I'm not going to describe it, but it's a feeling and you know, so that's a form of stress relief that I claim. You have to claim your stress relief as a woman, because it's just not natural that your family is going to stop and be like, No, no, no, you need to sit down. Stop, stop doing what you're doing. Your family's just not going to do that. You have to do it for yourself. Yeah, so I do massage I do I do exercise. I go on a walk almost every day. And I've incorporated lifting weights, which is so important to women. Resistance training, which is so important for women that are peri-metapos menopause age, so important. And then of course, with the gut health, the celery juice, I think I'm going to do an episode where I go into detail about my daily routine. Every day of the week, what I do, and specifically what supplements I take specifically what food I take my hacks. I've learned a lot in the last 15 years. And so I think I'm going to do an episode where I just share, you know, the routine I do that's gotten to me me to where I am because I feel this is the best I felt in 15 years, just about to say, there's probably a lot of value in that because you are probably healthy and more active than you've been in years. And it probably is not drinking absolutely helps because it doesn't knock you back

probably a lot of value in that because you are probably healthy and more active than you've been in years. And it probably is not drinking absolutely helps because it doesn't knock you back through two or three, four days. The gluten free, you've done that for years. I don't not a you know, you swear by the lymphatic massage. It sounds like quackery to me, but I'll I trust you if you say you feel better, and it works. Yeah, but that's a little bit out there to me. But hey, well, I mean, I my chiropractor. Yeah, I have a herniated disc and a bulging disc. And I was not walking there. I was walking bent over and all. And my chiropractor, you know, changed my life. And I know you had you were you also viewed that as quackery. But now I know you'll tell people it works. No, this guy's that guy. Yes, he fixed you actually. Yes, Dr. Fanno. Dr. Fanno, Boca Spine and Wellness for if anyone's in South Florida, Florida, he's worth the trip. Oh, if you're listening, you fixed her. Yeah. But okay, so now here's the fun part. While I was going through my Hashimoto's and thyroid disease, I was in perimenopause. But I didn't know that. Because especially 15 years ago, the information wasn't out there for Gen X women of about perimenopause like it is now. So simultaneously, perimenopause hit me. And now let's go over the signs, the symptoms of perimenopause. Fatigue. Are they all the same roughly? Very similar, but more, more fun. Depression, anxiety, and irritability. Irregular periods. Insomnia or trouble sleeping and struggling to get to sleep. Hot flashes, night sweats, low libido, joint muscle pains, vaginal dryness, brain fog, lack of focus, hair loss, dry skin, wrinkles that are really in your face, you feel it and see it.

Hot flashes, night sweats, low libido, joint muscle pains, vaginal dryness, brain fog, lack of focus, hair loss, dry skin, wrinkles that are really in your face, you feel it and see it. Urinary urgency like the feeling a need to urinate more. Panic attacks, headaches, weight gain, bloating, breast tenderness, dizziness, digestive issues, decreased muscle strength, heart palpitations, body odor, brittle nails, itchy skin, tinnitus, bleeding gums, tingling extremities, electric shocks, changes in taste, and burning mouth sensation. Those are the symptoms of perimenopause. It's quite a bit. It's quite a bit. And a woman can be experiencing three or four of those, 10 of those, and not correlated that it's perimenopause and go to a doctor and talk to a doctor about maybe one or two of those and then talk to a different doctor about a couple more. It's very easy for women to get dismissed when they talk about these symptoms. And there's very few doctors that are saying, you're in perimenopause. And here's some things we can do to help. Help me understand that. How's that possible? Is it women going to male doctors or even female doctors? Both. Both. I think that culturally, and I've said this before, perimenopause and menopause has not been honored for women. I think the generations before us suffered silently. And again, Gen X women are not. And I think that women are now forcing the issue when they go in to talk to their doctors. But I think if you're suffering from panic attacks, all of a sudden at 42 or 40 or 38, you may see a doctor and they may then just prescribe you something for that, not knowing, well, there's other things going on. So like give you a Xanax, but not look at it more holistically. Yes. Yeah. Because

they may then just prescribe you something for that, not knowing, well, there's other things going on. So like give you a Xanax, but not look at it more holistically. Yes. Yeah. Because perimenopause can start in your mid 30s or as late as your early 50s. So thyroid disease can hit women. The average time is between 30 and 50. And the average time a woman could end up in perimenopause is in her mid 30s to early 50s. You could have the perfect storm here of Hashimoto's disease and as a result thyroid disease and perimenopause and still have no idea that's what's happening to you. And there could be many women suffering all these different symptoms and they don't know that's what it is. And so they're not getting the help they are. They should be. And like me, I did finally get help for my thyroid disease, but didn't know I was in perimenopause. I could have gone on hormone replacement therapy much earlier. And it would have fixed a lot of issues I went through in my 40s that I was trying to cope with through alcohol. I was using alcohol to cope with a lot of the stuff I was going through because of perimenopause because I had treated the thyroid disease and I was still having a lot of these symptoms we just talked about and a lot of it affects you mentally. And you also, I wasn't losing the weight, right? Well, that was perimenopause. So fixing my thyroid disease, sure, I wasn't as exhausted, but I still, no matter what I did, all the right things, all the right things. When do you think you went into perimenopause? I think I hit perimenopause. If I had the number 42 keeps popping up for me. So I think around 42. And yeah, and if you look at pictures of me, you'll see my early 40s. I look different than I do in my late 40s.

perimenopause. If I had the number 42 keeps popping up for me. So I think around 42. And yeah, and if you look at pictures of me, you'll see my early 40s. I look different than I do in my late 40s. And I can see it ravaged me. I can see it ravaged me. And I wish I could go back to that person and be like, let me help you. So again, why I'm bringing it up now on this podcast, because there's so many things you can do, right? So especially with perimenopause, if you're a candidate and you have a subscriber that will subscribe it for you, prescribe it, I should say, try hormone replacement therapy, estrogen, because when you're in perimenopause, your estrogen is going up and down, up and down. But you can still supplement with some estrogen to help regulate that progesterone helps significantly with sleep, significantly with sleep. And testosterone helps with low libido. It's one of the number one reasons. Doctors have different opinions on this. But one of the reasons is to help with libido. Right? It also gives you can give you that extra feeling like how men with their testosterone, you can feel just like you're supposed to do it in the morning, not at night, so it can affect your sleep because it just gives you like a little oomph. Um, it's all balancing. Do you think then the progesterone has been prescribed for sexual? No, testosterone purposes. Testosterone. Testosterone. I think I thought I thought you mean for men. No, no, I thought the progesterone was good for women to increase their libido or get it back. No, that's testosterone. Okay. Testosterone. So for me personally, I'll share I do an estrogen patch. I do testosterone cream and I take a progesterone pill. There are people that do the pellets. There are people that get

Testosterone. So for me personally, I'll share I do an estrogen patch. I do testosterone cream and I take a progesterone pill. There are people that do the pellets. There are people that get like shots in their belly. You know, there's I've chosen the route I've chosen for me personally, that's what I'm the most comfortable with. But every woman needs to choose what, you know, talk to her doctor, do your research, choose what's right for you. I did try the pellets. I'm more comfortable with the route I'm taking the the the hormone replacement therapy has been a game changer. It doesn't mean you're not experiencing perimenopausal, menopausal symptoms completely. It just helps you feel like yourself. And because once you get through perimenopause and you're in menopause, your estrogen has just gone down and everything. And so it helps you health wise, like estrogen protects your organs. It keeps the woman still healthy and um, it makes your you feel still like a person like who you are, I guess. Is that makes sense? Is do you have to be on that now the rest of your life? I know since right you have to write because it's basically your favorite. But the other things you just mentioned, are those lifetime prescriptions? You know, there's different opinions on that. Like I think traditionally doctors think, you know, once you're through menopause and your post menopause, you don't need to be on it anymore. But there's so many health benefits. Is that because historically generations are just waiting to die? Or is that, you know what I'm saying? This sort of, yeah, I mean, right. So there's a lot of opinions that women staying on estrogen, like into the their elderly years benefit them still significantly health wise,

saying? This sort of, yeah, I mean, right. So there's a lot of opinions that women staying on estrogen, like into the their elderly years benefit them still significantly health wise, like it helps with their heart health, it helps with their brain health, it helps with their organs. So I think I wouldn't be surprised if we see it's more normal for women for doctors to keep women on it if they want. There's our dog again. But and I have no plans. I have going off of it anytime soon. The progesterone, especially because it helps with sleep. The average age to hit perimenopause is 47, right? And it can last four to 10 years. And that can vary. But then you roll right into menopause, so then once you hit menopause, you're so menopause means you haven't had a period for 12 consecutive months, then you're in menopause, your estrogen is pretty much. I will say for me, something I should disclose is four years ago, five years ago, sorry, I had a hysterectomy. I kept my ovaries, but I had my uterus and my tubes taken out. The reason for that is because I had horrendous fibroids. And it got to the point where I was bleeding all the time, to the point where I was anemic. And that also affected so that I was 49, right? I was 49. So that was towards the end of my 40s. But I had been suffering from the fibroids for gosh, I would say at least three years, four years, I was suffering from the bleeding, the intense bleeding. I'm laughing. I don't want to get shot at here, but I'm laughing because men could never handle this. Everything you just described, I'm like, Oh God, it's good to be a guy. Men could never, no, they couldn't. But no, so because of the fibroids, I was having such heavy bleeding that I was anemic, it was

like, Oh God, it's good to be a guy. Men could never, no, they couldn't. But no, so because of the fibroids, I was having such heavy bleeding that I was anemic, it was affecting. There was times I was in bed and I couldn't get out because I had such horrible cramps. So when I was a kid and I had my period, I would get such horrible cramps. I would have to leave school sometimes. I would have to have muscle relaxers. I think that was hormone related. This was like that. It was so bad. And I would be weak. I wouldn't be able to participate in as many things. It was affecting my life. I could have done an ablation, but that's where they burn the inside of your uterus basically. And you stop bleeding. The risk there is if it stops working after a couple of years, you still have to get a hysterectomy. I just went for the hysterectomy. But I wanted, I said, keep my ovaries. If there's nothing wrong with them, keep my ovaries. I don't want to go into menopause yet. Not knowing I was already in perimenopause. Because even then I still, five years ago, I didn't know what I know now. Yeah. But I still wanted to hold on to natural hormones as long as possible. So for me, I won't have any proof of not having a period for 12 consecutive months. That's my point. For me, I will know I'm in menopause when I don't really have any estrogen anymore through lab work. And I believe my last lab work showed I'm in menopause. I'm in menopause. And I'm 54. So I'm in menopause now. How long does that last? So then post menopause is like a whole other thing with your hormones. I need to research that more. But at some point, something happens with your hormones and then you're considered postmenopausal. But I can't tell you what that is. What does that

with your hormones. I need to research that more. But at some point, something happens with your hormones and then you're considered postmenopausal. But I can't tell you what that is. What does that mean to be postmenopausal? Then you're just like, you're just done like you're done. I don't think there's any more hormonal fluctuations. And you're just now like, in your elderly years. That's not true. But I've not totally looked into this, but testosterone replacement therapy, right? TRT. HRT, hormone replacement therapy. Oh, you're talking about, sorry, sorry, sorry. Yeah. One of the things is like, once you do it, you got to always do it. Like you have to always be on it or else, you know, you'll it's not good. It sounds like everything you just described means you're on this stuff for the foreseeable future forever, maybe. Yeah. I mean, I'm going to stay on as long as I possibly can. Because it's been so beneficial for my life. And by treating my thyroid disease, and by getting on HRT, and by cutting out alcohol, and by changing my diet and supplementing, that has all allowed me to have the energy to exercise regularly. Yeah. So it's all connected. And then when I exercise regularly, I sleep better. The sleep's a big one. Yeah. Especially once you hit midlife, at least for women. You can't cut corners anymore, like when you were raising young children and because women are used to going without sleep, women are used to getting like three or four hours sleep and going to work all day. It's just they've been used, they've been in the fight or flight grinding through. When you hit midlife, you have to care for your sleep, because it's also related to brain health. They say like when you sleep, your brain cleans itself in a way you

grinding through. When you hit midlife, you have to care for your sleep, because it's also related to brain health. They say like when you sleep, your brain cleans itself in a way you have to give your brain that chance. So read something about that the other day that when you sleep, there's some type of cleansing or draining rejuvenation within your brain, and probably your lymphatic system, that it only happens when you sleep. Right. I don't remember what it was. Yeah, no, it's huge. Another thing I do for this, it just reminded me when I was thinking of sleep, because I do this sometimes before I go to sleep, is for my stress relief is breath work. I can't stress that one enough. Breath work, look up breath work. You know, sometimes it's just doing 10 to 15 deep breaths, take a deep breath, take six seconds to do it, breathe in through your nose, hold that for a few seconds, take six seconds to release it. There's something that happens when you breathe through your nose. It's like a chemical or something. I wish I would have looked that up. But when you breathe in through your nose, there's a chemical reaction that benefits your brain and your body. So they say to breathe in through your nose, but breath work is huge. You should read this book I have on them off. He's the kind of the godfather of the cold plunge. He's, he's really, you know, the one who kind of got it going and everything. He has a whole chapter or two on just breathing. Yeah, how beneficial it is. I mean, it's common sense, maybe it's not, but he's got a whole thing. I'll let you read it. It's pretty cool. Yeah, no, breath work is huge. And I use that now if I'm starting to feel stress, like in my car, wherever, I'll just take some real deep breaths. It's cleansing. It sounds

It's pretty cool. Yeah, no, breath work is huge. And I use that now if I'm starting to feel stress, like in my car, wherever, I'll just take some real deep breaths. It's cleansing. It sounds meditation. I'm not a good meditator. I try to meditate. I struggle quieting my brain. So I'd like to figure that out in the future and incorporate that I have not mastered that in any way, shape or form. But Pilates, yoga, walking, lifting weights. These are the exercises that really complement where women are midlife. And that along with cutting out or reducing alcohol, cutting out gluten, if you have reaction to dairy, limiting dairy, eating clean as you as clean as you can. And you have to watch your caloric intake. You just do. And it's very easy to overeat without realizing but really paying attention to if you want to lose weight, get one of those apps like MyFitnessPal or LoseIt. Put in your goal weight. Put in how much you want to lose each week. It'll tell you how many calories you can eat each day. You input what you eat and it helps you track where you're at. That's and if you exercise, you gain calories back. That's my favorite is I'll go on a walk and I just earned another 140 calories now I can eat. So that's a game changer. It helps you stay on track. Another big one. Stay consistent through the whole week. The weekend is not where you should fall off and let it all go. Your body doesn't know it's Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Your body needs to be healing seven days a week. You have to care for it seven days a week. Now, I'm not good on the sleep schedule as much on the weekends. I get enough sleep but sometimes I sleep in past our regular time but I'm okay with that. But Friday, you know, going out and having a bunch of drinks

the sleep schedule as much on the weekends. I get enough sleep but sometimes I sleep in past our regular time but I'm okay with that. But Friday, you know, going out and having a bunch of drinks it's just going to derail so many things. I'm not saying never do that. There's always time and a place for that. But treating the weekend as treat indulging on the weekend is not a reward. The reward is not indulging. I have a question on your diet. I'm an intermittent faster but I don't even call it that. It's just how I eat, right? I basically eat in six to eight hour window every day. You don't do that and you don't do it because I think you're managing your blood sugar and things like that but I think it's related to your thyroid. Can you talk a little bit about that? Because I'm more of a, like I say, I'm in a window of six to eight hours. I'm done. But you and I can eat a big meal whereas you'll want to go more measured. So what I found works for me. Yeah, because especially for a lot of women, if you let your sugars go too low, it raises your cortisol. It's creating stress. Is that related to the Hashimoto's for you or is that you think it because you're not diabetic, you're not pre-diabetic, you're nothing like that. Is it Hashimoto's related? I don't know. I don't know if it's Hashimoto's or it's just menopause or menopause or midlife but or it's just being a woman. But I know I've read this that when your sugars drop, it creates stress on your body and then naturally your cortisol goes up. So it's good to try to keep things even keel. So now when I take my thyroid meds in the morning, I don't eat for like an hour. But the first thing I have after that is celery juice. And then I'll go in and to have my quote unquote breakfast,

So now when I take my thyroid meds in the morning, I don't eat for like an hour. But the first thing I have after that is celery juice. And then I'll go in and to have my quote unquote breakfast, whatever I'm choosing in my coffee. I only have one cup of or I only have a cup of caffeinated coffee once a day. So when I hear you wake up and hit your pill bottle bottle. Yeah, that's what is that? Is that the sin, Freud and the what is it? Cidermilla. Cidermilla. That's the first two things you take. Then you wait an hour before you ingest anything. Well, yeah, typically what happens is you and I go on our walk. And then when we get back, I have my celery juice, which we have the juicer links, if anyone's curious about what juicer we use. Yeah, we've had it now for six years, seven years, and I use it every every day. And it wasn't expensive. Would you believe this, you can still buy that same model on Amazon? Really? Yeah. And it's I don't think it's that expensive. I don't know. It wasn't expensive when we bought it. But I don't think it's very reasonable. And it's going on because we started doing it before COVID. Right? I think so. Yeah. So we're going on, I think six years, almost every morning. So I do that. And then I wait like 30 minutes, 1530 minutes, and I have my my coffee. And I add the organ collagen peptides. scoop of that to help with hair, nails, it has probiotics that help with gut health, and it has 20 grams of protein. I add a little bit of cinnamon. And I add usually two tablespoons of nut pod, French vanilla, or some Caliphia coconut roasted coconut milk. And then I mix that up. We have an amazing mixer. It's it's so cool. You put it in and it mixes everything up. It's like a frother but not. We should link that

coconut roasted coconut milk. And then I mix that up. We have an amazing mixer. It's it's so cool. You put it in and it mixes everything up. It's like a frother but not. We should link that because that thing is cool. Yeah, we'll link that. And I have that. And then I have a chopstick, which is 10 grams of protein. And then my treat every day is a gluten free Bobo's PB and J across the bowl. They're 230 calories and the chopstick is like 80 maybe. Either way, that's my breakfast. I have it every day with my coffee. And it's having that Bobo's PB and J gluten free across bowls, probably one of the best parts of my day. And but I log that into my, my app, calorie app, you know, and then my I eat my biggest meal around three, three or four, all the salad. So I'll have like three cups of romaine, a quarter cup of shea parm, grilled chicken, and a tablespoon of olive oil. And then one hack I have is smoked bacon sea salt. You put that on anything and you feel like you're eating bacon. You can put that on anything. You can put that on cottage cheese. You could put it on hard boiled eggs. You could put that on pasta, anything smoked bacon, sea salt, you feel like you're eating bacon. And, you know, sometimes a lot of broccoli or beets. That's my big meal. And then I do like certain protein bars. And I know that sounds like nothing to people are like, Oh, her salads are big meal. But I will have other things to eat throughout the day. So probably every couple hours, I'm having something to every two to three hours. So I like the built bars. Those are like eating marshmallow. And the fulfill bars are like eating 100 grand candy bar. Those are really good. They're low in calories. Um, I always keep those on hand. And then there's a protein drink

eating marshmallow. And the fulfill bars are like eating 100 grand candy bar. Those are really good. They're low in calories. Um, I always keep those on hand. And then there's a protein drink that I found that does not have protein drinks a lot of times upset my stomach. This one does not upset my stomach. And I will link that I can't remember. But sometimes I'll have that. After we lift weights. What's the protein we use that protein? I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna say it because it's given them free advertising. Oh, that's not nice. It's transparent labs. Yeah. Way protein. Yeah, yeah. And that's that protein powders upset my stomach. See, my stomach's very sensitive. That's very good. And that does not upset my stomach. And I had creatine, a teaspoon of creatine. We I get frozen blueberries, frozen strawberries, frozen cherries at Costco. And we use that you eat those every day with your yogurt. And I use those in our smoothie. And I use lactose free whole milk in my smoothie. Cinnamon. So and then sometimes I'll have like a couple slices of cheddar cheese, and some gluten free almond flour crackers, and some fruit as like maybe I'll have that around like five or six. But I try to not eat heavy after six. That is my body does better. She were talking about timing. Yeah, my body does better. And my sleep does better. I sleep better if I don't eat anything heavy after six. So if you what if you don't eat after six, usually, everything you just talked about probably getting up at six or before. So your first five by seven, eight o'clock, maybe in the morning. Yeah, my first meal is like, if we're getting up during the school time, we're getting up, you know, by six. So yeah, I'm definitely having celery juice by 738. But summer is a little

morning. Yeah, my first meal is like, if we're getting up during the school time, we're getting up, you know, by six. So yeah, I'm definitely having celery juice by 738. But summer is a little later. So let's say I've had it by 830. Yeah, nine is my breakfast. And so yeah, I probably I know you're trying to figure out the timeframe. So I'm probably eating anywhere from 730 to six, eight to six. I don't know what timeframe that is. Well, it's semi intermittent fast. And it's almost a 1212 type of thing. Yeah, but I will say I will make my decaf coffee. And then I will do the ancient nutrition. I think it's called bone broth protein to chocolate. I'll do a scoop of that. That's 20 grams and it's bone broth. It's good for gut health. I'll add a little cinnamon to that and a little bit of my cream, the nut pod cream or the Caliphia. I will have that after six. I swear that's like a frequent dessert. It is because for me, I do I don't do decaf, but it's coffee, that bone broth with a little bit of cinnamon on top in that little whisking things we have. Yeah, it comes out and it's frothy. It's like it's straight up dessert. Yeah. Yeah, no, it is. And healthy. Yeah. And the frother makes a huge difference with all this stuff. But I will have that after six. And it's filling. Yeah. And if I'm really hungry, like let's say seven or eight hits and I'm hungry, I'll have one of my protein bars or I'll have maybe an apple and some cheese. Like I'm not I don't starve myself at all. And maybe my main meal at four or five is our traditional meal. Like the other day I made chicken, we had chicken peel off broccoli. I'll make a plate of that. So it's not always a salad, which I don't want to make it sound like that. If I'm cooking,

meal. Like the other day I made chicken, we had chicken peel off broccoli. I'll make a plate of that. So it's not always a salad, which I don't want to make it sound like that. If I'm cooking, I'll have whatever I made, but I have it earlier. Let's put it that way. If I haven't cooked a meal, then I'll have my quote unquote Caesar salad with chicken. And then later on the night, but I do and I do prefer going to bed with my stomach feeling a little empty. Yeah, yeah, you want to be part mostly digested or yes, further past 50% or something. Yes, yes. And there's these things called hoplark. They taste kind of like beer, but they're teas. And there's a chamomile one I get it at Whole Foods. And those help they're relaxing. Or I'll sometimes make hot chamomile tea, or I'll drink good night tea or stress relief tea. I do a scoop of the calm magnesium and water every night and I drink that before bed. And not before bed, I'll drink that in the evening. And then I also take fiber pills at night. That helps with constipation. So and that's not even going over my supplements, but I do take the fiber pills at night. And my progesterone. As far as my go to supplements, for sure, D3 with K2, I can't stress that enough, you have to have K2 with your D3, D3 with K2, you can get them together in one pill. I do turmeric, I do an eye supplement. And like I get that at Costco. And I do B12 drops. And I do a selenium. I wish I would have done selenium my whole life. I don't do that. What's the good what's the line? It is good for thyroid health. Not that I have much of a thyroid to save anymore. But I will say this if for anyone who is healthy and doesn't have thyroid issues, take selenium, because it's a preventative. Is it a restorative at all?

thyroid to save anymore. But I will say this if for anyone who is healthy and doesn't have thyroid issues, take selenium, because it's a preventative. Is it a restorative at all? If you're if you can't, I think it can be restorative. Yeah. So selenium is huge. And then there's other ones I will add in if I'm feeling it. But those are my grabbing them and taking those. So in addition to the magnesium at night and the fiber pills at night. So and then I changed my progesterone pads twice a week. And I do my testosterone cream in the morning. It's a whole thing. You're like a walking lab hero. You know, the whole thing. But it's working. And I also want to be clear. I don't want to make it sound like I don't eat a lot. I am eating through the day. I just don't eat. I don't like to overeat where I feel stuffed because I get bloated and my digestive tract reacts. I like to eat where I'm full and satisfied. But I'm not bloated. And I've given my body a time to digest everything. So I am eating. I'm just not overeating. Are you doing the ghee in your coffee regularly? I stopped doing that because I'm not fasting. I think that's more if you're fasting. I don't know. I stopped doing the ghee. Okay. I mean, I might add it in. But and then I try to stick with that on the weekends. There's this tick tocker. Her name's Brooke. I don't know her handle, but she always she's just broke. She's just broke. Okay, she's great. She talks about companion drinks. So if you she's like, you know, if you think you're hungry, or you want a snack, always have a companion drink like she'll get like a green tea with orange in the morning, or she'll make like, put stuff in her water or she'll get like a start a locale Starbucks drink, she'll get different

companion drink like she'll get like a green tea with orange in the morning, or she'll make like, put stuff in her water or she'll get like a start a locale Starbucks drink, she'll get different drinks throughout the day. And so you have your companion drink. And sometimes I'll think am I hungry and then I'll make like, like the hop lark tea, or I'll make a green tea, or I'll add coconut water and some pomegranate juice to my, my big Stanley. And I just I'll have something to spin drift, whatever. And I like, no, that satisfied me or I'll make that or I'll make that coffee that decaf coffee with the bone broth chocolate protein. Yeah. And that's like a dessert, like you said, and then I'm completely satisfied. It's a dessert. It's like 60 or 80 calories. Yeah. But getting back to this companion drink. Is that because if you fill yourself up with liquids, like a low calorie, even water, white water, they say drink a lot of water. That'll help you feel full. Is that kind of what? Yeah, it's so you don't overeat. It's so you manage your calories through the day. So maybe you want to grab food, but really might just be thirsty. Hydration, hydration, you know, and she also also always says, if you're hungry, if you're really hungry, I'll eat an apple or carrot, not saying instead of food, but really make sure what you're hungry. Yeah. Listen, my main focus is protein. Protein is my main focus. And fiber, fruits and vegetables. Those are my main focuses is the protein trying to get as close to I try to get 130 grams a day if I can. That's what I'm shooting for. If I get more than that, that's awesome. And then the fiber. But no, it's I have it down to a science to the point where when we've traveled, we usually dry most

That's what I'm shooting for. If I get more than that, that's awesome. And then the fiber. But no, it's I have it down to a science to the point where when we've traveled, we usually dry most places, I'll make the celery juice ahead of time and bring it with us. And I put it in the fridge, because that helps significantly with constipation too. It helps with gut health. It helps with hydration and it helps the constipation. And I think a lot of people are constipated and don't realize it. And a lot of bloat is because you're constipated. And then you realize you were constipated once you're not anymore. And you're like, Oh, because sometimes you feel thin everywhere except your belly and you're like, what's going on? Can you eat Chia at all? Or is it? Oh, Chia pudding is another thing I'll make, but I have to soak it overnight. Yeah. Everyone should be soaking their chia seeds. Do not take raw chia seeds. It's just going to cause havoc on your stomach, but I make it and I eat it the next day and I'm fine. So what I do is I maybe do like half a cup of whatever liquid of my choice and a teaspoon, a tablespoon of Chia seeds. And then I'll add a little bit of cinnamon and maybe a few drops of vanilla. And then I have that the next day. And that's something I might have at like seven o'clock at night if I'm hungry, but that helps with constipation. So that works its way through my body. I love Chia. Yeah. I'll just soak it in water. I'll do you like it with water. Yeah. Yeah. No, it's so good. Yeah. So, but I mean, even both of us are very particular now. It's just, it's what's helped us feel vibrant. I feel, I feel vibrant. Like an old man. I know. But as a result, I feel my best. And so, and I can tell if I deviate off of that,

very particular now. It's just, it's what's helped us feel vibrant. I feel, I feel vibrant. Like an old man. I know. But as a result, I feel my best. And so, and I can tell if I deviate off of that, Oh yeah, I can feel it. But there's things like, I don't eat the same thing every day. Like yesterday, I came home from Costco with these, I wish I remember the name, but they're like Parmesan crisps that they're not their pepperoni pizza crisps. And for 15 of them, it's 13 grams of protein. I ate those and I felt like I had a slice of pepperoni pizza. Like if you're craving pizza, my craving was completely gone. That's one of my hacks. There's lots of hacks you can do where you're like, you're really just craving something, but it doesn't mean you have to eat that thing. You can find something that's going to kind of replicate that. And then even if I'm really craving ice cream, I'll have some non-dairy ice cream. I can't tell you how I don't feel like crap after non-dairy ice cream versus dairy ice cream. Yeah. You know, it's those little decisions. You're really trying to keep your gut in order. Yeah. If you can keep your gut in order, then your body kind of stays level and the gut and the brain are connected. I never really connected. That's not the, I never put as much emphasis in the gut until recently, probably like the last six months. I'm so dialed in now that I eat basically the same thing every day, except dinner. That varies a little bit. But to your point, if I eat too much, I feel like I just can feel it for a few days. Yeah. It's well, they say your gut and brain are literally connected. Yeah. They're connected. So if your gut is off, your brain is off. There's a lot of like anxiety and stuff that can be related to

say your gut and brain are literally connected. Yeah. They're connected. So if your gut is off, your brain is off. There's a lot of like anxiety and stuff that can be related to what you're eating and ingesting and depression. Like there's a whole, there's a whole studies on that. But, um, if you keep that gut in line, you're, you're feeling pretty good. You really are. It really sucks though, because there's so many good tasting foods out there that just aren't beneficial. Like, you know, me, I could wreck a pint of Ben and Jerry's. I love it. But now I feel it for a few days. Yeah. Pizza pizza's another. I love pizza. It's just not really not that good for you. Well, there's the whole thing about, um, the more carbs you eat, the more carbs you want. Oh, no doubt. It triggers, you know, you have pizza and then the next day you wake up, you want to have more. Yeah, exactly. And I'm not saying for a few days, that's the problem. Like if you have some ice cream, it's like three days later, you're still craving it, which is really crazy, which makes you question what's being put into our food. Yeah. That gets us hooked like that. Right. Yeah. And if the more processed you go, the, the further away from, um, healthy eating you're getting. Yeah. It's true. It's true. And again, I'm not saying we're restrictive eaters because I don't want to trigger anyone here, but not in an eating disorder way. No, no, no. This is not disordered eating healthy eating. It's healthy, clean eating. We are getting enough calories. We are getting our nutrients. Um, it's just that we're intentionally eating every time we eat, every time we eat, it's with intention. Now I'm not saying we don't go out when we do go out, we enjoy, but what I might do is eat half of

every time we eat, every time we eat, it's with intention. Now I'm not saying we don't go out when we do go out, we enjoy, but what I might do is eat half of that meal and bring the other half home. I consciously, sure. I could eat the whole unless like I haven't eaten hardly anything all day and I'm starving. I mean, in the meal, but I'm eating half, you know, we are a big, we're one of those families that orders drinks, appetizers, and dessert. When we go out, we order the whole thing. We aren't doing that as much. And let's go to the kids with us. Um, we're just ordering our meal. And so there's like little tweaks, little changes. Now I know this annoys you, but, um, I, I like diet Coke and I'll have it as a treat. Sometimes I know it's not good for me. I know it's chemicals. I, but here that's an area where I consciously and intentionally making that decision. I enjoy having no. So, but I don't drink a ton of them, but sometimes if I'm craving a diet Coke, that is one of my companion drinks. And if it helps me get over the craving of maybe I want to drink wine that night, but it's not an appropriate night to drink wine. I'd rather save my wine drinking maybe for the 4th of July. So that might be my next time I'm having wine. You know, I had some on Memorial Day. This is how I drink. It's a special, quote unquote special times, but I still don't overindulge. So, and this may be more details. I was going to go into this in a different episode, but we just started talking about food, but that is kind of how we eat. And even when we go out or on vacation, one thing we do on vacation is we try to always get in some form of movement. So whether we're walking everywhere or whether we go down to the hotel gym and just get a workout

or on vacation, one thing we do on vacation is we try to always get in some form of movement. So whether we're walking everywhere or whether we go down to the hotel gym and just get a workout in. And again, it's to get those calories, those extra calories, because we know we're going to relax and enjoy. So we go on a walk or go on a hike. Then if you go out to dinner and enjoy, you don't feel it. It's not, it's not feeling guilty. It's that I don't want to feel it physically. I don't want to wake up the second day of my vacation and feel bloated. Yeah. Cause you, you, you feel great the first day you get there and everyone's like, woo hoo. This is so much fun. And then sometimes you may overindulge and then you wake up the next day and you need to wear a bikini or a bathing suit or a dress that you wanted to wear pants and you're bloated and you're like, I'm on the second day of my vacation. I feel like crap. So it's, it's doing those little things. So you feel vibrant every day. If you're going to splurge, you kind of do what we did in St. Augustine. We were great. And then we had a big dinner, a couple of cocktails and, you know, last day. Yeah. The last day we did that our last vacation. We didn't drink at all until the last day then because we don't drink that much and we mistakenly drink how we used to. We got very drunk. I haven't drank since too drunk. We had two martinis in a very short amount of time. That was, I don't know what we were thinking. And then we went to another bar and for some reason order more drinks. I don't even know at that point. It's funny how when you don't drink and then you drink again, you can't drink how you used to. You become like Frank the Tank. Yeah. You just, yeah, it was not good.

at that point. It's funny how when you don't drink and then you drink again, you can't drink how you used to. You become like Frank the Tank. Yeah. You just, yeah, it was not good. Thankfully we were walking everywhere and we also hadn't eaten very much. So, but I still will have sometimes gluten-free pizza. Like I still have stuff. All if we order nachos, I'll have some of the chips, something I'm not going to eat, but it's all of that balancing. And especially with thyroid disease, especially with perimenopause, menopause, it all matters. Every decision, when you sleep, what you eat, how you exercise, how often you exercise, what supplements you take, what medications you take, it all is like putting Humpty Dumpty back together again. And it requires all those pieces. So you still feel like you're living your full, vibrant, authentic life. Because I'm not willing to give up anything. I want to keep going as strong as I was. I'm going stronger now than I was 15 years ago. And it's because of this conscious effort, but I want to still, I want to go strong into these, the rest of my fifties and into my sixties and into my seventies. And I think a lot of Gen Xers especially feel that way. I think a lot of them are viewing this next part of our life as just a continuation, not in any way, an end to anything, but our, we have to pay attention to our health. And for women, especially it's being conscious of keeping on top of your thyroid health. Well, before you go into that, I have a question because I put just a circle back to the period of menopause, menopause, the Hashimoto's, the thyroid. And you mentioned how you wish you kind of, I don't know if you use this terms, but you wish you knew, if you knew back then what you know now,

Hashimoto's, the thyroid. And you mentioned how you wish you kind of, I don't know if you use this terms, but you wish you knew, if you knew back then what you know now, you would have done things differently. So what would that be? What would your advice be? Because I don't think doctors are saying, okay, now that you're 30 woman, we're going to check you for your thyroid. We're going to check you for the perimenopause, but there's no, I don't know what the checkup is probably like a paps or something. Right. So what would you tell people to other women, maybe younger, I guess, right? Coming up, what would you tell them to do? What checks would you have them go out, ask the doctor to do? I would ask for an ultrasound of my thyroid every year. And if they won't do it every other year, I wish I would have started that at 25. And I would say if, if you need to say something for them to do it, say you think you feel a nodule or say you feel something when you swallow or say you are feeling fatigued and brain fog and you've all of a sudden gained weight, like just say what you need to say to get that ultrasound. And then also no, no question have your thyroid lab work done. And not just your T3 and T4, but do your T3 free there. If you read, if you Google it, there's like four or five different things that you can get tested, not just your T3 and your T4. Your iron levels should be tested and your T3 free. And there's another one. So Google that and ask specifically say, I want all of these things. I have a question. Yeah. The type of doctor, because I don't think I remember your gyno didn't do these things and was not necessarily in line with it being thyroid. Right. So did you, it feels like you had more of a

because I don't think I remember your gyno didn't do these things and was not necessarily in line with it being thyroid. Right. So did you, it feels like you had more of a breakthrough when you went to the endo. And if you can get, I mean, it depends on your insurance. If you can get to an endocrinologist, if you're, if it's thyroid, your doctor, your primary is going to refer you over to an endocrinologist, start a relationship even just to get a baseline. That's where I was going to go. Get a baseline, see them once a year, just to get a baseline, because that way, if and when something happens, you already have your doctor set up and they know your history. So an endocrinologist, I think every woman should have one. A lot of people think it's just for diabetics. Now it's for thyroid health. And so be on top of your thyroid health, research the symptoms of Hashimoto's and thyroid disease. Research that, research the symptoms of perimenopause, because perimenopause can hit you at 35. And we just had a listener comment, it hit her like a train. And that's the best way to describe it. It hits you like a train. And so research thyroid disease, research perimenopause, prepare yourself, be proactive, write down all the symptoms. And so if and when things start happening, then you can get to the root cause of it. And you're not going to doctors and having them band dating the symptoms of either thyroid disease or perimenopause. And keep in mind, thyroid disease and perimenopause can hit simultaneously, as it did me. And you can feel like you're losing your mind, you're losing your body, you're losing your life, you don't know what's going on. And so my advice to younger women is be proactive, do your research on thyroid

like you're losing your mind, you're losing your body, you're losing your life, you don't know what's going on. And so my advice to younger women is be proactive, do your research on thyroid disease and perimenopause. So if and when these things hit you, perimenopause is going to hit you. But if thyroid disease does, you're ready. Arm yourself. Because I went into it blindly. And I think I most Gen X women went into it blindly. So just research, research, research and talk to your doctors. And if you're not happy with your doctor, and if they're dismissing you, find a new doctor. That's another piece of advice. I'm telling you, you just need to eat right and exercise. No, that's not it. You need a doctor that's really hearing you and preferably a doctor that has extensive knowledge in thyroid disease. And also another doctor that would be your OB for perimenopause and menopause. There's also hormone specialists. The OB. The OB GYN. I think I called it the GYN, right? People call it that. Yeah. So that would be my advice. If I could go back, I would have researched the hell out of these two things. And then been ready. It's like arming yourself, like, okay, I'm ready for whatever's gonna hit me. I think that's true for anything though, you're dealing with the medical community on you've got to go in arm. Thankfully, you know, with between AI, Google, others. Yeah, there's at least information out there. Yes, you can go in and be dangerous. But then they know you've come shown up prepared. And they will at least address your concern. Yes. Yeah, you be your own advocate. But for women, women need to know you have a much higher chance of getting an autoimmune disease, not just because of hormones, not just because of

your concern. Yes. Yeah, you be your own advocate. But for women, women need to know you have a much higher chance of getting an autoimmune disease, not just because of hormones, not just because of genetics, but because of the stress you're under. And be and you need to also do the things we talked about, start making self care and stress relief practices, a regular part of your life now. And that could help prevent possibly getting an autoimmune disease. But you are at a higher chance of getting it. And so educate yourself on autoimmune disease. And the symptoms. I have one last question, actually. Were you ever misdiagnosed with something besides Hashimoto's? Or like, I get the whole rest more exercise more that thing. But did you ever I don't remember you ever getting a diagnosis before you've had you've got a thyroid issue. Is there ever a misdiagnosis, I guess would be the question. No, I mean, not that I know of, you know, I don't recall either, you know, I think personally, I think, you know, my hormones fluctuate a lot through my life. I had very bad PMS. I think now it's called, it's like pre mental disorder or something like I think I had that the bad one. It wasn't called that then. That's a hormone related fluctuation thing. So I think that there would have been ways to naturally regulate my hormones. There's there's supplements you can take. Yeah. There's creams you can put on your body natural. Yeah. At 1617 18, you can do that. Yeah. If I would have known about how to regulate my hormones naturally, even through my teens and through my 20s and 30s. I would have definitely done that, you know, and, and that would have been proactive too. So and I think that should be talked about more. Yeah. Women's health in general

through my 20s and 30s. I would have definitely done that, you know, and, and that would have been proactive too. So and I think that should be talked about more. Yeah. Women's health in general should be talked about more, you know, and there's things where if men if something helps men, it's funny how it gets it gets attention, attention, funding, um, all of a sudden it's available real fast. Uh, for women, it's, I don't know. It's an interesting thing because I don't disagree, but we don't seem to have near the ailments or hormonal shifts like you guys do and all the various plumbing internal plumbing things that go around. That's why it's even more ironic. You guys, that's what I'm saying. You guys have left problems. So the few problems you have get addressed right away. It's a good thing, but yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You know, what's interesting is that I'm the younger women and, um, or the women younger than me, I should say, but especially Gen Z they're very conscious of their phases through their cycle, their menstrual cycle. So, um, I didn't even know about this when I was their age at all, but there's, um, of course menstruation, right? And then there's the ludil phase that happens between on ludil, ludil. Okay. Not lunar. L U T E A L. Okay. That happens between ovulation and the start of your period. That's your ludil phase. So that's where you maybe will have PMS. That's where they exercise differently. That's where they're not supposed to exercise hard because it helps with that ludil phase, the hormones and what's going on with their body. Um, that's where they may do Pilates. They may do yoga. They may walk. That's an improvement in women's health because I've never heard of that before. But I think this is women who've

that's where they may do Pilates. They may do yoga. They may walk. That's an improvement in women's health because I've never heard of that before. But I think this is women who've pulled all this together. Yeah, there's an app, there's an app and women can chart it. So, and then there's certain foods they can eat during their ludil phase. Like I think salmon's one of them, certain, certain, certain nutrients that help that phase. Okay. So you have ovulation, you have the ludil phase, then you have menstruation. And then the period from the start of your period to ovulation is called the follicle, follicular phase. I'm going to say it right. Follicular phase. And that's a whole different phase. And you can, uh, I think there's food you can eat during that phase. And so these young women have the app. Yeah. They'll say, um, I'm in my ludil phase. So I'm not going to be doing that right now. Yeah. Our daughter has said that. Um, or I'm, you know, I'm doing this, I'm doing that. It's amazing. Well, I think, you know, in, in tune with themselves, you know, I'm a big evolutionist type of person. And I think as more women have become doctors, they've paid attention to more women, you know, greater health issues related to women. So it's a wonderful thing. Oh, yeah. It's only going to keep getting better. Yeah. But I think it's not even just the medical community. I think it's in general, it's in general, women have been proactive and, um, and, and technology and, and social media and all of it has, has aided women in that area. So maybe where the, where the medical community has failed women, um, women have kind of taken things into their own hands. Yeah. It's wonderful. But I, so I think especially Gen Z women, they're going to be on it. I

where the medical community has failed women, um, women have kind of taken things into their own hands. Yeah. It's wonderful. But I, so I think especially Gen Z women, they're going to be on it. I definitely think they will, but I just want to make sure that they know that women know not just Gen Z women, not just younger millennial women, women my age two that may be suffering and don't know, um, and autoimmune disease is very common for women to get. And so before, if you're having symptoms bandated and they're not getting better, the root cause could be an autoimmune disease. Yeah. So research the different ones. Thyroid disease is very common, but again, lupus, there's a lot of other ones too. Rheumatoid arthritis is one, um, research and, and really look at things and then find a physician or find someone, a functional doctor, someone that will listen to you because again, through all the steps I'm doing now, um, and it takes all the different things I feel like I did before all this happened to me. I finally feel like I did before all this happened to me. Is there any research on like either CBD or THC and, and its impact on thyroid or Hashimoto's? I don't know about on that. I do know, of course, on anxiety and depression, which are some of the, um, symptoms of thyroid disease and perimenopause. Um, CBD obviously, um, with calming effects when you take it internally, the creams are good for muscle aches and pains. Frozen shoulders are very common thing for women with perimenopause. I had that for, um, probably a year and a half. It's where you can bear it. You can only lift your, your arms. So, and I remember getting a massage and she couldn't, I couldn't move it because I was in pain. She's like, what fix that was it? The

where you can bear it. You can only lift your, your arms. So, and I remember getting a massage and she couldn't, I couldn't move it because I was in pain. She's like, what fix that was it? The Cairo or the, no, that's just time. My body's moving on to the next thing. But I did use CBD, um, like topically and that helped. Um, and as far as THC, I don't know, however, medical marijuana helps with certain symptoms, but I don't think there's been any studies. Not, not directly related to Hashimoto's or the thyroid, but more of the maybe anti-anxiety and things like that. Yeah. Like some of the symptoms. So ignore our dogs. She's crying to get out of the room. Um, so yeah, but as far as that, I don't know, I CBD, I would say I did try that for a while for relaxing. Um, and it did, it did help before we close. Do you have any other advice or food hacks or anything like that advice you'd want to, that we haven't covered yet? Um, I, I mean, just thinking about, I just thought of some food hacks actually, when you said that. So, um, one thing is I take plain yogurt. I do whole milk yogurt, but you could do any 2% nonfat, whatever. And, um, I add, you know, that PB powder, that peanut butter powder. Yeah. Yeah. I get it at Costco. I get a lot of, that's another hack. I get a lot of things at Costco, but you can get it anywhere. Target, Walmart, grocery store, whatever. Amazon. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um, I add two tablespoons of that PB powder and, um, I stir it up and then I'll dip, um, like strawberries in it or, um, blueberries or apples. And that's really good because you get the protein from the PB powder and from the yogurt. And then you have the fruit. And then I'll also take yogurt, plain yogurt, and, um, there's ranch seasoning you

really good because you get the protein from the PB powder and from the yogurt. And then you have the fruit. And then I'll also take yogurt, plain yogurt, and, um, there's ranch seasoning you can buy. So it's just a ranch powder. You can either get the packets or you can actually get like a shaker and, um, I'll add ranch seasoning to it. So you, it almost, you mix it. So it almost tastes like ranch dressing and I'll dip carrot sticks, any vegetable tomatoes, celery. Um, and that's a way to get that protein. And see, that's another thing I may eat in between breakfast and like my bigger meal. I may have that. Um, I'm always, I'll do, um, cottage. I'll also put that yogurt with ranch seasoning sometimes on my salad and it's like a dressing and I'll do cottage cheese, um, on top of, right. I know some people hear rice cakes and they're like, ah, diet culture, eighties, but I do like rice cakes because, um, sometimes I'm craving bread or, um, something like that. But I don't want to eat as many carbs and rice cakes satisfies that need for me. And I'll put cottage cheese on it. And then maybe some salami or Turkey, some tomato, some everything bagel seasoning. And I'll have like two rice cakes with cottage cheese and some meat. And that's a lot of protein. I feel like I had a sandwich, you know, it's that feeling of what am I craving right now? And how can I hack it so that I cut down the calories, but I raised the protein and I cut down the carbs. I'm not an anti-carb person. I do eat carbs, but I, um, manage them because I'll honestly, my gut does so much better either with no grains or low grains. So if I eat too many grains, I feel a reaction in my gut. Same with popcorn. I, I have to be careful with popcorn. I can

better either with no grains or low grains. So if I eat too many grains, I feel a reaction in my gut. Same with popcorn. I, I have to be careful with popcorn. I can eat some, but if I eat too much corn in general, like I kind of have a reaction too. So I've learned over the, over the years, what I can and cannot tolerate. And then I try to just tweak it. So it's all those little, those little tweaks, I guess, but just off the top of my head, I was thinking, um, another one is you could take hard boiled eggs, cut them in half, put cottage cheese on them. It's always trying to find ways to, how can I put, have more protein in this meal? How can I incorporate protein and then if I, possible some fruits and vegetables into this meal, that's become my new focus. So, and that's again, well, it helps you eat less by default. Yeah. You're full longer. Yeah. You're totally full longer. The, uh, just to be clear too, on that PB powder, it is actually peanut butter protein powder. Right. So they take all a lot of the fat out a lot of the other things. And it's a very simple, you know, high protein, highly dense protein powder that tastes like peanut butter stuff scrubbing. It's really good. It is. It is. So if anyone goes to Costco, um, I highly advise, maybe someday I'll just do my cost. You know what? I should do a episode of video and take Costco, just film me shopping at Costco and everything I get, but, that's where I get almost everything that we consume as Costco. It is more economical for us to do it that way, but you can get it at Target, Walmart, grocery store, Amazon, almost all. They don't have my yogurt there though. We have to go to Whole Foods for Brian's yogurt. That's the one, the one place for that. And for the hop lark tea.

store, Amazon, almost all. They don't have my yogurt there though. We have to go to Whole Foods for Brian's yogurt. That's the one, the one place for that. And for the hop lark tea. Again, if anybody likes beer, check out hop lark tea. There's also hop water. Like there's a lot of hop sparkling waters that are coming out. They're non-alcohol. It gives you that beer taste. And then the hop lark has a few different ones. One of them is chamomile and it's kind of relaxing. So that's kind of nice. If I'm craving like on a Saturday night and I don't want to derail everything or Friday or, you know, whatever summertime you're in the pool, you're at the beach, I bring some hop sparkling waters and I drink those and I am more than satisfied. I'm really enjoying my tea. I have my green tea with one little Citra hops. And you made some yourself. Yeah. So good. I want to try that. Yeah. So, and that's a companion drink. Again, I highly suggest also get yourself a big water bottle. It doesn't have to be Stanley, but I call that my emotional support water bottle, but then make your companion drinks, you know, make, if you have to drink decaf coffee, that's hydrating. It doesn't have caffeine in it. I drink decaf green tea every day. I have some of that because green tea is also very good for you. It's good for your metabolism. And then I'll have, if I'm really craving something, I'll have some decaf coffee with some of my creamer and it fills me up. So it's sad as it doesn't fill me up. It satisfies that craving. It's the difference between knowing when you're hungry and when you're craving. Yeah. The food noise, two different things. And again, not to make this talk about diet and food, but it's, that is so related to healing

between knowing when you're hungry and when you're craving. Yeah. The food noise, two different things. And again, not to make this talk about diet and food, but it's, that is so related to healing and continuing to heal thyroid disease and the menopause. I also forgot to mention, I was borderline PCOS as well. Polycystic ovarian syndrome where I had cysts on my ovaries and I would get an ultrasound of my ovaries every year for the last five years, because there were cysts on them and then I'd have to go back and the cysts would finally go away. Thankfully, the last two years I've been cysts free, but that also causes bloating. That also causes insulin resistance. Insulin resistance is a whole nother thing. So doing all these things has helped with that. I don't think I have it anymore because it helps so much. And I have to do this. If I deviate off of this, then my symptoms will return. So I have, it's almost like I don't have a choice. Yeah. So it's not just, I have lost weight. I have, my inflammation has gone down, but in order to fill, live a full authentic life, I have to do these things. And so I am someone who is living with thyroid disease and living with menopause and feel better than I did 15 years ago. And I'm really happy about, I feel like that's a huge accomplishment. And I'm actually really proud of it because I had to put in so much work to get here and so much research and challenge a lot of norms. But again, I've never felt better. So yeah. And for any of our listeners, please, if you have any questions, if you're going through this or anything at all, please, please leave a comment. You know, we love to hear from you, but if there's anything I can answer for anybody, I, I'm, I'm here because if I can just help one woman

please leave a comment. You know, we love to hear from you, but if there's anything I can answer for anybody, I, I'm, I'm here because if I can just help one woman or one person, like I said, men do get thyroid disease, not as common, but if I can help one woman with this, then, you know, I'm happy. Yeah. So that's cool. That's my journey with thyroid disease and perimenopause and now menopause. And then how I'm treating a lot of it with all the different things, the medications, the food, the supplements, the exercising, the stress relief. It's all a recipe in order for me to live this life the way I'm living it now. Well, I was going to say the, the way I think you're living today versus where you were 10 years ago is very different. Way more, have it way more under control, healthier energy, everything. It's actually amazing. I figured it out. Yeah, you figured it out. A lot of tribulations, but I figured it out and it's still the code changes. Maybe. Yeah, exactly. Cause as you get older, you know, things, and again, that's paying attention to those nuances. So now I do now I do. And that's how I know I'm about to go on a flare up because I pay attention to every nuance thing that's going on with me. So a lot of trials and tribulations, a lot of investigating sleep is huge, you know, all of that. But I feel like, okay, I got this and it took a long time to get here, but, and that's why I'd love to see women younger than me not have to go through it to figure it out. I'd love for them to know what they're heading into instead of going through it and then figuring out afterwards. So hopefully this reaches some young women. If anyone's looking for resources on thyroid disease and perimenopause menopause, hopefully they

through it and then figuring out afterwards. So hopefully this reaches some young women. If anyone's looking for resources on thyroid disease and perimenopause menopause, hopefully they find us and this will help in some way. So that's, that's our, that's my message about my journey. And again, love to hear from you. And we'll see you next time. Bye.