THE RANT

Have you heard about autoimmune disease and what havoc it can wreak in the body?! If you are an adult in the US then you have definitely touched on the subject if not already living with its effects. BUT I’m not just talking about the internal organ tissue well-being being compromised that comes with most disease. I am talking about an external manifestation of the disease where not only your weight is being affected, but your facial structure, the hue and texture of hair, skin and nails, the shape of your brows, the accumulation of fat in certain unexpected areas that becomes more and more stubborn despite of your efforts to exercise harder, your mind’s alertness, your desire and willingness to achieve, your positive disposition for all things in life, etc

It can be extremely frustrating when you become witness to everything about your appearance changing right before your eyes and there is nothing you can do about it! NOTHING! You can’t explain why your skin feels so dry and your hair so lifeless and your eyes are bulging and your hands keep shaking and you are constantly exhausted but your heart keeps racing… or in other cases, your face grows round and your hair wispy and your skin coarse and your voice hoarse and your waistline wider and you’re still exhausted and can’t find the strength and motivation within to make the slightest difference in all of this.

There is a feeling of defeat that is impossible to combat because let’s face it – you are on the losing end of this vicious game from any and all vantage points.

YOUR BODY CHOSE TO ATTACK ITSELF!!! – and no one knows why!

THE FACTS

Please note that a lot more women than men suffer from thyroid disorder; one article quoted 10x as many women than men, and the autoimmune disease usually affects women between 20-40 years old.

• More than 12% of the US population will develop a thyroid disorder in their lifetime
• An estimated 20 million Americans have some form of thyroid disease
• Up to 60% of those people are unaware of their condition
• 1 in 8 women will develop a thyroid disorder during her lifetime

THE PLAN

Is it an epidemic?! It certainly seems that way when the conditions I am referring to above are namely Graves’ Disease and Hashimoto’s (both of which I have been “lucky” to suffer through) and they are so widespread especially in women of western civilization that it makes seem like a true epidemic. The ugliest of the symptoms overlap whereas the others are polar opposites of one another, just as the two conditions are supposed to be.

Although I do want to emphasize that when I say “lucky” I’m not being entirely sarcastic. I mean to say lucky to a certain extent because it forced me to get educated and vigilant and persistent about learning, fighting and creating small victories. The battle is yet to be won however, and it takes a good support system to accompany that willingness born out of sheer desire to want to be healthier, calmer, sweeter, more beautiful. And this is why I thought it was really important to shed some light on the whole dim background of thyroid disorder and many other hormone related disorders and hopefully share some of my own small fights and victories.

I really dig structure…  so here goes 🙂

Step 1 – Come to terms with the reality that you may never know the “why”

Step 2 – Educate yourself

Step 3 – Learn to love yourself…unconditionally

Step 4 – Let that love inspire you

Step 5 – Leap into action >>> Rebuild Your Body! Reclaim Your Mind! Recover Your Soul! >>> RECREATE YOUR BEAUTY!

THE LOOP – BREAK IT!                                                                         

Recognize that there’s a feedback mechanism to most things we do and feel which lead to these downward spirals that require much more time and effort to reverse: when a process in the body is broken you have no energy, when you lack energy you put little effort into taking care of yourself, when you stop taking care of yourself you no longer feel beautiful, when you don’t feel beautiful you become insecure, when you feel insecure you become more stressed, when you feel more stressed the body continues to break down even more…and so on and so forth. It may seem like it’s out of our control – NOT TRUE! It is within your control, you have to start with baby steps and heal yourself