I got a comment on Instagram last week that I have not been able to stop thinking about. I had posted a carousel about my non-negotiables with Hashimoto’s, the little swaps that look high maintenance from the outside but are really just me taking care of my thyroid. Things like face massage instead of Botox, Hashimoto’s safe skincare, checking whether foods are gluten free and organic, and protecting my thyroid bedtime. Most of the comments were warm and helpful, but one woman wrote something that stayed with me. She said, “I’m not giving up my Botox. Why does this disease take away all the good things?”
In this episode, I sit with the last part of that comment, because that feeling of Hashimoto’s being a thief is one I know intimately. There were years when it felt like one long list of things I could not do, could not eat, and could not ignore. But I also want to share what I can see now, from the other side, about how some of those very losses turned out to be the things that protected me from so much more. This is a personal one, and by the end I want you to walk away with a few honest questions to ask yourself about where this journey is actually taking you.
Why Hashimoto’s Can Feel Like a Series of Losses
When you are first living with Hashimoto’s, almost everything can feel like something is being taken away. Every time you turn around there is another food to give up, another symptom to track, another routine that used to be effortless and now requires a whole plan. It is genuinely exhausting, and I am not going to pretend otherwise.
There is also a real grief that comes with chronic illness, and it is one that almost no one prepares you for. It is the grief of the version of your life where you did not have to think about any of this, where you could eat the thing, skip the sleep, push through the stress, and your body would bounce back like it always had. When that stops being true, it absolutely feels like a loss. So if you are in that place right now, where it all still feels like loss, I am not asking you to pretend you are not.
What I See Now, Looking Back from the Other Side
Here is what I also know now, with the benefit of hindsight. If it was not for Hashimoto’s, I never would have changed my diet. And the path I was on was heading toward fibromyalgia and a handful of other diagnoses that were already building in my body. The signs were there. I simply did not have a reason to stop and look yet.
If it was not for Hashimoto’s, I never would have looked at what I was putting on my skin or in my home. I never would have taken my sleep seriously or understood what chronic stress was actually doing to my nervous system. I never would have started eating clean and organic, and I probably would have spent years feeling worse and gaining weight without ever knowing why. None of those changes came because I wanted to make them. They came because Hashimoto’s basically forced my hand.
How the “Losses” Became the Things That Protected Me
This is the part I really want you to sit with. Every single thing I felt forced to do for my thyroid turned out to protect the rest of me too. The clean eating was not only for my thyroid. It was for my heart, my brain, and my long term risk of so many other things. The sleep was not only for my energy. It was for my hormones, my mood, my immune system, and how I age. The stress work was not only about feeling calmer. It was rewiring how my whole body handled everything.
It is so hard to see this when you are in the middle of it, because in the moment it just feels like a restriction. It feels like a no. But some of those losses ended up being the very things that protected me from a much harder road I could not even see coming. The diagnosis that felt like the worst thing that could happen to me may have actually rerouted me toward something far better.
The Questions That Turn Hashimoto’s Into a Silver Lining
I do not want this to be a nice thought you simply nod along to, so I want to give you something to actually do with it. I would grab a piece of paper or your notes app for this, because something happens when you write it down that does not happen when you only think it.
First, ask yourself what has changed in your life because of Hashimoto’s that you would not have changed otherwise. Maybe you started reading labels, finally went to bed at a reasonable hour, learned to say no to things that were draining you, or found a doctor who actually listens. Second, ask which of those changes are genuinely good for you beyond your thyroid. So much of what we do for Hashimoto’s is simply whole body, whole life healthy living, and your heart, brain, gut and future self are all getting the benefit. Then ask the big one. Not where has it taken you, but where is it taking you. The awareness you have now, the way you pay attention to your body now, where does that lead five or ten years from now, and would that version of you even exist without this?
When You Cannot Find the Silver Lining Yet
If you are being honest and the answer right now is that none of this has taken you anywhere good yet, that is okay too. Maybe you are still in the thick of it and you cannot find a single silver lining, and you are a little annoyed at me for even asking. I understand that completely.
Here is the thing about a silver lining though. It is not always something you find. Sometimes it is something you decide. Sometimes the meaning is not sitting there waiting to be discovered, and you are the one who gets to assign it. You get to look at this hard thing and decide what you will let it make you into. You do not have to have the answer today, but I want you to at least start holding the question. Because the moment you stop seeing Hashimoto’s as only a thief and start asking what it might also be handing you, something shifts. Not in your labs. In you.
If You Are Still in a Season That Feels Like Loss
I want to talk to you directly for a second. I see you. I have been where you are, and I am here to tell you to keep going, one foot in front of the other. You are not behind, and you are not failing. You are doing something genuinely hard, and the fact that you are here at all means you have not given up. That counts for so much more than you realize. And if you need support, I have plenty of resources after doing this for 20 years, so please just reach out and we would be so happy to help.
Thanks for Listening
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PLEASE NOTE
All information, content, and material on this podcast is for informational purposes only and is not intended to serve as a substitute for the consultation, diagnosis, and or medical treatment of a qualified physician or healthcare provider
