There are things that other people say to me, and it has an immediate effect. It goes straight to my heart with no stopping anywhere else.   I have a physical reaction to it.  My heart skips a beat, I can feel it in the pit of my stomach.   I can feel tears pinching at my eyes, and I try to look away to control the emotion.   It does not happen often, but sometimes it is the littlest thing that catches me off guard.  It is always some small thing said to me that just touches my heart on the deepest level.  Sometimes it is bad, but most times it is good, and I have stopped trying to control it.   I just try to enjoy it when it is good.  Monday?  It was all good.

Read moreDr. Jack: “Look at you….”

When Dr. Jack told me that he could cure my Hashimoto symptoms, I can’t say I believed him entirely.  I wanted to, I really wanted to, but it was hard.   Sounded like a great story, I just was skeptical. After all, for years, endocrinologists had told me that this was a disease that was simply managed.  But I am saying he was right, and I am so happy to be wrong.

When we started working together, week by week, my symptoms disappeared.  I was really excited when my brain fog cleared.  But!!  I was completely unprepared for what has happened!  My thought processes are going so fast that I actually have to make a concerted effort to slow things down.  If you never had brain fog, it must be hard to imagine what an awesome gift that is!

Read moreBrain fog reversed, it’s amazing!!

It was always the same…. I dreaded Sundays.  Before I started working with Dr. Jack, Sundays always were the worst.  I work two jobs.  It gets hard to keep up.  When you have Hashimoto’s Disease, multiply that times a hundred.  And, weekends were the worst,  where every thing that you didn’t get to during the week gets dumped.   I know some of you are thinking that is true for everyone, but stop to think that during the week, you can’t even keep up with basic tasks.   All you can do is literally, get up, shower, work, and sleep.  Nothing extra gets done, absolutely nothing.

Read moreI used to hate Sundays…

Writing this blog has been one of the most interesting experiences of my life.   Truly!!!  In the last month or two, I have had a lot of people reach out to me, people I know and people I have never met,  in good ways and bad.   Some people have shared intimate stories of their struggles with me.  I have sympathized with them, prayed for them, and hoped they find their answers. I have offered them Dr. Jack’s email and website.    It hurts my heart to hear some of them, and I try to offer, what I hope, is a friendly ear, my thoughts on what worked and did not for me, and my sincere caring for their situation.  I know what I would have given a year ago, five years ago, to find a real person, who had gone through some successful journey to share with me.  That is the only reason I am doing this.

Read moreFor just today, let’s love ourselves as much as we love others!

Since I started writing this blog, I get a lot more email than I ever did, some from people I know, lots from people I don’t.  I get a lot of the same questions so I thought I would write about some of them:

Why don’t you post your diet, tell others about the diet that Dr. Jack has you follow?

– ummmm…. because it is his copyrighted materials.  Any program I ever tried, I bought and paid for the materials I used.    I am a teacher.  We do not copy materials and call them our own.   That is a moral and ethical problem for me.  I have no right to publish his work in any way shape or form.  It isn’t much different than the fact that the only music on my ipad is music I purchased.  The books on my Kindle are books I paid for.   I could never do that and sleep at night.   I freely post Dr. Jack’s website and if you want to know more about his program you should contact him.

Read moreQuestions people ask me….

When you have Hashimoto’s disease there is a great deal that happens that no one believes is happening.  You start suffering with symptoms and you go to your endocrinologist.  They just tell you, “Oh, that is your Hashimoto’s disease! Completely normal.”   (Side note:  I have often wondered if I was ever going to be “normal” again.)   Brain fog is one…. Flare ups are another.   Hashimoto flare ups or storms as some doctors call them,  are a very real thing and they are the most annoying thing ever.   And because you are talking about an autoimmune disease which basically looks invisible to the world, no one actually believes you are having a flare up.  You aren’t always too sure either and by the time you figure it out, that is in fact what is wrong, well, then the flare up is over.

Read moreHashimoto flare ups are a real thing…..

March 5th will be my five month mark with Dr. Jack Saia, partnertohealth.com  Hard to believe that five months have passed.    I am in an awesome place.   My weight is down sixty eight pounds, my thyroid symptoms are pretty much non existent.  I eat great, I sleep awesome, I have energy you would not believe.  I feel like I did in my thirties and the lack of stress and strain shows on my face.

Read moreWhere am I today???

Of all the work I have done the last five months, the hardest part has not been what to eat, nor what to give up. Some of the give ups were a challenge, but nothing was as challenging as the hard work that has been between my ears.  And although Dr. Jack has been encouraging, offering loads of explanations,  instructive and mainly compassionate, there is a road inside my head that I have to travel alone. He can’t come with me, it is my mental homework.   No one can help me.  They can cheer me on from outside.  They can offer words and ideas, but ultimately, I have to walk it alone.   And I either care enough about myself to take care of it, or I don’t.  If I don’t, I set myself up for failure, and if I do, then success and staying on course becomes easier.

Read moreFood… neither reward…nor punishment….It’s just food.

Dr. Jack:   I liked the old Chris, but I really like this Chris.

Me:  (thinking…..) Me, too!!!!!!

If someone had told me a year ago how different my life would be right now, I would have laughed at them.   There would be no way that I would be this healthy…. no way that I would have lost the weight I did.   There would be no way that I would have found Dr. Jack, no way  I would have had the courage to work with him; no way I would be writing my own blog; no way I would start a Facebook group… just no way….  If someone had told me then that this whole journey would change me so much, I would have laughed. I believed nothing would ever change how things were, but I would have been so totally wrong.

Read moreWhat happened to old Chris?

I was diagnosed in my very early thirties with Hypothyroidism and then with Hashimoto’s.   I was the one that pushed my doctor at the time, for some blood work to see if I had a problem.

That doctor, that I soon left for many reasons,  laughed at me when I told him that I either thought I had a brain tumor or I might be having a thyroid issue.   He, condescendingly, asked me why I thought that.

I started to describe to him that I was having a lot of trouble concentrating on any one task for very long.  I also told him that without any reason, I couldn’t remember things that were just told to me a few minutes ago.  Several times, I parked my car in a lot and totally forgot where it was.   I went on to explain that my eating utensil would fall right out of my hand in the middle of eating and that I often misplaced things.

Read moreBrain Fog?? I don’t have …. Wait, what are we talking about??