If you want to determine how your Hashimoto’s began, or when it started, you must create a timeline for healing. I can’t stress enough how important this is to getting yourself better. I didn’t think it was very necessary until I did it myself. I thought I could simply think back to my memories and timeline in my head and figure it all out. There is no way I can get the timing correct in my head! You must write it down to get the big picture.
Please note: You do not simply get Hashimoto’s from one of the dozens of triggers out there; you must also carry the gene for it. This is to help determine what caused that gene to be expressed.
Here is an example of part of my timeline:
- Birth-Childhood: No major events to report
- Age 7: Chicken pox
- Age 15: Very thin, yet normal teenage years, no illness or other events to report
- Raynaud’s began during cheerleading, and continued for several years; sister also has Raynaud’s
- Age 16: Late menses; Amenorrhea began shortly after
- Move to Georgia
- Age 17: Not much to report, normal teenage years
- Age 18: Go to college, break up with a boyfriend, lost significant weight unintentionally, underweight
- Acid reflux began about shortly thereafter
- Strep throat more frequent
- Age 19-20: Moderate/severe tonsillitis; Bad acid reflux. Started birth control pill.
- Started eating vegetarian. Later cut out dairy and felt better (acid reflux decreased).
- Early 20’s: Began to eat meat and animal products again. Felt better. Still anxious and nervous much of the time.
- Age 24 – 25 starting to notice more extreme fatigue. Needing a second coffee in the day.
- Age 26 – 27: Tested my ferritin (iron) and discovered it was very low (at a 15)! I was working at an anti-aging medical spa and worked with a practitioner specializing in hormones. I explained my lack of menstrual cycles and low iron to her, and she recommended a full panel of thyroid testing.
- Age 27: Diagnosed with Hashimoto’s. Began some natural supplementation on my own and went gluten free. No prescription medication and I saw improvements. A few months later, began medication since I was still experiencing symptoms.
- Became a CLT (Certified LEAP Therapist) to work on implementing anti-inflammatory diets. Began my own LEAP immunocalm diet plan. Saw amazing results.
- Age 28 – 30: The best I ever felt was the years following this. I also began pole dancing for the fitness and sport of it. Dancing was also my was to de-stress. This reduced my symptoms even more, and at Age 30 became pregnant with my little girl. Healthy pregnancy.
- Age 31: Some symptoms starting back up post-pregnancy perhaps due to the immune system shift. Very mild.
And it goes on and on…
After you continue to write it all out, you can pin-point a big change in health. For me, it seems it was around age 18.
The whole point of this is to figure out what triggered your Hashimoto’s or autoimmune disease. If you can identify the trigger, you can figure out how to truly get better! I am still trying to figure mine out.
For many the trigger might be related to a bacteria or pathogen entering the body such as Lyme disease, having mono, or H. pylori. For others it might be related to food sensitivities or something that caused a “leaky gut” or lack of nutrients. There are dozens of possible causes, so it is very difficult to figure out. But, the timeline helps narrow it down to about 5 possible causes! Then, you can investigate further.
