You probably don't need to take that pill. Just dial-in your nutrition.
I've never been one to think much about what I ate, except for perhaps the number of calories. You know, the easy stuff like eating pizza every night is bad, while eating chicken and broccoli is healthy. From what I can tell, this is how the majority of people think about food.
In 2023, that all changed.
In late Spring of that year, Lorena was diagnosed with Graves' Disease. It's a form of hyperthyroidism with some pretty shitty side effects. It's incredibly disruptive. The struggle was real. Adjusting to the reality, trying to find answers, and working on getting better.
This is Lorena's story — the ups and downs, and hurdles along the way. But don't worry, it has a happy ending.
Can Graves' Disease be Cured?
According to the medical industry, no, it cannot. The remedies have remained largely unchanged regarding their approach. The options are:
- Destroy the thyroid with radioactive iodine, then take a synthetic hormone for the rest of your life.
- Remove all (or part) of the thyroid, and then take a synthetic hormone for the rest of your life.
- Leave the thyroid and take a drug (methimazole) for the rest of your life.
These are the only medical options that they give people.
I should note that while it's true it can never be cured completely, it is possible for Graves' to go into remission. This can happen for some people after using medication to get the thyroid back into normal range, but recurrence does occur, and doctors don't know what causes remission and recurrence in the first place.
Unfortunately, it's also not known why some people are able to achieve remission while others are not as lucky.
Graves' Disease Diet?
Lorena refused to believe that this was all that she had available, so she started doing her research. Western medicine is great, but it is one-dimensional. It's an industry built around medicines, prescriptions, and treating symptoms instead of the root cause.
She's always been an advocate for alternative health options in conjunction with Western medicine, especially as it relates to the food we put into our bodies. Yet, every single endocrinologist we went to (and we went to several) brushed aside the notion that her nutrition could change any of her outcomes.
Lorena didn't let that deter her. As she continued to take the medication to get her thyroid levels into acceptable levels, she read everything she could find about nutrition and diets that support the body in healing from Graves', which involved cutting out certain foods and incorporating others.
Testing the Theory
In December 2023, Lorena took herself off the medication that keeps the thyroid levels within range. We were hopeful as she was being pretty diligent with her diet.
Unfortunately, within two weeks, her symptoms came roaring back, and she had to start taking the medication again.
Most people would have given up, including myself. But she didn't. Honestly, her determination to find a path forward that didn't involve surgery and meds for the rest of her life was something I've never witnessed.
Finding The Answer
Lorena took a break in the beginning of 2024 from trying to find a solution. She had to let the medication get everything back into range, and we were busy with a wedding in January and another in February.
But come the Spring, about a year after her initial diagnosis, she came across the book Thyroid Healing. Without getting into all the details, it promotes eating certain foods and avoiding others. There is a heavy emphasis on juices as well, especially drinking celery juice every day.
In July, Lorena took herself off of the medication. I'll admit, I was a bit nervous. I hated seeing her suffering from the symptoms, but she had a quiet confidence that everything would be okay.
Two weeks went by, and still no major symptom changes.
Then four weeks.
And then two months.
In late September, she got a blood panel done prior to her next doctor's appointment, and the results that came back were astonishing: everything was within normal range! Like... everything!
The only thing she changed was her diet. She was off medicine, and her thyroid was seemingly working just fine. We went to her endocrinologist, who officially confirmed that she had achieved medical remission of her Graves' Disease.
To make sure it wasn't a fluke, she had blood tests again in January of this year, about four months after the previous one. And once again, everything came back in the normal range.
Nutrition is Everything
I've seen how hard Lorena has fought. We had our moments of joy, and some really defeating moments as well. We grew closer as a couple through the hardship, while at the same time, I feel like I was taught a very valuable lesson: medicine is as much an art as it is a science. We don't have the answers to everything, despite doctors believing they do. And look, I love myself a confident doctor.
Western medicine is not the be-all, end-all. We are experiencing more disease today than ever before, and a large part of the reason is due to the food we put into our bodies. I'm not just talking eating organic, either (thought obviously important). It means knowing on a deeper level how foods impact your body and ability to resist illness. Just by way of example, maybe certain foods cause more inflammation in you than others. Those should be avoided. Not sometimes. Always.
This post is a bit lengthy now, but I wanted to share Lorena's journey, and what we had learned over that time. No matter what you're battling, give your body a fighting chance. You always have supplemental approaches to health to complement Western medicine.
#health
