In 2003, I saw my health disappear. I had always been healthy and athletic, and I prided myself on being the best I could physically be. All of that suddenly disappeared in a matter of days. I went from lifting weights and running every day, constantly getting stronger and building endurance, to seeing my body wither and my ability to run without stopping fall to under 100 meters. Within three weeks, my weight dropped from 175 to 155.
I knew something was wrong, and I was scared. Did I have cancer?
What would I do if they told me I did?
I finally got to the place where I could no longer ignore it. After thousands of tests, I was diagnosed with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, a disease where the immune system attacks the thyroid.
This scared me. I knew enough about the human body to know the thyroid handles metabolism. How would that affect me in the future?
I eventually got over this fear, but anger soon took its place. Why me? I had spent so much time and energy focusing on my health. Why was I sick when so many other people who gave no thought to their wellness walked around with no apparent issues? And to top it off, why did everyone keep telling me, “Everything happens for a reason”? No matter how hard I searched, I could not for the life of me find that reason.
Throughout treatment, everyone told me that I would have this for the rest of my life. That there is no cure. And the treatment wasn’t exactly going well. The thyroid swings were terrible, and each suggestion just came with a new prescription. I felt like a constant experiment.
During that time, my memory, which had always been an asset, wasn’t the same. I couldn’t focus on my homework assignments, and I was always tired and subsequently sick. My grades suffered because of it, and again, the only answer was a different prescription that was met with yet another wild swing. Different doctors, same result.
That frustration and anger grew throughout chiropractic school. At times, I felt like I was just going through the motions.
In 2009, I graduated from chiropractic school and worked to set up my own business. A wave of fear hit me as I realized that I had no clue of how to actually run a business. This anxiety led me to spend all my free time reading and learning. At first, this brought on frustration as the ideas presented so neatly in books always seemed to work better on paper than in reality. After a couple of years, things in business started to come together, and a thought struck me. If things worked so well in business, why couldn’t I use this method to improve my own health?
In 2011, I attended a conference that changed my paradigm. A speaker who had served as one of my mentors, Dr. Rob DeMartino, asked, “If you have an autoimmune thyroid condition, how will working on your thyroid fix the immune system?” I felt like he was speaking directly to me.
We had learned a lot of things in chiropractic school, but none of them had helped me with my thyroid. I finally realized I was going to have to approach this from a different angle. With that, I studied the foundations of maintaining health, and much like studying business, many of these principles were met with failure. In hindsight, I realize that many of them were the right steps, but I just didn’t have them in the right order.
After a few months of work, my thyroid started to improve. Within six months, I was completely off medication, and my thyroid was functioning fully despite prior claims that it would only work at 10%.
I have won a battle that very few do, but I haven’t stopped working on improving my health. I’m still recovering from ten years of damage.
This is why I continue to study as much as I do. This is why I continue to share with you what I find. This is why I strive to push you to do better.
There are so many sick people out there. Whether it’s chronic pain, autoimmunity, neurodegeneration, or cancer, people need more help than ever.
Sadly, the American healthcare system continues to steal people’s power, telling them they’ll be sick the rest of their lives, and allowing them to think only someone besides themselves can save them.
This sickens me. I’ve personally dealt with the fear, the anger, and the frustration, but I’ve also dealt with the self-empowerment and the excitement of getting healthier.
I can tell you which side is better, and that’s why I do what I do. To put the power to heal back in your hands.
Are you ready for it?