I am not asking about your gut feeling! No, seriously, do you suffer from gas, bloating or indigestion? Or, after you eat, does the food just sit in your stomach and feel like a burden? Or maybe you pop tums after each meal to get rid of the heart burn. Sometimes, your body gives these physical symptoms that you are having trouble with digestion, but a lot of times it doesn’t!
Case Study: Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis
I recently saw a female patient, who looks extremely healthy and feels great. She has good energy, exercises regularly and makes sensible food choices. She has a very positive outlook on life and is usually happy and smiling. She had labs done and was positive for Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis. Her thyroid antibodies were off the charts. She was shocked since she does not have a single symptom related to that diagnosis.
I was surprised myself, since patients who get diagnosed with Hashimoto’s usually complain of many symptoms, some of which are fatigue, hair loss, weight gain & depressed moods. I explained to her that this was an autoimmune condition where her thyroid antibodies are attacking her thyroid gland and causing inflammation. If this inflammation goes untreated, it can eventually chew up the thyroid gland.
She was determined to find out what was causing this to happen. I told her that there can be many reasons. We can pin point the root cause by running some functional medicine testing. She was on board with that. But did you know that 80% of our immunity lies in the gut? Yes, you read that right! Thus, if our gut lining is damaged due to inflammation, that can give rise to autoimmune conditions. This means, conditions where our body’s own immunity is attacking our tissues due to molecular mimicry. Have a look at this picture to understand how that happens.
Starting our journey to find the root cause
Okay, so together we started our journey to find the cause of her problem.
I ordered 3 tests for her:
1. Micronutrient Test
2. GI MAP Test
3. Food Sensitivity Test
Actually, I did not order them at the same-time, but it really helps to look at all of the results together to find the correlation between them. The micronutrient test revealed multiple nutrient deficiencies. She wondered how she had so many deficiencies when she always made healthy food choices. Thus, I suggested the GI MAP stool test to find out more about her gut microbiome. Maybe she’s not digesting and absorbing the foods that she is eating? And yes, that was the case. Her test revealed severe inflammation in her gut and positive for leaky gut. She also reacted positive for antigliadin antibodies, meaning she is gluten sensitive. It all started to make sense. Then she shared that when she avoids dairy in her diet, she feels better. Thus, I thought that she has to be sensitive to more than a few foods which are causing this severe inflammation in her gut. Guess what? Her food sensitivity test revealed 35 sensitivities!
Why share this example?
The point of sharing this example with you is that sometimes we can prevent certain chronic, or autoimmune diseases, by looking into the health of our gut. How is this done? By ordering some functional medicine testing which can help pin point the root cause of the problem. Wouldn’t it be nice if we could prevent a disease from exacerbating? Maybe we saved her thousands of dollars from being on immunosuppressive medications for the rest of her life that are used to treat autoimmune conditions like rheumatoid arthritis. Or, maybe not.
But the cool part is, if anything showed up on one of these functional tests, one can treat or reverse the problem by using natural supplements and food choices. For example, this patient, whose case I’m sharing with you, is having wonderful results and this is the email I received from her today,
“Thank you so much for all of your guidance, you truly are a gem! By the way, all the supplements that you have suggested and treatment for my gut is making a world of difference in a short period of time. Had no idea any of this was going on inside me.”
Do you see now how your gut health can lead to chronic diseases?
I explain this in-depth in my book, “Seven Steps to Heal Your Thyroid” which will be releasing this month. You may order your copy on amazon or from my website, www.meghnathacker.com
Maybe, I was asking about your gut feeling! Trust Your Gut.
Dr Meghna Thacker, ND is a compassionate healer and has a passion to help people with thyroid disease, drawn from her personal struggles with this condition. She has created a protocol, Seven Steps to Heal your Thyroid for everyone to feel like themselves again while increasing their energy, elevating their mood and optimizing their weight. She is a licensed Naturopathic Physician in the State of Arizona. She graduated from Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine from Tempe, AZ in 2007 upon completion of her Bachelors in Homeopathic Medicine and Surgery from Mumbai, India in 2002. She has worked at Sottopelle for more than a decade and learned the pellet therapy from the pioneer, Dr. Gino Tutera himself. Her focus in practice is balancing hormones in women and treating thyroid disorders, naturally.
Besides her work, she loves to spend time with her husband and two boys. She loves dancing and outdoor activities like ATV riding.
She believes that Life is about finding Balance in this Trinity- Body, Mind & Soul