When my oldest child was six weeks old, we were helping pastor a church, and one morning an Elder came up to me after the service. With a very concerned look on his face, he lovingly told me that when I came into church he noticed a big lump on my neck. My heart started racing and immediately I grabbed my neck and felt what he was talking about. I found a lump the size of a lemon. Fear gripped me. I thought I had cancer. I went home and told my husband. He was concerned too. So, we left our son for the first time with close friends and immediately went to the emergency room. The doctor took a blood sample and said that my thyroid hormone levels were deathly deficient and that I could have gone into a coma.
The lump I had was called a Goiter. My thyroid was enlarged from it working so hard to produce thyroid hormones. In the emergency room, they diagnosed me with hypothyroidism. The doctor on call gave me Synthroid (a synthetic thyroid hormone) and told me to follow up with an endocrinologist. A few weeks later, I met with an endocrinologist. He diagnosed me with “Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis,” an autoimmune disease that causes one’s own body to attack their thyroid which will eventually cause it to completely stop secreting the thyroid hormone. He told me I would have to be on Synthroid for the rest of my life. To say the least, I was devastated. I was only twenty-four years old, and I wanted desperately to refuse that diagnosis in my young life.
But I also hated the terrible symptoms Hashimoto’s caused. My heart would often race, skip a beat or be so slow, I could hardly feel a pulse. I would get so cold that when I took a bath, I could have the water turned all the way hot, and it would hardly phase me. I was tired and sluggish, but yet I couldn’t sleep at night. My body ached all night long. I couldn’t lose any of my baby weight. Some of my hair and eyebrows fell out, and I was very emotional and fearful about the most minor things. If Weston got sick, my first thoughts were that he was dying. With every new symptom, I thought I was dying of some terminal illness.
I consistently took Synthroid for one full year, and I was very grateful I did. Once the medicine got into my system, my thyroid shrank back to normal, and all my other symptoms went away. Even though the medicine was working, and I felt somewhat back to normal, I did some research and found out the long-term effects of the medicine were not good, and it could affect my future children or myself. I also was still nursing Weston and was concerned he was getting Synthroid in his milk. Furthermore, I suffered a terrible miscarriage when I was 12 weeks along while on the medicine. My endocrinologist said, that most women cannot get pregnant or stay pregnant if they have Hashimoto’s. Depression, fear and hopelessness consumed me, especially when I saw other pregnant bellies. My greatest dream was to have a house full of children.
But one morning, while giving my son a bath, a righteous anger arose up out of me. I had this unexplainable courageous attitude. I refused to believe my diagnosis. I was determined to get healed and have more babies and never have to take medicine again.
From then on, I had an insatiable desire to fervently pray that God would heal me. My husband prayed for me as well. I searched different Scriptures on healing that proved to me that God heals. When I took walks, drove in my van, did dishes, playing with Weston, or when going to sleep, I would listen to many healing Scriptures on tape, trying to exchange any fear with faith. I wrote out and memorized many verses and put my name in each scripture to make it come alive to me. The more I read His word and applied it to my life, the more God gave me unexplainable faith, courage, and peace to trust Him for my healing. I no longer was afraid of my diagnosis.
While I believed God would heal me, I also started doing extensive research on eating healthy and the effects that doing so would have on my body. My close friend Deena said she started eating healthier and saw significant results, including not getting sick anymore, which escalated my motivation.
The more research I did, the more I realized that God designed our bodies in such an extraordinary way. And if fed the proper nutrition and kept in good physical condition, the body will often heal itself.
I began researching what foods nourished the thyroid and what things were thyroid inhibitors. The anti-inflammatory, Mediterranean, and Hallelujah diets were what I see the best results with. Juicing carrots, celery, apples, blueberries etc. and eating Barley Max, a green drink from Hallelujah acres, helps take away my thyroid symptoms. The healing juice goes right to my cells with minimal digesting. Drinking a lot of filtered water with lemon, helps cleanse my system. I only cook and eat 100% cold-pressed extra virgin olive oil, organic coconut oil, avocado oil, and grass-fed butter which helps me get the healthy fats my body can digest. I also try and eat most of my foods “alive” and not cooked so I can get the full enzymes and vitamins my body craves. Staying away from refined sugars, white flour, and processed foods make me not sluggish and helps my brain fog disappear. Anything that has soy in it suppresses my thyroid hormones. Soy is in so many foods. Fluoride and chlorine are huge triggers. I stay away from toxic household cleaners, toxic laundry detergent, and any toxic lotions or makeup. I tried going “gluten free” but realized most gluten free flours were void of nutrients but when I eat sprouted grains, they don’t bother my stomach at all and I get the selenium I need.
At first, it was hard for me to find the proper exercise that worked. When I would do hard workouts like HIIT or CrossFit or run for many miles at a time, my body would get very inflamed, and I would feel terrible for days. I didn’t see any results from these challenging workouts, plus I couldn’t afford the classes. But the times I rebound for 10 min a day, take long fast walks, hike, shoot baskets, or do daily stretching/mobility/strength exercises are when I feel the best and see the most remarkable results, and feel so strong.
I also found out that stress is a substantial contributing factor in developing a thyroid condition or any autoimmune disease. But the times I get out in raw nature, pray and take long walks help alleviate stress immensely.
It is so cool to actually feel and see my body healing.
After many months of praying scriptures, building up my immune system and exercise, I felt confident to slowly start weaning myself off the Synthroid. However, I wasn’t foolish. I went to the doctor to get my blood levels checked as much as possible. Every time I went in, my levels got better and better until, eventually, they were completely back to normal.
After doing this, I confessed to the doctor that I had not been on Synthroid for over 6 months, but instead, I was trusting God and eating healthy. He was shocked when I told him this. The endocrinologist told me whatever I was doing was working and to keep doing it. He also said I no longer had to come back to see him.
I walked out of that doctor’s office with such a feeling of freedom! Freedom from the bondage of taking daily medicine and the constant piercing of my arm for blood draws. It was all miraculously over! I was vastly thankful to God for my healing and the opportunity to be a witness to my doctor. I only had one major flare-up after my second pregnancy, it was a brief but scary “thyroid storm,” but I have not had any thyroid issues since.
I have successfully carried to term and gave birth naturally to 4 healthy children after my first was born, with no complications. I have been medicine-free for over 25 years.
To God be the Glory!!
It hasn’t been easy. It is hard work. I have had even more stressful events happen in my life since the time of my diagnosis, but when I start to feel a possible flare up happening, I instantly start a strict thyroid protocol of renewing my mind with scriptures, exercising, and eating a very clean diet that fights off any inflammatory issues or thyroid antibodies trying to attack my thyroid.
God is no respecter of persons. What He did for me, He will do for anyone.
If you have been diagnosed with an illness or if you are having a hard time getting pregnant or staying pregnant, you CAN be healed and walk in victory! I am not a doctor but I can tell you my story. Seek God for yourself and do your own research for what your diagnoses it. My journey may not look the same as yours. But we can all learn and grow from one another.
“Pay attention to the words and be willing to learn; Open your ears to their sayings. Do not let them escape from your sight; Keep them in the center of your heart. For they are life to those who find them and healing and health to all your flesh.” Proverbs 4:20–22