A chronic illness is basically any illness lasting for longer than three months. The summer before I came to Penn State Behrend after many weeks of many blood tests, and swearing that I had no blood left in my body, I was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease called Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis, which causes my body to attack my thyroid leading to hypothyroidism. Hypo meaning that the levels of thyroid hormone are lower than what they should be, throwing my body completely out of whack and autoimmune in the aspect that my body does not recognize my thyroid as a part of it, but rather a foreign object that must be excommunicated.
The thyroid itself controls many things within our bodies, however the main thing it is in charge of is your metabolism (this includes your heart rate and how fast your body burns calories). When my thyroid is attacked, it leads to my metabolism being slower, my hair falling out, my moods being erratic, exhaustion, and dry skin. These are just a few symptoms that I have dealt with. However, many people living with this disease have different symptoms. For my specific type of hypothyroidism, I have been able to control it via hormone replacement medications for these past two years. My symptoms never went away but they were somewhat masked and my hair was not falling out in chunks so I was happy. The only slight hiccup that I experienced my first year was being sick for the entirety of my second semester, my roommate swore I was dying. I got blood work done in turn, but it only led to more questions being asked. After my meds were adjusted things started to even out again and I was living a normal life. As time went on however, my hair started falling out again, my level of energy was rapidly falling, and I was moodier than a teenager.
One day scrolling through Facebook I found this article about a gluten-free diet that increased thyroid functions. It spoke of how so many people had witnessed improvements through a gluten-free diet. So as any normal person would I took to Google to figure out if this was true. Through many hours of research, I found many articles and spokespeople that had experienced these wonders. I found a diet that would benefit me in every aspect of my life and be within my college student budget. So, on July 4, 2016 I took the plunge and cut gluten out of my diet. There have been instances where I slipped up and consumed gluten and immediately regretted my poor life choice, and quickly jumped back on the gluten-free crazy train. Throughout this process, it has not been easy to give up donuts and beer; however, I found alternatives to beer which made taking this leap so much easier.
A few months ago, I had an episode that landed me at home for a week. Many tubes of blood were taken from me and finally my doctor came to the conclusion that my body is producing enough hormones and as of this very second I am able to be off of my meds. I take my disease one day at a time, try to monitor my symptoms, and get regular blood work much to my dismay. This road has not been easy but through small life changes it has definitely gotten better.