When were you diagnosed with Hashimoto’s disease?
I think it was around 2012 I got diagnosed, but that was it. No treatment went into place then!What’s been the hardest part, and how has living with Hashimoto’s affected your day-to-day —from your career, to your family life, to your emotional wellbeing?
I am always cold. Even in the middle of summer I’ll be wearing a sweater in the shade! My hair also is thinner in places.In what ways does having a chronic condition influence the art you create as a photographer and artist?
If I am sitting at my desk I will get cold quickly and will have to layer up. Also I often photograph on location, a lot of the time in the cold, so it can get uncomfortably cold for me. But in general it doesn’t really affect my work.“Your body does communicate everything to you. Listen to the symptoms it throws your way.”
What treatments have you tried? Have there ever been times you haven’t felt seen by your doctors, and what’s the worst medical horror story you can share with us?
This is where the story gets interesting. I went to see the thyroid doctor that was apparently “the best in the field.” He put me on the lowest levels of levothyroxine. A few weeks later, I started to get eczema on the inside of my elbows and between my fingers. I have never had eczema before. I went back to the doc and told him, but he had nothing to say about it. I asked him if there was anything I could do lifestyle/diet wise to treat Hashimoto’s. He looked at me blankly and said google it! So after that bulls*** I got in touch with a kinesiologist. One look at my symptoms and she told me the eczema was being caused by the levothyroxine drugs I was taking, which incidentally was also doing nothing at all for my thyroid but was making my body toxic. I stopped taking the drug and the eczema disappeared straight away. For the past seven years I’ve been taking a daily vitamin supplement the kinesiologist referred me to. I’ll have to take this for the rest of my life.How has your approach to managing it evolved over time?
I might go and get all my hormones looked at again, see where we are at; any shifts that need to be taken care of. There is a doctor I listen to called Dr. Sara Gottfried, and she gives incredible information about what levels our hormones etc should be at and what tests we should get.“I asked the thyroid doctor who was apparently ‘the best in the field’ if there was anything I could do lifestyle or diet wise to treat Hashimoto’s. He looked at me blankly and said google it!”
