I am not a doctor. I am writing as a friend who has suffered from one or both of the above, so let me make that clear. After the diagnosis of my last disease, Hashimoto’s, I was fine. I knew I could be put on thyroid medicine and everything would be magically “solved”. It wasn’t that easy…not by a long shot. I started having severe food allergies and was in pain. The link above shows you some of the symptoms of my newest disorder, but what I did not realize was that food allergies can also cause some of the same symptoms.
I had my first panic attack. I thought perhaps I was having a heart attack…really. After months of living with anxiety, I saw my first ever therapist. She told me to read a book. It was nice, it was, and it taught me about the value of “now” and how to practice breathing techniques. I breathed. I am still using those techniques and told my friend about them as she also suffers from anxiety. We breathed together. I looked up natural ways to help and finally, one night, my husband realized a medicine I was on for acid reflux was probably blocking my magnesium. Here is another article about dealing with panic attacks. It suggests using magnesium, vitamin B12, vitamin B1, and vitamin D. I already knew my D was low from a few years prior. I had never even thought about magnesium.
The therapist was asking me if I was depressed, and while I felt that way at times, I wasn’t sure that was the underlying problem. I realized I wanted another explanation because I really felt like she wasn’t connecting the dots. I began researching what happens when I ate certain foods, or when I didn’t eat on time because I was avoiding food. I found this article here on 11 Natural Treatments for Depression.
I called my cousin. We are very close, and I knew she went through this. I wondered if there was something in our family that caused this kind of thing to come out, and then I remembered she had thyroid problems at one time too. She was really sick as a child…maybe illness was the connection. Around January of this year, I finally made a connection to improperly balanced hormones as well. I have too much estrogen. Definitely needed balancing. I read about maca powder, and I’ll never forget the first time I bought it at a local health food store. The woman said “What do you THINK that will do for you?” It was not said nicely. I told her exactly what it would do and how it would give me energy, balance my hormones (hopefully), and contained calcium, iron, magnesium and selenium as well as essential fatty acids and 19 amino acids. Take that snooty lady. I now order it online:)
So, I can’t be sure exactly what was going on I just knew I had to cover ALL my bases. I knew over the course of 4 years, my body was trying to tell me what I needed, but at the time, I had no idea how to balance it out. Do NOT lose hope. Talk about it, and seek medical help if it is really bad. My family probably wouldn’t want me sharing this, but meh. I have lost distant cousins due to depression, and a great-grandfather. I do not take it lightly. I do not think I can handle it without help. Bravo for stepping up and admitting you need help. Please reach out.
