Anyone who knows me well, knows I keep pretty quiet about personal stuff, takes a lot for me to stick my neck out……today I am making an exception. Long post for those that have my issues, and if you don’t, keep scrolling…….Got thyroid problems like me? Hashimotos…a word I wish I had never heard?
About two months ago I watched this webinar, on a day I had truly given up all hope. I had stumbled on it on Facebook and thought, “Why not? I have watched everything else.” I figured if I left who would never know? But what I found was that I thought the doctor was talking to just me!! My eyes filled up with tears listening to him, because I kept thinking how everyone had called me a diet failure, told me that the only hope left for me was weight loss surgery. I took notes, and copied diagrams because NO ONE had ever explained this disease to me so that I understood it. And as I listened, I realized that this doctor knew more about this disease than all the professionals I had seen or talked to.
I contacted him and I asked him if he could help me. My first email to him had only three words, “Please help me.” I doubted that he knew what he was getting into.
I told him my story and began working with this amazing Doctor, Dr. Jack Saia, and things have totally changed course. Our initial conversation was hard for me. I explained my history of failure and waited for him to tell me that he couldn’t help either. I had tried every diet a person can name, Weight Watchers? Gained ten pounds….. Atkins, lost five initially and then it stopped… tried it several more times with no success…South Beach on the advice of a nutritionist, no pounds lost……Sugar busters, nothing…..Paleo, felt better, lost nothing…. Autoimmune Paleo, lost nothing…name one, I did them all….. Then a friend went to a clinic where they gave out little drops, I bought some on Amazon but never took any. I was afraid that they would do more harm than good. I tried limiting calories, low carb, low fat, high protein, high fat, and all the results were the same…. Nothing.
And then came the breaking point. A nutritionist called me a liar and said that I must be lying about what I eat because no one can eat so little and not lose weight. That broke me. They said I could have weight loss surgery because I was a dieting failure. Wow…. A liar and a failure?? How much lower could I go? I asked, “If I can eat 500- 700 calories now and not lose any weight, how will weight loss surgery change that?” She said maybe I just needed to talk to someone who could help me psychologically with my need to constantly visit them and ask these same questions….
A liar….. a diet failure…. and a psychological need to ask about dieting? ME?? Me, who prides myself on my integerity?? Me???That is about as low as person can get. And that is where I was when I watched the seminar.
Dr. Jack was so wonderful to me. He patiently listened and talked to me. He promised me that if things went badly, he would find the answer that I didn’t have to worry anymore, and he promised that if I told him I tried, he would believe me…..He said that he had a history of helping solve difficult problems, that he had seen all this before. He told me that there was hope for me, but I had trouble believing it in the beginning.
Fast forward since October 5th….. My thyroid symptoms are disappearing, the brain fog? Gone….sleepless nights? Gone. Skin issues? Gone. My hair is full and soft, not brittle and dry. Puffy thyroid eyes? Gone…… My allergies? Gone! My eyebrows grew back!! If you have Hashimoto’s you know what I mean. Fatigue? Gone! Tired all the time? GONE!!!! I used to joke about being the poster girl for Hashimotos but that is quickly going too. I look better, I have tons of energy, it has been a life transforming couple of months. I have lost over thirty pounds and I feel like a totally different person….TRULY!
It hurts nothing to listen to a webinar. I had given up, figured I am stuck with this disease, but I found out I am not stuck with it.
I gave up a lot that I thought was good for me. Found out a lot was doing more harm than I thought. All those great ideas about more caffeine, more dairy, over amounts of protein were making it harder and harder and harder, as was all the gluten….and the collection of exercise videos I tried….I was stressing my poor body more than needed…..and emotionally, I believed I was a failure at all dieting, that there was nothing left for me, but it wasn’t me that was the failure.
Dr. Jack gave me back more than I can say. I actually feel like I am aging in reverse!! My first day, I felt like a 58 year old woman. Today? I feel like I am in my late thirties. I jump out of bed ready for a new day. I eat LIVING real food! I have lost my obsession of food being the enemy. I have gained back my hope and my power. I am not a failure!!! I am on the road that is SUCCESS!!
And on those weeks when things don’t go well, it is Dr. Jack who explains to me why they didn’t. He never calls me a liar or a failure. The opposite is true. He spurs me ONWARD, by telling me about all that has been accomplished and finds where there might be problems that are easily fixed. He has given me back my self esteem and I feel like all those broken pieces of who I was are getting glued back together. I get stronger every single day! He has saved me!!!
I spent a lot of time looking for an answer, years!!! I read every book out there, and I finally found what I was looking for. What I needed was an expert in this area, who totally understood what was wrong, and knew how to fix it.
My goal? Remission! That’s what I am shooting for. I asked him if that’s really possible, and guess what? It is….that’s where I am headed!! I bought myself a gift to stay motivated, it is ring that I had engraved with the word, “BELIEVE.”
Dr. Jack is so much more than I can describe. He is person whose passion it is to help the people who feel like I did, like you have no hope left and you have tried everything with nothing but failure written all over you, at the place where you have given up and accepted that you have to live your life just getting worse and worse. If you are like that too, this is the doctor you have been searching for…… BELIEVE!!!
Chris O.