Priya had been managing her Hashimoto thyroiditis for eleven years. Or, more accurately, it had been managing her. The medication kept her numbers stable but her energy, her hair, her sense of self - these had been slowly leaving for a decade.
She came to us in the spring, wanting to know if there was something else.
The gut and the gland
We tested for gluten sensitivity, gut permeability, and a handful of nutritional deficiencies the standard panels do not look for. The picture that emerged was not unusual but it was hers.
We rebuilt her plate. Not restrictively, but carefully. We added selenium, zinc, and a particular bacterial strain her gut had lost somewhere along the way.
A returning self
By month six her TPO antibodies had dropped by forty percent. By month eleven they were within range. Her medication was reduced - under her endocrinologist supervision - to half its previous dose.
What she speaks of most, though, is not the numbers. It is that she has started painting again.
"My thyroid numbers dropped, yes. But the truer thing - I learned to like the woman in the mirror again."
Priya Narayanan continues to work with us, in lighter and lighter rhythms. Their story, like all stories worth telling, is still unfolding.