About seven or eight years ago, my health was failing.
I had put on a lot of weight, I was swollen everywhere, I was cold all the time, I had severe eczema, and I was constantly dragged down by fatigue. It took too much out of me just to get through the day. As a night shift worker, I eventually could not make it through my shifts without falling asleep. At the end of my shifts, I would get in the car, drive two minutes down the road to a grocery store parking lot, and sleep in the car until I was rested enough to get all the way home safely.
I was extremely unwell, but I couldn’t figure out why.
I was seeing a chiropractor at the time so I explained my symptoms to him, and he ran some blood work that indicated that I had Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, an autoimmune form of the hypothyroidism I had been struggling with already for years.
When I told my conventional medicine doctor about this diagnosis, she wanted to increase my medication in response, but I didn’t feel like it was the best option for my body. So, I began to search for another doctor — one who might treat my disease with more than just medication.
After three years of searching for the right fit, I found PALM Health. By that time, I was struggling with other symptoms in addition to my thyroid disease, including severe edema in my legs.
At PALM, I started seeing Dr. Dal Farra, who found that I was in congestive heart failure, which explained the edema and other symptoms. I started seeing Dr. Rathod for my thyroid problem, too. After running through several tests with them, I found out I was also suffering from chronic kidney disease.
Dr. Rathod started me on a more natural form of thyroid medication that is easier for the body to use effectively, and we began to look into my lifestyle and other factors influencing my health.
Both of them taught me about how much my diet was contributing to the diseases I was afflicted with — I was eating a lot of gluten and a lot of sugar, and generally too much processed food. They started me on a Cardiometabolic diet that focused on whole foods, healthy fats, grains, protein, and fiber. I even cut down on animal products.
It’s amazing how something as simple as changing the food I was eating made such a huge difference in my health. Once I started to take my diet seriously, I began to move out of chronic kidney disease. If I hadn’t heeded their advice, it could have just as easily gotten worse.
My doctors at PALM also started me on several supplements to help mitigate the conditions I was struggling with. I started feeling better almost immediately after fixing my nutrition, but within about a year of that, taking supplements, seeing my doctors here at PALM every few months, and closely monitoring my thyroid and blood sugar, I felt immensely more like myself again.
Today, because of my doctors at PALM, I no longer have chronic kidney disease, I am no longer in congestive heart failure, I am at a healthier weight, and my thyroid disease is under control. I also have more energy now — I’m able to work a full-time job again without getting knocked off my feet.
What I love about PALM is that they look at the whole picture. They don’t just write you a prescription and send you out the door. The doctors work closely and individually with you and really care about your improvement.
Before I came to PALM, I had no idea that my lifestyle — in addition to genetic and biochemical factors — would be one of the keys to healing my condition, and I didn’t think I would ever feel so much like myself again.
