Nutritionist, Bec Miller shares years of frustrating symptoms led to a dysfunctional thyroid diagnosis.
When I was in my early 20s, I started to experience some horrible symptoms - symptoms that truly didn’t make sense to me as a healthy young woman.
I was studying a Bachelor of Science Nutrition, grew up in a very healthy household, was majorly into fitness and ate so clean - whist also being super savvy with calories.
Despite this, I was developing some really bad gut issues (in particular bloating and chronic constipation).
Along side that, I was also beginning to feel progressively tired - it was such a struggle to get through the afternoon sometimes.
I was also starting to find it harder and harder to manage my weight - which was a surprise to me because I’d never had issues before. I visited multiple GPs to describe my symptoms and received no answers. I remember they would just look at me and say “you look very slim and healthy, you’re fine” - and this would upset me so much because I KNEW that I wasn’t.
Fast forward a few years, I had some colonoscopies and visited some gastroenterologists (gut specialists) and STILL found no answers for my gut concerns. At the time, I thought my energy and low moods were connected to my gut - which they absolutely were… but I didn’t realise that I had an underlying thyroid issue at hand too… which gets me to my next point. I finally visited an incredible functional medicine doctor after these 2-3 years of visiting GPs and specialists and getting nowhere.
I wish I knew more about functional medicine back then but I just didn’t - maybe it wasn’t as well known about as it is now!
Anyway, she did all of the right tests on me and FINALLY gave me answers as to why I was constipated and struggling to maintain my weight (despite being extremely strict) and felt so tired all the time.
One of these answers was that I had an underachieve thyroid. For me, I had an issue converting T4 to T3. It made SO much sense to me because having a slow thyroid definitely affects your digestion, so it was parr of the answer to my constipation. IN short, it slows everything down… so of course it would slow my digestion down and make it harder for me to lose weight.
Ever since, I’ve been on medication and it’s made such a huge difference to me. I am so passionate about spreading this story so that you too can find your answers if you’re also struggling.
If you’re someone who thinks you might also have an issue with your thyroid, here are 5 signs to look for:
• Unexplained tiredness
• Sensitivity to the cold (cold hands and feet)
• Easy weight gain or difficult losing weight despite trying hard
• Constipation
• Low moods
If you have these symptoms, they can be related to many other health concerns too - but having an underachieve thyroid is absolutely worth investigating because it’s far more common than people realise!
So, if you feel like something is up - please don’t stop looking for answers. Trust your body and never give up! I’d definitely recommend visiting a functional / integrative doctor instead - because they’re the ones who will investigate your issues in far more depth and get to the root cause of your concerns for you.
Bec Miller is a NUTRITIONIST (BSCNUTR.), a gut health specialist, podcaster & foodie.
