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If you don't hear my story, how do you know that there's hope on the other side? That's why I not only want to share my story, but the story of many other people who have triumphed, who have gone through it, who have battled, and who have come out the other side, optimized, changed, empowered, literally taking. Taking their lives back. Welcome to the new and completely reimagined Thyroid Fixer Podcast, a podcast that refuses to sound like every other health show out there. We're here to disrupt this entire space, and now you are part of that disruption. If you're listening right now, it's because you've hit your breaking point. And I'm here to tell you. Good. Because this is where everything changes. This is where you finally say you no more. No more being dismissed by your doctor. No more being told your labs are normal. No more recycled medical advice. No more recycled biohacking advice. No more being told to accept what you know isn't right. Here, we do things differently. This podcast gives you information you can actually use. Real tools, real direction, real answers so you can take back your energy, your metabolism, your hormones and your life. Every episode will leave you with something actionable, something that moves you forward, something that reminds you that you're not crazy. You're finally being heard. This is Thyroid Fixer Podcast and this. This is where you rise. I need to talk to every woman who's been told that your labs are normal while your body is screaming at you and rebelling against you. Fatigue, brain fog, the weight that will not come off, mood swings, hair loss, feeling dismissed, frustrated and confused. I get it. And that is exactly why I wrote my new book, the Thyroid Fix. The no Nonsense Guide to Fix Fatigue, Fogginess, and Fat that Won't Budge. That just says it all. And it is now available for pre sale. So I need your help to spread the message. I am giving you an ask as my listener and a promise at the same time. If you pre order the thyroid fix, my promise to you is to continue delivering all kinds of free advice, information, content, education, empowerment. Because that's what I love to do. Whether it's here in the Just Fixture Thyroid Facebook group where I'm on live, I will give you everything I possibly can if you do me one favor, which will be a favor for yourself as well. And pre order the Thyroid fix. Now, this book is not another list of supplements, vague advice. It's not a diet plan. It's not filled with recipes. It is a clear, honest guide. It is the thyroid Bible. It is the last thyroid book that you will ever need because it teaches you how to read your own labs. No other book has done that. It teaches you what medication and dose you need. No other book has ever done that. It will help you to understand why you are being misdiagnosed, why you're being under treated and why you can't talk about hormones, weight loss or menopause without talking about the thyroid. I called it Thyroid Bible because like I said, this is going to be the thyroid book of the next few decades. When you pre order, you're not just supporting me, you're telling the publisher this message matters and it needs to get out to the world and it needs to get into the hands of women who have been ignored for far too long. So will you go to thyroid fix book.com and pre order a copy of yours today? It'll be shipped to you on May 12th and you will get free entry to our all day live event where I will be there answering your questions live, teaching live, and bringing in amazing guests for you to also connect with and ask your questions too. So thyroidfixbook.com pre order yours today. Okay ladies. You know, as we get older, our bodies just change. Sometimes in ways that leave us feeling less in control. And as women, we're all navigating the ups and downs that come with aging, especially when it comes to hormones. So that's why I am super excited to share something with you that's been a game changer for me. I have been using the bioidentical hormone creams from Hormone Solutions by Karen Martel. Dear friend, dear colleague, someone I trust tremendously. And let me tell you, I'm a little bit obsessed. So these creams are unlike anything I've tried before and I am a an anti aging junkie, skincare junkie. They're clean, over the counter. They contain USP grade hormones, which means they're high quality and effective without any harmful ingredients. And the best part is you don't need a prescription to get them. Karen's creams are designed to help with the symptoms of perimenopause and menopause and I have noticed a real difference in how I feel and how my skin looks. So the Estro 2 rejuvenation cream, my favorite in particular, has been a little miracle for my skin. Not only does it help to balance hormones, bonus. But I've been using it as a face cream. And research shows that estrogen on the skin can actually reduce fine lines, shrink pores, even help build collagen. So it's like a mini facelift in a bottle and it's totally affordable too. So what I love about Karen's products is they are all about helping women reclaim control over their bodies because let's face it, we deserve to feel good as we age. So these hormone creams are just like hitting the reset button, going back in time, giving you that sense of balance we all crave. So if you're ready to take back control, feel your best. I highly recommend trying Karen's creams. She has Progesterone, Estradiol, the E2 my fave. They come with a 30 day money back guarantee, so there's nothing to lose and you can even get 10% off your first purchase with my code Dr. Amy D R A M I E. So check the link in the show notes. We are going to give you a personalized link but you got to use the code Dr. Amy for 10% off and I hope you get them all and tell me what you think. Here on the Thyroid Fixer podcast, we are going to be doing something a little bit different just once or twice a month for the sole purpose to give you hope, to allow you to see yourself in the stories of these people who have overcome health challenges, who have triumphed over their thyroid condition, their thyroid dysfunction, the misdiagnoses, the mistreatment, the money spent, the relationships damaged, the jobs sometimes lost. We are going to focus on stories, real life stories from people who have overcome a thyroid condition, Hashimoto's thyroid dysfunction, hormonal dysfunction, and have come out the other side triumphant, literally getting their life back. Which I have to pause on that phrase because it's so cliche. We hear so many practitioners and influencers use that phrase and yet the shame of it all is the real meaning of that is being missed. You do get your life back when you optimize your thyroid, when you're treated properly, when you address hormonal deficiencies, when you hormonal dysfunction, hormonal decline. That just happens as we age. You get pieces of your life literally back into your own hands, into your own control. And it's almost a shame that that phrase has been used in marketing and quite frankly by some scammers that maybe you've even given your money to or lost money to. But there's something in that freeze of get your life back that is so powerful and so empowering because it's you literally reaching out and taking back something that was taken from you, that it is not your fault that it was taken. It just is. Maybe it's part of your path, part of your journey. Maybe it is a pain to purpose story like it was for me. Maybe there's a lesson in there somewhere, but it's you reaching out and grabbing hold of that piece of you that is no longer there that you feel is missing or that you don't even see when you look in the mirror anymore. You don't see that woman. You don't see that man that you once did, that you once recognized as you. You don't even see that person looking back at you anymore. That's what get your life back means. It means standing in your power and literally taking that back and watching parts of your life transform and change and shift to exactly what you dreamt it to be, to what it should be, to what you deserve it to be. That's what I want to focus on just a couple times a month on the show, because I know you need it. I know you need to see that there's hope. Maybe you're even on the other side of a radical transformation and you're scared of losing it. Now you've gotten a taste of what it's like to be here and it's so good, but yet there's that voice inside of you that is so fearful of going back to how it was. You're so scared of the ground shifting under you. So this is going to help with that fear as well. This is going to literally ground in you, the fact that you are healed and you are on the other side and no one can take that away from you ever again. Because when you become empowered, when you become transformed, when you are triumphant over a health situation, you've risen to another level and it doesn't matter if somebody helped you get there. That's what guides are for. It doesn't take away the fact that you got yourself there because you had to make that first step. You had to make the investment, you had to do the change. You had to put trust in an expert to guide you properly. So that's you. And no one's going to take that away. So if you are on the other side of your journey, this is also for you to know that there's better and you can even level up even further. But where you are right now won't change. It won't change. You're here. And maybe now your job is to grab the person over there who is beginning her journey and bring her through it with grace, with peace, with ease. So I'm going to start this Thyroid Triumph series, Thyroid Transformation series. I'M going to start it with my story. Now, many of you have heard the condensed version because as you know, when you're being interviewed on a podcast, when I'm telling my story on a stage before giving the meat of the talk, there's only so much you can tell. There's only so many details and so much emotion that you can weave in because it needs to be fast. I need to get to the point so we can move on to what, what it is you want to learn. So many of you have never heard the very intricate details of my journey. And I'm going to open up and share this with you because it's important. And it's important that you know that you're not alone and that you know how much I get you on such a deep level. My story started in my 20s and really, if I go back, did it start before that? Yeah, probably because I was a fat kid. I just was when I was younger. Gosh, even when I was crying in my crib and couldn't process this, my mom told me later that they would stick a bottle in my mouth. So it was always comfort with food. I would go to grandma's house and the end of the day would be Lorna Dune cookies and French vanilla ice cream as that nighttime snack. Dessert. Well, actually, that snack followed dessert. That was the nighttime snack. A couple hours after we ate dinner and dessert. So it was always soothing with something sweet. Yeah, I absolutely had a sweet tooth. And I was chubby. I was chubby. I was the fat kid. My friend and I in fifth grade, we made a bet with each other because we were both chubby. We made a bet with each other as to who could lose the most weight in X amount of time. And I look back at that and I go, wow, can I even imagine if I had a daughter that was in fifth grade and she was so distraught with her appearance and her body composition. Did she made a bet with a friend of hers as to who could lose the most weight? My God, that's messed up. But I did it. And it really wasn't until 6th, 7th grade that I got into cheerleading and just that level of activity, probably a growth spurt as well. I ended up shedding some of that weight. But throughout that, I remember I started getting up early and exercising before my parents were up. I can't even recall the age that I did that, but I remember being so self conscious with my body. Obviously, if I'm making bets with my friends that I would get up early and start exercising doing Jane Fonda workouts, buns of steel, abs of steel, remember those CBDs, and doing really anything that I could to lose the weight. And yes, that's where when diet started at a very early age for me. So naturally, as I transitioned, moving through high school, moving through college, always being body conscious, always being self conscious. After college, it only makes sense that I got into competing because when I was introduced to the world of bodybuilding, kind of moving from, okay, I was a cardio queen, I was still a cardio queen when I was bodybuilding, but I was only focused on cardio. Did step aerobics, got certified, got certified in spinning, certified in step, taught that sometimes three classes in a day, just cardio, cardio, cardio. Then when I was introduced to the world of bodybuilding and I saw this as, wow, I can transform and literally shape my body into something different and then get rewarded for it. Okay, I'll take that. So that's when I entered into that world of competing. And it was the figure competitions, which is much more feminine. But it allowed me to dive in and be strict and calculated. It allowed me control because going all the way back to fifth grade, sixth grade, I didn't have control over my body. And this allowed me to gain control because I controlled what I put in my mouth and I controlled how much I exercised. I did this multiple times. I then got into fitness modeling, which because I am not naturally thin and because I have a shorter torso and this is where all my weight would gather. And I have a story with that too. Because of that, I had to work my butt off, even for a photo shoot. So there were plenty of girls. They were so gorgeous, so beautiful. True models that really, I mean, they could diet for two days, diet down, we'll say, quote, unquote, diet down for two days and be in shape enough to get in front of a camera in a bikini and do all the poses and look absolutely gorgeous. I had to approach a photo shoot the same way I approached a show. And I would need 12 weeks of preparation. And there would be two a day cardio sessions and, and packing of food and restricting and dropping my water and taking diuretics. And the whole thing I had to do. Even for a photo shoot, if you are exhausted, gaining weight, you have brain fog, you just feel off and you're tired of doctor hopping and wasting money. Listen closely. So many women bounce from provider to provider, trying supplements, protocols, and then functional approaches that never truly address the thyroid. Months turn into years and you're still stuck feeling like Garbage, wasting your precious life. So this is why we offer a thyroid and hormone solution call. It's not a lab review. It's not treatment. It's clarity and strategy to determine whether you're a good fit for working with our clinic. We specialize in thyroid optimization and hormone optimization together. Because they go hand in hand. You can't do one without the other. You have to do them both. We prescribe in all 50 states and if you become a patient, we take care of you from start to finish. Testing, treatment, optimization, and ongoing support. You don't have months or years to waste feeling this way. And you shouldn't have to keep throwing money at people who don't truly understand the thyroid and hormones. So if you're ready for real help, go to dramy.com that'S-R-A-M I e.com and click book a call in the top right corner to schedule your thyroid and hormone solution call and just let us help you get your life back and be that badass human that you are meant to be. That you deserve to be. Now a little bit more in insight into me and my story. The reason why I have a short torso is also because I was diagnosed with scoliosis at the age of 11. I had to have surgery where they put Harrington rods into my spine to straighten it out. I got a little bit straighter. I don't remember much of gaining like a couple inches or anything, but I do know that a couple years later when I started going to tanning beds for dances, my scar started opening up. And when they went in to do just a cosmetic surgery and ended up being a 12 hour surgery where they found that my body was basically rejecting the Harrington rods and it was forming something around it, almost an infection like substance, goo. That's what was literally coming out of my scar. And they took out the metal and they took pieces of bone from my hip and fused. So I have 17 fusions in my spine and my spine is in the shape of an S. So yes, I should technically be about 2 inches easily taller than I am and my torso should be longer. Believe me, I think about that all the time, that if I had that, it would have made my life so much easier because I was always fighting my midsection. I always felt wider, I felt crunched. I felt like all the fat went there and that's what I focus on. That's where my eyes went. So my drive was to lose that fat and tighten up my midsection so I wouldn't be so hyper focused on What I didn't have, again, naturally transition into competing. So I knew what I had to do. Even though it was brutal, I knew I had to be very, very strict. 12, sometimes 16 weeks. But I had done this enough times that I knew what I signed up for. I volunteered for it. I decided, right? So I was still in control, except for this one show. Now, I've said this before, I had a coach. I mean, you can't do this without a coach. You can't do this on your own. So, yes, I absolutely had a coach who gave me my diet plan, who I checked in with, who I sent pictures to, and this contest prep, I would get on that scale every week and just see it go up. And it would choke me. And it would be this. You know what I'm talking about? That anxiety, that tension in your throat and in your chest. You're like, no, this can't be happening. This can't be happening. Okay, what do I gotta do? All right, I'm gonna eat less and I'm gonna exercise more. Maybe if I just restrict a little more. Maybe if I get in instead of 45 minutes twice a day on that step mill, I'm going to do an hour twice a day, make sure I get it in. I mean, I would go to work sweaty because I just did a cardio session and just kind of wipe things down. Because it was cardio first. It was cardio first before socialization or any kind of social life. It was cardio first before work, cardio first before family. It was getting in that workout before anything else. And I did it. And I was disciplined. I mean, I have discipline out the wazoo, even if it meant sacrificing parts of my life to do it. Part of being a type A control freak as well, one could say. And I'm not saying any of this is good. I'm saying it to share. So, yes, I would restrict. More control. More, more, more, more. Because more is better. I get on the scale again. It was up again. It kept going up. Now that feeling comes on, that feeling of total and complete loss of control of your body. That's when I started wearing sweatshirts, just hiding. I had to hide my body. I had to hide it because I could feel the stares at the gym. I could hear the talk. God, I can feel it now. It was so embarrassing. It was so frustrating. This is where I want you to know how much I get you. Like, I get that pain because I can resurface it. Right now. You feel like your body is running away from you like something else has taken the wheel and then even though it's your body, you can't dictate the way that it goes. It's like it doesn't matter what choice you make, it's going in that direction. And the direction is the scale is going up. And that's what it did. It just kept going up. That's just the start of the emotion that's not even getting into the doctor's appointments. So, you know, again, I tell this story on the sage and it's. There was one, there was two, there was three, there was four, there was five, there were six. And each one of them along a timeline. This one told me that. This one told me that they all told me I was normal and everything was fine. But when you tell the story quickly, the timeline crunches down. When I tell the story like this, it expands and it goes over many months. And when it expands like that, it allows even me to go back and see and remember leaving some of those appointments. And this one in particular, that was metabolic disease specialists, I. E. Endocrinologists. And I put my head on the steering wheel in my car. I can still see the parking lot like it was yesterday. And I put my head on the steering wheel and I. Bald. And I try not to say this out loud because I don't want to put this into the universe at all or give any kind of power to it, but at that moment in time, I was like, I'd even. I. I take a cancer diagnosis right then and there because it would have given me an answer as to what my body was doing. So you gotta be careful what you wish for because sometimes it circles back 30 years later. But no, seriously, I. It was so disheartening and so frustrating that I prayed for anything, any diagnosis, and time just kept going. My marriage was strained, my sex life was strained. I was only in my 20s. I didn't wanna have sex. I didn't want to get naked, I didn't want to go anywhere. Funny thing is, I remember, oh, gosh, I was getting married. And I remember seeing a picture of me at my wedding shower. And it was so gross. My face was huge. It was a moon face. My clothes were tight. Everything was tight. And I was just disgusted with myself. And yeah, you can get into the body positivity, movement, blah, blah, blah. But here I am being real. And I'm not gonna blow sunsh shine up your ass when your body. And you know this, and I'm not gonna spin it to be politically correct when your Body is a certain way, and you're used to being a certain size to carry around excess weight and all your clothes be tight and you not recognize who you're seeing in photos or in the mirror. It sucks. It absolutely sucks. And there's no two ways about it. And there's no pretty spin we can put on it from like, I love my body. No, I did it. I don't expect you to either. And I don't put you down if you say this sucks, because it does. And it did. So, yeah, I wore the sweatshirts. I loathed my body. And I hated how it was rebelling against me and I hated all the doctors that dismissed me, but I kept going. And I do focus on this when I tell the story. God, what if I would have stopped? What if I would have stopped at doctor number three? What if I would have stopped the doctor number four? What if I would have stopped? I wouldn't be here. I wouldn't have an answer. I kept going. But how many people stop? How many people stop and just believe. And just believe that this is right? Yeah. You know, five doctors told me, abnormal, everything is fine. It makes sense. But I didn't stop. I kept going. So I got that diagnosis, I got that final diagnosis from doctor number seven, the endocrinologist, and she put me on Synthroid. And it didn't work, as we know, because T4 only doesn't work. And that's when I did more research, more Dr. Googling. I brought back to her all this information on T3 that was limited, limited, available on my Gateway computer back in the day. But I brought it to her. She told me, no, I don't do it. I'm not going to prescribe it. I don't know what other bullshit she spewed about T3 at the time, but whatever it was, I thought, huh, I hear you. Okay, thanks, but no thanks. And that is where I moved into functional and integrative medicine. And I kept hearing the name, I'm telling you, when God, the universe, life gives you something over and over again, please don't ignore it. Don't ignore it. I kept hearing the name over and over again of my mentor who saved my life, Dr. Len Bransiewicz. And I sat down with him for 90 minutes. 60 minutes. 90 minutes. It was a long time. It wasn't a five to seven minute visit. And he changed my life and he saved me. My body slowly transformed over time. As I got on the right medication, as I got on a few supplements just to support. I was Doing the diet just fine. I got the lifestyle part down pat. But it was really being able to work with someone who listened, who understood. Now, he hadn't been through a thyroid problem, but he had the love, the compassion and the knowledge all put together to be able to see me and see my frustration and guide me properly as to what my body needed. That's all you need. All you need in this striving, whether it's thyroid or hormones, all you need is someone who listens to you, who understands you at a deep level and gets the pain that you're in. I promise I do that gets the pain that you're in. And that can be your guide that has the knowledge enough. Because we can all find a friend who will hold space and get us and understand us. We can find a therapist, we can even find a doctor or a practitioner, or you can pay a functional medicine doctor to hold that space. But it takes a knowledgeable guide to give you the right tools to get to optimization land, where you can then tell your story like I am today, with the remembering of the heaviness and the emotion, but without having to carry it any further. Because you know it's not you anymore and it's not part of you anymore. I know that I can tell this story, press stop and move on in optimization land, continuing to help people, continuing to give you hope. But if you don't hear my story, how do you know that there's hope on the other side? That's why I not only want to share my story, but the story of many other people who have triumphed, who have gone through it, who have battled, and who have come out the other side optimized, changed, empowered, literally taking, taking their life back. If this has given you a smidgen of power, of inspiration, of hope, I want you to share this with anyone you know that needs that smidgen of power, of inspiration or of hope. I love you. I see you. I get you. And I want you to know that you are not alone. You are not alone. The phrase it's not your fault, but it is your fight keeps coming up. And I wrote that in my book and I want you to hear it and take it in. It's not your fault, but it is your fight. You can't sit back and expect people to come to you with fairy dust sprinkle healing. You have to take the first step. You still have to do, but you don't have to do it alone. You can do it with belief and with hope and with power. You got this I know you do, and my hope is is that this gave you just a little bit more of a push. The information shared on the Thyroid Fixer Podcast is intended solely for informational and educational purposes. It is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Always consult with your physician or other qualified health care provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition treatment or before making changes to your health care regimen, including medications, supplements or other therapies. Use of the information provided in this podcast does not establish a doctor, patient or client provide a relationship between you and the host, or between you and any other healthcare professionals featured on the show. Any medical opinions or statements made by guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of the host or affiliated parties. Statements regarding dietary supplements or health related products mentioned in this podcast have not been evaluated by the fda. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. Some episodes of the Thyroid Fixer Podcast may include sponsorships or affiliate links. The host may receive compensation for discussing or promoting certain products or services. Any such sponsorships or affiliations will be clearly disclosed during the episode. All opinions expressed are those of the host or guests and do not necessarily reflect the views of any sponsors. The inclusion of a product or service does not imply endorsement by any health care professional featured on this podcast.