My story ...

For over 15 years, I have struggled with severe form of hypothyroidism that was not responding to traditional endocrinologic treatment. During that time, I have seen seven different endocrinologists, worked with four functional medicine clinics, and tried many alternative methods such as acupuncture, infrared light therapy, different elimination diets, Chinese herbal medicine, chiropractic adjustments and body cleanses to no improvement in symptoms. The debilitating fatigue, anemia, hair loss, weight gain, memory problems, severe brain fog, low body temperature, severe PMS and bradycardia persisted.

Eventually the symptoms became unbearable. I required twelve to sixteen hours of sleep daily and was lethargic even when awake. I have struggled with the simplest activities of the daily living such as to make breakfast, to shower, to stay awake while driving. At that time, I already had my graduate degree in nursing and was very proficient in the literature review and the analysis of medical research. I started analyzing the results of hypothyroidism and Hashimoto’s thyroiditis-related studies, examining thyroid function and the anatomy of the endocrine system, and the pituitary-hypothalamus-thyroid axis dysfunction. After I have gathered the extensive research information, I wanted to start trying those approaches on myself. 

For example, in the course of my research, I found that the deiodinase enzyme mutations can prevent a person from converting the traditional thyroid replacement hormone t4 into its active form t3 (Moreno & Visser, 2010). And that such patients will continue to exhibit the signs of deteriorating metabolism unless treated with the active form of thyroid hormone, such as Liothyronine (Celi et al., 2011). Additionally, I found that hypothyroidism often leads to the cortisol use and production issues and may also contribute to anemia (Seck-Gassama et al., 2000; Szczepanek-Parulska, Hernik & Ruchala, 2017), as well as may be influenced by the deficiencies in the iodine and selenium (American Thyroid Association, n.d.; Ventura, Melo & Carilho, 2017).

I desperately needed a provider that would be willing to prescribe the non-traditional form of hypothyroidism treatment, such as the Liothyronine, and work on my ability to convert and uptake the medication better, meaning normalizing the levels of iron, iodine and selenium, and addressing the cortisol issues. Liothyronine is an active form of the thyroid hormone that does not require conversion (National Library of Medicine, 2018), and therefore is bioavailable to all cells and tissues immediately. However, after a year of search I was not able to find anyone in the state of Illinois that was using this method. 

Through the extensive search and networking, I was able to find two practitioners in the entire US that were using the active form of thyroid medication in their practices and were seeing patients via telehealth. 

After years of struggling, I was able to get rid of about 90% of my symptoms in just three months using the active form of thyroid medication! It took another three months to fully recover by working on balancing the cortisol, iron, iodine and selenium levels! Every single symptom I had disappeared! My health is better than ever, and I can again think clearly and enjoy my professional and personal life! 

According to the American Thyroid Association (n.d.), approximately 20 million of Americans have some type of thyroid disease, and about 60 percent of those people are not aware that the symptoms they have are caused by the thyroid dysfunction. In the course of my research and recovery, I have found hundreds of thousands of patients suffering from the severe form of hypothyroidism non-responsive to traditional treatment via social networking. This patient population is using social media platforms to desperately look for answers, look for better treatment options that will provide at least some symptom relief. 

At first, I have shared my knowledge and experience for free. Guiding and advising people to what steps to take, and how to work with their endocrinologists to get the best out of their treatment, how to read and analyze their blood work results etc. Eventually, the amount of people that wanted my advice have gotten so substantial that I was driven to open up a small health coaching business, Life After Hypothyroidism, LLC. 

Right now, I am taking a next step to provide better services to my clients. I have begun my journey to become a Board Certified Nurse Practitioner specializing in Functional Medicine to eventually offer full spectrum of services from diagnosis to prescription treatment.

My passion is disease prevention and improvement of health from a functional medicine perspective. For my clients, this means offering a comprehensive, in-depth health assessment and treatment, as well as removing the environmental and social factors that contribute to disease formation and worsening of symptoms. For my hypothyroidism patient population, this means improving clients' ability to convert the thyroid replacement hormones into its active form T3, and to increase their ability to uptake active form of thyroid hormones into their cells. This often requires normalizing patient’s cortisol, iron, selenium and iodine levels and reducing their insulin resistance, while simultaneously supplying correct dosages of thyroid replacement hormone (Seck-Gassama et al., 2000; Szczepanek-Parulska, Hernik & Ruchala, 2017; Ventura, Melo & Carilho, 2017).

I am thrilled to be of help and to make a noticable contribution to the quality of life of my clients! 

Sincerely,

Olga A. Enslen

MSN, RN

Hypothyroidism Recovery Specialist

American Thyroid Association. (n.d.). Iodine deficiency. https://www.thyroid.org/iodine-deficiency/

Celi, F. D., Zemskova, M.., Linderman, J., Smith, S., Drinkard, B., & Pucino, F. (2011). Metabolic effects of Liothyronine therapy in hypothyroidism: a randomized, double-blind, crossover trial of Liothyronine versus Levothyroxine. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, 96 (11), 3466-74. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21865366/

Moreno, J. C., Visser, T. J. (2010). Genetics and phenomics of hypothyroidism and goiter due to iodotyrosine deiodinase (DEHAL1) gene mutations. Molecular and Cellular Endocrinology. 322(1-2), 91-8. doi: 10.1016/j.mce.2010.03.010

National Library of Medicine. (2018). Liothyronine. https://medlineplus.gov/druginfo/meds/a682462.html

Seck-Gassama, Ndoye, O., Mbodj, M., Akala, A., Cisse, F. & Ndoye, R. (2000). Serum cortisol level variations in thyroid diseases. Dakar Medical. 45(1), 30-3. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/14666786/

Szczepanek-Parulska, E., Hernik, F. & Ruchała, M. (2017). Anemia in thyroid diseases. Polish Archives of Internal Medicine.127(5), 352-360. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28400547/

   Ventura, M., Melo, M. & Carrilho, F. (2017). Selenium and thyroid disease: from pathophysiology to treatment. International Journal of Endocrinology. doi: 10.1155/2017/1297658