Personal Spotlight: Meet Mary
(originally published in 2020)
I recently met Mary through Instagram as someone with similar health issues as my own. As a busy mom of two girls, she inspired me with her dedication to take her health into her own hands. I asked her to share her story and I’m so excited to share it with you below:
It’s All About Diet & Gut Health
Hi there! My name is Mary Barfield and I currently live in North Carolina with my husband, two beautiful little girls, and our two dogs! For me, health was never a thought in my head before I started thinking about getting pregnant. I was always active, involved in sports growing up, and stayed active throughout college as well. I would eat what I want, drink what I want, and after graduating college, I didn’t give one thought to working out.
My Early Days
At that time, I generally maintained a “skinny fat” physique and didn’t have any major health issues. Then I became pregnant with my first daughter. I was about 148 lbs, 5’4”, and gained 40 lbs in my pregnancy! I ate what I wanted and did NOT exercise! I kept telling myself, “It’s okay, you will lose the weight after you give birth!”
Well, I did in fact lose the weight and then some! I still was eating whatever I wanted after my first pregnancy, but I started doing something I NEVER thought I would do….I ran! I actually ran my first 5K since highschool, eight months postpartum. I got down to 138 lbs and then got pregnant with my second daughter 18 months after my first was born!
I was determined to maintain my healthy lifestyle and not lose all the hard work I had already put into myself! I ate a little healthier than my first pregnancy (well I didn’t eat any Oreo DQ Blizzards this time around lol), and I actually exercised during this pregnancy. Running didn’t feel good during pregnancy, so I invested in a stationary bike that I could cycle on 3-4 days per week.
Guess what? I still gained 40 lbs! I was 178lbs when I gave birth to my second daughter! Apparently our bodies just need to gain what they need to gain in order to grow a baby! But, I knew I could lose the weight again because I did it before. But this is where life threw me a curveball and my weight was no longer my greatest concern…
My Diagnosis
Two months postpartum, I started experiencing an array of odd symptoms that didn’t really connect with each other:
-My hands would shake
-I would get dizzy and almost black out when I would stand up
-Daily heart palpitations
-I dropped 13 lbs in my third month postpartum (I wasn’t complaining, but it was odd)
-Exhaustion (worse than my first trimester exhaustion)
-I couldn’t fall asleep at night
-Headaches and migraines
-I was super hot (I ran hot normally, but this was on another level)
-Muscle weakness in my legs (I couldn’t even walk up the stairs)
-Anxiety was through the roof
-And a plethora of other odd symptoms…..
I finally decided to call my midwife and book an appointment. They ran every blood test under the sun based on my symptoms and everything was normal, except my TSH came back very low and my T3 and T4 hormones were very high. They referred me to an endocrinologist as this could be an indicator of Graves’ disease (an autoimmune disease) or it could merely be that I had postpartum thyroiditis and my hormone levels would level back out on their own!
I went home with my potential diagnosis and started researching on my own while waiting for my endocrinologist appointment a few weeks later. I went into that appointment armed with so much knowledge that my doctor said, “Well, there isn’t anything I can tell you that you don’t already know, so let’s do additional labs.” and they did. They did a more comprehensive lab panel than my midwife, which showed that I had the antibodies for Hashimoto’s, NOT Graves’ disease.
My symptoms were presenting as Graves’, but I technically have the autoimmune disease Hashimoto’s. This is not unusual, especially at the onset of the disease (I won’t get into the scientific details here – it’s a lot to explain). The main takeaway was that my body was attacking my thyroid, and your thyroid is one of the most important parts of your body.
Your Thyroid:
-Regulates your metabolism
-Regulates your body temperature
-Impacts your menstrual cycles
-Impacts your emotions (depression, anxiety, etc.)
-And much more – it impacts most of the human body systems
My doctor put me on a medication at four months postpartum that would hopefully regulate my hyper thyroid (hyperthyroidism). I had to stop breastfeeding at that time because it wasn’t confirmed safe for my daughter, which was deeply disheartening since we were rocking our breastfeeding journey! I started to feel better after a week, my symptoms started to subside, and then three weeks later, my symptoms came back and a few new ones popped up! I went back to my endocrinologist and they did more labs that showed my thyroid had swung the complete opposite way and it was now hypo (hypothyroidism – a high TSH and a low T3 and T4)!
They immediately took me off my meds, and told me to wait and see if my body regulated back to normal. I scheduled a two-month follow up and at that appointment they took more blood and my labs came back within the normal range! The only issue is that I STILL had all my symptoms! They dismissed me, saying “The labs are normal, so you are normal, we will see you in six months to make sure nothing has changed.”
I felt utterly defeated.
Then one of my friends suggested I read “Hashimoto’s Protocol” by Izabella Wentz. I dove in and could not stop reading! The amount of information, data, studies, and solutions she provided were amazing! I started doing additional research outside of the book and finally determined that I should go on a gluten free and dairy free diet!
And guess what? It started to work for me! My symptoms started to slowly disappear. I started exercising 3-4 times per week. I incorporated weight lifting into my exercise routine along with cardio. I STARTED TO FEEL BETTER! Also, I lost more weight and became toned, weighing in at 128 lbs as I write this.
All of that research I did on my own and the results I saw opened my eyes to what a profound influence diet and exercise have on our health. Did you know that all autoimmune diseases stem from your gut health? I didn’t until I went looking for answers! I felt like I was doing a good job on my own, but thought I could do better with some professional assistance! I decided to start working with a nutritionist who specializes in Hashimoto’s.
After a few meetings, we decided that it made the most sense for me to do the LEAP MRT food sensitivity test. This blood test allowed me to see exactly what foods were activating my immune response in my gut, which flared up my Hashimoto’s and in turn, threw my thyroid hormones out of whack, resulting in my symptoms. After doing that test, I found out that soy and cow’s milk were the foods that elicited the strongest response from my immune system and that I needed to stay away from them along with gluten as well. On a positive note, the test showed that I could have goat’s milk products, cheddar cheese, ghee, and other naturally low-lactose dairy foods, without affecting my Hashimoto’s. So, I actually gained some new foods back in my diet!
Since changing my diet to accommodate the findings of the LEAP test, I have never felt better! My labs have been the best they have ever been, my symptoms are all gone, I even cut my Hashimoto’s antibodies in half. I am the fittest I have ever been in my 33 years on this planet! I am able to regulate my Hashimoto’s without medication, purely through my diet and exercise. However, I think it is important to note that I was lucky enough to catch my disease before it killed my entire thyroid, which would have left me with no choice but to take medication the rest of my life.
Moral of My Story
Doctors are given approximately four credit hours of nutritional education throughout their entire educational experience. They are not trained to look at the root cause of a symptom, but only to treat the symptom with a bandaid (a pill, a shot, surgery, etc.). My endocrinologist not only didn’t listen to me when I said I was still having symptoms and dismissed me, but also robbed me of my breastfeeding journey by putting me on what I now consider an unnecessary medication, which did more harm to me than good. She never once suggested looking at my diet, my gut health, or toxins in my household.
My health journey has made me realize that we have to be our own advocates for our health! Push your healthcare provider when they aren’t giving you what you need, or go find one that will! I saw five different healthcare professionals before I found a healthcare team that works for me! I now have a trusted team made up of myself, a nutritionist, a general practitioner, and a Hashimoto’s specialized nurse practitioner that help keep me healthy!
As frustrating as the last two years have been on this roller coaster of a health journey, it has also revealed my true passion in life! I recently started a health and wellness-focused Instagram profile, I pivoted my focus on my YouTube channel to workouts and recipes (previously I created “mommy content”), and I have a new goal in life: to help others with their own health and wellness journeys! I plan to get my ACE health coach certification and my ACE fitness certification, create a food allergy-friendly cookbook, and create customized workouts for my clients. I want people to know what I didn’t know at the beginning! I want to help others not have to work as hard to take care of their health as I had to!
In the end, I believe things happen for a reason and we take the journeys that we have to in order to create the person we are meant to be!