At some point I was tired, no longer able to enjoy my two wonderful children because their energy always seemed too much, and my milk supply was dwindling. For a while I thought maybe I just had to accept the fate of being an overstretched toddler mom and everyone said, it’s normal for your milk supply to drop after the baby grows older. So I already knew from medical school that being sluggish all the time was a symptom of hypothyroidism. But the entire medical profession is based on the treatment of pathology. It does not do such a great job at identifying the more insidious beginnings of hypothyroidism (or any other illness), which falls under the “subclinical” umbrella – where a person is still mostly functional, and hasn’t quite fallen apart yet. There is no “gross pathology” is what the books will say.

So to recap, hypothyroidism can result in feeling tired and sluggish. Depression is a lesser known consequence, although also present in the textbooks. And then I read about how sleep deprivation can essentially “burn out” your thyroid (not the actual physiological mechanism but a very apt descriptor nonetheless). I pretty much checked all the boxes for hypothyroidism, but still didn’t recognize it until I learned that hypothyroidism can also lead to a decrease in breastmilk production. It seemed like a slam dunk. No one is going to treat subclinical hypothyroidism with replacement levothyroxine, but learning about how to stop its course from a functional medicine point-of-view was life-changing.

I got started on various supplements (listed below), made a commitment to move my body (not necessarily formal exercise, but to ensure I was getting lots of opportunities to work both mind and muscle), and felt vastly different in less than a month. Even though this happened at the end of summer and as cold weather set in, I felt more energy than I had in the warm months.

When you’re trying to get a jumpstart on your health, or a certain aspect of it, you might start reading about all the vitamins or minerals, or probiotics that could be helpful. I once went from a one daily vitamin, to 13 different bottles of supplements at once! Selenium, Magnesium, Zinc, Glutathione, black cumin seed oil… Some companies will try to sell you a personalized daily vitamin, and this is why they stay in business! But if you’re not eager to spend more for a personalized daily, take comfort in this: the dozens of different supplements? They are just a jumpstart. You did not just sentence yourself to a lifetime of the A-Z supplement club. Sometimes your body has been so depleted by our modern lifestyle, diets, stress and illness. After a short jumpstart, some modifications to your diet where you start taking these in through the food you eat, you likely won’t have to be taking them for as long as you think, and you will still reap the benefits. Good nutrition begets more good nutrition. You might find, as I did, that you crave healthier foods, after being on ashwagandha for a few weeks. You might find more energy on black cumin seed oil, and start exercising. And if you had a subclinical Hashimoto’s, then your thyroid hormone levels will gradually increase. Your body will take flight. And you can peel these supplements off gradually, or use them at some longer interval (once a week, for instance).

Here’s what I personally use.

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Ashwagandha. During testing, consumerlabs found that only a selection of manufacturers had the advertised content of ashwagandha in their supplements, and this was one of them. They are not even the priciest (or most popular – gathering by user reviews) option around.

Black cumin seed oil. There have been a few clinical trials now showing its efficacy in early subclinical Hashimoto’s. Bonus for nursing mothers: it may increase breast milk production, and is rated “likely safe”.

Omega 3 EPA & DHA. There’s a lot about fish oils these days. Let’s boil it down to: these are high-potency, good quality (Nordic has a solid reputation), and they absorb well without causing fish oil burps all day long. Sold!

Gluthathione. Again, during testing consumerlabs found that this was one of the brands living up to their promise.

Selenium (L-selenomethionine)

Vitamin C and D3