Latest / Health with Hashimoto’s - Thyroid or Immune Education for Autoimmune Thyroid Disease / 121 // Tips for Managing Seasonal Fluctuations Like the October SLIDE

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121 // Tips for Managing Seasonal Fluctuations Like the October SLIDE · Health with Hashimoto’s - Thyroid or Immune Education for Autoimmune Thyroid Disease

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Welcome to episode 121 of the Health with Hashimoto's podcast. My name is Esther.
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I'm a registered nurse and I am so proud and honored to show up here every single
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week for you so that you can become more empowered in your own health,
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so that you can show up and know what to do.
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You can know what questions to ask, how to solve your health puzzles.
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And that does not mean that everything is smooth sailing on my end.
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So today I'm actually changing up what I had planned. I was going to talk about
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how prevalent Hashimoto's is, like how many people have it.
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And then I had a conversation, actually this was spurred on by three different conversations.
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One was with a friend who was telling me that she, like every single winter,
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she starts to feel worse.
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And it usually starts in October for her.
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And that made me remember that I'd seen something on social media and about
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the October slide. I asked if she had ever heard of it. She's like, no, what is that?
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We talked about it a little bit. And then just today I was talking to my husband.
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I just like feel like I'm just existing this week instead of like actively going through my days.
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I feel like I am just maintaining and like just checking the bare minimum boxes
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to get through the day and through the week instead of showing up how I want too.
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And it kind of snuck up on me. And I was surprised because, you know,
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a month or two ago, even a couple weeks ago, I was getting things done.
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I was feeling like I was showing up for myself, for my family,
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for my like two different businesses, plus a job.
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I was like on top of things and not this week.
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Like, huh, I wonder about that October slide that I was talking to somebody else this evening.
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And I'm like, you know what? I really should make a episode about this.
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It is no longer October, but it still applies.
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I'm curious, have you ever heard of this October slide?
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And if so, have you experienced it? Even if you haven't heard of it,
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let's talk about it. And you can tell me if you have experienced it.
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Make sure to come over to school, to our community, and join in a conversation.
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Start a new conversation.
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Engage in the community. I really want it to be a robust place where you can
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make friends and you can find encouragement. You can find answers to your questions.
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You can find people to relate to.
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And like, what did you do when you experienced this? I just love the conversations
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that we're having so far, and I'm thrilled to welcome you. It is a free community.
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The school platform, S-K-O-O-L, is a free platform.
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They do have an app, and the app works really nice. They also have a desktop version.
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You can get on there, and there are, you know, hundreds, if not thousands of groups already.
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Our group, our community, is the Health with Hashimoto's community.
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It is free to join. When you get into the community, there is a discussion tab
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where you'll see all of the conversations.
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And then there's also a classroom tab where you can go through all of the courses
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that I have created for you.
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The paid courses and the free courses.
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When it comes to the new year, we will do the transform your year in the classroom.
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I might make a group or like a conversation about it as well.
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I have not decided yet, but all of that is in our school community.
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So make sure to hop on over there and join the conversation over there.
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So what is the October slide? Let me read you what it actually stands for.
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The S-L-I-D-E, do stand for something.
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And this, I don't know where it originated. So I cannot give credit to the,
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you know, the person who came up with an acronym.
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I have seen it a lot on Instagram, especially when I search for October slide.
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I see a lot of it then, but that's where I originally saw it.
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And I have seen numerous reels and posts about the October slide.
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So slide stands for the different things that are changing in the fall season.
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So this is, you know, October, November, even a little bit September for people
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in the Northern atmosphere, hemisphere, that's the word I'm looking for.
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And then in the Southern hemisphere, you're going to have your fall or autumn,
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you know, slide in what, April and May.
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I think that's what your fall starts, right?
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And so it stands for S, school or work stress.
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So our stressors go up, school or work stress.
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The L is low barometric pressure.
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So that's like atmosphere stuff. It's not something that most of us think about
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every day, but the atmosphere, the barometric pressure does change in the fall.
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Then also the I, illnesses increase. And of course we all know this,
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you know, when people start going indoors is more, when kids go back to school
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and sharing germs, illnesses do increase.
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The days, this is D, the days darken and we have lower vitamin D.
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And we know that vitamin D is so crucial for your immune system.
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It is so important for so many different functions in your body.
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And low vitamin D is a problem.
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In fact, when I was in the emergency department and they wanted to give us flu
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shots every year, I did some research and I was like, you know what?
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Research says that getting my vitamin D up and taking probiotics both work better
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to prevent influenza and respiratory viruses than the flu shot.
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That is what I found in the research. And so I would, I would refuse it every
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year and I would give them my research.
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And of course I know that the nurses who are actually giving the flu shots,
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they're just, they're just checking a box.
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They don't, most of them don't really care if you get it or your reasons why you're not getting it.
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But I would still, every single year, I would say I am not getting the flu shot
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because I am going to increase my vitamin D and I am going to take probiotics every day.
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Therefore, I will be more protected than this.
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We're going to guess on three strains of influenza and we're going to inject
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this into your body and who knows what else we're going to inject.
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I'm just like, no, I'm going to do what actually works better.
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That's a whole nother topic. So vitamin D or the days darken, that is the D.
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And then the E in slide is that exercise ebbs.
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We tend to exercise less when it gets cold. And I will freely admit that I am a fair weather walker.
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If it is windy outside, I am not going to go for a walk.
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And this morning I checked my weather app and it said it was going to be windy.
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It also said it was going to be drizzly. Now I don't care about a little bit of moisture.
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I'm not going to usually walk in the rain if it's really cold,
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but if it's cold and windy or if it's rainy and windy, I am out.
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So I checked the weather this morning.
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And it said windy. And it said drizzly and cold, like in the 40s,
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which is not too bad. And I was like, if it's windy, no.
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Now I can't go outside and check the wind because where I live,
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our house is surrounded by woods and trees.
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So we don't get the wind like I do in town when I drive my kids into town to
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take them to the bus stop, my middle two.
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Then I go on my walk, on my like two mile walk.
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So I did not bring my headphones because I wasn't going to go for a walk.
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And then I got into town being a fair weather walker and it was not windy.
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And I was like, oh, shoot, I could have gone for a walk today.
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But without my earbuds, I didn't want to go for a walk because then I can't
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listen to my audio Bible.
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I try to listen to that every single morning on my walk. That is my daily time with God.
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Of course, I spend time with God else, you know, throughout the day.
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But that's like my dedicated time. I listen to the Bible every day.
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I've chosen that for my Bible quote reading plan for this year.
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And then I also listen to the news, and catch up on another couple podcasts.
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I listen to everything in at least double time so that I can get through a lot more.
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But my exercise ebbs because I'm a fair weather walker. So I didn't exercise
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this morning. I didn't go for my walk. And I told myself I was going to get on my treadmill.
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And did I? I did not. I did not. So that's slide.
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School or work stress increases, low barometric pressure, illnesses increase,
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the days darken and our vitamin D goes lower.
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And our exercise ebbs. You put all of those things together,
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and what do you realize? Like, we're hitting a bunch of triggers.
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If you have gone through Hashimoto's decoded root causes revealed,
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like, you are recognizing that some of those are triggers for autoimmune problems,
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specifically for Hashimoto's.
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They're also triggers for other things. That's why this October slide is in
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the chronic illness community. It's not just confined to Hashimoto's.
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It is so many people because these things do matter.
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Of course, our stress matters so much for our immune system.
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So let me walk you through what I am going to do as somebody experiencing this
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October, now it's November slide.
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And this slide does persist.
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It is like the fall and even winter months. And if you look on the research
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sites, you will see that a lot of immune system things worsen in the winter.
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And I was so curious about that when I found out maybe last year,
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I found out that your TSH typically changes in the winter.
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And is that related to this October slide or is it related to something else?
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I am not sure, but I'm so fascinated by it.
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And if you know, I would love to know what you know. So let me know in the school community.
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How many times did I say no in that, you know, two sentences?
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It was a lot. Okay. This is what I am going to do.
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Number one, I am going to prioritize rest.
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Why? Because my body is asking for it. I am tired.
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So I'm going to make sure that I do the things that I know that I need to do at bedtime.
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I'm going to turn off my phone. I'm going to put that in the drawer.
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And I have not been super good about that. You know, it's been election season.
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I have been watching the news and it's been really interesting watching everything develop.
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So I'm going to put my phone in my drawer. That is one way to prioritize rest
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because my brain needs to shut down and my eyeballs don't need that blue light.
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And then I'm going to get out my book. I might do some rebounding.
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I do have a mini trampoline and some gentle bouncing before bed.
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I have found it helps me warm up, which is good, but it's not too strenuous
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of exercise to like wake me up.
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So I love to do some rebounding right before bed, just to get my blood moving,
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move my lymph before I go to bed. And like I said, warm up.
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Other things you can do at bedtime would be like write down your gratitudes
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for the day in your gratitude journal.
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I do not write my gratitudes in the evening, but a lot of people do.
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It's a way to reflect on the day. I will pray and thank God for things in the evening.
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But when I write them down, I usually write them down in the morning when I
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am looking at my planner for the day.
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That is when I write down my gratitudes. So number one, I'm going to prioritize rest.
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And then I'm going to look at my other daily habits. Am I making sure that I'm
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having enough water? I know that's so important for me.
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Am I taking my activators? Am I making sure that I'm getting my protandem NRF2
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every day, which I have been.
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Side note, I was reading through some published research and papers the other day.
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It was 55 pages and that was just one PDF.
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I think there were two different PDFs, both about that length.
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And each little research, what do they call it?
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Poster was about a half to a full page. So that's a lot of research.
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And there were a couple who mentioned the NRF2 pathway and how it can help with
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Hashimoto's and or thyroid.
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It was thyroid, not Hashimoto's. And they were talking about,
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you know, maybe some medications can help with this NRF2. And I was like, wait, what?
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We don't need medications. We have an herbal product already here.
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It's already tested and proven. It already has over 30 different peer-reviewed research sites
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studies showing that it works. It's so amazing.
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And evidently the people who are writing that research did not know about that,
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but they're talking about the NRF2 pathway and how helpful it is for thyroid function.
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So if you're not taking protandem NRF2 already, you can listen to the episodes
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that I've done on like more energy or just activation.
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And you could also go into the school classroom, one of the classes or courses
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that's free is like, what do I use? What are my favorites?
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What are the products that I
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use? And I've got a lot of information about activation in that classroom.
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And along with the activators, I'm also going to look at my supplements.
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I typically do a little bit less vitamin D in the summer because I'm outside,
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and then I do more in the winter.
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So I don't think I have increased it. I know I have not increased it yet this fall.
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So maybe it's time to check my vitamin D level and then increase how much I'm taking every day.
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After all, SLIDE includes vitamin D.
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And that brings me to labs. How often do you get your lab work done?
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If you're on levothyroxine or Synthroid or something like that,
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they have you on a schedule. And if you're not on it, do you go see your doctor
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and get your labs or your provider and get your labs done like every six months?
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Do you do it every year? how often do you do it?
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Typically I do it once a year and that's because I'm not on any medications
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and I typically have everything under control except for during the winter.
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So that's when I go see my nurse practitioner and it is time to make an appointment
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and get all of my labs done including vitamin D so I know how to adjust my dosage.
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And then also I will go back on low dose naltrexone.
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I have done that for the past two winters, and it really, really helps my symptoms.
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It helps my immune system function a little bit better.
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I have not done a full episode on low-dose naltrexone, but I should.
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At a full dose, naltrexone is a medication used to treat alcohol and opioid
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dependence, actually, and it makes you really sick if you have alcohol or opioids.
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But they figured out that if you have a teeny tiny dose, like about 1 30th of
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the standard dose, then it can be useful for other conditions.
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Things like autoimmune problems for long COVID, for Crohn's and multiple sclerosis.
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Fibromyalgia, for so many different things, they have found that LDN or low-dose
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naltrexone can be helpful.
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So I do that every winter and it is time to go get my prescription refilled.
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And finally, the last thing that I will be re-implementing is a focus on staying warm.
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And I've already started to do this, but I am cold.
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I get cold easier than the rest of my family. Part of that is due to just me.
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And part of it is due to my thyroid. We know that when your thyroid is not putting
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out enough T4, when your levels are off, you tend to run a little cold.
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Your metabolism tends to slow down a little bit. And one thing that I need to
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do for myself is make sure that I stay warm.
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So I typically do long johns, extra sweatshirts. I just layer up and I have
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found that a hot bath is the best thing for me.
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And I feel silly going to take a bath.
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And why do I feel silly? I have no idea.
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I don't know if it's because my brain still is stuck in like a bath is something
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that little kids do or that you do for self-care.
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It's not just something that you can do every day as maintenance.
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It feels like it should be special.
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And it's not just a special thing. It's just, I need to go warm up in 20 minutes in the tub.
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It's actually like I start to warm up within five to 10.
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It is so nice. And then I sleep better because I'm warm all the way to my bones.
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Or I can just function better throughout the day because I have fully warmed up.
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And that is something that I am going to try to do more of this year and just
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tell my brain that it's okay to go and sit in the bathtub for 20 minutes. It's really okay.
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Would I rather spend like an hour huddled underneath my blankets with a rice
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bag or something trying to heat up and be like completely not productive, just miserable?
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Or would I rather just take a book and go sit in the bathtub for 20 minutes?
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It's efficient. I know it works. It's relaxing.
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And I get to read a book. So like, what are the downsides? I don't know.
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Maybe that I'm using water, but it's okay. We have a well.
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So those are some things that I am doing for myself. And how I got to all of
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these things is I looked at the triggers. I looked at the acronym for October Slide.
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And I looked at my personal, like my cold, feeling cold.
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And I put them all together and I came up with a game plan.
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Because I am in control of my health and you are in control of your health.
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You are the CEO of your own health. You get to make the decisions.
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You get to look at the data. You get to look at what's going on. What is changing?
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What can I do? What can I do in this season?
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Like sometimes, you know, there are some days when I would not be able to go
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take a bath because I am just running from the beginning to the end of the day
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and I don't have that time.
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And if I feel cold or if I feel stressed or something, I just have to push through.
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Like we have those days, but on days where you can like slide something else
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in, then do it because you are in control.
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And when you're having a day where you are feeling just like you're existing,
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like I said at the beginning, when you have one of those days and you're just doing the bare minimum,
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you kind of realize that you actually do have time for some self-care to take
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care of yourself, not for like special,
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luxurious things, but just like taking care of yourself because you function
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better when you're doing that.
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And then when you're functioning better, you end up having more time in the day.
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When I am on top of things and when I am working efficiently.
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Then I can get so much more done.
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So taking 20 minutes and sitting in the bathtub and warming up,
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it might end up giving me double that time back because I can be so much more effective after that.
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I would love to know your thoughts about this. Number one, have you experienced this autumn slide?
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And number two, what are you doing about it? and then
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number three you have any tips for me do you
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have a favorite like long johns i looked
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at some wool leggings they're like 150 bucks
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and maybe you know of some that are cheaper because i
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do not have the budget to spend 150 on some wool leggings right now not even
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if i know they're going to keep me warm i have some others and they're not natural
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fibers but they will keep me warm so i'd love to know your opinions on it let's
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make this a conversation instead of just me sharing about my life,
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which I love to do occasionally.
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And I hope this kind of episode that you also enjoy it, instead of just giving
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you like facts and information and helping you do stuff, I'm also sharing how
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I'm applying it into my life.
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So let me know your thoughts, come join the school community,
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and I will see you next week on the Health with Hashimoto's podcast.
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This podcast is for informational and educational purposes only.
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Please discuss any concerns and plans with your trusted healthcare professional.
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If you found this episode helpful, will you please share it with a friend?
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I'll see you next week on the Health With Thought.
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Music.