Latest / Health with Hashimoto’s - Thyroid or Immune Education for Autoimmune Thyroid Disease / 198 // Peptides for Hashimoto's: What to Try Before the Injectable Route

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198 // Peptides for Hashimoto's: What to Try Before the Injectable Route · Health with Hashimoto’s - Thyroid or Immune Education for Autoimmune Thyroid Disease

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Peptides are getting a ton of attention lately, and I see so many questions
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in the Facebook groups that I'm in,
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and I've listened to a bunch of peptide podcast episodes because all of the
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podcasts I subscribe to seem to be talking about it too,
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because peptides are super helpful in certain situations.
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But the question is, are they helpful for you? Are they what you should be turning to?
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Or are there other solutions you should try first? Welcome to the Health with Hashimoto's podcast.
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This is where you will find clarity and simple, sustainable strategies to feel better.
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I want to help you figure out your root causes.
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My name is Esther Yunkin. I am a registered nurse. I know how exhausting it
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is to live with fatigue, brain fog, and the ups and downs of Hashimoto's. And that is why I'm here.
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I'm here to cut through the confusion and to give you practical steps that support
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your body, calm your immune system so that you can regain your energy and feel like you're.
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Is there ever a topic that comes up in your Facebook groups or school community
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or anything where you see the question so many times that you just have the
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answer pasted on your phone so that the next time you see this question,
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you just copy from your notes and then you paste it into the Facebook group?
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I have several like that. A lot in the homeschooling world. I have been homeschooling
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for, I don't know, 14 years.
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So a lot of the answers that I give, obviously my answer isn't changing.
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It's just a new person asking.
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So I have my comment, my answer saved in my notes app.
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Well, recently I saved a new answer and it is about peptides.
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Let me give you some of the questions that I've been seeing in the Facebook groups that I'm in.
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One of them says, okay, I'm heavily considering peptides.
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My chiropractor does them with a PA and I want them. I want to lose the weight
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that I'm desperately trying to lose.
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She goes on to say, I just keep gaining weight. I mean, it could be muscle,
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but it's so discouraging.
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My problem is I'm so afraid that peptides will affect my fertility.
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And she is in, she's eating a calorie deficit. She feels like she's doing all the things.
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She's tracking her macros and calories to make sure she's in a deficit.
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So she's wondering about peptides.
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Somebody else says, is anyone in here familiar with the pros and cons or has
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done a deep dive on microdosing GLP-1s or even just peptides in general.
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I'm asking for a friend who has heard that microdosing could decrease inflammation
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and potentially lower Alzheimer's risk.
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If you have any research to back up your information, I'd appreciate it.
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Another question. My fiance has gone down the rabbit hole of peptides and he wants to try them.
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He is considering, she names a couple of peptides. Does anyone know any side
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effects or short-term or long-term?
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Or are peptides safe to take all the time? Are they a health trend scam? I would love any info.
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These are just from the last couple of weeks. It is a rather large group,
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but that's only one of the Facebook groups that I am seeing the comments in.
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So I've saved my answer to this common question, like what are peptides?
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Are they useful? Should I try them?
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That's the basic premise of most of these comments that I see or questions that
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I see. So first, let's talk about peptides. What are they?
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Are they helpful for somebody with an autoimmune disorder like Hashimoto's?
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Well, a peptide is a cell messenger. It is a cell signaling agent.
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Peptides provide a variety of functions in the body.
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You are very, very familiar with some, like insulin. Insulin is a peptide.
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Insulin is your fat storage hormone. It tells your glucose, the sugar, where to go in your body.
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It helps it get into cells, and that's why we call it the fat storage hormone,
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because if you have an excess of sugar in your bloodstream, the insulin is like, oh, we got too much.
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Let's send you into some fat storage cells to save you for later.
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Insulin is a peptide. GLP-1 is a peptide.
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GLP-1 has a lot of different features and functions, and I have done several
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different episodes on GLP-1.
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What is it? What are the risks and benefits of medicating with GLP-1,
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and how can you increase your own body's production of GLP-1?
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Because GLP-1, like every single other peptide, is something that your body creates.
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Your body, when it is healthy, when it is functioning well, it creates the perfect
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amount of peptides for your function.
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And of course, that's the problem. Sometimes things happen and our body is not
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creating the peptides or not utilizing the peptides like we need them to.
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For example, insulin. People have insulin resistance or people have type 1 diabetes
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where their body can't make it anymore.
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There's different things that happen to sabotage the peptide insulin,
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whether it's the creation or the usage that happens in different peptides too.
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So what is a peptide? It's a cell messenger. It's a cell signaling agent is
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also a tiny bit of protein.
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Peptides are made up of amino acids. Last month on the podcast,
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I talked to Lori Hammer and she shared with us all about amino acids, what they are.
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They are the tiny building blocks of proteins. And if you're not getting the
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amino acids that you need in your diet, if your body doesn't have those ingredients,
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then your body can't do what your body is designed to do. Her story is super powerful.
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I did get some amino acids after talking to her.
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And I will tell you that my one of my sons, we started using amino acids with
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him and his mental health is, I would, I would say night and day different.
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Of course, he's still human. He still has good days and bad days. But.
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I was telling my husband, it's like I have a different kid, especially in the
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morning. Like his brain is working.
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He is able to smile. He's able to carry on a conversation.
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And he's, in fact, getting less sleep sometimes because of other circumstances.
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So it's not a sleep issue. It's not a lifestyle issue. The only thing that's
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happened is we implemented these amino acids in his supplementation routine.
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Because again, if you're not getting them in your diet. That's where supplementation comes in.
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And so when my husband and I were talking, when I was talking to my husband
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about the interview with Lori Hammer, I was like, this would be interesting to try.
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It's all natural. These are just amino acids. They're things that he should
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be getting in his diet and maybe he's missing some.
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Let's try it. And like I said, night and day difference.
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So go listen to that episode if you have not listened to it already.
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So amino acids are the teeny tiny proteins. They're the building blocks.
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Peptides are like the next step up. So what are some of the benefits of peptides?
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Well, they're helping your body do what your body is supposed to do, right?
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They're strengthening some of the peptides. Like every peptide has its own function.
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So some of the peptides are going to help you strengthen your tight junctions in your GI tract.
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Leaky gut. We don't want leaky gut. Leaky gut is huge in the autoimmune world
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because it's one of the main factors.
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And so we want to fix our leaky gut. One of the things that helps is peptides.
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And that can come from our own gut.
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Our own gut is supposed to create the peptides that tell our gut junctions,
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those cells, you know, the gaps between the cells to close.
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We want that to happen. We don't want things to leak out.
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Peptides also help tissue repair. They help recovery from acute injury.
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They can help lower systemic inflammation.
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They can improve your microbiome. They can reduce your cardiovascular risk.
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They can support neurocognitive function. They're associated with reduced rates of cognitive decline.
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There's so many different things that peptides do. And, like I said at the beginning.
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They are things that your body is supposed to make.
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As other hormones do in your body, peptide levels can decline with age,
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they can decline with illness, they can decline with infection.
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There are many different things that can impact your peptide production.
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When I talked about peptides back in the episode about gut health,
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I think it was episode 184, I was talking about your microbiome.
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And the one specific product that I use is called P84. It's in the healthy edge
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stack from LifeVantage.
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And P84, it's a little packet of like purples and reds that I put into my morning
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smoothie and a little packet of greens.
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It has 84 ingredients. That's where it gets its name. And by using that one
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product, my body is producing more peptides.
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The research they've done on it. I think there was like 13 or 14 different peptides
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that get back into balance that if they're supposed to be high,
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they're going back up in my body. If they're supposed to be low,
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they're going back down.
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My body is doing what my body is supposed to do. And that is what, that's the goal, right?
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And so that is basically my Facebook response.
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Here is my Facebook response when I see somebody asking about peptides.
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I don't answer this every single time, just sometimes.
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Okay, this is what I say. Peptides can be such a game changer.
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Before starting with those, however, I prefer to make sure the body has the
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ingredients it needs to make its own peptides.
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For example, are you getting enough amino acids.
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I also want to make sure the body is doing what it's designed to do,
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like creating its own peptides, especially in the gut.
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Before adding a supplemental peptide strategy, I work on those two things.
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The best solutions I've found do cost money, but they help your body do the
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work instead of relying on external peptides.
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First, the ingredients. In order to make peptides, your body needs the correct
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amino acids. There are several options on the market.
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The most popular one is Perfect Amino because it has huge names behind it.
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Personally, I like Total Amino Solution from Janessa better.
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That's the one that Lori Hammer was telling us about. That's just my side.
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Okay, back to my Facebook response. I said, of course, amino acids come from protein.
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You can get your amino acids from your diet. Just make sure you're getting enough
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protein and a variety of protein sources.
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And to help your body start making the peptides you need, I like the Healthy
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Edge Stack from LifeVantage.
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For disclosure, I am an affiliate. This combination of products activates 14
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different peptides in your gut and 29 genes with especially meaningful impact,
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including four key genes that help cells anticipate daily demands,
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respond more efficiently, and adapt more intelligently over time.
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So that is like my standard Facebook response. And sometimes I don't put the whole thing.
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Sometimes I don't put it at all. Kind of depends on, you know,
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who's answered already, if they're getting the right information.
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And honestly, if I feel like it, because you don't always want to engage in
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Facebook groups, right? Or is that just me? So anyway, I'm
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Peptides. Super, super helpful. They're something that your body needs.
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They're something that your body makes.
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And if you're anything like my feed, they're all over your social media and
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they're all over in your podcast feed.
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They seem to be everywhere.
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So this is my perspective. Number one, helpful. Number two, your body can make them.
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Number three, let's help your body make them again. Give your body the right
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ingredients that it needs, the amino acids, and help your body know that it should make them.
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You know, I have four boys. If I tell them to make supper, that's giving them
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like that activation is saying, go do this.
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But if I don't give them the ingredients, then they're not going to do it.
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They don't know what to do. and yes that happens quite
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a bit like go go figure out lunch and they
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don't know what to make they don't have their ingredients so they
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don't make lunch I have to give them both the ingredients say
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here is the food and I have to say go do
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it same thing for your body with peptides it needs to know to do it and it needs
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the ingredients and that is why I like that combination of making sure you're
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getting all of the amino acids that you need and if you're not getting them
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from your diet That's where supplementation comes in and making sure that your
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gut is doing its job in making the peptides.
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Here is a perspective from my friend Sarah.
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She is super holistic, super crunchy. She wants everything to be as natural and clean as possible.
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She wants to make sure that her body is functioning as designed and she does
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everything she can to make sure that she's healthy.
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And when I say she's done everything that she can, like she has researched every
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single modality that you have ever heard of.
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She is so knowledgeable about all things health.
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I learned quite a bit from her.
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She's just fascinating. And when I heard that she was doing injectable peptides,
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this was back a while ago. I was like, what in the world?
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I did not expect that of Sarah, because I know that you are so conservative
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in what you allow to be put in your body, what you allow in your food.
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Tell me more about this. So this is little voice note that she recorded for
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you for this podcast episode.
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So I would consider myself one of those crazy holistic people.
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Like I used to be super, super extreme. Things have changed a little bit.
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Being a single mom, like budget has, you know, changed.
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But my basket of supplements still looks like an apothecary.
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I have thrown every herbal protocol diet change at my body and my children's
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bodies trying to heal them.
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So when people ask me, why are you using or considering injectable peptides.
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When peptides are theoretically already made by the body?
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Like, shouldn't your body just do this itself? Here's my honest answer.
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Yes, your body makes peptides, but if your body was making enough of them in
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the right places at the right times, you wouldn't be dealing with the issue
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that you're dealing with, right?
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So that inflammation would already be gone. The gut would already be healed.
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The tissue would already be repaired. And the fact that you're still struggling,
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it just means that the signal isn't getting through Or, and this is probably
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the biggest case, especially in Hashimoto's, is your body is so stuck in fight
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or flight, so you're in survival mode.
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And you literally can't, your body cannot get out of its own way to heal.
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And that's the part that people aren't really talking about in the holistic
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world because they just want to shut down. It's like pharmaceutical-grade peptides.
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Well, here's the thing. When your body is in survival, you can throw every herbal
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thing on the planet and control your diet perfectly, and it's still healthy.
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Work. You cannot heal from a place of inflamed, depleted, stuck.
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You have to calm that storm first. And sometimes that means a medical-grade
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peptide, not because herbs are bad, because I use them, I love them,
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but because, here's an example,
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your CYP detox pathways, your liver, your enzymes, they're already maxed out,
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and adding more supplements to an overwhelmed system is not going to help.
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So sometimes the most gentle thing you can do is to shortcut that signal.
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So here's my personal example. I had knee surgery six months ago.
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My C-reactive protein is still really elevated.
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I had ordered every tissue repair supplement under the sun. I'm not even joking.
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I didn't have time to wait, though, because I was taking them and I was like,
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gosh, this could be a really long process. And I'm the only parent for my kids.
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So I tested out BPC-157 and TB-500 to heal the inflammation directly and calm
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my joint pain and all those things. because at some point, the question stops being, is this natural?
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And it starts being, how much longer am I willing to suffer waiting for my body
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to figure out how to heal on its own with these protocols and supplements that I'm adding to it, right?
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And if the answer is, I've got time, I'll keep working on this protocol,
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beautiful, stay the course. But if the answer is, I'm exhausted,
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I'm inflamed, I've been doing this for years and I'm not getting there,
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then peptides are not the enemy of holistic, they're the bridge.
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But two non-negotiables for me, Medical grade only, regulated sources only.
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I will die on this hill. There's no gray market. No random vials off the internet.
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I use LEMD because it's prescribed, dosed properly, and you have an actual doctor.
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You have access to them 24-7. So if anything does come up, you can speak to
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them. Going holistic doesn't mean going...
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Careless, right? If you're going to go over into the medical grade peptides.
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But that's my take. Holistic first, always. But sometimes your body needs the
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signal turned up. And that's not a failure of natural healing.
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That's just being honest about where you are. And you can always transition back to your protocol.
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So that is Sarah's perspective. She's done everything holistic.
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She's done everything naturally. She has more knowledge about herbs and homeopathics
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than I will probably ever have.
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She is so knowledgeable, so smart, so experienced, so natural.
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And yet she needed something to work faster. She needed something to help her
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body do what her body wasn't doing.
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And so she turns to peptides. And like she said, not on the gray market.
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There are a lot of peptides that are just available, but they're not regulated.
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And they're not coming from a place where you know that the quality is pure.
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The gray market, I don't know if you are aware of what the gray market is,
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but it's not the black market.
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It's available to most people, but it's not regulated.
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And usually when you're getting something off the gray market,
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it's not intended or it says that it's not intended for human use or it's not
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intended for injectable use.
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And yet you are getting it so that you can inject it into yourself.
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And obviously you are a human.
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That is my understanding of the gray market, like broadly.
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And so when Sarah started using peptides, she went to the company LEMD.
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And perhaps you have heard of LEMD. It is physician run.
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There are physicians. So if you're going to order through LEMD,
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it's always with a doctor prescribing it. However.
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Influencers and affiliates give you their link so that you can connect with LEMD.
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So Sarah is an affiliate for LEMD.
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If you go, I'm going to have the links down in the show notes.
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If you go to Sarah's site, she has a peptide quiz.
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So you could figure out what would be most beneficial for you.
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And like I said, I always believe that you should start with giving your body
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the right ingredients and telling your body to do its thing.
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But if the timeline of that isn't going to work or you know,
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whatever for you, then maybe injectables are the answer for you.
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The nurse practitioner that I work with, she has a lot of people using injectable GLP-1s.
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And their goal is to lose enough weight so that they can start implementing
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these lifestyle changes that they want to.
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But before they're able to start implementing the lifestyle changes,
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they need to lose the weight. So it's like the chicken and egg thing. What is it for you?
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So if you're considering peptides, injectable peptides, Sarah has a peptide quiz.
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You can go to her link, click the link in the show note, and you could do the
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free quiz that'll help you figure out what peptides might be most beneficial for you.
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You could also book a 15-minute call to chat with her.
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She is super, super knowledgeable. She also has a link to connect you with LEMD.
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With LEMD, like she said in the voice note, it's all pharmaceutical grade.
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It's not the gray market.
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So I hope that answers some of your questions about peptides.
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I did not go into like all of the different peptides.
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You've heard of some, Ozempic, Wagovi, Monjaro, Zepbound, those are all GLP-1 peptides.
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There's other ones, maybe you've heard of some big long names,
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usually they're letters and numbers, or they have these like,
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I don't know, techie, to me they sound techie names.
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There's a lot of different names for peptides. There's a lot of things that people are doing.
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And I feel like this market is just growing and growing because we're learning
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more about how the peptides impact health.
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So it is a good thing to be knowledgeable about.
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And like I say over and over, you are the CEO of your own health.
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You need to learn about what is impacting your health and you need to make decisions
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about what is best for your journey.
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I am always here and available for you. If you want to do a single Hashimoto's
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health session, or if you want to do the full six session Hashimoto's root cause
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reboot, I am here for you. I want to support you.
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But sometimes you just want to take a product. You just want to take like the
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healthy edge stack, get your body creating the peptides again.
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Lower your overall inflammation.
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Like you want to get your body doing what your body is supposed to do.
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Sometimes you want to start with the injectables and do the lifestyle stuff,
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of course, you know, get out of fight and flight, like Sarah said,
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and start using microdosing of other peptides.
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Only you know what is the right course for you, and I am here to support you every step of the way.
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Down in the show notes, you're going to see several different links.
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There's going to be a link to the gut episode that I did where I talked more
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in detail about the Healthy Edge Stack and getting your gut to create more peptides.
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I will have the link to the episode with Lori Hammer where she talked about
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amino acids. I will have the link to the quiz about peptides from Sarah where
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you can also book that complimentary free 15-minute call.
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And I will have her link to LEMD so you can order.
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That's four different options for you. All of the gurus say only have one thing
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for your podcast listener to do at the end of an.
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Yes, you might be overwhelmed. You might be dealing with brain fog,
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all of that stuff that goes with Hashimoto's.
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I know you're smart, and I know that you can make the best decision for you.
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So I am putting four links down in the show notes.
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You choose what is the best step for you next. Do you want to learn more about
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gut health, amino acids, or peptides, or you just want to order?
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Head down to the show notes and click the right link for you,
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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 changes with your trusted healthcare provider.
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To take your next step, join our school community and explore the courses available
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there. You do not have to figure your health out alone.
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So that is school, S-K-O-O-L.com, and it is the Health with Hashimoto's community.
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I'll see you next time on the Health.