I Didn't Know I Had Hashimoto's Until a Simple Blood Test Found It

Disclosure: This post contains a personal referral link to Hone Health. If you sign up or purchase through these links, I may receive a benefit, and in Hone Health's case, you will also receive a free month. I only share tools and services I have personally used and trust. This post reflects my own experience and is not medical advice. If you are experiencing symptoms like the ones I describe, please talk to a licensed healthcare provider. This is my story from my perspective.

The Symptoms I Kept Explaining Away

For about a year, I noticed my body changing in small ways I kept brushing off. My hair had gotten even more gray than it was in the previous two years, and it seemed to be thinning even more. My skin had gone drier and more sensitive. I was tired, not the normal kind of tired, but a deeper fatigue that didn't match how hard I was training.

I had been doing Muay Thai for two years at that point, three to four times a week. Training felt incredible, but I still felt like my body was working overtime just to keep up. Now, I have never really been a super energetic person, and I have battled some level of fatigue in some form for as long as I can remember, but this felt like more than my usual baseline. I had also felt like being run down was making me prone to more sinus infections. This has always been something I have a family history of, they tend to show up when the seasons change and my body is run down, but they were becoming more frequent than I was used to.

I chalked it all up to being busy. Being a mom. Getting older. I didn't think to connect the dots.

An Unexpected Blood Test

I first heard about Hone Health through a podcast ad. You know the ones, where your favorite celebrity is reading the ad copy themselves mid episode, and it feels less like an ad and more like a friend telling you about something they actually use, until they remind you to use their promo code at the end. That's exactly what pulled me in. I was in between insurance plans at the time, paying out of pocket, and their blood panel, which was $65 at the time, caught my attention because it covered a lot of the comprehensive metabolic markers I wanted checked anyway.

I figured, why not. I created an account, scheduled my test through Quest, and the whole process was quick and simple.

When my results came back, one marker stood out. My TPO, thyroid peroxidase antibodies, was out of range. Not astronomically high, but high enough to flag. I had never had this tested before in my life. I didn't even know what it meant.

Learning What TPO Actually Measures

I went down a research rabbit hole. I even uploaded my lab results into a chat with an AI tool just to help me understand the terminology before my consultation. What I learned, and what was later confirmed by my doctor, was that I have Hashimoto's thyroiditis, an autoimmune condition that affects the thyroid.

I had heard the word Hashimoto's before but had no real understanding of what it meant. The word autoimmune scared me the moment I read it. No one in my family had ever mentioned dealing with this. I didn't know how I would have gotten it, or why now.

During my consultation with Hone's doctor, she explained something that reframed everything for me. Autoimmune conditions can sit dormant for years, and it often takes a trigger, frequently a period of significant stress, for them to become active. That single explanation made my test results make sense.

The more I researched, the more I learned that genetics is considered one of the leading factors in who develops Hashimoto's. A study published through the National Institutes of Health found a strong hereditary component in Hashimoto's, showing that risk increases significantly among first, second, and even third degree relatives, even when no one in the family has an official diagnosis. That part surprised me at first, since I had never heard of anyone in my immediate family dealing with it. But when I actually looked closer, the pieces were there. My grandmother has dealt with thyroid issues for years. And looking at my mom's health history, I suspect she may have an undiagnosed thyroid issue of her own, even though she has never been officially tested for it.

Naming the Stress I Had Been Carrying

At that point in my life, I was carrying an enormous amount of stress, anxiety, and depression, and looking back, it showed in how I looked and felt. I was in a relationship going through its own strain and hardship, on top of my own individual struggles with anxiety and depression. Muay Thai had become my outlet, the one place where the intensity of class was enough to quiet everything else in my head for sixty minutes. It helped me cope, but it was never the same as actually addressing what was underneath it.

When I read through the common symptoms of Hashimoto's, persistent fatigue, unexplained weight gain, cold intolerance, constipation, dry skin, and joint or muscle pain, it felt like reading my own life story. Cold intolerance especially stopped me. I have run cold since I was a teenager. My dad always assumed I was anemic, but my labs were always normal back then. It wasn't until after my first son was born that anemia actually showed up. And thirteen years later, after this Hone test, I finally wasn't anemic anymore.

What strikes me most is how little this condition gets talked about. TPO isn't a marker that typically gets tested in a standard annual physical. If I hadn't taken that test on a whim, I likely never would have known to ask for it. My thyroid stimulating hormone and testosterone levels had always come back normal, so I never had a reason to dig deeper.

Getting a Fuller Picture

Given everything going on, I knew I needed more guidance, and I needed a primary care doctor to help me get there. My partner recommended his doctor, and that appointment started the next chapter of this.

She ran additional testing to rule out other contributing factors, including celiac disease, since diet and gluten sensitivity can be connected to Hashimoto's for some people. My results came back negative for celiac, but they showed elevated cortisol. My organs were functioning normally overall, but the takeaway was clear. I needed to learn how to manage my stress, or it would continue to affect my health.

She recommended I start therapy, so I did.

What Therapy Has Actually Changed

I am not new to therapy. I had worked with two therapists on my own before this and one couples therapist. But my current therapist has helped me more than any of them.

• Daily check-ins. I check in with myself three times a day to gauge my stress level, and if it's high, I use box breathing to bring it down.
• Naming my triggers. Identifying what triggers my stress and anxiety, how each one makes me feel, what I think in the moment, and how I tend to react, has helped me understand what my body actually needs.
• Staying consistent. None of this works as a one-time fix. It's the repetition that has made the difference.

These small, consistent practices have made me far more aware of what my body is telling me, and far more in tune with what I actually need in a given moment. I believe therapy should be treated the way we treat a primary care doctor. You don't wait until something is wrong to go. And finding the right provider matters, because what works for one person may not work for you, since everyone's needs are different.

Where I Am Now

There is no cure for Hashimoto's. My goal now is ongoing: manage my stress, protect my thyroid from further decline, and stay ahead of any changes.

I track my sleep and stress patterns daily using my Oura Ring, which has become one of the most useful tools in helping me notice patterns before they turn into a bad week. Between that, the techniques from my therapist, and staying consistent with my primary care provider to monitor my TPO levels regularly, I feel like I finally have a real system in place instead of just reacting when things get hard.

If there is one thing I hope this story does, it's encourage you to pay attention to the small signals your body has been sending you, even the ones that seem easy to explain away. And if stress has been a constant companion in your life the way it was in mine, know that addressing it isn't a side project. For me, it turned out to be the whole story.

Disclaimer: I am not a doctor, and this post reflects my personal experience only. Hashimoto's, TPO levels, and autoimmune conditions vary widely from person to person, and individual results and experiences will vary. If you notice symptoms like the ones described here, please talk to a licensed healthcare provider for proper testing and diagnosis. Pricing, testing panels, and processes referenced in this post reflect my own experience at the time and may have changed since. If any part of this resonates and you haven't talked to someone yet, reaching out to a therapist or counselor is a good place to start. You don't have to wait until things feel unmanageable. If reading this stirred something up for you, know that support is out there. The SAMHSA National Helpline (1-800-662-4357) is a free, confidential option if you're not sure where to start.