Is stress the cause for your thyroid illness and how can voluntarily simplicity reverse it? 

by Svetla Bankova

Before you proceed reading, my dear reader, please do me a favor: close your eyes, take a deep breath and answer the question below:

“How would my life improve if I owned less stuff, did a few things only and said “no” more often?”

I’ve been asked many times in the past 11 years what exactly did I to cure myself from Graves’ disease and what was this one thing that helped me the most? There isn’t such one thing, you know, and there isn’t a 24 hours makeover….

However, there is this one thing that changed my life completely and it is called “voluntarily simplicity”. You can not call it “one thing”, but it’s a life philosophy…. and many things are included in these two simple words.

Stress is a high-risk factor in patients with thyroid auto-immune disorders, as found in a research by Kung, and posted in Clinical Endocrinology in 2008. The researchers found that patients with Graves’ disease experienced greater psychological stress and adverse events prior to the onset of the disease.  They also concluded that as stress may change the immune system, it could play an important role in precipitating the disease in patients predisposed to autoimmune thyroid disorders.

Kung, A. W. C. (1995), Life events, daily stresses and coping in patients with Graves’ disease. Clinical Endocrinology, 42: 303–308. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2265.1995.tb01879.x

So, how my stress levels were affected by simplifying my life? Voluntarily simplicity had the most impact in my life when I was trying to cure my  Graves’ Disease. Other things were also involved like diet, supplements, herbs, yoga, aromatherapy, etc. –but that simplicity played the biggest role ever… How you may ask?

Let me tell you how I look at voluntary simplicity: simplicity is not about misery, or frugality, or being thrifty. It’s about discovering the important between many unimportant things.

Let’s travel back in time…In 2003, when I was freshly diagnosed with Graves’ disease, I was forced to I give up a lot of things that weren’t “so necessary” in my life, including, but not limited to the material stuff. It was either me, my health or “the things”.

That also meant that I accepted to live with a smaller income (almost twice smaller in fact), and way less stress (not to mention the 2 hours driving torture)! It also meant getting out of debt, and that was possible too!  I’ve lived years with and without debt, I can appreciate the difference. Today, if I can’t afford to buy something right there, I don’t buy it. That gives me a huge peace of mind.

All these things that I “gave up” became the key for my healing, and living without stress and no alarm clock has no price tag, ever.

I had time, and time is a limited commodity as you know, so speaking I was “time- rich”. I also had the “do- nothing” time.  I had space. I had energy. I could breathe, metaphorically and literally speaking. I could do things slowly and just take my time. I stopped yelling at family members and friends for no reason. Instead, I smiled. They could not make me angry or frustrated, my “stress buttons” were off…I had time for fun and sport. I had time to talk to people, even to sales people, and I actually did. I had time to spend time with myself and ask “What would you like to do now, Svetla? How are you feeling today, honey?” 

Simplicity breeds harmony, patience, and compassion. 

Simplicity is subtracting the unnecessary and adding the meaningful. 

Simplicity could be applied to all aspects of our lives, not just part of it.  The simpler, the better, that’s my motto. I am not saying that you should live an ascetic life, or in poverty, neither did I. It’s a voluntary lifestyle choice. I am mostly talking about reducing possessions that we don’t need, being stuck in the wanting mode, the never satisfied hunger for material things, the wow- entertainment, the mindless action, increasing the quality of life versus quantity of activities, it’s about learning to slow down and smell the roses.

It’s also about simple diet and simple food.  When I look at a cook book and see these “page long recipes”, I just close the book. It will take me days to gather all the ingredients, not to mention the hours spent in the kitchen. I try to eat simple things, and I did not die of hunger the last 11 years. A boiled egg, a sliced tomato with salt, a piece of homemade bread with butter.  Finally, “we are what we eat”, so try to eat simply. 

Sort out your life– examine what is important and what is not, re-arrange your priorities, try to say “no” many times, to many things and to many people. The more I say “no”, the more I see how much more “no’s” I should’ve said.  

Forget multitasking. If you are doing two or more things at once, you’re not doing either of them. Or you are just poorly doing them with a lot of frustration and stress as well. I know, too many things to do, no time at all. That’s the moment when you drop things out of your “to do list”. This is crucial for healing Graves’ disease. Try to juggle 5 balls, no try 2 balls….what’s easier?

Simplicity also means de-cluttering. Throwing away. Discovering “enough” for you. Valuing “the ordinary”. Going to a few places in one day, rather than more. Watching less, so you can see more.  Carrying less, so you can climb more. Talking less, so you can hear more.  Assuming less, so you can succeed more. Competing for less, so you can excel more. Paying attention.

There is no one way to do simple living right. Simplicity has many faces, these are just some of them. Find yours and stick with them. Or just experiment. For example, try the “The One Week Closet Experiment”. I borrowed the idea from Dave Bruno’s book The 100 Thing Challenge. Here’s how to do this experiment:

1. Open your closet and pick up enough clothes for one week.
2. Store these one-week clothes in a separate section in your closet.
3. Over the next month only wear the items in this section.
4. Evaluate the result.  I promise you’ll be very surprised!

So, need a starting point? Here are some questions that can give you a jump start on your road to simplicity:

What is it about your current lifestyle that is not working for you?

What it is that is causing friction?

What is this one thing you can do now, today, that will improve your life?

Well now, get up and do it!

More strategies for living a simpler, happier and healthier life in my newest book “Mental, Emotional and Psychological Aspects of thyroid disorders”.

I’ve been a “thyroid traveler” in the “thyroid world” for more than 13 years. During my long “thyroid journey”, I came to realize how many factors play a significant role not only in our thyroid sickness but also in our thyroid healing.  

I’ve found that our environment (social, family and work) has a tremendous role for the onset of thyroid disorders. Not only that: stress (chronic or single traumatic event) often acts as a trigger. Certainly, everyone has stress in their lives of all kind but how we handle it is another question. 

The reason why some people handle it and others cannot be explained with special personality traits and personal characteristics (so-called the Five Big Personality traits). “Thyroid people” possess a unique combination of these personality traits, allowing them to accumulate stress and stay in highly stressful and harmful situations until they become literally physically or mentally ill. 

In addition to that, their basic needs are not met on a constant basis (so speaking: belongingness, validation, nourishment, sensory and sexual need), all this generally due to the lack of sufficient self-esteem. I know from personal experience that a person with adequate self-esteem (not self- confidence!) will protect his boundaries, will know what is good or bad for him or his body, will not exhaust his mind and body for the sake of others, will not overwork himself to the point of exhaustion, will be able to say “no” when necessary. Because see, 13 years ago I couldn’t any of this. The list is not exhaustive or complete. But let’s see how all this relates to your thyroid disorder?

Sickness has its cycle, it has a beginning and it has an ending. Sickness starts because something went really wrong and can only end when things are done right. It is all possible, sickness is reversible, I know that from personal experience. 

To examine the self-esteem specific domain (which I believe is one of the most important when talking about treating thyroid disorders) please read and check below which of these you proudly possess (Be brave, I am not watching).

1. Overworking yourself to the point of exhaustion.
2. Not taking good care of yourself.
3. Suffering and going above and beyond your limitations, physical or mental, so that others can feel good and happy.
4. Not able to say “no” when you feel you need to do so.
5. Tolerating and accepting assaulting behavior, unnecessary criticism and people causing you harm.
6. Blaming yourself for all the things that went wrong.
7. Trying to be responsible for everybody, for their actions and behavior.
8. Doing things for people whom you don’t like.
9. Being very critical toward yourself and others.
10. Difficulty knowing who to trust and when to trust.
11. Thinking that other people are focused on and critical about what you say or do.
12. Tendency to let fear and anxiety control many of your decisions.
13. Avoiding making changes in your life because you are fearful of making a mistake or failing.
14. Being very fearful of criticism, disapproval, or rejection.
15. Feeling guilty because you have your own needs and desires.
16. Staying in and keeping relationships that are abusive, insulting, or offensive.
17. Fulfilling unreasonable demands, because you are hungry for the approval of others (you can admit it to yourself, I am not judging you).
18. Feeling like a victim of people and circumstances and as a result, becoming emotionally stuck and immobilized.
19. Being unable to affirm or reinforce yourself positively even though, let’s face it, you are an overachiever.
20. Being unable to make an honest assessment of your strengths, qualities, and good points, thus, you find it difficult to accept compliments or recognition from others.
21. Making decisions based on what would please others, rather than on what you want or without even considering what you want.
22. Feeling others are mistreating you, or are taking advantage of you.
23. Being unable to speak up for yourself.

If you checked many of the above items, you, my friend, are in big trouble. Bluntly put, this might be the biggest cause of your sickness. And you have to change your mind, right now, first.

Because low self-esteem, besides the “action” side (things that we do as a result of this low self-esteem), also has an “emotional” side, unfortunately. As a result of all of the above “wrong doings”, people with low self-esteem are very likely to accumulate a bouquet of negative emotions like (check again): anxiety, sadness, irritation, frustration, annoyance, emotional sensitivity and liability, hostility, shame, aggression, resentment, embarrassment, loneliness, lack of spontaneity, constant self-doubt, and insecurity. This is just unavoidable. At some point all this will result in inability to handle stress and everyday life challenges in general.

Do you see now how it is all related? Then the disease (thyroid or not depending on your character traits) is just a step away because your whole system will simply collapse.

Working on your self-esteem is one of the most important factors in your healing process, believe it or not. I am not saying that it is an overnight cure, but it is an important starting point (along with your diet, supplements, and physical exercises). Then everything will start to fall into place and your healing will begin!

How do you work on your self-esteem and is it possible to change it for good? Yes, it is possible. Details on how to do that are included in my newest book “Mental, Emotional and Psychological Aspects of Thyroid Disorders” (ebook), now available on Amazon, (paper book) Kindle and Nook for Barnes& Noble (click on the corresponding links or directly below to purchase). 

To further prove my point that your mind can, indeed, help the healing of your thyroid, I am also providing coaching consultations. You’ll also need the Skype program installed on your computer (it’s free) and a camera so we can see each other. Details about the sessions you can find here:

Coaching sessions for thyroid patients

I am specifically interested  in working with people with their thyroid still intact (if possible), those who are highly motivated to reverse their disease or desperate people who think that “nothing else helps” their condition. Because there is always a way out, no matter what.

I’ll look forward to helping you!

Svetla

Graves Disease Anxiety. How to fight anxiety without pills! 

by Svetla Bankova

Anxiety is one of the most popular symptoms when talking about Graves’ Disease. Many patients complain that they can not manage anxiety at all and actually, their Graves’ Disease or Hyperthyroidism even gets worse.  I know how it feels, trust me…

I’ll determine anxiety as a state of mind where our negative experience from the past meets our fears about the future.

Graves’ disease anxiety will be the point where we are worrying about things that may never happen or that we have no control over them. That’s the point where we are losing tons of time and energy just to worry.

In fact- on a very physical level, our pulse goes up, we feel like we are going crazy, thoughts are arriving and departing like the airplanes at New York airport at it’s busiest times, our heart is racing and we feel like we are a total mess.

I personally think that worrying is completely useless action and we can just consciously remove that from our lives once we have determined the roots of this anxiety and we manage to “equipped’ ourselves with a philosophy that helps us deal with it. This is especially important when we deal with  Graves’ disease or Hyperthyroidism.

When I catch myself worrying about something I ask my self this “powerful” question:

 “Can I change something to achieve the desired by me result (whatever this is and I am worried about)!’

1.If the answer is “YES” I just go ahead and do whatever depends on me in order to get what I am looking for.

I this case instead of just staying and worrying I “kill” the anxiety with action. I do my part of the job. Period.

 2. If the answer is “NO” – there is nothing I can do. Then I just give up the control to the Universe and trust that whatever happens will be for my highest good. Worrying or not worrying won’t change anything.

At that point, I make a conscious choice not to worry. Anxiety is about the decision. Because you know very well, who was able to change anything by worrying?

This is luxury nowadays that I can not afford. I need my time and energy for things that are more useful. I need these thoughts for myself, my family and my business.

If you are still worried that something “bad” may happen to you and in that scenario, you are not able to trust the Universe, I’ll ask you to go back in your past and pick up one negative event that happened to you. Let’s say you lost your job 2 years ago. Now make a list of all good things that came out of this “bad” event.  

–  Maybe you had more time for your family?

–  Maybe you needed some rest?

–  Maybe you had more time for your hobbies?

–  Or maybe you didn’t have to drive an hour to get to work?

–  Maybe you started a new job after that or your own business?

– Maybe you were able to take care of all the things you’ve been putting away? 

“Graves’ disease anxiety” can be resolved. Stepping on the positive side of things will give you the confidence that whatever happens will be for your highest good. Here is another program that you can help you a lot as well, created by me, because  I was suffering anxiety and stress too. To learn more about anxiety, click here:

There is a method, and not only one, for beating chronic anxiety, panic attacks and depression WITHOUT medications or therapy! “Graves’ Disease Balance Manual” Ebook will show you the core foundations of the root cause of your anxiety, panic, and depression, just to start with! Simple steps that probably will work for you ….especially if you start today! Click here for more details: