One day my body suddenly broke

from severe hypothyroidism.

I knew it and I feared it

but I clawed my way back to health

one scientific study at a time

and told the world.

I should start by rewinding and telling you a bit about my education and work experience to better understand my story.

I graduated with an Hons.B.Sc. in Neuroscience with High Distinction (the equivalent of summa cum laude) from the University of Toronto in 1993. I was awarded multiple prestigious scholarships and placed on the Dean’s list 3 out of my 4 years of study. After completing my B.Ed. at the University of Western Ontario, I was a high school biology teacher for several years in a specialized Gifted program for students who test in the 98th percentile (top 2%).

I then set my sights on an Ivy League education and moved to NYC to attend Columbia University where I simulatenously completed two graduate degrees, an M.A. in Organizational Psychology and Ed.M. in Psychological Counseling. I held the role of team leader of a tenured professor’s research team during the course of my studies and was publicly acknowledged in a study published in the Journal of Counseling Psychology.

Over the next ten years, I worked on Wall Street in one of the largest banks in the country as a senior manager in learning & development specializing in executive coaching and top talent training. I’ve also held a seat on the Board of Directors of numerous non-profit organizations over my career including the Board of Trustees of the C.G. Jung Foundation of New York and served as Vice President of the New York City Chapter of The Association for Career Professionals International.

I suddenly became a very sick woman with hypothyroidism after the birth of my first son and suffered a needless miscarriage when my TSH became dangerously elevated during pregnancy. As I lay on a medical table awaiting the surgical removal of my miscarried baby from my body, I vowed to take down this beast of a disease by devouring the scientific literature to understand it inside out. I went on to a healthy pregnancy and my second son was born against all odds.

I launched the website Hypothyroid Mom in 2012 to share everything that I had learned about thyroid disease including guest posts from some of the world’s thought leaders in medicine. The information has spread over the internet like lightning with a website following of 1.5 million people from across the globe.

A survey of thousands of Hypothyroid Mom followers was included in the study “An Online Survey of Hypothyroid Patients Demonstrates Prominent Dissatisfaction” that appeared in 2018 in Thyroid, the official journal of the American Thyroid Association. I have received two health activist awards and feature articles in The Wall Street Journal and The Atlantic.

If you’ve ever reached rock bottom

with chronic illness,

you know there are no words

to describe that utter exhaustion.

It’s hard to understand

unless you’ve been there.

When I finally reached my sweet spot with thyroid medication, I felt so well I cried. When you find the right type and dosage of thyroid medication for your body with a talented open-minded thyroid doctor, feeling great with hypothyroidism is possible. I knew it and I wanted the same for every person following me at Hypothyroid Mom. I thought that I had reached the ultimate in my wellness, but it was actually just the beginning.

The absence of symptoms is the definition of “healthy”, or at least by traditional medical standards. But what if I told you that there is a place far beyond this? There is a place where you feel like your biological clock has suddenly reset to reverse, where you feel healthier than you have in decades, so healthy that you just have to pinch yourself to see if you are dreaming. For me, this has been a long, research intensive, strategic, step-by-step methodical effort to get myself to the best health possible. Healthier is achievable, even magic is possible.

After all that hypothyroidism took from me,

all the heartache and years of sickness,

even when it dropped me

into the darkest hole,

I dragged myself back up

and confronted it

eye to eye

and I won.

Now I empower millions

to rise up against it too.

Turns out

it’s not such a scary beast

after all.

Diving headfirst into the vast body of scientific literature, I soon realized something astonishing. Common themes run through many of the most cutting-edge health, chronic disease, and longevity discoveries of our time. If you take a very close look, there are key general healing principles with natural non-invasive protocols that can help everyone, whether you have thyroid disease or not, whether you have another chronic illness or not, whether you are in good health or not, I mean everyone, reach better health. And who wouldn’t want to be the healthiest they can be, right. I became a Functional Diagnostic Nutrition Practitioner, Board Certified with the American Association of Drugless Practitioners and the American Association of Natural Wellness Practitioners.

And holding all those nuggets

of health information in my hands,

Yes Healthier was born.

XO Dana Trentini

P.S. After living in New York for 17 great years, I recently moved to Toronto Canada. My sons Benjamin and Hudson are all grown up now and they started a mobile swim lesson business here. If you are looking for a swim instructor to deliver swim lessons in the comfort of your home or condo pool in Toronto or York Region, check out their Swim Brothers website.