How Stress Reduction Helped My Autoimmune Disease Symptoms

By all indications, I was living my dream life in 2017. I was 22 years old, living in New York City right out of college, and working in investment banking on Wall Street, a job I desperately wanted and enjoyed. with all my heart. The only thing that wasn’t firing on all cylinders was my health.

In the space of six months, the lymph nodes on my neck they had swollen to the size of large marbles and hurt at the slightest touch. My hair was dull and I had become reliant on gel manicures to disguise my brittle nails. Some days I would feel like myself. Other days I would be inexplicably exhausted, having done nothing differently. And no matter how healthy I ate or how consistently I exercised, my weight continued to fluctuate. I dismissed all of this as a byproduct of my demanding job. As an investment banking analyst, there was a certain “work hard, play hard” culture and a prevailing assumption that success required some sacrifice. Maybe in my case, I thought, the cost of financial wealth was physical health.

As the months passed, I realized that this was far beyond what could be imagined. normal stress response. What I didn’t expect was that my first doctor’s visit in 2018 would begin a two-year journey between offices and hospitals, marked by blood tests with “inconclusive” results, a full-body PET scan to rule out lymphoma, and a final diagnosis of two doctors who considered me a “medical mystery.”

Finally, out of desperation, I followed the advice of a friend who suggested I try functional medicine. From my first date I realized that things were going to be very different. Our intake meeting was an hour and a half conversation that covered everything from the health of my deceased grandparents to my parents’ marital status to whether I was born by C-section. My new functional doctor ordered over twenty different tests. For the first time in a long time, I felt like we could really get to the bottom of what was happening to me.

At the second appointment I was diagnosed Hashimoto’s thyroiditisan autoimmune disease that “occurs when the body produces antibodies that attack thyroid cells,” according to Johns Hopkins Medicine. Common symptoms include an enlarged thyroid gland, tiredness, weight gain, muscle weakness, as well as depression and changes in hair and skin.

Now that my mysterious symptoms had a name, I was determined to cure them. My doctor put together an autoimmune healing protocol that worked even within my demanding lifestyle. In the short term, we are focused on repairing my leaky gutBut for long-term healing, it became clear that I had to make bigger changes. Some of these new lifestyle changes included starting a supplement routine, reducing caffeine consumption, and going gluten-free. Above all, the biggest change my doctor recommended was “stress management.”

I thought I was good at managing my stress; He had even opened an Instagram account called Wall Street Welfare two years prior, where I shared ways to incorporate wellness while balancing a demanding career. But with a prescription from a doctor for stress management, I started taking it much more seriously.

That it started as meditating For 10 minutes each morning I evolved into a 30-minute session where I meditated, journaled my intentions, and then visualized the day in my favor. I loved my new mental health routine, and after a few months of consistency, we retested my autoimmune markers and found that I was in complete remission from my Hashimoto’s thyroiditis. Not only did my blood results look better, but I also looked…and felt! – much better too.

Initially, I thought managing stress meant eliminating everything that was stressing me out (a nearly impossible task), but as I implemented these lifestyle changes I realized it was more about finding peace in the midst of chaos. Prioritizing my holistic well-being helped me both professionally and personally; I was performing better at my daily job and showing up fully in my relationships. Although the disease was in remission, I knew I needed to continue maintaining these habits in my daily life.

It’s been five years since that initial diagnosis, and I’ve been able to avoid a major relapse and mitigate flare-ups by continuing to prioritize nutrition, consistently exercise, and deepen my mindfulness practices. I also shared my healing journey with the Wall Street Wellness community, which has grown in ways I never expected over the years. I have led workshops and talks, sharing my experience and learnings with people from all over the United States. I saw a real need for practical education on realistic wellness tools that can be integrated into a person’s demanding lifestyle.

This year, what started as a personal journey to manage my health within a fast-paced career finally culminated in a big professional change. After nearly a decade on Wall Street, I became a certified health and wellness professional advising investment banks, three large consulting firms, and major corporations on how to help their employees realistically manage their stress.

Spending nearly a decade on Wall Street while managing an autoimmune disease taught me that financial wealth doesn’t have to come at the expense of well-being. You can have a successful career and vibrant health. Stress management does not require that you live stress-free. Rather, anything is possible when you are able to thrive within it.

Sofia Mullins is the founder of Wall Street Wellness, a corporate wellness consultancy focused on demanding industries, and a certified health and wellness professional. After spending a decade working at various Wall Street firms, he now consults and advises investment banks, Big Three consulting firms, and major corporations to achieve realistic well-being within their organizations.