My Auto-Immune Disease Symptoms Stopped When I Started to Take Stress Seriously

Get the Full StoryBy all accounts I was living my dream life in 2017. I was 22, living in New York City right out of college, and working in investment banking on Wall Street, a job I had desperately wanted and wholeheartedly enjoyed. The only thing that wasn't firing on all cylinders was my health.

Over the span of six months, the lymph nodes in my neck had swollen to the size of large marbles and were painful to the slightest touch. My hair was dull and I'd grown dependent on gel manicures to disguise my brittle nails. Some days I would feel like myself. Other days I would be inexplicably exhausted, without having done anything differently. And no matter how healthily I ate or consistently I exercised, my weight continued to fluctuate. I wrote all of this off as a byproduct of my demanding job. As an investment banking analyst, there was a certain "work hard, play hard" culture and the prevailing assumption that success required some sacrifice. Perhaps in my case, I thought, the cost of financial wealth was physical health.

As the months wore on, I realized this was well beyond a normal stress response. What I didn't expect was that my first doctor's visit in 2018 would kick off a two-year-long journey spent between doctor's offices and hospitals, marked by blood tests with "inconclusive" results, a full-body PET scan to rule out lymphoma, and a final diagnosis from two doctors who deemed me a "medical mystery."

Finally out of desperation, I took the advice of a friend who suggested I try functional medicine. From my first appointment I could tell things were going to be very different. Our intake meeting was an hour-and-a-half-long conversation spanning everything from the health of my deceased grandparents to my parents' relationship status and if I was born via C-section. My new functional doctor ordered twenty plus different tests. For the first time in a long time, I felt like we might actually get to the bottom of what was happening to me.

At the second appointment, I was diagnosed with Hashimoto's Thyroiditis, an autoimmune disease that "occurs when your body makes antibodies that attack the cells in your thyroid," per Johns Hopkins Medicine. Common symptoms include an enlarged thyroid gland, tiredness, weight gain, muscle weakness, as well as depression and hair and skin changes.

Now that my mysterious symptoms had a name, I was determined to heal them. My doctor assembled an autoimmune healing protocol that worked even within my demanding lifestyle. In the short-term, we focused on repairing my leaky gut, but for long-term healing, it became clear 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 else, the biggest change my doctor recommended was "stress management."

I thought I was good at managing my stress - I had even started an Instagram account called Wall Street Wellness two years prior where I shared ways to incorporate well-being while balancing a demanding career. But with a prescription for stress management from a doctor, I began to take it much more seriously.

What started as meditating for 10 minutes every morning evolved into a 30-minute session where I meditated, journaled my intentions, and then visualized the day playing out in my favor. I loved my new mental health routine and after a few months of consistency, we retested my autoimmune markers to find I was in complete remission of my Hashimoto's Thyroiditis. Not only were my blood results looking better, but I looked and felt! much better as well.

Initially, I thought stress management meant removing everything that stressed me out a near impossible task but as I implemented these lifestyle changes I realized it was more about finding peace among the chaos. Prioritizing my holistic well-being helped me both professionally and personally; I was performing better at my day job and showing up fully in my relationships. Even though the disease was in remission, I knew that I needed to continue to sustain these habits in my day-to-day life.

I'm now five years out from 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've also shared my healing journey with the Wall Street Wellness community, which has grown in ways I never expected over the years. I've led workshops and talks, sharing my experience and my learnings with people all over the U.S. I saw a real need for practical education around realistic wellness tools that can be integrated into a person's demanding lifestyle.

This year, what began as a personal journey to manage my health within a fast-paced career ultimately culminated in a big career change. After nearly a decade on Wall Street, I became a certified health and wellness practitioner advising investment banks, big three consulting firms, and top 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 your well-being. You can have both a successful career and vibrant health. Stress management doesn't require you to live without stress. Rather, everything is possible when you're able to thrive within it.

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Sophia Mullins is the founder of Wall Street Wellness, a corporate wellness consultancy focused on demanding industries, and a certified health and well-being practitioner. After spending a decade working across multiple firms on Wall Street, she now consults and advises investment banks, Big Three consulting firms, and top corporations to achieve realistic well-being within their organizations.

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