Could you be a silent sufferer? I'M HELPING WOMEN HEAL

AFTER OVERHAULING HER LIFE, SHARON'S ON A MISSION TO TEACH OTHERS ABOUT HASHIMOTO'S

- Karyn Henger

At 65 years old, Dr Sharon Walt still feels like she’s 39. The Auckland-based health coach regularly takes part in half-marathons and spends time in nature as often as she can. But while she is happy with her life now, it was very different 10 years ago when her body “shut down”.

“I used to work in a university in the area of biomechanics,” explains Sharon, who got her doctorate in kinesiology. “I helped develop the first 3D motion capture lab in New Zealand and we used the technology to aid orthopaedic surgeons in their treatment of children with cerebral palsy.

“But the stress of my workload – and I do believe things are very different now in universities – made me really sick. It started as anxiety and not being able to sleep. I went on medication for anxiety, but while my anxiety went down, I became a complete zombie. I don’t think I laughed in a year.

“And that’s when things got really weird,” she continues. “I would get so tired, I was sleeping up to 20 hours a day. I went back to my doctor and blood tests showed that my cortisol levels were through the roof.

“That’s when it hit me. Here was I thinking the medication was stopping my anxiety, and it wasn’t. It was just masking it.”