By Jennifer Whitmire, MS, MEd, MH, CHES, NEP

I remember thinking something felt off… but I couldn’t explain it.

I didn’t look sick. Most people wouldn’t have noticed anything was wrong. But inside, I didn’t feel right. Some days I had high anxiety. Some days I was just so exhausted. Sometimes it was just this underlying feeling that something is wrong.

When nothing is obvious, you start questioning yourself.

Is this all in my head?

Am I just stressed?

Why can’t I get it together?

What I didn’t understand at the time is something I see all the time now. Autoimmune symptoms rarely come from just one condition.

Autoimmune symptoms don’t always come from a single condition. Many people with autoimmune disease develop multiple, overlapping conditions, because the root issue is immune system imbalance, not just one organ or diagnosis. 

Factors like gut health, chronic inflammation, blood sugar issues, and toxins and environmental exposures all influence how the immune system behaves, which is why symptoms don’t always fit neatly into one label.

For me, it started with Graves’ Disease, at least, that’s what I was told, but looking back, that wasn’t the beginning. That was just the first label.

After that, more things started showing up. Symptoms that didn’t quite fit into one box. Some lined up with Hashimoto’s. Others looked like Raynaud’s. Then Sjögren’s. Psoriasis had already been there. Later, signs of celiac. Even symptoms that pointed toward myasthenia gravis.

At the time, it felt like my body was breaking.

It wasn’t a bunch of separate problems, but one system that had been pushed too far for too long.

Why Autoimmune Conditions Overlap

Here’s the part that’s hard to admit when you’re in it… I was “Doing All The Things.”

I had the degrees and countless certifications. I worked out every day. I ate what I thought was a healthy diet, but there were things I didn’t see.

Years of chronic stress that felt “normal” to me. Foods I was eating every single day that my body wasn’t tolerating. Environmental exposures I never questioned.

I was heating food in plastic in the microwave. I was washing plastic bottles inthe dishwasher and then drinking city water from them all day. I was eating processed, frozen, “healthy” meals that weren’t supporting anything.

It was the accumulation of things that weren’t even on my radar..

Autoimmune disease is usually explained as the body attacking itself, but that never really sat right with me. The body doesn’t just randomly turn on itself.

What I’ve come to understand is that it’s a pattern of immune activation that doesn’t shut off the way it should. The system is responding… over and over again. It’s reacting all the time

• To food.
• To stress.
• To environmental exposiures.
• To internal signals.

Over time, that response spreads.

That’s why people end up with multiple autoimmune conditions. It’s from something new but from a pattern that is still there.

What Changed for Me

One of the biggest shifts for me was realizing I didn’t need another diagnosis. My doctor wanted to run more tests to see what else was “wrong.” I needed to understand why my body was reacting the way it was.

That’s when things started to change.

Instead of trying to fix each symptom, I started looking at what I was doing.

What was I eating every day?

What was that doing to my gut?

What was happening to my blood sugar?

What kind of stress was my body constantly receiving?

I had been eating gluten three times a day for years. Toast for breakfast. Sandwiches or wraps for lunch. Bread, pasta, or something similar at dinner. And I made my own bread from organic flour, so I thought I was doing something good.

I had no digestive symptoms. None! So celiac never crossed my mind.

When I finally dug deeper, I found out I have the celiac genes, and my body was reacting underneath the surface.

It took years to undo that.

A Different Way to Look at Symptoms

This is also where gut health became impossible to ignore.

When the gut lining is compromised, the immune system is exposed to things it shouldn’t be reacting to. That’s part of what drives ongoing immune activation. I explain this more in my article on Your Mysterious Microbiome and how gut health shapes immune response.

Once I started working on my blood sugar, I noticed another change.

My energy became more predictable. The ups and downs started to level out. That constant internal stress signal chilled out. I wrote more about that connection in why blood sugar matters in autoimmune disease, because it’s one of the most overlooked pieces.

This is where a lot of people struggle. They’re trying to make all of their symptoms fit into one condition. When it doesn’t fit, it feels like something is missing.

Sometimes the better question is not “What do I have?” It’s “Why is my body reacting like this?”

When I started focusing on that, things began to gradually change. 

I changed the way I ate. Not just “healthy,” but real whole foods that I prepared myself.

I reduced exposures. I stopped drinking city water and bought a water distiller. I stopped using plastic in the kitchen. I threw out non-stick pans and utensils. I stopped wearing antiperspirant. I switched my face wash, shampoo, toothpaste, etc.

I addressed stress in a way I never had before. This one step took YEARS! Yes, I am a true work in progress. I tried meditation, yoga, breathwork, journaling, walking in nature, all things CBD, adaptogens, aromatherapy, …. To me, down time was me being lazy. I had more important things to do!  

It wasn’t until I tried a Qi Gong Sample class at a Myasthenia Gravis event where I was a speaker that I found the right tool for me. Then a friend introduced me to regular Qi Gong classes, and I fell in love right away! I get to move and meditate at the same time! And now I am even an instructor!!! I love it!

I began to understand how connected everything really is.

Over time, I became less reactive, and when you live with autoimmune symptoms, less reactive is everything.

If you’re dealing with symptoms that don’t quite make sense, or you feel like you’ve been given pieces of answers but not the full picture, you’re not alone, and your body is not broken.

The work is figuring out what you’re responding to… and starting to change those signals.

Where to Start

If you’re reading this and thinking, “Okay… but what do I actually eat?” That’s exactly why I created the Culinary Healing Circle. This is where we take everything we talk about and turn it into real meals you can actually make.

Simple. Practical. Supportive.

You can learn more here: www.CulinaryHealingCircle.com