A woman left unemployed for two years was diagnosed with an iodine deficiency after being told no one has had it "since the 1800s".
Kristin Dainis, 39, suddenly started having "energy crashes" 15 years ago which became so bad she would be left gasping for air.
But doctors dismissed her symptoms and said she was simply "working too hard".
Kristin continued to struggle with the crashes and brain fog and self diagnosed herself with an iodine deficiency after Googling her symptoms.
She went to her doctor with her self-diagnosis and private test results but was told 'no one has had an iodine deficiency since the 1800s'.
She was finally tested and diagnosed with an iodine deficiency and hyperactive thyroid.
Despite her diagnosis she continued to struggle with her health and ended up unemployed and mostly housebound for two years.
Kristin managed to get back to work but had a relapse a year later. It has now taken several years for her to get back to good health.
She now has an understanding of her body following extreme testing and takes supplements and keeps a healthy diet to stay on top of her health problems.
Kristin, an author and health coach, from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US, said: "I started having really weird energy crashes.
"Doctors said I was working too hard.
"I was able to self diagnose myself.
"I paid to have an iodine test done as I was severely deficient.
"I took it to the doctor to ask if they could confirm it.
"They said 'no one has had an iodine deficiency since the 1800s'."
Kristin first started suddenly crashing in July 2010.
She said: "Out of nowhere all the energy would leave my body.
"I'd be left gasping for air.
"I couldn't sit, I couldn't get up.
"It could take minutes or hours to recover."
The crashes began happening more and more frequently and she went to see a doctor.
Kristin said: "They said 'your work is too intense'."
She was working for a global software company at the time and kept up a "full social calendar".
Kristin said: "I just keep getting worse."
She was allergy tested but nothing came back and Kristin started to lose her trust in doctors and started researching herself.
Kristin came across a blog of a woman with the same symptoms who had been diagnosed with iodine deficiency.
She paid to have her own test done which came back severely deficient and went to see her doctor with the results - but was told it was unlikely she had it has they hadn't since it since the 1800s.
Despite this Kristin still managed to get diagnosed with the deficiency and a hyperthyroid in early 2011.
Kristin said: "I watched my symptoms.
"One day I crashed in front of my co-workers."
She was put on sick leave but her health rapidly declined and she had to quit her job in November 2011.
Kristen said: "I went through a period of being unemployed for two years.
"I really felt on my own."
Kristen finally found a health coach after a year who helped her find treatments to get her health back on track.
Kristin Dainis, 39, suddenly started having "energy crashes" 15 years ago which became so bad she would be left gasping for air.
But doctors dismissed her symptoms and said she was simply "working too hard".
Kristin continued to struggle with the crashes and brain fog and self diagnosed herself with an iodine deficiency after Googling her symptoms.
She went to her doctor with her self-diagnosis and private test results but was told 'no one has had an iodine deficiency since the 1800s'.
She was finally tested and diagnosed with an iodine deficiency and hyperactive thyroid.
Despite her diagnosis she continued to struggle with her health and ended up unemployed and mostly housebound for two years.
Kristin managed to get back to work but had a relapse a year later. It has now taken several years for her to get back to good health.
She now has an understanding of her body following extreme testing and takes supplements and keeps a healthy diet to stay on top of her health problems.
Kristin, an author and health coach, from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US, said: "I started having really weird energy crashes.
"Doctors said I was working too hard.
"I was able to self diagnose myself.
"I paid to have an iodine test done as I was severely deficient.
"I took it to the doctor to ask if they could confirm it.
"They said 'no one has had an iodine deficiency since the 1800s'."
Kristin first started suddenly crashing in July 2010.
She said: "Out of nowhere all the energy would leave my body.
"I'd be left gasping for air.
"I couldn't sit, I couldn't get up.
"It could take minutes or hours to recover."
The crashes began happening more and more frequently and she went to see a doctor.
Kristin said: "They said 'your work is too intense'."
She was working for a global software company at the time and kept up a "full social calendar".
Kristin said: "I just keep getting worse."
She was allergy tested but nothing came back and Kristin started to lose her trust in doctors and started researching herself.
Kristin came across a blog of a woman with the same symptoms who had been diagnosed with iodine deficiency.
She paid to have her own test done which came back severely deficient and went to see her doctor with the results - but was told it was unlikely she had it has they hadn't since it since the 1800s.
Despite this Kristin still managed to get diagnosed with the deficiency and a hyperthyroid in early 2011.
Kristin said: "I watched my symptoms.
"One day I crashed in front of my co-workers."
She was put on sick leave but her health rapidly declined and she had to quit her job in November 2011.
Kristen said: "I went through a period of being unemployed for two years.
"I really felt on my own."
Kristen finally found a health coach after a year who helped her find treatments to get her health back on track.
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NewsTranscript
00:00I had five significant symptoms that I was seeking answers for.
00:14Iodine deficiency was not the only diagnosis I needed to heal, there were a bunch of other
00:19diagnoses I needed.
00:21The big scary primary one was I was having what I called energy crashes.
00:27I would be at the gym, I'd be walking on the sidewalk, in my home, going to the bathroom,
00:34I would be at work standing up from a desk holding my laptop when I would crash.
00:40And when I say I crashed, I mean it was like all the energy left my entire body, all my
00:45muscles all at once, couldn't stand, couldn't sit up, I would just have to lay there gasping
00:50for air.
00:52Today I know that as post-exertional malaise, there were other minor symptoms that I didn't
00:58go to the doctors about.
01:00And that's because they just seemed so insignificant and unimportant compared to the energy crashes.
01:07And those were actually the hallmark symptoms for severe iodine deficiency.
01:12And they were my nails had all become super brittle and they were all breaking off past
01:17the quick.
01:18And the other big one is that you can see my hair is pretty straight and shiny.
01:24That was what finally tips me off to the iodine deficiency.
01:27And there were two more symptoms that were medium severity.
01:31And the one is that I was sleeping 14 hours a day.
01:34I was so fatigued.
01:35And the other one was that it seemed like my immune system was failing.
01:39My piercings, some of which I've had since I was whatever, I don't know, eight, nine
01:43years old, just constantly infected, like oozing pus all day, every day.
01:49I would clean them out with alcohol like three times a day.