Hi Victoria,
I have found that allergies are not always easy to identify because they can and often do come on slowly - sometimes a day or two after the contact or inhalant. As far as brain fog goes, it is definately one of the most difficult for me to connect to a pattern but in identifying the one thing that always causes me trouble is lack of sleep (meaning, when I don't get to sleep at a decent hour or I have had a restless night). It takes two nights of getting back to a good schedule before my brain fog lifts.
I encourage you to look into
NAET. I am convinced Hashimoto's has it's root cause in allergies combined with emotional traumas in some way. Since there are no scientific "facts" for this gut feeling (which reminds me that this factor is involved at the same time - digestion), we can only be detectives at this point.
I am amazed at the food allergies NAET has cleared up in my life. We are presently continuing the detective work surrounding Hashimoto's but basic food allergies and environmental single allergies have responded almost without fail. It's the quest to find exactly what has triggered the Hashimoto's that takes much detective work and over time, it could be as simple as the combination of allergens that bombarded the body causing a state of toxemia. We will find out but I tend to believe that there was a trigger or group of triggers that are responsibile for this disease. Some have the persistence and motivation to seek this out - some feel that option alone is enough to cause more stress than it's worth. I have an analytical mind so it intrigues me. Each of us needs to determine what makes sense for their own journey.
In response to your comment that many have not figured it out on this board; I think it's just that this is a private board and the members visit on an irregular basis unless you are answering one of their posts so they get notified that there is someone interacting with them on the board. So, replies tend to come slower than we would like due to this. I plan on sending a group e-mail out soon to remind everyone to glance through the posts in case they feel they can add wisdom to the topics posted in the last few days/weeks. Making the board private was a decision I had to make to prevent spam but it also slowed the board down due to the need to sign in. I'll try to alert others to take a look at some of the recent posts to see if they have input that would help. Thanks for understanding.
Hang in there and hope you continue to find answers towards your pursuit of health.
Mo
