Tanya Rad has used social media to share her story with Hashimoto’s disease.
When I first connected with Tanya Rad earlier this month via email and asked her to describe herself in her own words, she responded by telling me she considers herself a “modern woman [who is] following my dreams, living life through the desires of my own heart and creating a community built on value-based positivity, support, and empowerment.”
“I feel it’s a very empowering time to be a woman, and I’ve incorporated the term ‘modern woman’ as part of my brand to encapsulate this mindset and community,” she said of her personal outlook. “It’s an honor and a privilege that I’ve been given a platform and I hope to use it to empower and build this community of like-minded modern women.”
Rad’s platforms are plentiful. She’s co-host of On Air with Ryan Seacrest and boasts over 277,000 followers on Instagram. In addition, Rad is co-host of the Scrubbing In with Becca Tilley and Tanya Rad with her best friend in Becca Tilley. The show, which began in 2016 and has an active Facebook group of so-called “scrub sisters,” won back-to-back People’s Choice Awards in 2019 and 2020 for Pop Podcast of the Year. Then in 2022, Rad became an author, as she released her first book called The Sunshine Mind. She described the work to me as “a physical representation of the mindset I try to instill on a daily basis” and added the book aimed to “empower people to find the bright side of situations instead of the negative, claim themselves the victor in their lives versus the victim, and challenge them to push beyond the status quo.” Reception towards the book was “magical,” Rad told me, and she looks forward to working on another one in the not-too-distant future.
The impetus for my connecting with Rad was her experience coping with Hashimoto disease, an autoimmune condition in which the thyroid gland is gradually destroyed. After receiving her diagnosis nearly two years ago, Rad explained she heard from others who were generally nonchalant about it, telling her it’s a common condition in women and taking a pill for the rest of her life isn’t “a big deal.” Rad’s doctors were especially “closed-minded and dismissive of the possibility of a holistic remedy” and insisted she start medication right away. That prognosis “wasn’t cutting it” for Rad, as she said she’s dedicated her life to clean living: eating well, avoiding chemicals and pharmaceuticals as best she could, and more. She resolved not to cope with her Hashimoto’s on other people’s terms; she sought agency and autonomy in caring for her body.
“I was determined to try everything I could to reverse [the disease] naturally, and if ultimately that didn’t help, then I would take the pills,” Rad said of her strategy. “But I was going to give it my all before I did.”
Given her modicum of fame, Rad told me feedback towards her condition has been “amazing” from the people closest to her. She became “very emotional” at how her fiancé reacted towards her diagnosis, saying “he backed my decision 100% and encouraged me to take the holistic approach” and even changed his lifestyle choices so to to more closely align with hers. Rad’s fiancé didn’t want her to “walk this journey alone” and “was always there to support and hold me accountable when anything got a little too tough.” Rad called him “my rock” and is “eternally grateful” for his unwavering support throughout the process—particularly when she was questioned and ridiculed by naysayers who looked askance at her non-conformist avenue to her condition.
Technologically speaking, Rad was emphatic in her belief that social media has been “such a beautiful place for outreach, information, and community.” Upon learning of her diagnosis, Rad took to the internet—and by extension, social media—to research Hashimoto’s nd investigate other people’s approaches to managing it. Moreover, she used social media as a tool with which to find recommendations for knowledgable doctors, available supplements, and as a forum to “ask a million questions.” Rad characterized social media as a “beautiful platform” atop of which to share her story and how she approached her own diagnosis.
“I believe everybody and every body is different. What works for someone may not work for another… I believe [there isn’t] a ‘one size fits all’ when it comes to health,” Rad said. “I hope through social media, and in particular with my story, that someone is encouraged to take a different approach. Oftentimes we are offered a pill or a medication that comes with a diagnosis. I’m not anti-medication, however I strongly believe in trying a holistic approach first before just grabbing a pill.”
She continued: “This journey was not easy. It involved a lot of changes to my daily life. I switched out air filters, removed all the plastic in my home, reduced stress, increased sleep, eliminated gluten, in addition to incorporating a rigorous supplement routine. I spent 9 months of my life dedicated to this, but it ultimately paid off. There were times during the process that I doubted myself, that I questioned why I was putting myself through all of this when most people said it was pointless, but when the test confirmed that the work paid off, the feeling was amazing, and I feel so lucky to be able to share my experience with others in the hopes that it can help even one person dealing with a similar diagnosis.”
However unstated, the essence of Rad’s comments is that social media proved itself as an assistive technology for dealing with her disease. She told me the most important message she wants to telegraph to her followers and listeners is simple: “self-advocate when it comes to your health,” she said. No matter what anyone says, it’s important people recognize and harness the ownership over their own bodies, telling me rhetorically “if something is off with your body, why not try to improve it instead of just sitting around and waiting for it to get worse?” Furthermore, Rad reemphasized she is not against medication when it’s warranted; her viewpoint is only that it can often be beneficial to explore alternative options to care. Several people, her doctors included, were skeptical of the holistic path Rad blazed, but she has zero regrets.
“I’m so glad I didn’t listen to those people,” she said with resolution. “I’m so glad I followed my gut.”
Rad’s choice to explore her options paid off. A year after her initial diagnosis, she learned in May 2023 that her Hashimoto’s had been fully reversed. The results of her blood work came back normal, which defied “all odds” and left the members of her care team in “disbelief.”
The journey with Hashimoto’s from start to finish left Rad feeling empowered. What began arduously as “daunting and almost too much to take on” that shook Rad’s confidence would, months later, become a reassuring experience that “taught me that I can do hard things.”
“I was dedicated and disciplined [on this journey] and it proved to me good things don’t happen overnight,” Rad said. “We are living in a time where instant gratification is the norm. I knew the approach I was taking was going to take time and patience. I’m proud of myself. Even if I hadn’t reversed my diagnosis, I would have held my head high because of the effort I made and I wouldn’t have regretted it for a second.”
