I never planned to become an expert in mold illness or Hashimoto's disease. For years, I was a clinical pharmacist doing work I loved — managing psychiatric medications, rounding with treatment teams, teaching students, and building pharmacy programs from the ground up. I was good at what I did. I had the degrees, the board certification, the clinical instincts. I thought I understood health.
Then my own body started telling a different story.
When Everything Changed
It started gradually, the way these things often do. Fatigue that sleep couldn't fix. Brain fog that made it hard to think clearly — which is terrifying when your job requires sharp clinical judgment. Joint pain. Weight changes that didn't match what I was eating or how I was moving.
I went to doctor after doctor. I had labs drawn. And every time, I heard the same thing: "Your labs look normal."
As a pharmacist, I knew enough to know that something wasn't right. "Normal" labs and debilitating symptoms don't add up. But I also experienced something that so many of my future clients would describe to me: the dismissal. The subtle (and sometimes not-so-subtle) message that maybe it was stress, or maybe I just needed to sleep more, or maybe — and this is the one that really stung — it was all in my head.
Finding the Missing Pieces
The turning point came when I started looking beyond conventional lab ranges. I learned about optimal ranges versus "normal" ranges — and how a TSH of 4.0 might be technically "within range" while your body is screaming for help. I ran a comprehensive thyroid panel for the first time: Free T3, Free T4, Reverse T3, TPO antibodies, thyroglobulin antibodies. The picture that emerged was completely different from what a standard TSH test had shown.
I had Hashimoto's disease — autoimmune thyroiditis — and my immune system had been quietly attacking my thyroid for what was likely years. It explained the fatigue, the brain fog, the weight changes. It explained everything. And nobody had thought to check.
But that wasn't the whole story.
The Mold Connection
As I dug deeper into my health, I started learning about environmental triggers for autoimmune conditions. I discovered that mold exposure — something most conventional doctors don't even consider — can be a major driver of chronic inflammation, immune dysfunction, and thyroid problems.
When I investigated my own environment, I found it. Mold. Not the obvious, visible kind — the hidden kind that lives in walls, HVAC systems, and behind the surfaces that look perfectly fine. I was living and working in an environment that was making me sick, and I had no idea.
The realization was equal parts devastating and liberating. Devastating because I'd been suffering unnecessarily for so long. Liberating because for the first time, I had real answers — and real answers mean you can take real action.
Learning to Heal — and Learning to Help
My recovery wasn't overnight. It involved addressing the mold exposure, supporting my immune system, optimizing my thyroid function, and rebuilding my health from a functional medicine perspective. I pursued training through the Institute for Functional Medicine. I studied integrative approaches with Dr. Pam Tarlow. I read everything I could get my hands on.
And something else happened along the way: I started hearing from others. Friends, colleagues, strangers on the internet — people who were experiencing the exact same thing I had been through. The same symptoms. The same dismissal. The same "your labs are normal" while their quality of life was anything but.
That's when I realized that my experience — both as a clinician and as a patient — could be something more than just my own story. It could be the foundation for helping others who are stuck in the same cycle.
Why I Do This Work
Today, I combine over a decade of clinical pharmacy experience with functional medicine training and my own lived experience to help people navigate the same challenges I faced. I specialize in mold illness, Hashimoto's disease, and thyroid optimization — the conditions that are most commonly missed, dismissed, or inadequately treated.
I know what it feels like to sit in a doctor's office and be told there's nothing wrong when every fiber of your being is telling you otherwise. I know the frustration of Googling symptoms at 2 AM, desperate for answers. I know the overwhelm of walking into a health food store and staring at 200 supplements with no idea which ones actually matter.
That's why I do what I do. Not because I read about it in a textbook — although I did plenty of that too — but because I lived it. And because of that, I bring something to these consultations that no amount of clinical training alone can provide: genuine understanding.
If You See Yourself in My Story
If any of this resonates with you — the unexplained symptoms, the "normal" labs, the feeling that something is off but nobody can tell you what — know that you're not imagining it. And know that there are answers out there.
I'd love to help you find them.
With warmth and understanding,
Dr. Mo (Dr. Morgan Gatzlaff, PharmD, BCPP)