All About Christina Hall's Health Issues
So many of us take our health for granted when, in reality, we should do a little happy dance every day we feel healthy. Just ask Christina Hall (née Haack) — she's dealt with various health issues that took years to diagnose. HGTV fans know Hall from the hit show "Flip or Flop." Over the years, she has transformed many a drab house into a fabulous home alongside her ex-husband, Tarek El Moussa, during the show's nine-year run, but while she looked perfectly fine on-screen, Hall experienced debilitating health issues behind the scenes.
As for her personal life, after Hall divorced El Moussa, she married TV presenter Ant Anstead in 2018. Unfortunately, they separated in September 2020 and finalized their divorce in June 2021. It was after her second failed marriage that she met Josh Hall (hence her new last name), and the two got married in 2022, all the while Hall was trying to work through the unexplained symptoms she was experiencing. She eventually let the public know about her health issues and, since then, has been pretty open about her health journey on social media, inspiring many others with her positive attitude. Join us as we take a deep dive into all the health issues Hall has experienced over the years in the lead-up to several diagnoses.
Christina Hall endured severe stomach pain for years
Stomach pain is the worst, so we don't even want to imagine what it must have been like for Christina Hall to deal with debilitating tummy aches for years. In a candid Instagram post she shared in October 2021, Hall revealed she'd experienced "extreme stomach pain" since 2016. She described the pain she used to feel as "a horrible burning sensation." The worst part? Her doctors didn't take her complaints very seriously. "It has been written off as stress and doctors have tried to put me on all the pills / meds," she revealed in the post. She explained that she later realized that putting a Band-Aid on the problem wasn't going to make it go away. Wanting to get to the root of the issue, she started paying more attention to her diet. With improved nutrition, Hall's symptoms receded somewhat but then returned with a vengeance in 2020.
After opening up about her health issues on Instagram, Hall spoke to People, telling the outlet that she had an endoscopy but that her results came back normal. "[I'm] doing more procedures to try to get to the bottom of it," she said, adding, "For now, I am continuing to eat healthy and stay active." In the Instagram post, Hall shared that she hoped taking antibiotics would kill any harmful bacteria causing her symptoms. She also emphasized the importantance of going to the doctor for regular checkups.
She was diagnosed with several autoimmune diseases
Since she first let her fans in on her health journey, Christina Hall has been open about her experiences. During an interview with People, she spoke candidly about some of the symptoms she had dealt with over the years. "Five years ago I didn't feel great," she admitted. "I'd have brain fog or constantly feel like I was in fight-or-flight mode, but I just thought, 'Well, I'm stressed, so this is how I should feel,'" she said.
Hall shared in an Instagram post that she'd been diagnosed with Hashimoto's disease, Raynaud's syndrome, and PCOS (polycystic ovary syndrome). According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, Hashimoto's disease, also known as Hashimoto's thyroiditis, results from the immune system attacking the thyroid, which negatively impacts its hormonal production, typically leading to a decrease in thyroid hormone.
Even though Hall referred to it as such, Raynaud's syndrome isn't technically an autoimmune disease but can be a sign of an underlying autoimmune condition such as a thyroid disorder, Johns Hopkins Medicine explains. Raynaud's syndrome primarily affects the blood vessels in the hands but can affect the nose, ears, toes, nipples, and knees as well. The disease causes blood vessels to spasm, inhibiting blood flow which leads to pain and swelling in the affected areas. In severe cases, it can lead to painful sores. PCOS, on the other hand, affects the body's hormones and can lead to irregular periods, acne, unwanted hair growth, and infertility, Cleveland Clinic explains.
The HGTV star has learned to live with her autoimmune diseases
Dealing with one autoimmune disease is already taxing, and since Christina Hall has more than one, she's found ways to minimize her symptoms, telling People that it all came down to listening to her body and giving it what it needs to thrive.
"I'm more in tune with my body. I know how to cope with stress and my Hashimoto's disease," she told the outlet. Listening to what her body needs also means that Hall has had to limit the physical stress she puts on her body. "Instead of crashing myself with exercise, I do yoga and practice meditation on the Headspace app. When my mind's quiet and there are no distractions, that's when I get really, really good ideas," she explained.
One of these quiet sessions is how she came up with the idea for her book, "The Wellness Remodel: A Guide to Rebooting How You Eat, Move, and Feed Your Soul," released in 2020. The book was Hall's way of helping others experiencing similar health issues. "I dive into autoimmune issues and naturopathic doctors and meditation crystals. And then also workouts and a variety of recipes," she told People. Now, that's turning pain into power.
Christina Hall had a severe reaction to under-eye fillers
Let's be honest — under-eye fillers are great. Not only do they give your whole face a fresh look, but they also minimize the appearance of wrinkles and nip dark circles in the bud. They do, however, have some potential side effects, and when Christina Hall got under-eye fillers, she never dreamed she would have a severe reaction as a result.
In 2022, Hall took to her Instagram Stories (via Yahoo!) to tell fans she had a health scare from the fillers in April of that year. She explained that she experienced extreme swelling in her face and posted a picture of what her face looked like during this time, captioning it, "It wouldn't go down with time. Never again." This led Hall to undergo treatment to dissolve the fillers. This consisted of ultrasound and hyaluronidase frequency therapy.
As with all cosmetic procedures, under-eye fillers come with some risks, which include swelling that can last for two weeks or more, plastic surgeon Javad Sajan explains on his website, Allure Esthetic Plastic Surgery. Myvision.org notes that extreme swelling is one complication associated with the procedure and that it needs immediate medical treatment. Sajan says the swelling can go away if you wait it out and treat it with Tylenol or home remedies, but, clearly, Hall's reaction was severe enough to warrant immediate removal of the filler.
She was diagnosed with mercury and lead poisoning
After years of worrying symptoms and no specific diagnosis, Christina Hall turned to an alternative medicine and wellness facility for answers. She underwent tests which revealed she had mercury and lead poisoning. Relieved to finally have some answers, Hall took to her Instagram Stories (via Us Weekly) to share the news, saying that the test showed "energetic imbalances," which led to the mercury and lead poisoning diagnosis. She explained that doctors think her condition is a result of "all the gross houses I've been in (all the bad flips)." So, while Hall's house flipping with ex Tarek El Moussa helped make her rich, it also may have negatively impacted her health.
In an Instagram post Hall shared shortly before her diagnosis, she told her followers she was experiencing extreme exhaustion. According to the National Organization for Rare Disorders, fatigue is one of the symptoms associated with mercury and lead poisoning. Hall also noted that she had "unexplained skin rashes, joint and muscle pain, dry eyes, GI issues, SIBO, acid reflux, brain fog, hormone imbalances, swollen lymph nodes and adrenal fatigue." A 2007 study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal notes that lead and mercury poisoning can lead to gastrointestinal symptoms like constipation, nausea, and stomach pain. Patients may also experience muscle and joint pain, anemia, headaches, difficulty concentrating and sleeping, memory problems, nephropathy and peripheral neuropathy, and even anorexia. Many of Hall's symptoms align with those referenced in the study.
The designer learned she had small intestinal bacterial overgrowth
Christina Hall revealed in her Instagram Stories that the tests she underwent at the alternative medicine and wellness facility included those conducted by a quantum biofeedback machine. She explained that, aside from mercury and lead poisoning, doctors found she had small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO).
Hall shared this diagnosis in several Instagram Stories (via People), telling her followers about the extensive testing. "I did an expensive, super extensive panel and I got all my results back," she started. "It tests for like 100 different types of molds, metals and bacterias, and my highest level of toxicity came back as an abnormal amount of gut bacterias, which is like SIBO, and also parasites. So those are my biggest conditions," she explained, adding that she underwent several forms of treatment to get the condition under control.
Cleveland Clinic explains that SIBO occurs when the bacterial population in the gut becomes too high. This causes an imbalance in gut flora, which, in turn, leads to a slew of unwanted symptoms, such as diarrhea and gas. These overeager gut bugs can also negatively impact the body's digestion process, leading to issues digesting and absorbing nutrients from food. Aside from gas and an upset tummy, those with SIBO usually experience bloating, stomach pain, nausea, indigestion, and fatigue as well. SIBO can be difficult to diagnose because the tests that exist used to detect it aren't completely accurate. It's no wonder Hall struggled to get a diagnosis.
After her diagnoses of SIBO and mercury and lead poisoning, she embarked on a cleanse
After Christina Hall made her diagnosis public, she spoke to E! News about the steps she was taking to get better. "I'm just really focused on doing a cleanse right now, eating super clean," she told the outlet. "I'm doing supplement detox and there's a local wellness place nearby where I've been doing hyperbaric chambers and IVs," she added.
If you're wondering what a hyperbaric chamber is, we got you. First off, it's not as scary as it sounds — the chamber is simply a pressurized environment that allows the body to absorb more oxygen. While administering hyperbaric oxygen therapy, pure oxygen is released into the chamber, Mayo Clinic explains. Because physical injuries need more oxygen to heal, this therapy is typically administered to patients who deal with an array of physical ailments. Improving gut health or autoimmune diseases is not on the list of benefits, so it's unclear why exactly Hall underwent it, though it might benefit her Reynaud's disease since this therapy can help heal wounds and skin infections. Regardless, Hall told the outlet that she was feeling "75% better."
Hall also shared to her Instagram Stories some of the treatments she tried. "I'm on a cleanse and a parasite cleanse," she shared (via People). "I heard it gets worse before it gets better. It's pretty brutal but I'm hoping at the end I feel good," she said, adding that she could "definitely feel it working."
To alleviate some of her symptoms, Christina Hall looked into removing her breast implants
When Christina Hall opened up about her health issues on Instagram, she told her followers that she wondered whether some of her symptoms might be linked to breast implant illness. According to Cleveland Clinic, breast implant illness isn't well-studied and is not even considered an official diagnosis yet because research is still so sparse. Symptoms associated with the condition, however, include many of the same ones Hall listed in her Instagram post, including joint pain, rashes, brain fog, and fatigue.
In the Instagram Stories Hall shared about her diagnosis, she said she was "detoxing all of this through herbs and IVs" (via People) and that she would see how her symptoms improved with that treatment so she could determine if they were indeed caused by her breast implants. It appears that some of her symptoms remained because when Hall spoke to E! News in January 2023, she was preparing to undergo breast explant surgery. "I have a couple of appointments about getting my implants removed," she said.
Her advice to anyone dealing with uncomfortable symptoms is to address them as soon as possible. "If people aren't feeling well, take a look at your diet or what you're putting into your body or lack of exercise," she advised. "It's hard to show up and work hard or be a great parent or feel present when you don't feel great."