DEAR THYROID^TM

Dear Thyroid;

Well, I’m glad that we’re finally getting the opportunity to air things out. I’ve wanted to get together with you for quite a while, but these days, I am either too tired or I just forget.

Over the last year, it has become evident that your work is declining. I think we both know that it has been longer than a year though, don’t we? Or, did you just want a little attention and didn’t think you were being noticed? That must be it. I see.

Did you feel other glands and vital organs were getting more attention than you were? Admittedly, they were getting more attention for a long, long time, more so than you were. I apologize.

I should have commended you on your good work way back then, but I was too busy with the other vital organs. Frankly, I think you had a little bit to do with their downfall as well, you know, my kidneys, ovaries, uterus and my weight. ,

You were so strong and for so many years, so what happened?! Were you jealous?

First it was my two little kidneys. What? You didn’t like the prednisone they needed for all three-years? Hey, I didn’t like it much either, but if I didn’t take it, none of us would be here today.

I know you were probably trying to squeeze your way back in then when I was 4-years old, weren’t ya?

Then, it was the PCOS, and dealing with my ovaries. What a pair they were! They kept whining, saying they were scarred from years of abuse! Huh? Stingy things that raised havoc all over the place; luckily I managed to sneak two lovely daughters outta them. Did you have something to do with that, too?

And what about the cancer I got in 1989?! Yeah, right. I know. You hid during that time, didn’t you? I wanted to hide, too, but I had to deal with it. What a mess. Everything is gone and outta there now.

No more ovaries.

No more uterus.

Period.

Or should I say “No Period”

That hurt a lot.

Thanks for being quiet for awhile.

Now, can you tell me what the hell happened last year?! Just when I was feeling so much better about myself, I had lost all that weight, 48 pounds; I was exercising and wearing the smallest size I’d ever worn. A 12/14!! For me, that’s like wearing a 6/8. Now I have gained back all 48 pounds, plus another 10 more! In just a few months, I might add. How far do you want to go?!

Were you responsible for the depression that kept creeping up on me? I went through menopause back in ’89, at age 34. Now, I have to do it again at 53??! Yep, that’s what they told me. It still happens. Hot flashes that don’t turn off, my hair looks like you know what, a thinner and thinner pile of straw that I have to cut shorter and shorter. And I have no eyebrows. Mona Lisa? I think not. She has more of a smile than I do!

Um; can you sense the mood swings?,   Oh, lucky me!

I still had the depression and Prozac was going to make me happy. Yup, that’s what the doctors called it “The happy pill”. Uh, happy until I started only sleeping for an hour a night, then my legs became restless; restless to the point of not being able to walk at times. What the devil were you thinking?!

Then, I started seeing double and I couldn’t speak without jumbling up my words. Everyone, including me, thought that I was going crazy.

Oh, and thanks for that ambulance ride from work. I loved that. The doctors in the ER wouldn’t even touch me. No blood work. Nothing. They did determine that I had Serotonin Syndrome. And, a week later, lactic acidosis from taking Metformin for my insulin resistance issue all because YOU decided not to come to work for awhile. Thanks a bunch.

I was, and still am smart enough to know that something was terribly wrong, so I went searching online to see if anything matched my symptoms. How I stumbled upon Mary Shomon and looking at symptoms of hypothyroidism, I can’t remember. But, I do remember printing out the information on her website and bringing it to my doctor and begging for a thyroid test.

Don’t hide behind the paper, Dear Thyroid, you know what it said. You hadn’t clocked into work for quite some time. Where the heck had you been? I’m really not a bad person to work for. If you do your job, then I can do mine.

Honestly, if I didn’t need you to moderate me physically and mentally, I would get rid of you, but who would replace you? I know that you can do the job, but you have to help me here. We have to work together.

I know that this weight needs to come off AGAIN, but I’ve got to feel better to get it going. My metabolism has diminished to nothing. What did you do? Throw it away?!,   I can’t get it done without you, but what am I supposed to do now?

I’m waiting and ready to listen.   SPEAK UP. What am I supposed to do?! ,  You tell me.

Yours truly,

Kathy Taylor

(Bio) Kathy Taylor “This letter addressed to my thyroid comes from me, a now 54 year old woman, married with,  a very patient husband, and 2,  daughters and 6 grandchildren.   I love my job, working as an Activities Director in a nursing home. I love coffee, wearing my polka dotted boots and my slicker in the rain, and reading John Updike. You can find me on Facebook…

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