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Thyroid Poetry by Sarah Downing
You crept up on me you SOB
Destroyed my life as it used to be
Accused of laziness because I’m tired
A symptom that this illness has sired
Accused of greed because I’m overweight
But I’m hardly ever hungry; I just caught you too late!
Thanks to you, thyroid, I have Epstein-Barr
With you, Hashimoto’s, I will go far
My adrenals conked out a long time ago
My, cortisol’s, sky-high; my metabolism’s low
Well, it seems I’ve been struck by the family curse
And my health is going from bad to worse
It’s not my way to give up and put up
Although some doctors would rather I shut up!
So I found a new doctor
Neufeldt, is his name
Treating thyroids is his game
And that last line is really lame!;-)
Now I have to be patient till he finds the right pill
But that’s bloody hard as I’m feeling quite ill
My whole body aches
The insurance won’t pay
For the necessary chiropractic
Because they say I’m okay
Apparently their doctor knows better than mine
Although he’s never seen me and never touched my spine!
Don’t you think that’s really out of line?
My whole family’s ill, my fiancée, my mother, my sister-in-law and my fiancée’s brother.
It, seem, this disease is more common than we thought
So why on earth is it so rarely caught?
Is it because the doctors aren’t taught
That TSH alone is just not enough
In fact, diagnosis is really quite tough
My fiancée was a prime example
Our old doctor took a blood sample
And said that his thyroid’s functioning was ample
The new doctor took one look at him
Knew something was amiss
Did sonogram and, scintigram
And he could tell from this
That my fiancée was suffering from, thyroiditis
It seems this disease is awfully vicious
And its effects are oh so pernicious.
I wish that the world would become more aware
Because non-diagnosis just isn’t fair
And it sucks even more when doctors don’t care
So I read and I read and I learn and I learn
To help myself and others this disease to spurn
Cheers,
Sarah
Tags: Dear Thyroid Letters, hypothyroid blog, hypothyroid disorders, hypothyroid patients, hypothyroidism support, poetry by thyroid patients, thyetry, thyroid poems
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22 Responses to “Thyroid Poetry by Sarah Downing”
Leave a Reply to amy
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Awesome poem–super thylicious!
“I wish that the world would become more aware
Because non-diagnosis just isn’t fair”
I love this. How right you are–non-diagnosis is not fair at all. Part of the problem is doctors only paying attention to numbers. But a huge part of the problem is lack of awareness. Too many people have no clue what or where the thyroid is, much less how to recognize signs that it’s jacked.
So glad you’ve found a new doctor! I hope he will help you find the right treatment soon!
xoxo
A wonderful poem! I am hoping that things will get regulated soon for you with the new dr! Do you not go to chiro at all because the insurance does not pay? I go every two weeks and of course I pay for everything out of pocket. But, by the time my appt. is a couple days a way I am ready! I hope that your aches and pains go away! I have them, too. And they suck big time!
Thank you for your comments and well wishes, Joanna. The new doctor has been treating us since about December, so we still have to be patient, but I love the way he listens to my suggestions for tests, answers my questions and seems so knowledgeable about thyroid disease. The added bonus is that he is a general practitioner, so he’s on top of all our health issues (many of which may well be thyroid-related) and we don’t need a referral to him, as we would for say an endocrinologist. He also works closely with a network of specialists he has selected for their expertise. My gynaecologist is one of them – too few gynaecologists know about the connection between female hormone imbalances (in my case PCOS) and thyroid disease, but this one does. He also operated on me recently and we are hoping that this will put an end to the painful sex that I’ve been having for like forever.
Amy, thank you too for your well wishes. I no longer go to the chiropractor as I didn’t feel that he was helping enough – he has an “in and out” mentality, so that you feel as if you are being shuffled along a production line and that just doesn’t do it for me. What I find really helps is a deep-tissue massage, which my physiotherapist is good at giving. I also do lots of stretches and sometimes (when I am very lucky) Corey gives me a massage – he does an awesome job! I am so lucky to have such a supportive partner, just like you from what I remember. For what it’s worth, I’d be happy to pay chiropractic out of pocket if I felt it helped more, but I have realised that there are other things that are more effective for me personally.
Joanna;
Love what you wrote. I agree, this was my favorite line, too: I wish that the world would become more aware
Because non-diagnosis just isn’t fair
xo
Amy;
Acupuncture has helped you a lot? Another patient on Facebook was inquiring about this here: http://bit.ly/b9UckI
If you wouldn’t mind connecting with her and sharing your thoughts that would be great. I know that every patient is different and responds differently.
Love the comment and support.
xo
Oooh, Sarah, a deep tissue massage, that’s a great idea. You find that it really works?
My pain never really goes away unless my hormone levels are better. It has improved since the start of treatment, but right now I’m feeling achy again as I have a cold and my body is recovering from the operation, but yes – as long as it is a deep tissue massage and not just one of those wishy-washy cosmetic massages, it does help loosen me up, as does regular movement and exercise. It’s a vicious circle really, isn’t it? Thyroid disease makes us so tired we don’t have the energy to move around much and yet we need to to alleviate our aches and pains and in an attempt to keep fit. I can’t work out with my trainer right now until my gynaecologist gives me the OK, so I miss doing that, but hopefully by the time I can work out again, my body will be feeling stronger anyway.
I never tried acupuncture for thyroid issues but I do go to the Chiropractor. I know massage would help but I can’t afford both.
Sarah,
I love your peom every word rhyme and reasoning of it.
You summed it up, all in this great verse.
Hope you do more, I haven’t written any poetry in years and haven’t done one about thyroid yet.
Amy;
My apologies, I thought you said Acupuncture. Has seeing a chiropractor helped?
I understand re: ‘cap on medi-spenses’
xo
Well, Lollylicious, in addition to your thytunes, you just might have to add thyetry.
I loved Sarah’s poem, too.
xo
Hi Lolly,
Thanks so much for your kind words. Katie is right – you definitely should write some more poems, but I know how it is – I don’t tend to write them myself unless the mood takes me or there is something I feel passionate about. In this case, it really flowed as I had so much to say.
Love,
S
Sarah,
And it flowed very well,I know what you m,ean since geting thyroid disease i couldn;t think straight all my poetry would be jumbled maybe I should gve it another go, I do it just for fun humerous stuff,I know this isn;t thyroid related but just wnated to share one of my poems with you that I wrote a sometime ago.
MILTON KEYNES
Oh come down to Milton Keynes
If your free time allows,
Enjoy are golden daffodils
And famous concrete cows.
Entering our Milton Keynes
The view is so pretty
But open up the can of worms
Within this modern city.
The council they will tell you
It’s a model for the nation
But pay no heed and come and see
The local deprivation.
Signs of last night revelry
on everybody’s lawn
Graffitied art on every part
And surface doth adorn,
Children dressed in ragged clothes
With manners quite atrocious
Their speech is normally profane
Their actions so ferocious.
Neighbours making so much noise
We never know what peace is,
Red paths made for cycles
That are all full of canine faeces
Buses few and far between
Their schedule so infrequent
I’ve yet to see one roadworthy
or clean or even decent.
Dirty shops on sad estates
A sight that really rankles
Were women shop with curlers in
And stockings round their ankles.
Consider in all honesty
This blot upon the nation
No wonder that they chose M.K.
For further education…
Sarah Pls excuse my typo’s I posted before I had time to correct them.
Lolly love it! Is this poem about a place where you live(d)? Your writing is wonderful.
Yes Amy it’s a place I live and moved to from a city Life in the UK.
It’s not as bad as I made out in the poem some of the areas are but where I live is okay. And we do have concrete cows for real.TY I need to get inspirational again and DT is helping, reading Sarahs poem too which I really thought was fantabulous.
Sarah, WOW, that was really beautiful. I loved all of it but I have to agree I especially liked: “I wish that the world would become more aware Because non diagnosis just isn’t fair” Mwah! I enjoyed reading it so much and it told your story (and Corey’s) so well, I really felt your words.
Lolly, yours was so great too. You MUST keep writing and soak in that inspiration.
I love what you “wordie” people can do with words!!!
Great Job!
XO
Lori
🙂
Hey Lolly,
I love your poem on Milton Keynes. From what I know, it’s supposed to be a bit of a chav heaven, isn’t it? I could probably write something similar about Sheffield, where I grew up and where one of my guy friends accidentally got beaten up because the guy at the bus-stop thought I was looking at him and I was just innocently waiting for the bus – it’s grim up north, but it’s tough down south too;-).
LAC: So glad you liked my poem. Thank you very much for your compliments.
Hey Sarah,
Yes I guess these new towns attract all manner of peeps and MK is no different some lovely places but some not so nice. I’m originally from the West Midlands and Birmingham so know what it’s like to live up North. I like North compared to South people are much more friendly.Well I have found that anyway but your always going to get some nutter somewhere no matter what town or city who look at them the wrong way you get your lights put out doesn’t make it right though.
Keep on doing your poetry I think it is fantastic, it told the whole story.
Lolly
Hey Lolly,
I totally dig your comment about Northerners versus Southerners. Although my whole family are from down South – my mum’s from Kent and my dad’s from Southampton – I tend to agree with you on the level of friendliness up North. I love the way bus drivers call everybody (even men) love and duck! I like the familiarity and the way you can have a chat with a complete stranger. Southerners can be a bit more distanced. I say this and yet I sound like a Southerner myself – some people think I’m from London. On the other hand, when I say a few tale-tell words, people realise where I grew up. I even used to get picked on at school for sounding posh!:-( You’re right though – there really are nutters everywhere!
Thanks for your encouragement on my poetry. I hope it encourages you to write something too. I’m not sure what my next instalment will be. I want to have something positive to tell, but right now I have a cold and am sneezing my nose off! Plus my body’s getting used to several new meds because my gynaecologist is trying to help me lose weight. We saw our doctor today and he was worried when he saw we had a cold (as it could be related to the Epstein-Barr), so he did some extra blood tests and we should hear in an hour or so whether we need to go on antibiotics or whether I need to up my dosage of antivirals and Corey needs to start taking them. I do hope it’s not antibiotics. In total, I believe I am currently taking about 13 pills a day, but I realise that that’s not that uncommon when you are sick – as long as they work eventually. I’m telling myself that I’ll be feeling so different in say six months, as it is still early days.
Take care yourself and have a great weekend!
Love,
Sarah
great poem!
Thanks Cynthia:-)