DEAR THYROID^TM

Before we begin, make sure you read all the way through to the end, because we have a VERY EXCITING opportunity from thyroid patient advocate, Mary Shomon for the Dear Thyroid Community.

So… Today when I was heading into the shower, I noticed that the water hadn’t drained. Curious, right? My landlord snaked the drain and I could hear the water glub-glub-glubbing its way down the drain. Nice, right? Until, he showed me a wigs worth of hair, my hair.

We all go through this – we all experience terrible hair loss, excessive weight gain, crazy ass rashes, infections, viruses, I mean, really, the list is endless, isn’t it?

Of course, he asked why I couldn’t keep my hair in my scalp, and I explained that I had Graves Disease, and what it was. Sure, he mocked me. He mocked what he didn’t understand. He mocked what he was afraid of — something everyone fears disease. The reality is, that disease is a scary word. For those who are disease free, I imagine it’s fear of confronting mortality. I could’ve gotten angry. I chose not to. Instead, I took the time to educate him about thyroid disease. Yeah, I was a walking PSA, but you know what, now someone who had no idea what a thyroid was or did, knows, and what to look for.

Please don’t misunderstand. I’m not tooting my own horn, oh no, no, no. I’m saying that all of us spread awareness every day. Sometimes it’s more challenging than others. Taking the time to simply say, I can explain instead of feeling hurt or marginalized, might not be such a bad thing to do, at least that’s just my opinion.

People fear what they don’t understand, even we do. WE ARE HUMAN.

That was MY LESSON OF THE DAY. What was yours?

—

The Last Hostage of Our Truce, a beautiful Dear Thyroid Letter about insomnia, written to “Synthroid”. Here’s an excerpt “I watch the blades of the ceiling fan circle around. I listen to my cats and husband snore. I start thinking about work. I start thinking of the balance on my surgeon’s bill. I think I should get up and finish reading the book on cancer I got after my surgery. Blink…blink…blink…” Please check it out; it’s just wonderful. What can’t we relate to, you know?!

Comment of the day…

surfingramma says:

Michelle-

this is really adoreable actually. You may not have meant it to be but it was a joy and a pleasure reading this!!! You DO have a great attitude especially after all you have been through.

I have had only a few nights of insomnia in my life but it left SUCH an impression on me. TOTAL empathy! (using BHRT progesterone has taken me from a good nights sleep to oh.my.gosh. this is what sleep is about) For ME it works and both my dr and endo always ask if I have any sleep issues since starting NDT. WEll, this is NOT about me…

So, thank you for writing this, it made me smile (the blink…blink…blink haha) and I enjoyed hearing that you are indeed doing all you can with this issue and are succeeding…well exceot for that sleep thing!

Terah

Butterfly Paragraph Submission, Written By Serena, such an exquisite entry for the butterfly graph competition. Please read and vote. Here’s an excerpt “You are my butterfly, my non-violent warrior, my friend, my angel, and my teacher. I love you, my drunken butterfly; you – like me – are drunk of life. I love you, I love you, I love you… what’s your name?”

Thyroid/Breast Cancer Connection!, a MUST READ from Dr. G about the thyroid breast cancer connection; here is an excerpt “It is not surprising to find a link between thyroid troubles and breast cancer. Look at the epidemiology – both conditions share a predominance in women, with a peak incidence in menopause.  What else do the breast and thyroid have in common? Both tissues take up and use dietary iodine.”

Comment of the day…

Caroline says:

Very interesting. I have had both thyroid cancer in 1981 and breast cancer in 2007. I was told there was no connection between the two but it is interesting to hear of the correlation here.

–NEWS AND UPDATES–

Dear Thyroid has a NEW OFFICIAL ADDRESS! Don’t worry, even if you sent snail mail to Century City, I will still receive it! I’ve populated this address site-wide, so we all have it.

Attn: Katie Schwartz

Dear Thyroid

POB 867

Beverly Hills, CA 90213

Onto Mary Shomon’s big news for our community!

Attn Thyroid/Adrenal Fatigue Patients: Anyone who has used dietary changes to help support adrenal function and deal with adrenal fatigue, I have a major national magazine doing a feature story that wants to talk to you. Can you email me ASAP at mshomon(at)thyroid-info.com?

This is an awesome opportunity gang, I hope you take Mary up on it!

Love,

Katie

Tags: Comment of the Day, community building, Dear Thyroid, graves disease support, hashimoto's disease support, Health Community, health support community, hyperthyroid support, hypothyroid support, literary community, literary support, thyroid cancer support, thyroid community, thyroid literary community, thyroid support community

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