DEAR THYROID^TM

Sometimes we talk about the impact of our diseases on our family and friends. Not too often, but we do. Mostly we discuss the heartache related to the devastation of being ‘left behind’ by our loved ones and our perception of their inability to understand what we’re going through. WAIT – Not all of our families understand, while others do. Hence – perception. Gifts of psychoses in varying degrees are packaged with thyroid diseases and cancers. Our emotions spew out of our mouths sans filtration. Frequently, we can’t control our emotions. I’m not suggesting we get a pass. Nor do I believe that it’s our fault. It is what it is — our thyroids declaring war on ourselves and our families.

And, yet, there is fallout, a price to pay, shrapnel of lives forever altered. Whether you agree or not, our families suffer dearly, as much as we do, even when we think they don’t. Looking at it objectively and purely intellectually, how can we not see the pain our thyroids have caused. Trust is broken. Our moods are unreliable. They’ve felt as burned, betrayed and tortured by our thyroids as we have.

How do we bridge the gap? How do we place ourselves in their shoes? How do we rebuild our relationships? How do we forgive our thyroids? Do we have issues forgiving ourselves? Is our bond so strong, that nothing could ever break it? Would you heal if you sat down with your family and friends, and asked them about your disease through their eyes? Would they? Is it all part of the overall healing process?

What do you think?

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The Voices Of Thyroid Disease, Mike Wilson, one of our most thyroid literary community members, pens Haikus (thykus) and letters. Today, he penned a unique to him letter about angry thyroids; it’s a beautiful read. If you haven’t read it and connected with Mike in comments, please do.

Excerpt: “Far be it from me to stick with the usual perspective on things.  The human experience is enriched when we open our eyes in other directions.  And as I was sitting here on a very quiet, and relaxing Sunday afternoon — trapped in the air conditioning by the very oppressive heat wave outside — I ambled over to the Dear Thyroid website.”

Comment of the day…

Lolly says:

Mike maybe we should start thinking in reverse and start loving our thyroids. I know mine wasn’t to blame, I never hated it. I grieved for the loss when it was gone; a big part of my life. It wasn’t the thyroid, but the antibodies that mistook it for the enemy and attacked an innocent gland that was just doing its job.

What I hate most about it all, is the poor substitute and lack of knowledge by the medical profession. Levothyroxine can never take the place of the real thing and that is why most of us still suffer. We need that happy balance of FT3 and FT4 to be able to function anywhere near to what we did before our thyroids were attacked. We need to change lifestyles to accommodate the poor replacement. It’s like owning a Rolls Royce and ending up with a Robin Reliant — no comparison.

Beautifully written once again and thought provoking.

Lolly

Butterfly Paragraph Submission, by Fuzzy Thyroid Brain, another stellar butterflygraph submission. If you haven’t read it and voted, please do.

Excerpt: “I can only assume my own personal butterfly mistakenly consumed nectar from a poisoned flower, as she became toxic and grew ugly, and no longer resembled the silent, exquisite butterfly she once was.”

Thyme For Literary Healing: Differentiating Between Taking Care Of Ourselves And Meeting Daily Responsibilities, this was near and dear to my heart.  I’m not sure if you realize how deeply I feel your stories, comments, rants, contest submissions and emails. THEY dwell inside me – every single word that you write is profoundly important to me. The impetus for this particular healing was knowing how much each of you endures juggling your own health, adjunct financial expenses, taking care of your daily obligations and, yes, yourselves. This is something we need to discuss. SHOW UP and write, please. If we are ever going to change the face of thyroid disease and thyroid cancer, we need to speak up LOUD and PROUD. The horrors, sadness, frustration, desperation, financial distress, and inability to… whatever, needs to be written. As a result, we will be the change we seek. If you haven’t added your story and answered the questions posed, PLEASE DO!

Excerpt: “Lately, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about what it means to take care of ourselves. We are dealing with thyroid disease, multiple chronic conditions and/or thyroid cancer. Additionally, we have lives, families, careers, and responsibilities. Meeting all of our obligations, paired with the ‘need’ or is that ‘requirement’, to take care of ourselves is a seemingly impossible, or is that, daunting task”

Today’s comment….

Kathy says:

1.Do you know how to take care of yourself?

I think I know WHAT I need to do, but the problem is, I don’t do it. The exercise, eating right, taking time for myself..It’s not all portioned equally. Most of the time, I’m looking for the energy just to get through the next half hour of the day.

2.When you take care of yourself, do other things in your life fall to the wayside?

You’d better believe it. When I am on top of my eating plan..getting a good variety of food, the right amount of calories to help lose weight, and doing that exercise for at least 30 minutes, five times a week, and sleeping well, I am happy, have energy and my work and play are a lot more focused and fun. I know this because I have been there done that..but it was three years ago, that I felt that well.

3.What is your definition of taking care of yourself?

Holistically, taking care of all of me…eating good food,including special foods or drinks that I love, working and feeling productive, feeding my soul with spirituality, playing, being with others, laughing, sex, I want it ALL.

4.Do you feel that financial and ‘life’ obligations prohibit you from taking care of yourself the way you wish you could?

I often think if I had enough money to pay someone else to kick my ass into shape, I would be better off. There’s plenty of stuff that can be done for free, however. I work too much and don’t play enough, but I’m learning to balance. Personally, I feel that it is depression that keeps me from doing a lot for myself. I get into the ‘why bother’ state.. I am there most of the time. I wish Vitamin D3 was the magic that I need, because I cannot take depression meds. I have to push myself so often. Some days, I feel antagonistic toward almost everyone. When I know that I wake up that way, if so many folks around me are so terrible, I know it must be me. I tell everyone it is one of ‘those’ days. I say..”I’m having a day. I hate you all equally, but I will be better hopefully as early as tomorrow, so bear with me and stay away today”. People at least at work have learned to listen. Other days, I fall into the abyss of my sadness well. I hate that place, because it is not so easy to climb out. I try to acknowledge that I’m there as well, and be more spiritual and ride it out.

5.How do you manage EVERYTHING?

I don’t. I just do the best I can with what I’ve got. My body, my looks, my home, my job..if I do my best and fall short, well, I’ll try again tomorrow. Today, on PBS on that Clifford, the Big Red Dog show, the children were practicing on getting their chores done before they could go out and play. I’m not too keen on that philosophy. I grew up that way, and often feel guilty about ‘playing’ if every single thing is not done first. Sometimes, you just have to take care of yourself and say..the work will wait, life is too short, it’s time to play…and then, do just that!

–NEWS AND UPDATES–

There is now a REPLY button underneath each comment, so you can reply to individuals or leave a general comment in the box at the bottom. THANK YOU, STEPHEN SMITH, our webmaster.

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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