DEAR THYROID^TM

Do you listen to Joni Mitchell? Have you heard the song “Both Sides Now”?

“Oh but now old friends are acting strange

They shake their heads, they say I’ve changed

Well something’s lost but something’s gained

In living every day”

The crux of the song is… I really don’t know life at all, and yet, I do.

So relevant to disease and how beautiful life was and how invincible we felt, until we didn’t. We know a lot, we really do. Today, we see the world through both sides.

I exchanged a few emails with one of our lovely community members today. We happen to have the same disease. I felt her pain – I feel ALL OF YOUR PAIN. Please never think I don’t. Rather, I do. And, I wouldn’t trade that feeling for all the bagels in Brooklyn.

Psychiatric issues as a result of our thyroid diseases are VERY, VERY, VERY real and VERY, VERY, VERY profound. They affect us deeply. We become reclusive. We retreat emotionally. We feel we can’t rely on our minds. The laser sharp clarity we once had feels broken and withered. We are desperate to feel whole again. We fight like a mother bitch to feel it again. All of that is scary – full stop.

Here’s my point. There are two sides to each of us now. The ‘normal’ side and the ‘thyroid side’. When we feel swallowed by our thyroid, mentally and physically, regardless of how challenging it is, FIGHT; FIGHT LIKE YOU’VE NEVER FOUGHT IN YOUR LIFE, for better care, treatment and YOUR wellness. Do not ever think that you can get off the train because you can’t. All of those feelings, real as they seem, aren’t. They are our thyroids forcing its tentacles into our brains.

I hock my Shmendo so much, that our new endolationship, in less than six-weeks has changed, for the better. My habit of changing the blood draw form after he signs it resulted in him handing me the form and saying “Go ahead, fill out and I’ll sign it.” Even better, when he has a go, after I have, he explains why he’s adding additional tests and what those tests are.

We are working towards a healthy partnership. YES. I hock. I hock because I am worth it. YOU HOCK BECAUSE YOU ARE WORTH IT. When you feel you aren’t, remind yourself “Hey, that is my brain on thyroid, not me. Somewhere locked inside, I am in here and I am worth EVERYTHING. I am worth fighting for. I will never give up.”

—

Written by Farren, Goodnight, My Sweet Thyroid, a Dear Thyroid ™ letter was short, prolific and endearing. Please catch it – How can we not relate to what she wrote about?!

Excerpt: “So here’s the deal; If you promise not to grow that little nodule any bigger, I promise to fix the rest of my hormonal mess (are you listening to this my lovely adrenals??!!) and live as healthy a lifestyle as I can, so that the little pill I take every day will do its job.”

Comment of the day….

Christine S says:

Farren:

It is a shock, isn’t it? We think, are often told, “you’ll be great when this is gone”… spiral into hell, at least for me, and it would seem for you, was more like it. I was not prepared for the worst… and how it got to be more than that.

BUT, things begin to change, with PROPER care, tests and medication. When we are being heard, not just by the numbers on our bloodwork, but my our voices or how we look — our body almost screams out LOOK AT ME! Doctors, pay close attention here, cause a pissed off hypo gal ain’t all that fun to begin with, one you’ve cut open, diagnosed with cancer, and sent further into HYPO hell well we can simply be a BITCH to deal with… so get it right huh? Then we’ll all get along just fine.

Keep on taking good care of you… and do know, that with the RIGHT care and the magic in the RIGHT medication, it can begin to turn around…

Chronic Snarkopoloist: Look for Unicorns: What Do Doctors REALLY Want? Melissa ripped the rug out from underneath us and, in true snark form, conveyed a SERIOUS MESSAGE about doctor patient relationships and being FORTHCOMING WITH DOCTORS, and how damaging untruths can be. Please, please, please, read her post.

Excerpt: “Meanwhile – I’m frustrated. I’m done, I’m over the disconnect between doctors and patients who aren’t communicating and all this healthcare fuckkery. I’ve read article after article where doctors and surgeons think that GREAT COMMUNICATION happened while the patient thought it was the worst conversation of their lives. What is happening? Why is this happening?”

Comment of the day…

Lolly says:

Great interview Melissa and thanks to your lovely Doctor Ryan I am in love already send him over. He won’t get any lies from me.

I believe in being honest with your doctor no matter what you have done for example… changed, stopped, not taken medication. Very important they have the full picture because how can you be treated properly if you omit the truth or lie to your doctor.

Hope you move went smoothly and you are settling into your new abode sorry to hear about your dad too, healing vibes coming your way, it can’t be easy all round.

Thanks for taking your time which must have been really busy to interview Dr Duncan.

Lolly

Love,
Me

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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