Our Dear Thyroid Community grows stronger every day. Much like a family; we laugh, cry, debate, express our anger and much more. That, among other things, brings us closer and demonstrates our ability to connect with each other, and share our stories via letters, comments, rants and photos. The struggles we deal with day in and day out, including the impact our respective disorders has on our families, is what bonds us.

We have decided to launch “Comment of the Day”. Every comment is an expression of what each of our thyamily goes through and is important. We learn from each other’s comments and stories. We feel supported in our darkest moments and we laugh our asses off knowing that we aren’t alone. Someone out there in the ether, er, thyether reads between the lines and feels us deeply. That said, in the spirit of community, we are choosing one comment a day to post as an individual blog post.

Today’s comment was written by Sarah Broers regarding today’s letter “An Infinite Number of Monkeys Typing At an Infinite Number of Typewriters Might Not Produce Shakespeare, But They’ll Still Be Ahead of the Insurance Companies and Pharmacies“.

The discussion about Sharen’s letter dealt with issues thyroid patients face daily with respect to pharmacies, prescriptions and insurance companies. In fact, in many ways, this conversation was a continuation of Wednesday’s column “Going For The Throat: Confessions of a Health Insurance Neophyte“, written by our EIC/Health Care, Robyn Davis Hahn.

Sarah, thank you for your comment and thank you, Dear Thyroid community for bringing our community closer together, and for allowing us to learn more about you and about ourselves.

Sara Broers says:

March 11, 2010 at 1:32 pm

Our insurance companies should NOT determine what types of medications we receive. This should be between us (the patient) and our physicians. I just don’t get it! Keep fighting~thanks for standing up for yourself and the rest of us!

Comment Of The Day March 11, 2010 is a post from: Dear Thyroid™

(Written by Sharen, Thyroid Patient)

Dear Thyroid,

Happy New Year. You and I have finally WON! Well, let’s say we’ve won the first step, and that is finally getting the insurance company to open their eyes. Not sure if it was my patient call, or the medical bills or the doctor’s office finally calling to let them know that the generics are not accepted in my body. Anyway, I received a call today to let me know that they are letting me take the correct medication for one year.

Dear Thyroid,

Well, two days have passed so I called the pharmacy, and—yep!—they are saying that the insurance company will not process the medication. So I called the insurance company back, and they are stating that the pharmacy did not call them. So, they will call the pharmacy back, then me.

Dear Thyroid,

Another day has passed and so far not a call from anyone. The pharmacy states that the insurance company didn’t call, so I will call the insurance company. Called the insurance company and the lady suggested that I stay on line while she talks with the pharmacy. She called them, then she talked with me, stating that the pharmacy was lying and that the medication will go through at a certain dosage only per pill.

Dear Thyroid,

Well, another day has gone by and I am still fighting with the pharmacy and now the doctor’s office. How hard is it to understand that the pill can only be 25, not 50! Finally, after 4 HOURS, I’m able to pick up the right dosage and the insurance company is paying.

Dear Thyroid!

Oh Good Grief! I stopped at the pharmacy and they have not even started to work on the prescription. Then they state they do not have the full amount, that I will have to come back sometime next week. They also stated that none of this was their fault.

Dear Thyroid,

I am back on the right medication, and I am feeling better. The thyfog is less and the thyblindness has eased as well. The thought of seeing the doctor in March is not high on my list. I have kept record of all the running around that has been done due to her people and herself and I feel she needs to know that this is not the way people should be taken care of.

But I won, ONE battle, and maybe because of this victory, others will be able to fight and win as well.

So, OK Thyroid! Wakee….Wakeee….

Sharen

–

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An Infinite Number of Monkeys Typing At an Infinite Number of Typewriters Might Not Produce Shakespeare, But They’ll Still Be Ahead of the Insurance Companies and Pharmacies is a post from: Dear Thyroid™

Thank you in advance for your incredible patience, we appreciate it, and YOU.

We have over 2,000 bands to send out, as mentioned, which we are sending in 500 increments per week. To be sure everyone gets their bracelets, kindly give us until April. If you haven’t received your bracelet by mid April, please contact Katie and let her know.

As of February 1st, we began accepting SASE’s (Self Addressed Stamped Envelopes), for bracelets, which are still 100% free. We encourage you to continue sending in your SASE’s. We are receiving them and sending awareness bands.

Please send your SASE’s to:

Law Offices of Link K. Schwartz

Attn: Katie Schwartz

1925 Century Park East, Suite 2300

Los Angeles, CA 90067

VERY IMPORTANT: If you are receiving mail in the United States, be sure that your SASE’S have 2/61 cent stamps

If you’ve received your bracelet, please let us know! In fact, if you’d like to send a pic, too, well that would be just dandy.

Thank you for spreading awareness! Keep those SASE’s coming.

Love,

Dear Thyroid

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Thyroid Awareness Bands Update III is a post from: Dear Thyroid™

I’ve had health insurance of one kind or another my whole life.  I’m fortunate for that, and I know it.  But it wasn’t until my diagnosis with Hashimoto’s disease last June that I actually paid attention to my health plan.  The good news is that not only am I paying attention now, but that it appears that my family’s latest health plan is a good one (I think…).

It’s not that I’ve never used coverage before–I am no stranger to doctors and hospitals.  But in the past, my care largely fell into two categories: routine yearly health check-ups, and catastrophic/accident care.  Yearly routine care was pretty much my annual gynecologist appointment, which usually went without incident.  But, being an active individual who has been involved in relatively high risk activities for most of my life, I’ve had my share of, ahem, unforeseen health issues.  There was the tibia fracture in 1993 slam dancing in the mosh pit at a Stuck Mojo concert.  And then the freak-accident fall with my horse while just walking back to the barn (after successfully schooling some hairy cross country elements) that resulted in a concussion in 2002.  The lacerated thumb ligament from a horse kick aimed at my face in 2004 occurred almost a year to the day after a young horse actually did land a kick right between my eyebrows–although both those incidents were covered by Worker’s Compensation.  I wish I could say this was the extent of it, but, unfortunately whether due to known, calculable risks, or plain and simple bad luck and balance (hello, fractured metacarpal 5 from falling off my Dansko clog), I have had plenty of cause to actually USE my health insurance benefits more than I would have liked.

The Hashimoto’s deal is different, of course, and something to which I know you can all relate.  I’ve now entered the realm of chronic disease.  For most of us, once we have a diagnosis with an auto-immune disease, endure a thyroidectomy for cancer, or take that radioactive pill, we gain admission to a world where we, and our current and future insurance companies, know that we are gonna rack up some medical bills for the rest of our (hopefully long) lives.

While I was working at getting my diagnosis (which, like many here, took some time), I was too concerned with my health to research my health insurance.  My husband (who actually has the policy) didn’t really know anything about it either.  Up to this point in our lives, our health insurance knowledge consisted of “fill out these forms” with an HR person, which resulted in some sort of card to stick in our wallets.  Over the years, through various employers, we’ve had Cigna, Tri-Care, Great West, and now a Blue Cross/Blue Shield (BCBS) plan–and to be honest I have not noticed any difference.  When your employer has a deal with an insurance company, your options are take it or leave it–while individual health plans (ie, not employer-sponsored plans) may offer you more choice, it usually comes at significant cost.

So, empowered with the determination to really understand and get the most out of my health plan, I started with the most basic step–I visited their website.  As predicted, this was not going to be easy.  The website is huge–deeply layered with all kinds of information, of which I have barely scratched the surface.  Once logged in, I could easily access my claim history information.  In the last 10 months, my doctor visits and testing have cost just over $10,000, of which BCBS paid an “allowed benefit” (the agreed amount for an in-network provider) of just under $5,000.  For this coverage, my co-pay was $200.00.  OK, whatever.  I want the REAL GOODS.  What have you done for me lately?

Again, it’s not an easy website to navigate, but so far I have found some areas that I will be checking into deeper (and reporting back anything of note):

• They have a section with online tools and services, such as finding new doctors, estimated costs, and different forms and contact numbers.  Eh, mildly interesting.
• OOOHHH! A section of discount options for “alternative therapies” and fitness centers.  A quick look reveals that with my insurance card I can get a 20% discount on acupuncture, pilates, somatoemotional release (I don’t even know what that means), nutritional counseling and dozens of other programs.  Wow, who knew?  Not me!
• Another section has an exhaustive “Wellness” area.  On a brief tour it is less than impressive: weight management has food diaries, exercise logs, fast food restaurant nutrition data (as if?), healthy weight calculators, etc.  The nutrition portion is just as bad.  Looking at the children’s nutrition section, one of the many articles has 5 fresh lunch ideas for kids.  One of these is called a “Bacon Cruncher”.  Your honor, I rest my case.

Admittedly, I have not delved too deeply into the website’s resources.  I would assume, however, that I am not the only person who does not have hours to waste spare, either.  Regardless, I would give the additional “wellness” resources a C⁺.  The information is hard to find, not necessarily helpful, and in some cases, not necessarily correct.  But, it is there–a health insurance company’s attempt to prevent disease through healthy living?  Call me a skeptic, but for now I think it may just be lip service.

Check it out yourself, let me know what you think:  www.carefirst.com.

Find out more about Robyn.

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Going For The Throat: Confessions of a Health Insurance Neophyte is a post from: Dear Thyroid™

Written by Joanna Isbill: Editor, Life Redefined (Thyroid Cancer in Young Adults Columnist)

It was Wednesday, October 8, 2008. Just a few days after my 24^th birthday. I woke up with an ache in my neck. I reached up and felt a large knot on my thyroid. Something inside me told me it was cancer.

The next day, I saw my primary care physician. He ordered blood work, sent me to have an ultrasound, and referred me to an endocrinologist. The ultrasound showed three nodules on my thyroid—one on the left and two on the right. The blood work indicated Hashimoto’s thyroiditis. I met with the endocrinologist. He told me that the chance of this being cancer was very small. However, he still recommended I have a biopsy to confirm what the blood work suggested. Another endocrinologist in the practice performed the biopsy. It was less than pleasant. Afterward, I heard him talking to my endocrinologist about the appearance of the nodules. They were talking in hushed tones about calcifications. I later learned that calcifications are commonly seen when cancer is present.

On October 21 I got a phone call from a medical assistant at my endocrinologist’s office. She told me I needed to come in the next day to get the results of my biopsy. Who calls and asks you to come in to tell you everything is benign and you’re in better health than ever?  After this phone call I broke down and cried for a long time. Even though I had known in my gut all along I had cancer, that phone call still hit like a brick. I will never forget the emotions that coursed through me that day.

The next day, my endocrinologist confirmed what I already knew. The biopsy indicated papillary thyroid cancer. I had a total thyroidectomy and central node dissection on November 5, 2008 followed by RAI a few weeks later.

I’ve been through several different frames of mind since I was diagnosed with cancer (which I’ll discuss in further detail in future installments). Relief. Denial? Fear. Acceptance. The day I was actually diagnosed with cancer I felt relief. I was relieved because, although I knew in my gut I had cancer, the actual diagnosis confirmed my instincts. During the two or so months after my surgery, I think I was in shock. I don’t know if it was denial or not, but I do know that I had not yet absorbed the fact that cancer was no longer something that happens to other people, but something that happened to me. Once I absorbed this, the fear set in. The fear that cancer brings is crippling. It is absolutely all-consuming. After I got over the fear, and I did eventually work past it, I was left with acceptance. I accept that I have cancer, and I accept that it’s something that has changed my life.

Throughout the weeks and months after getting my biopsy results I was bombarded with emails and cards full of encouraging messages. Many of my friends who sent these messages told me they hoped I could soon put this all behind me. If only. Cancer is not something that I can put behind me. I carry it with me every single day. It has changed every single part of my life. As much as I fought the change, it happened. I am a different person. And so it will never be “over.”

Cancer left my life in pieces. But when I tried to put them back together, I realized they no longer fit the same way they once had. It’s a work in progress, but I am trying to figure out where everything goes, redefining my life.

I’m looking forward to walking this road with you, because it’s not a road that should be walked alone.

xoxo,

Joanna

joanna@dearthyroid.org

Read Joanna’s Bio.

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Life Redefined My Cancer Story is a post from: Dear Thyroid™

(Written by Louise Sopher, Hashimoto’s Patient)

Dear Thyroid,

Prior to the last few months I was constantly occupied with either irritating, hilariously irritating (and stupid), then finally, brilliant eventful occasions. I thought it was about time that we both addressed the way in which you made me turn, point and laugh at myself time after time after hilariously stupid time. Oddly I cannot remember each and every stupid and clumsy thing which you made me do not long ago and somewhere between the summer months and the end of hilariously stupid year. Still, let us try, and laugh at what I do remember:

Stupid thing number one: I lost my brand new—literally days old—Prescription Charge Exempt card (which I do actually thank you for as it is a kind gift). Well, let’s not say lost: it fell out of my wallet as I got either in or out of my car just down the road.

Now I believe that this surely must’ve been a hint by you, Thyroid, of how unappreciated you were of having more pills thrown on your head, although you cannot be angry about that considering that they are supposed to help you. And even if it wasn’t, it certainly was some kind of a reaction by you, considering that any other card could’ve dropped out at that moment – any other card. And there were quite a few.

Now, for a minute, let’s cross stupidity with luck: arriving home I was greeted with that unwelcoming “something’s missing” feeling (as if one card less made my wallet lighter!) and, after several checks of pockets and the car floor, arrived upon the conclusion: “I’ve lost a card!” Hoping to go out for a walk anyway, I decided to switch my usual walk for the minimum hour-long walk down the road, whereupon I found myself standing on the pavement aside the spot where I had that morning parked my car. And there it was: the card I’d lost, still sitting, totally unseen by anyone, waiting for me to rescue it from the streets. Cheers.

I had thought I was lucky. I had thought I was brilliantly clever. But that was just the start of it, because, lo and behold – Stupid thing number two: I sent my paychecks back to the people who sent them to me!

Now that really was stupid. And I’m talking unbelievably stupid. Thyroid, you must of been impressed with your clever act, you evil little bugger. You left me to clear that one up on my own. We victims of bullying thyroids must always work hard to clear up their mess. It’s like a kitchen full of boys: they leave a trail of their stomach-insides.

And it didn’t stop there.

Whilst enjoying walking in my absolute favourite field I would keep dropping my water bottle. One minute it would be in my hand, the next it was on the floor and I was shaking my head, dismayed at myself. It was like my hand had forgotten that it was holding something. I mean, what hand forgets why it’s open, tight around a water-bottle? Clumsy or what!

Thyroid, you turned me into a walking, perfectly sober, drunk. I kept spilling water. On the examinations results day I first dropped papers and then flipped my phone several times over before finally dropping it, receiving the comment of “smooth” from a well-observing friend. Working at a summer camp I joined in with a sports game and couldn’t catch a single ball. What a prat! No one trusted me to be on their team again!

Thyroid, thyroid, thyroid, part of me wants to swear that if you dare fall asleep again I will make sure that nothing changes unless it’s for the good. Nothing. And part of me, if you do that again, wants to scream and shout internally at you – wanna see me when I’m angry? Oh, no, I don’t either!

Yes, thyroid, I know it wasn’t your fault and all that rubbish – it was our immune system gone ruthless; it was your lack of being able to protect yourself…but you know you have to fight sometimes, thyroid? You have to fight.

Look at me, a matter of months ago: I could barely string a sentence together…very little time ago, every now and again, and at the moment, very rarely (please, please don’t let me talk too soon!) I am stalling over my words and going “what was I saying?“. Usually though, when this is happening at the moment it’s because I am thinking so many things at once; because part of me is working faster than my body can keep up with; however when you, Thyroid, are snoozing away, everything works at a snail’s pace – everything works so slow, in fact, that sentences just don’t quite work so well. What’s that saying – that things never sound as good as they did in your head, do they? Now tell me why people choose to drink when they end up like this?

Now, almost certain that the stupidity and clumsiness was now surely over but still having to tidy up the mistakes of my previous acts (receiving a phone call that a letter I’d sent had been received without a most important document) I was half-excited at a new day and half-angry at myself, and I tried to jump over something (as I quite frequently did) and ended up falling over, dislocating my shoulder. That, I hope, was the end of that.

And good riddance too!

Hoping that you will learn a lesson from your outrageous stupidity,

Your finally perfectly un-drunk outer-casing,

Louise

(Bio): Aged 18, I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism and I think Hashi’s about a year and a half ago. In May 2009 I saw that the first ever International Thyroid Awareness Week, brilliant though it was, was barely publicised anywhere except on thyroid-related sites. I created my blog: Small But Mighty: A Thyroid Life with the hope of kicking up some of that awareness for the ‘Thyroid Oblivious’ bunch, as well as offering tips to people who have thyroid disease. On my blog on Everyday Health – Life With A Headless Metabolism I’ve been writing about Changes and how they spin around, this way and that way, crafty little buggers, wonderful and horrible, all at once.

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The Sober Drunkard is a post from: Dear Thyroid™

There are only 40 days left before the Relay for Life!  Can you believe it?  We are still the number one team with a $1,000 lead over second place!  Our team is furiously working away to get ready for the big day.

First, I want to say how great it is to watch the Oscars and see commercials to raise awareness for cervical cancer.  It is so important to raise awareness for all cancers – not just the pink one.

Second, a major thanks and virtual standing ovation go out to Angel McMellin for all of her hard work on our bake sale.  Not only did she bake enough to feed the entire hospital, but she ran our event at the Johns Hopkins Outpatient Center and raised $320 for our team!   And thank you again to our supporter, Kim Thompson, who donated her own baked goods to help us in our fundraising efforts.

Saturday’s team meeting was a fun lunch event and we covered a LOT of information.  Thank you to All American Coin & Jewelry Company (www.aacoinco.com) for sponsoring our lunch.  Those crab cakes definitely got the creative ideas flowing!

If Bitching Was a Cure for Cancer, I'd be in Remission

Important Information For Team Members…

In order to get an official Relay for Life participant shirt, you MUST raise $100 by March 10, 2010!

Again, if you haven’t all ready, I encourage our team members to log in to their participant centers on the ACS website and start updating their personal pages for donations.   There is also an application on facebook that will help you with meeting your $100 personal goals.  Both of these tools will provide donators with official receipts from the American Cancer Society.

Please check your email for an important update on team and individual fundraising incentives provided by the American Cancer Society.

Online Fundraiser Update…

Our online fundraiser is going strong thanks to our wonderful ladies at Dear Thyroid.  We are encouraging the Dear Thyroid community to form fundraising teams to help us in our goal for the American Cancer Society.  The first team to raise $3,000 wins TEN free “Invisible No More” bracelets; the first team to raise $1,500.00 wins FIVE free bracelets; the first team to raise $750.00 wins THREE free bracelets; and the first team to raise $500.00 wins TWO free bracelets.  For more information, contact me or visit us at http://main.acsevents.org/goto/wings2010.  The contest ends March 16^th!

As always, thanks to our supportors and our team members for their tireless fundraising efforts.

Until next week,

Wings of Hope

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Wings Of Hope Week 14 Update… Only 40 Days Until The Race is a post from: Dear Thyroid™

(Written by Elaine, Graves’ disease patient)

Dear Mr. Graves,

Why I give you that endearment is beyond me. I guess it’s a force of habit when writing letters to use “Dear”. You are anything but dear to me. I guess you know that by now. I’m not in a good mood today, so I thought I’d take it out on you. As the saying goes, “What goes around comes around.” You’ve given me such a hard time over the years. You have actually made my life miserable. So now my mind is working a bit better and I can now think halfway straight again. I thought I’d give you a piece of my mind. A very small piece, as you have managed to mess with a good part of my mind already.

I’m still trying to get all my mind back. I still have bad days. “Brain Fog’” some call it. Sometimes I can’t remember how to spell a simple word. Sometimes I even forget what I’m writing about in the middle of the sentence. I just sit, looking at what I just wrote with no comprehension of what I was saying. Do you know or even care how much I’ve missed out on because of you? I have had to give up certain functions in my life because I had such a hard time remembering things. I feel like I lost so much of my memory of people and past events, and yet somehow I still miss them.

I’ve even started writing down names of old school friends, places I have been, and things I have done just to jog my memory. I cry when I can’t remember a relative’s name or something as simple as how to spell a word. This has been so frustrating. It’s downright painful at times. I wish I could make you hurt the way I do. I just want to be able to write and not misspell a simple word without having to use a dictionary for everything. You’ve taken away my self confidence. I WANT IT BACK. All of it. You had no right to take my memories. The more I write, the more pissed off at you I get. My grandchildren have to remind me of things. If not for them I’d be really lost. I’ve had to ask my 10-year old grandson how to spell a word, remind me of what I’m doing, remind me where I’m going.

Thankfully I have patient people around me. But, what about the people with nobody to remind them or who have no patience with them? Nobody should feel this lost and upset. Nobody should be embarrassed by their forgetfulness. This isn’t just old age, it is YOU. Someone else who does not have a “Mr. Graves” may not understand what I am talking about. But, there are thousands who do. Who feel the pain of losing a part of ourselves. What have you done to us ?

I forgot my name….but you know who I am

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A Thief In The Fog is a post from: Dear Thyroid™

Marco Thylo is a thyroid humor column based on the searches Dear Thyroid came up on for the previous month, written by Joanna Isbill and Katie Schwartz. We do fly in some news at the bottom of each post when we have news. So, there’s that.

Joanna Isbill

1. Jokes about the thyroid: We LOVE jokes about the thyroid. You tell. We laugh.

1. 2010 hypothryoid: 2010, the year of the jacked butterfly gland.  It’s only March and we’ve already forgotten all our New Year’s Resolutions. Thank you, thymentia.

1. Any positive outcomes of having your thyroid out?: Is that supposed to be a joke about the thyroid?

1. Bladder torture:  The new torture method of choice. Waterboarding is a thing of the past.

1. Blogspot.com thyroid men:  Male bloggers who dress up like butterflies?  Sweet.  What better way to create awareness for thyroid diseases and cancers?

Katie Schwartz

1. Erotic Signs#II=20: Is that code for creating erotic thyroid porn. Let’s think of thylicious porn titles, shall we? “Pulp Sex Drive-less”, “Swollen Hal”, “On Hairless Pond”. Care to add yours, too?

1. “Whoopi Goldberg”, sneeze, pee, doctor: I haven’t spoken with Whoopi’s people, but if she’s looking for a sneeze and pee doctor, I doubt she’d be posting about it. Oops, I was wrong. Whoopi is speaking out about bladder control issues. BRAVO, GIRL! Can I get a, whoop-whoop?! Bladder control is an issue for millions of women and men. The fact that she’s willing to discuss it; well that’s just fabulous, and gives us the courage to speak up and out about our respective diseases.

1. Blood Backordered for Thyroid: Question… Forgive me, I’m confused. How do you back order blood? “Hey, can I get blood from Jack Brimmer from 20-years ago? I’d like to check his thyroid results? Can you spare a vial?”

1. Broadcast your Ass: Unfortunately, many of us are forced to do so, thanks to thyroid disease. We will continue broadcasting our bold and beautiful asses!

Thylicious News!

Denver Coffee Break Co-Thyvent from 10AM to 4PM in Morse Park. Please click for details. This is an offline meet up co-hosted by Coffee Break and Dear Thyroid, and a wonderful opportunity to connect with other thyroid patients.

Please continue adding your locations to the Dear Thyroid Forums for Local Meet-ups. We have someone joining us who will be coordinating local meet-ups and bringing patients together for offline support. Your patience is greatly appreciated. We are making this happen. And, and, and, you can check out what other patients have said about their meet ups.

Have you submitted your photo for the Dear Thyroid Flickr Pool this month “Reinventing Ourselves“? If not, please do. We’d love your visual story and to know what reinventing yourself means to you.

If you missed Liz’s column today, please check it out. Liz discusses how HTKYA came to be, and the science behind nutrition. Additionally, she discusses myths and misconceptions surrounding how nutrition is perceived by Western medicine. She makes outstanding points and its well worth the read.

Mary Shomon is considering a 3-day thyroid seminar in Tampa with one-on-one thyroid coaching sessions. If you’re interested, please connect with her; this is a terrific thyopportunity!

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Marco Thylo February Searches: Back Ordered Blood For Reals is a post from: Dear Thyroid™

For those who haven’t been following this column and my health journey from the beginning, I’d like to ask you to head on over to The Nourished Life blog and read a piece I wrote for the site this week.  But before you do that, let me give you a little background.

I based this column, How To Kick Your Thyroid’s Ass, on a Dear Thyroid letter I wrote, in which I mentioned I was working on kicking my thyroid’s ass, meaning, it wouldn’t get the best of me and I would find some way to get it working better.  That one line prompted this entire column, whose focus is on natural lifestyle choices, and food and the many ways it can help or hurt the body.

In short, food is science too, and I think that often gets overlooked.  Dietary choices aren’t only a means to lose weight or a caloric equation, they are scientific reactions within the body that can prevent, or contribute to disease.  And it’s funny to me that dietary solutions to symptoms and illness get marked as “alternative” because, since when is science an “alternative” approach?  In my opinion, dietary solutions aren’t in the financial interest of a doctor or pharmaceutical company, which is why they have been branded as “fringe”, “alternative”, “unsafe”, and “ineffective”.  The reality is, however, some doctors and researchers dedicate their entire lives to the discipline of food science.  Take the Rudd Center at Yale for example.  These people spend their waking lives studying food, it’s scientific components, and the effect of those on the body.  So how does this get lost in the doctor’s office?

You can hate me (in the comments section, wink wink), but I believe that our current medication-only approach in much of Western medicine (for the chronically-ill) is inevitably flawed because it does not address root problems of sickness.  Addressing root problems are considered alternative and controversial, and actually support financial interests that have nothing to do with the patient.  Patients who are on medication for years and never truly feel good or normal (even with balanced numbers) know this all too well.  My post for The Nourished Life blog goes in to this.

If we start looking at food as scientific reactions within the body, we can start relying on it more for better wellness and be less scared of its “alertnative-ness”.  Goitrogens, food allergies, inflammation, hormones, genetically-modified foods, vili damage, iodine deficiency or overload, enzymes, antinutrients, bacteria, lectins, amino acids, fatty acids, chemicals in industrial food, food contamination (mercury in fish, ammonia in beef, aflatoxins on nuts and seeds), irradiation, and the list goes on — all science.

My story of food and health and my Hashimoto’s in un-medicated remission started with food science.  Over the months, I’ve recommended a ton of great books, the ones I used in my journey, in hopes you’ll also benefit from it.  Another book I’d like to suggest today is “Win The War Within” by Floyd Chilton, Ph.D.  This book explores the epidemic of inflammation in our country, and how so many diseases are actually related, though they may not seem like it, via inflammation: diabetes, asthma, lupus, eczema, inflammatory bowel disease, allergies, cancer, obesity, arthritis, dementia, atherosclerosis, psoriasis, and so many others.  Because autoimmune diseases, by nature, are inflammatory diseases, I’d suggest this book to anyone with autoimmune thyroid disease, or any inflammatory condition.  Along with extensive science and research, Chilton also provides a food plan that has been proven to reduce inflammation and inflammatory disease.  Let’s use this science to our advantage.

Until Next Week

Love Always,

Liz

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How To Kick Your Thyroid’s Ass: Food Is Science Too!, OR, A Little HTKYTA Background is a post from: Dear Thyroid™