I am Hashimotos Disease ~ A letter for patients, family and friends February 2, 2012 at 7:03pm This got a huge response from TS members, so I decided to make it a Note ~ I thought it would be helpful to have it available for patients, but also for family and friends to read to understand the gravity of how this illness can and does, impact the lives of Hashimotos/hypothyroid patients. Wellness is possible and IS the goal! It often takes a lot of time, a lot of patience and a good Dr. (who you may have to do some searching for) to guide you. So please dont feel defeated by this, make it empower you to learn everything you can about this disease, find the right doctor, ASK family and friends for help, and fight for your health! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Hi. My name is Hashimotos. Im an invisible autoimmune disease that attacks your thyroid gland causing you to become hypothyroid. I am now velcroed to you for life. If you have hypothyroidism, you probably have me. I am the number one cause of it in the U.S. and many other places around the world. Im so sneaky--I dont always show up in your blood work. Others around you cant see me or hear me, but YOUR body feels me. I can attack you anywhere and any way I please. I can cause severe pain or, if Im in a good mood, I can just cause you to ache all over. Remember when you and energy ran around together and had fun? I took energy from you, and gave you exhaustion. Try to have fun now. I can take good sleep from you and in its place, give you brain fog and lack of concentration. I can make you want to sleep 24/7, and I can also cause insomnia. I can make you tremble internally or make you feel cold or hot when everyone else feels normal. I can also give you swollen hands and feet, swollen face and eyelids, swollen everything. I can make you feel very anxious with panic attacks or very depressed. I can also cause other mental health problems. You know crazy mood swings? Thats me. Crying for no reason? Angry for no reason? Thats probably me too. I can make your hair fall out, become dry and brittle, cause acne, cause dry skin, the sky is the limit with me. I can make you gain weight and no matter what you eat or how much you exercise, I can keep that weight on you. I can also make you lose weight. I dont discriminate. Some of my other autoimmune disease friends often join me, giving you even more to deal with. If you have something planned, or are looking forward to a great day, I can take that away from you. You didnt ask for me. I chose you for various reasons: That virus or viruses you had that you never really recovered from, or that car accident, or maybe it was the years of abuse and trauma (I thrive on stress.) You may have a family history of me. Whatever the cause, Im here to stay. I hear youre going to see a doctor to try and get rid of me. That makes me laugh. Just try. You will have to go to many, many doctors until you find one who can help you effectively. You will be put on the wrong medication for you, pain pills, sleeping pills, energy pills, told you are suffering from anxiety or depression, given anti-anxiety pills and antidepressants. There are so many other ways I can make you sick and miserable, the list is endless - that high cholesterol, gall bladder issue, blood pressure issue, blood sugar issue, heart issue among others? Thats probably me. Cant get pregnant, or have had a miscarriage? Thats probably me too. Shortness of breath or air hunger? Yep, probably me. Liver enzymes elevated? Yep, probably me. Teeth and gum problems? TMJ? Hives? Yep, probably me. I told you the list was endless. You may be given a TENs unit, get massaged, told if you just sleep and exercise properly I will go away. Youll be told to think positively, youll be poked, prodded, and MOST OF ALL, not taken seriously when you try to explain to the endless number of doctors youve seen, just how debilitating I am and how ill and exhausted you really feel. In all probability you will get a referral from these understanding (clueless) doctors, to see a psychiatrist. Your family, friends and co-workers will all listen to you until they just get tired of hearing about how I make you feel, and just how debilitating I can be. Some of them will say things like Oh, you are just having a bad day or Well, remember, you cant do the things you use to do 20 YEARS ago, not hearing that you said 20 DAYS ago. Theyll also say things like, if you just get up and move, get outside and do things, youll feel better. They wont understand that I take away the gas that powers your body and mind to ENABLE you to do those things. Some will start talking behind your back, theyll call you a hypochondriac, while you slowly feel that you are losing your dignity trying to make them understand, especially if you are in the middle of a conversation with a normal person, and cant remember what you were going to say next. Youll be told things like, Oh, my grandmother had that, and shes fine on her medication when you desperately want to explain that I dont impose myself upon everyone in the exact same way, and just because that grandmother is fine on the medication SHES taking, doesnt mean it will work for you. They will not understand that having this disease impacts your body from the top of your head to the tip of your toes, and that every cell and every body system and organ requires the proper amount and the right kind of of thyroid hormone medication for YOU. Not what works for someone else. The only place you will get the kind of support and understanding in dealing with me is with other people that have me. They are really the only ones who can truly understand. I am Hashimotos Disease.
Posted on: Sat, 26 Oct 2013 07:01:16 +0000
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