I meet the most interesting people! Today I was at the library, waiting for a student. A woman walked by and asked if I minded if she put her pile of books down for a second so she could search for another. I smiled and told her it was fine and then I saw all the titles. All of them were books about thyroid disease and Hashimoto’s.
When she came back she told me she had been diagnosed about eight months ago. The story went so similar to my own…. the doctor told her she had the most manageable disease ever, that all she needed to do was sooooo simple! Jus take a little pill every day for the rest of her life and go ahead and live normally. Live normally?? I almost laughed.
Her problem was that her life was not back to normal and she was trying to do research. I sympathetically responded how well I could understand. We talked for a few minutes. I briefly told her my story and I gave her Dr. Jack’s website information. I don’t know why I don’t just ask him for his business cards, right??
She talked for a few more minutes and I thought a lot about her today, and I felt badly about her frustration. You see, I know …. I know it’s only a matter of time. Her symptoms are worsening and every time she visits the doctor there are more… yeah I know that story….all those truths they told her are lies. Her doctor told her the synthroid would make it all better. That it is easy! All her symptoms will go away. But they won’t.
She will go back lots and lots of times. Her symptoms will seem better but only for a short time, then they will pump her up with more meds. But that will only be short lived too. Pretty soon there will be new symptoms that make her wish she only had the old ones. None will come off the list, the list is like a virus, it just grows.
She wants to feel normal. Hashimoto’s is a disease that robs you of “normal.” Nothing is normal ever again. Not unless you are willing to try something totally out of the box. Change what you eat. I told her that magic secret but she told me that her doctor said it has nothing to do with food, it’s just an autoimmune response.
Yeah, well, that means it is responding to something!! She told me it is just easier to take the little pill and eat how you like, she was just researching how to live better with the disease…. sighhhhhhhhhhhhhh
I used to think like that, when I didn’t know there were options, until I became the poster girl for the list of symptoms. Then you reach a place where you are so desperate that you would do anything for some small amount of relief. Back when I started with Dr. Jack, I hoped if I was really lucky, to lose a few symptoms. I have lost them all!
Do they ever come back? Occasionally, when I am not being as careful as I should. But lucky for me, I know I just need to tighten up the game plan and things improve quickly. For me, times of stress produce symptoms.
I hope she figures out the truth…. I read all of those books she had, none of them helped. The ones I bought, I happily gave to Dr. Jack for his reading amusement.
The truth about Hashimoto’s is that you CAN live a symptom free life….but only if you want to.