It has just occurred to me that it has been a long while since I posted anything about my thyroid or lack there of. In part, the reason for this was that I had bigger fish to fry lately. Does this mean that my thyroid issues are no longer causing problems? Well, yes and no. My thyroid was removed October of 2004. Thinking back on that time, I was absolutely terrified. Case in point, I recently found a message I posted to the Cancer Survivors Network via the American Cancer Society, which you may read
here. I received some very good comments that helped put my mind at ease.
At that time, I had no idea how much of a difficult road it would be post-thyroidectomy. Unfortunately, I had little choice in the matter because my thyroid had been destroyed by radiation treatment for lymphoma many years prior. I didn’t lose my voice after the surgery and I was beyond ecstatic that the surgery went well and there were no complications until a bit later when they came in droves. Rather than reiterate all of the details, you may wish to read the article I posted
here on Ulitzer. I suffered with all and several more of the listed symptoms except of course for the myxedema coma. If I had developed this issue I would likely not be on the planet any longer. The point is that I despite being a nurse for many years I had absolutely NO idea just how important this little gland is for every cell in the body. Also explained in the article is desiccated thyroid that turned out to be the answer to my ever-growing list of symptoms.
Almost 2 years ago to the day, I was invited to post a “Thyroidectomized Letter of Sadness” on the wonderful site “dearthyroid.org” which you will find
here. It was a silly sort of letter but funny enough, that is how I felt and still feel. Regardless of medication, I miss my thyroid more than I could ever express. There are some great posts on the dearthyroid.org site that you really should read if you are having any type of thyroid problem. Laughter is and always will be the best medicine, well that and the proper thyroid medication of course…
Most importantly, I spent hours upon hours looking for thyroid information. I think I earned a PhD in thyroid from Mary Shomon. She is an exceptional patient advocate who also suffers with thyroid disease and has worked tirelessly to educate people. She has done amazing things for the thyroid community and her site is a great place to start. You will find pages and pages of excellent information at
http://thyroid.about.com.
I suppose that I have come a long way since that early post of 2004 on the Survivors Network. However, I recently had a brief chat with Ms Shomon about the effects that menopause can have on the individual with thyroid problems. As it turns out, it plays a big role, which certainly explains why I have recently been experiencing symptoms I have not had for several years. (Yes, I am unfortunately that old now.) Mary has also written a book (among many others) on this specific topic, which I plan to purchase this week. To get me started however, I have been searching through her site about the impact of menopause on the thyroid. If you are at that “lovely age” approaching menopause, start here for more information from Mary.
http://www.menopausethyroid.com.
So, this is basically my update regarding thyroid, because after all, my blog did start out as “Journey through Thyroidlessness.” I sincerely hope that some of this information and links will help my fellow thyroid disease sufferers.
Take care and stay well,
J
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