My name is Hashimoto’s. I’m 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.
Let’s start a healing conversation. Its very possible to get your health and life back after Hashimoto’s. Do you know someone with Hashimoto’s? Forward this to a friend. Leave a comment below.
I’m So Sneaky
I don’t always show up in your blood work.
Others around you can’t 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 I’m in a good mood, I can just cause you to ache all over.
Try To Have Fun Now
Remember when you and energy ran around together and had fun?
I took energy from you, and gave you exhaustion.
Good sleep? I can take that from you. In its place I’ll 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.
Swollen hands and feet, swollen face and eyelids, swollen everything? Yes, all of that too.
Angry For No Reason?
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? That’s me. Crying for no reason? That’s 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. Or I can also make you lose weight. I don’t 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.
Not Taken Seriously
You’ll be told to think positively, you’ll be poked, prodded, and MOST OF ALL, not taken seriously when you try to explain to the endless number of doctors you’ve 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’ 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.
Losing Your Dignity
They’ll say things like, “if you just get up and move, get outside and do things, you’ll feel better.”
They won’t 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 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 can’t remember what you were going to say next.
The Only Ones Who Truly Understand
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.
I am Hashimoto’s Disease.
A Journey To Healing
Jocelyn has Hashimoto’s Disease. But she is more than the disease.
Its very possible to get your life and health back after a diagnosis of Hashimoto’s. The journey starts with hope. The path forward is prayer.
Friend, the thief comes to steal and kill and destroy, but God sent Jesus so that you could have life, and have it abundantly. (John 10:10)
Seek God’s help by seeking your doctor’s help. Enlist supportive family and friends. Believe Jesus for healing and recovery.
Further reading at:
Married To Hashimoto’s
Top model has Hasimoto’s
Hyp0throidmom.
Let’s start a healing conversation. Treatment, prayer, support make it very possible for sufferers to get their health and life back. Do you know someone with Hashimoto’s? Please leave a comment below. Thank you.
Hope grows here. We share stories that inspire people, build faith, and offer lasting purpose.
We’d love to have you Subscribe to REVwords. We’ll put helpful content into your inbox – like seeds of hope.
This is such a great article and I love the way it was written! I will definitely share this in hopes that my family and friends might understand what I go through! Thankfully I don’t have Hashimoto’s Disease, but I do have Addison’s Disease, which mimics all of the same symptoms! I pray daily and am also in a prayer circle with others.
Thank you for sharing, Sheri. Understanding is the first step to healing.
Sure didn’t expect to see this on your blog Pastor Bob! Thanks for the reminder of where exhaustion and fog may come from. I have had it since I was 16! And as it said I have had several other autoimmune diseases join in. Do you have someone specific that inspired this blog?
Hi Lisa. I see I never replied. Thank you for sharing about your experience. Praying wellness into your life. The blog was inspired by my wife, Jocelyn. She has Hashimoto’s.
Hi PB!
So cleverly written and true!
I was diagnosed with this disease 18 years ago. Seven months postpartum with my first child I was feeling horrible and I knew it wasn’t just the regular feelings of having a newborn. Unfortunately many women dismiss the symptoms of the disease because they are ‘masked’ by the feeling of exhaustion from dealing with a new baby.
I went to my GP and explained my symptoms, she physically checked my thyroid- which was so enlarged. The blood tests to follow confirmed the diagnosis – Hashimoto’s. When I called the endocrinologist’s office to confirm the receipt of results, the doctor happened to pass by the secretary ‘s desk and noticed my results. He told her to have me come to the office the next day. My numbers were so off the chart. It took 5 months before my body was rebalance and I felt somewhat normal again. I am so grateful for an understanding expert doctor who has walked alongside me through two subsequent pregnancies and for all these years. Hashimoto’s effects a fetus neurologically in the first ten weeks so it’s very important to be tested monthly during a pregnancy.
Thank you for sharing!
Hi Sandra. So good to hear from you. That is fantastic you received informed and immediate attention. Not every woman is so fortunate. I trust you are managing well. Jocelyn has battled the symptoms for years – weight gain, exhaustion, poor sleep patterns.
I don’t have hashimoto but I do have hypothyroid. I understand this battle against the body. Everyday you’re fighting . Along side menopause and peri menopause. It’s a push for the life you want to have but can’t seem to make your body want it too.
Thank you for talking about this .
Thank you Adena for joining the conversation. An everyday fight is so draining. You wear it well. I hope many people who know you read your comment and you feel suort and prayers.