cooking up a batch of thyroid insanity. (photo from Dear Thyroid)
WHILE TSP’S OTHER SISTERS SEEM to be well-versed in the potential of online sisterhoods (Marion has her needles and yarn, Paige has a spatula and mountains of cookbooks) I had yet to find a community where I felt that I truly belonged…until now. I have come across a blog affectionately titled Dear Thyroid, which is just that–a collection of letters that people have written to their thyroids (or “an epistolary series and ongoing discussion about thyroid disease,” as site editors Katie Schwartz, Quin Browne, and Freida Bee put it), some in love but many in hate.
Imagine how my heart swelled (and no, it wasn’t just the manic heart-pound from to my crazy thyroid) when I browsed the blog, absorbing the mix of irony, humor and endocrine lingo. Feeling inspired, I opened a fresh sheet on Word and sat poised, ready to pound out my own “dear thyroid” letter. But after 20 minutes of deep thought and nail-biting, mulling over the past six years of my life, filled with doctors’ visits and tears and blood tests and that damn thump-thumping heartbeat all the time, the only thing I had on the page was:
Dear Thyroid,
YOU ARE SUCH AN ASSHOLE.
(At the very least it’s nice to have a place that will accept such a confession with compassion and humor without having to pay $100 an hour.)
‘Collectively, we are seriously and humorously spinning our thyroid yarns. Taking our butterfly glands out of the closet and into the world where they belong.’
And like so many of the sisterhoods that we’ve explored on TSP–from knitting to cooking and beyond–at the heart of thyroid commiserating and confessing is a narrative that fastens itself to sisterhood at infinite points. In the words of the website’s creators: “Collectively, we are seriously and humorously spinning our thyroid yarns. Taking our butterfly glands out of the closet and into the world where they belong.”
Any other TSP readers feel the urge to write a “dear thyroid” letter? Do tell, or better yet send it to Dear Thyroid at katiegirl [at] gmail [dot] com.
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{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
A- your ‘Dear Thyroid’ note made me laugh out loud! You got straight to the point, that pesky thyroid of yours that has put you through much too much agony! And I’m so glad you’ve found a sisterhood with which to commiserate…thyroids be damned :)
I’d like to smack my thyroid upside the head as well. Thanks for the laugh!
Other T, love your comment…thyroids be damned is right!
And welcome Tea, you’re not alone in wanting to take your butterfly gland to school. Good luck!
Can people who love someone with a rebellious thyroid submit letters and petitions to the site? I could probably organize a sit-in against your thyroid if you wanted.
ohhh calm my racing heart it is not 4 love that you beat; but for the fiery mixture of an unbalanced endocrine system out of control and the madness of a fruitless search for understanding why my own body has turned against me … “A” you have my heart !!!
Anastasia;
You took my breath away with this incredibly beautiful and generous post about your anger and frustration with your thyroid. I feel your pain. I know what that six-year struggle feels like and it’s so horrific. I wish more than anything you didn’t have to go through it.
Your letter is perfect. I can’t tell you how many hate letters I’ve written to my thydemon. Thyroids can be pernicious, vile life sucking creatures.
Thank you for writing about DearThyroid, what a gorgeous review. I hope to see a letter from you, even if it is simply “Dear Thyroid, You’re such an asshole”.
xo
Katie
Calll it any name and complain all you want it has got you by the ovaries or balls and it is going to rock your world. So maybe the answer is what is it trying to tell you. It cannot write you a letter so it is sending you the message the only way it knows how. It does not like something about you, and the way you have been treating you. Watch out these autoimmune diseases run in multipules because medication does not solve the real problem. The next unpleasent message may be in the form of Lupus or RA symptoms. Paul
@E, I’ll I can say to that is “awww.” Your comment is so sweet! What sort of things would you write to Dear Thyroid? “Anastasia has violent mood swings and it’s making me crazy!” ? And a sit-in might be much appreciated. I’ll get back to you about that.
@PC d-lite (aka DAD–or is that a new sugar free drink you’re marketing?) Have you been fooled this whole time, thinking my racing heart was just for my undying adoration of you? I’m sorry to disappoint you…
@Dear Thyroid thank you!! For the community and the kind words. I’m looking forward to submitting the complete letter (even if it’s only a few lines longer than the asshole remark).
@Paul Blake how wonderful to have your input here! I’ve been struggling for all those 6 years contemplating the very questions you raise here. I’ve battled doctors and nurses alike on the issue of medication and thyroid zapping. So far, I’m just riding the wave on my own. What I really should be telling my thyroid is that I’m sorry and that I’ll do anything to please its wild demands, but somehow that hasn’t translated so easy. I guess I’ll have to save all this for the letter! I hope you’ll come back, Paul, to read the final product.
I´ve been thinking about what exactly I´d write but I´ll have to get back to you about that. How come there are movies about people getting revenge on people who have wronged their loved ones but not about getting back at thyroids who have done the same thing? The closest it comes is John Q, and I think we can agree that isn´t adequate.
Well, little sister Anastasia, while your heart may race, you have not let that diminish your courage one single bit. Good for you for writing this; good for us, your grateful readers.