Oprah Can Blame Her Thyroid. Can You?

Kudos to gina of MA

Right on gina of MA. Many doctors simply ignore women and deem them psychosamatic because the list of symptoms for hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism is so long. Doctors ignored my symptoms for over 18 years and now I have enlarged heart and sleep apnea issues that I am not certain will go away with treatment. Wise up doctors, women get diseases also. gina of MA put it best,"the answer is the same for oprah as it is for millions of ordinary patients: an unfortunate intersection of over-reliance on lab tests, a lack of attention to patients' stated complaints, a disposition to view multiple complaints as psychosomatic, and finally, a sexist tendency to dismiss any and all complaints as symptoms of peri/menopause or "aging"".

thyroid

I have thyroid problem and my body hurts. My doctor has me on levothyroxine pills. I feel like they are not doing anything. Is there anything better than what I'm taking please let me know. I have tried over the counter pill that are for thyroid and I don't feel nothing my biggest problem is that my feet are cold a lot, I always have to wear socks cause it feels like the floor burns me and if I ignore it and not were them they hurt. I have tried heating pads nothing I used to run avery day like five days of the week, know i cant am exhausted all the time, I get depressed but because their is nothing i can do about and i take it out at my husband.

sick of it

Ive tried everything evvvvvverything to power walks to eating the THYROID DIET to low calorie to what nothing but see the scale neeeeeever move no muscle gain Im going to a specialist thats it!!!! I have gone off birth control pills you name it ive tried it for months i cant lose a POUND. HYPOTHYROIDISIM IS AWFUL awful i tell you!!! Noone understands NOONE i hear cant you do this that try this that...ive tried and tried i think that a regular doctor cant fix and or help this i hear a specialist can do a saliva test and or tests to determine how to help you as an individual thats the path i hope to take...next question is...will my health care cover if it doesnt ill be stuck where im at! Can you say how awful!! Ill know this week...anything to just put into place how hard i work i dont care about the scale...i want my health back!!

hypothroidism

It amazes me, an american woman living in Mexico for the past nine years, that it takes someone like Oprah to draw attention to a debilitating problem that has indeed plagued my life and so many others. After repeated doctors visits both in the U.S. and in Mexico, my complaints of joint pain, extreme fatigue, intolerance to cold and constant sore throats and hoarseness (I am a professional singer) were constantly ignored and a diagnosis of depression or careless living were offesively applied. My constant complaint of weight gain without excessive eating and a consistent exercise routine were ignored by doctors who would sarcastically smile and make remarks about how honest I was being about my habits. I suffered needlessly for years until a doctor in Queretaro, Mexico ordered the simple test for thyroid function. The results confirmed severe hypothyroidism and also confirmed the other serious conditions that accompany hypothyroidism when gone undiagnosed for a long period of time. I began treatment, and in a month's time, I was a different person. I had lost easily a few pounds, my energy and stamina had returned, my constant infections and aches and pains had virtually disappeared. Although I still have to be careful to maintain a balance in my life as far as diet, rest, activity and stress are concerned, I have been given a new lease on life. I must admit my frustration at the years lost because of the refusal of doctors to order a simple and inexpensive test that easily clarifies things simply because "obesity" became the buzz word. Now, because of Oprah, perhaps "thryroid" will become the new buzz word and there will be a bombardment of thryroid diagnoses when many cases may be a question of lifestyle habits. Point being, insist on tests if you have a doubt about your doctor's diagnosis. Do not allow years of your life to be wasted because doctors prefer to apply their own limited attitudes instead of actual testing in the diagnosis of this and all medical conditions.

hyper and hypo

i was diagnosed with graves' disease (autoimmune thyroid disease), and after taking meds for a while, now i've been diagnosed with hashimotos, hypothyroidism. several of my nieces have recently been diagnosed with the same disease, and, looking back, i'm sure my mother and aunt had this also.

i find it very debilitating, as i can not remember the simplest things, (i even forget how to drive my car sometimes), there's severe loss of muscle, etc. good luck and best to all, mar

Eating disorders and thyroid disease

I applaud Oprah Winfrey for attempting to untangle a knot she got herself into between her issues with an admitted eating disorder and thryoid disease. Though she's taken a rather circuitous route to do so - she's doing it none-the-less.

One particular symptom of an eating disorder is to try to tie it to a physical answer. This mostly comes in the form of taking on some undiagnosed, vaguely diagnosed or self-diagnosed disease. It's motive can be as either an excuse to eat (hypoglycemia - I must eat every two hours or I'll die); an excuse to be hyper-vigilent (celiac disease - I must strictly monitor my food intake); or an excuse to find a remedy (thyroid disease - I need to be on thyroid medication in order to control my weight).

It's that last one, thyroid disease, that's most tricky for someone with an active eating disorder because it actually requires a doctor to make a diagnosis and write a perscription. However, now with the internet, that's not all that difficult since there is a disturbing level of instruction out there on how to manipulate the medical world (...a whole other story).

Yet another symptom of an eating disorder is trying to get others to carry out the same unhealthy behavior, in order to justify it. One of the most telling things Oprah has said about her thyroid is that she first gave it thought after getting e-mails from strangers. What she probably doesn't realize about that is that there'd been a whole campaign brewing to 'get her in our corner.' That she never really did let herself get fully backed into that corner is quite a victory - for her!

I'm happy for Oprah that she is moving away from all this and getting on with the business of taking care of her health, hence herself. I'm also happy for those of us, myself included, that have serious thyroid disease and are sick of sitting back and observing this invasion on it by individuals with active and untreated eating disorders. (Frankly, we're thrilled right now that all the campaigners have suffered a crushing blow on this one!)

I don't see Oprah as having 'fallen off the wagon' but rather as having climbed down from it. You know, sometimes we need to get off this 'wagon train' in order to ready ourselves for what could be an even healthier one coming down the tracks. With that, it would be great if the leadership role that appears to have been assigned to Oprah manifest itself by getting others to follow her in this way.

Yes, of course, there is always the possibility of thryoid disease coming back into Oprah's life in some way in the future. I hope that never happens. But if it does, she, like all of us in this day and age can be assured that the right care will be there should it be needed.

BTW: When I look at Oprah Winfrey all I see is one thing - a lovely person. ~

thyroid confusion

I did Wilson's Protocol and was able to discontinue thyroid medication for years...only went back to it recently when my mom passed away and I was profoundly stressed. Wilson's is another approach to thyroid treatment based, not on inadequate T4 in the body, but on a glitch in the conversion of T4 to T3. If T4 doesn't convert to T3, the body's energy source is negatively affective and all the hypothyroid symptoms show up...but the Wilson's protocol does work and can correct a thyroid imbalance. That is a problem for many people with thyroid issues but it'sn rarely looked at, but ought to be. If I can be of any further support, please contact me.

Brainwashed

I wonder if perhaps Oprah's long-time friend and trainer Bob Greene feels that thyroid issues are an excuse used by fat women to explain their weight problems. I'm just speculating but a lot less money would be spent on diet books etc. if thyroid problems began to get the media attention they deserve. Oprah's drinking someone's kool-aid, of that I'm sure.

Oprah's money cannot buy good health

One day I was meditating about a role model for my granddaughter. I thought of many women, particularly women of the Bible. I am a Bible student but I thought to give her a role model she could relate to. But then an idea came to me that I should give her a living role model. My mind immediately went to Oprah Winfrey. She is a woman of the world but she is a woman of accomplishments. So then I wondered what I could tell her about Oprah that would make her take notice.

So I got some old copies of the O magazine and I noticed that Oprah was smiling in all of her cover pages. As I leafed through the magazine I found more pictures of Oprah smiling. So the thought hit me that Oprah had money and she is smiling all the way to the bank. I have watched Oprah since she first became a talk show host. I have seen her cry on different occasions which is more than I can say for many talk show hosts. So I knew that all of her pictures were not smiling pictures. I began to search for one that was not smiling. Finally on the January 2009 copy I began to laugh when I saw the cover. Through the years I knew of Oprah's battle with weight. But this time it hit a home run when I saw the two pictures together. I often wondered how she managed to take it off and feel so good. Then turn around and put it back on and show visible signs of depression over the weight gain.

Oprah has been like a best friend to me over the years. For a while I watched her faithfully then after a while I pulled myself away from her show. Now I watch it when there is something that interest me. I watched the show with Tina Turner and Cher and I saw how dejected Oprah felt when she could not compete with those women. With all that Oprah has going for her why is she envious of two women who have defied the law of gravity and continued to dance and keep their weight under control.

I had a weight problem in the nineties and I took the excess weight off and have kept it off. I did not keep it off by not eating. I went to a doctor, whose name I don’t remember, and had her put me on a special diet. But I did more than that, I decided that I wanted to live and that I wanted to enjoy the fullness of life. As I got older I wanted to do more than worry about my weight and diabetes.

So when I went to the doctor I asked her to put me on a fifteen hundred calorie diet.

She said, "No you are a diabetic and your body require more food than that so I am going to put you on a twenty-two hundred calorie diet. I want you to keep a written diary of everything you eat and drink. I want you to exercise one hour a day. I suggest that you walk at a brisk pace twice a day, thirty minutes at a time. I am going to give you a diet but it must become a way of life. I want you to have one cup of starchy vegetables such as rice, corn or sweet peas. One cup of low sugar vegetables such as squash or okra. You can have at least one fruit with each meal. One slice of whole grain bread, four ounces of lean meat with each meal. Then you may have a non caloric drink with your meal."

"But, that is a lot of food." I protested.

"I know," the doctor said, "One of the reasons you are binge eating is

because you are hungry. Once you have eaten all of this food you will not crave food between meals."

I was skeptical. How could eating that much food help me to lose weight? Well the days that followed were interesting. When I first started to keep a food journal I was ashamed of myself by noon time. I had eaten a cookie and a piece of fruit and nibbled on candy, plus other things. I was embarrassed to write down all that I had crammed down my throat. I became aware of a habit that I had not paid attention to in the past. I suddenly became aware that I lost control and I satisfied my problems with food.

I began to think that my doctor was right, I was constantly nibbling on something. So I started to eat the foods that she suggested. I began to find ways to vary what I ate and to find ways to sit down and actually eat all of those foods. I made my mealtime special and I piled all of the food on my plate at one time. I sat in front of the television and made myself chew and swallow all of that food. Then I walked for thirty minutes. I put my watch on and I realized that I could walk a mile in fifteen minutes so I walked two miles after eating. After the first few days I felt good. When I went to see the doctor one week later I had lost a pound and a half. Every week thereafter, I lost at least a pound. I told myself that if I could lose a pound a week I could lose fifty-two pounds a year. In a year's time I would be at my ideal weight.

At the time I weighed almost two hundred pounds. My ideal weight would be one hundred and sixty pounds. I gave myself incentives to lose and keep the weight off. First of all I wanted to live and I wanted to experience good health. I had had many days of dragging and forcing myself to move but once I started eating and walking I began to have more energy and to feel better about myself. Not only that but my diabetes came under control. Every time I lost a pound my doctor reduced the amount of insulin that I was taking. I went from forty-five units of insulin to half that amount. Today as I write I am no longer an insulin patient. I still take medication for diabetes but I don't have to take insulin injections. I don’t have that sleepy, run-down feeling all the time.

When I got my Oprah O magazine for January 2009 there were two pictures of Oprah. On one of them she was thin and smiling. On the other was a look of disbelief and a question of how did I get this way. I read the article that Oprah wrote about some of her experiences she had with weight gain and taking medication. As I read I concluded that Oprah was suffering from depression, even before she said it. Believe it or not it has been showing through on her shows. Behind that great smile has been some hidden trauma and drama.

When I dealt with my eating problems I also realize that behind that eating was some other things that was bothering me. I was in my early fifties and I had not accomplished my goals in life. I felt like I had let myself go down the tube. I was a nothing and a nobody. So I had to make changes in my life. I was going through a battle with a very sick husband. I had to get through that crisis in my life. After his death I had to find a way to pick up the pieces. I had to find a way to move forward. Eating was not the answer.

I walked away from everything I owned and started over again. I moved to a completely different region of the country. But I still found no satisfaction. Before long I had cluttered my home with all of the same kind of stuff I had walked away from. One day I took a good look at myself and I saw what was missing in my life. There was something I started to do many years ago and I had not done it and I felt like a failure. I had started college and I dropped out to get married. That was one of the biggest mistakes of my life and I was still regretting it. I had been through a second marriage and I was still frustrated over the first one. So I had to do some soul searching.

I had good control over my eating habits because once I took the weight off the first time I never put it back on. I learned not to bring anything in the house that I am not suppose to have. I continued to eat and monitor my eating habits through the years. Whenever, I feel like my weight is about to get out of control I start to keep a journal. Writing it out have a way of calling me back to my duty to take care of myself.

One of the things that I found out about my life was that I had a lot of baggage stored up from my childhood. Then I had the drama of two marriages. I still had the unresolved issues of a first marriage that ended in divorce and the lost custody of my children. I had to find a way to reach a conclusion about my life. One day I sat and I looked at all of the photographs of my past that I kept lying around and that I kept in frames. Some of those pictures reminded me of bad things that happened in my life. I got rid of every picture that reminded me of something I wanted to forget. Somehow when I tore the pictures up I threw away part of the memories that I needed to forget.

Then I thought about the circumstances that kept me unhappy. I realize that I had to do a lot of forgiving. The one that I had to forgive first was myself. I kept knocking myself for things that I had done in the past that was not working out. I had to make a mental list of the things that I had a hard time forgiving myself for. One by one as I forgave myself the load that I was carrying became lighter. Then I had to go through life forgiving those people that I felt had hurt me the most. I had to forgive myself for those that I hurt in my passions and indiscreet moments.

There were some things and some people that I thought I could never forgive. The hurt and pain had been so bad that I thought that I would go to my grave hating them. But there is much to be said about forgiving those who hurt you. When you harbor hatred in your heart you suffer such agonizing pain and that person who you hate is going about his business doing the same things to some one else.

When I think about Oprah and the money and the fame that she has so rightfully earned and deserve. Why shouldn't she smile? Amid the smile there is a deeper recess deep down within Oprah that makes her eat and then regret it. She is still very beautiful in spite of the unwanted weight. I am sure she must wonder what life would be like if she had a family, especially grandchildren. While life has afforded her so many things in abundance it has robbed her of some of the other things that we take for granted in life. Oprah has some unresolved issues in her life and food is a substitution for the things she regret or having dealt with.

There was a time in my life when I had all of the money that I needed and wanted. I could go in a dress store and not look at the price tag before I decided whether I wanted to try it on. There was a time in my life when I could buy any food I wanted and eat at any restaurant but I would be full before I could taste the meal. I was known for ordering food and not eating it. Sometimes I just paid for it and walked out of the restaurant. There was a time when I could walk down the aisles of a department store and not see a thing I wanted or needed. I was empty. I was alone in my misery. I had everything but I had nothing. Life was not working for me.

Today I feel different. As I think about Oprah I can imagine how others may envy her. Yet, I can imagine the unfulfilled things that still bothers her. She should keep that precious smile but let go of the things that lurks and lies in the background.

Thyroid has been removed

In 2000 I had my thyroid "killed" because I was diagnosed as "hyper". I ate and ate and kept losing weight. It was determined that I was at risk of a stroke (49 yrs old then) and suggested 'killing it'. I was so distraught that I agreed. I have since gained over 40 lbs and this is making me 'distraught' now. I take levothyroxine sodium 75 mcg 6 days a week and have been for the last 6 yrs. My hair is falling out and I want to know why my doctor won't give me any advice how to stop this from happening and won't help me find a way to lose the weight. He says my level is 'normal' on the medication so there is nothing he can do. Since the "killing", I have had a hysterectomy - is this also a reason for my weight and hair falling out to be happening. I am on a hormone replacement for that for "hot flashes and bitchiness".