BBC News: "'Gigi Hadid has Hashimoto's disease - so do I'"

No idea who Gigi Hadid is but she has Hashimoto's Disease apparently.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/newsbeat-43029158

 

I don't know who Gigi Hadid is either. But the other person mentioned - Rachel Hill - owns, writes and/or runs this website :

https://theinvisiblehypothyroidism.com/

 

Probably one of Yolanda Hadid's (Dutch-American reality star and model) daughters, also a fashion model. Yolanda was diagnosed with ME and/or Lyme at some point, and I think a couple of her kids had similar issues.

 

I am not quite sure why the BBC thinks this is news. It looks flaky and uninformative. The real trolls here are the quack doctors pretending they have some special answer to 'thyroid problems'.

 

I met someone with that illness today, and then this pops up.

 

Anything published under the name "Newsbeat" from the BBC is specifically tailored for "a younger audience", which might be why it looks flaky and uninformative. It wouldn't be my first port of call for real news.

ETA : Or even my 50th!

 

Ah well, I have taken to looking perky when riding on the tube train because otherwise I get young women offering me a seat!! I fear I no longer fall under 'younger audience'.

 

This could be very good publicity for those with the disease - Gigi and her sister Bella are both tremendously popular with millennials.

 

Apparently the young women, who volunteer their seat, don’t read the Metro?

Why you should not offer elderly people a seat on public transport

Read more: http://metro.co.uk/2017/10/18/why-y...ly-people-a-seat-on-public-transport-7009354/

 

A close family member has this*, which came on after pregnancy. She went to the GP complaining of extreme fatigue and was told several times she was just tired because she had a new baby. Thankfully she's a registered nurse and isn't intimidated by doctors, so pushed hard for blood tests. Eventually she wore the GP down, got the tests and was then rushed into hospital when the results came back. She claims she was told by her hospital consultant subsequently she had the (highest/lowest?) level they had seen in a patient that wasn't in a coma. Hashimoto's appears to be another disease that, because it can have a fairly vague presentation and predominantly affects women, often is dismissed initially.

*Part of that side of the family's loooooong history of various autoimmune diseases!

 

Yes, that was my story, although thankfully not as severe. I first went to my GP with fatigue, and thought it was related to my PMT which I had for years, but it had extended to 2 weeks+ instead of 1 week. Someone I knew had mentioned it could be underactive thyroid, so I asked if this GP would do a blood test for me. NO was the reply, it could not possibly be that!

I changed GPs as I was so annoyed, and my new GP happily did my test and found that I was then borderline, but my TSH continued to rise (sign of being hypothyroid) and he started me on Thyroxine. That was over 20 years ago now. I hope things have improved since then.

Sadly I only felt OK on the Thyroxine for a few years, and then I ended up with the ME/CFS diagnosis, but that's another story.

 

The Charite wrote in my "diagnosis letter" that 10% of pwME have Hashimoto's Disease (I don't, but the text in that letter is the same for everybody).

 

Learning how to look a little perkier is something that has been on my to-do list for a while now, so if you've already mastered the art I'd be very grateful if you have any tips to share.

 

A dash of pink blusher and a swipe of lip gloss helps, if you really wanna go there, @TiredSam!

 

I understand most hypothyroidism is caused by the autoimmune disease Hashimoto's.

I wonder what percentage of pwME have hypothyroidism.