Dear Women: You and Oprah Have Thyroid Problems Because You're Unable to Vocalize Your Shame and Pain
I thought that maybe we had gotten past the blame game. But with Oprah's news that she is back to 200 pounds, with her thyroid problem in part at fault, we're again hearing that women's inability to speak out is to blame for the prevalence of thyroid disease in women. Over at the Huffington Post, self-described "healer to the stars” Deborah King, in her article "Dear Oprah", writes:
"Thyroid conditions are rampant among women because most women never vocalize the shame and pain of their lives."King is not the only one espousing this view. Last year, when Oprah talked about her thyroid problems on her show, with guest and close advisor, Christiane Northrup, MD, a holistic physician. During that show, Northrup suggested that thyroid problems were a result of an energy blockage in the throat region, and result when women "swallow" words they are aching to say. Oprah and Northrup never discussed thyroid testing, diagnosis or treatment, but Northrup did counsel relaxation, stress-reduction, self-love techniques like blowing kisses to yourself in the mirror, and a diet heavy in soy foods.
I am a firm believer in mind-body health and integrative/holistic medicine. And yes, stress, shame, pain, and lack of self-care can make us more susceptible to -- or immune against -- disease. But, seriously! Come on, women!
Thousands of women developed thyroid problems after the Chernobyl disaster. Were those women stifling their self-expression? What about women exposed to thyroid-damaging perchlorate in America's drinking water. Are they swallowing their words, or swallowing contaminated water? What about new mothers? Are they unable to express themselves, or are imbalanced post-partum hormones expressing themselves?"
You want to hear a thyroid patient speak out? Because I have something to say...
Thyroid disease results when heredity and genetics, autoimmunity, environmental exposures, viral infections, and hormonal shifts come together in a perfect storm to trigger a dysfunction.I can't be any clearer. Women are more susceptible to thyroid disease, as well as most of the more than 80 autoimmune diseases, for a variety of reasons, including the balance of our hormones. Times of hormonal change -- i.e., pregnancy, post-partum, perimenopause and menopause -- are key trigger points for the development of thyroid disease. Oh, and don't forget that overconsumption of soy is also a risk factor for thyroid problems, and makes them worse in some women.
Here's a major wake-up call for Deborah King, Dr. Northrup, and anyone else offering "celebrity health advice:" a woman can be flawless in her diet, stress management, and self-care, have no emotional baggage, and express herself perfectly and STILL GET THYROID DISEASE.
We've lived long enough with unnecessary fatigue, weight gain, depression, hair loss, low sex drive, infertility because we're told we're stressed, depressed, PMSing and menopausal. Now it seems that the "experts" want to add "inability to express ourselves" to the list of things we need to deal with before anyone properly diagnoses and treats our thyroid condition.
Right now, as many as 59 million Americans -- the majority of them women -- have thyroid disease, and less than 20 million are actually diagnosed. Oprah was one of the undiagnosed -- who knows for how long she suffered. Despite being one of the lucky ones who was diagnosed, Oprah has also surprisingly decided to go off her thyroid medication. And it's no coincidence that Oprah now weighs 200 pounds, and is continuing to gain weight while untreated.
If you you an undiagnosed or diagnosed thyroid condition, definitely speak out, find your voice, and vocalize your pain. Start by speaking out to other thyroid patients and learning everything you can about your thyroid. Find your voice by taking charge of your health and sharing your situation with others and giving/receiving support from people who understand what you're going through. Vocalize your pain to a great thyroid doctor who truly understands thyroid disease and will work with you to find the right treatment.
Want to "express yourself" with other thyroid patients? Come join the discussion on this issue at the Thyroid Forum.
Photo: Istockphoto
Comments
Right on!
I could not agree more but let’s remember that this is not just a woman’s disease but men can develop it as well as infants & children, that must be addressed as well.
well i totaly agree but we shouldnt ignore the stress factor also.i believe it’s one of the main causes of many diseases.
Coping with hypothyroidism is hard enough, with out educated idiots telling us it’s our fault!
If only the fact that her job is based on ’speaking out’ about problems would rule out this psychological hypothesis for thyroid disease. More likely it is excess of work, or stress, that produces it, and her state now shows that maintaining a very demanding work schedule worsens the thyroid very much.
Dr. Northrup is a charismatic dummy. And unfortunately people actually listen to her.
If you read her books, she’s more hype then substance.
And if Oprah gets thyroid issues from not speaking out enough, there’s no hope for any of us.
Professionals who say crap like this are ridiculous. How I wish I could cure my hashimotos by simply speaking out more.
What a bunch of gargage-Obviously You have no idea about Thyroid diseases, or you wouldn’t be saying such things. Get educated first before you pontificate next time!!!!!
Dr Northrup is no dummy !!!
Hey Mr Cotter, the proof is in the pudding…
Look at Christianne and look at Oprah !
Hey! I think we are all complex and the issues that affect our health are as well. We seem driven to find “the fix” or answer and dismiss anything that doesn’t fit into our paradigm. Our bodies express our feelings in more ways than just words. We are very complex so the one answer fits all is a dangerous line to walk. The thyroid is considered the power-house of the body and regulates all other organs so is it crazy to think that stress (physical, mental or emotional) wouldn’t have some positive and negative affects on our health and thyroid function?
Mary, you’re usually pretty level headed and thoroughly educated about things but your reaction to the concept that an energy block or swallowed words can be a contributor and for some maybe even the main reason for a thyroid condition is as potentially damaging to readers as is a doctor who is closed off to natural forms of thyroid medications such as armour thyroid (of which you and I are both strong advocates). There are many things that contribute to thyroid conditions and a struggle to find ones voice most certainly is a part of that list. I hope that you reconsider your stance and recognize that attributing a thyroid condition to a lack of speaking out is in no way equivalent to blaming someone for their condition. Why you see it as blame and are reacting to it so defensively is of particular interest. Maybe there is something more there for you to explore…
I’ll have to agree I am afraid as a lot of women who suffer from thyroid related issues never speak for themselves. It’s a shame.
If this was really the case, then how come men are not hypothyroid by the millions?
In Western society, with a male cultural heritage of the strong silent man, the should have been hordes of middle-aged hypothyroid men by now? Where are they?
Even if we take into consideration the large number of undxd hypo-people (of both genders) in the world, this simply isn´t logical.
So, I think not. I mean, I SAY not
Thyroid issues are part of hormonal disfunction. As evidence it is often a post partum change that occurs after a childbirth, and doesn’t get diagnosed until 2-4 years later, By this time the effects of post partum are lost and treatment becomes the here and now. Altering the thyroid function with chmicals.
A far better approach is avoiding all estrogen like products in our food supply particularly dairy and soy. There is also a great need to provide the body with trace minerals and support better adrenal function.
Iodine becomes a critically important mineral, but only in a very samll dose. Lugols- 2 drops) Also a natural source of thyroid like Armour or its equivalent might help.
As a man and opera singer who has suffered metastatic thyroid cancer and the hell of thyroid hormone replacement I can see both sides of this issue. Allow me to express myself:
Mary Shomon is rightfully taking to task the slippery and simplistic logic of presenting thyroid disease as just another psychosomatic disorder. I’m sure Dr. Northrup didn’t intend to, but it can come off as a classic “you asked for it” way of thinking and to me it is intellectually lazy. I’ll give her the benefit of the doubt and blame it on the editors of the show.
Add to that the incredibly vast reach of a program like Oprah, particularly to women, and you can easily understand Mary’s frustration as an advocate for thyroid patients.
I quote,”Thyroid disease results when heredity and genetics, autoimmunity, environmental exposures, viral infections, and hormonal shifts come together in a perfect storm to trigger a dysfunction.” So right on, and yet most of these factors can be influenced negatively or positively by the way we live our lives. (i.e. autoimmune issues and hormonal imbalance have proven connections with chronic stress and poor diet.)
There is nothing wrong with addressing the holistic/psychological/spiritual issues that may play a role in your overall health/thyroid dysfunction just not to the detriment of rational care.
There are so many things unknown to medical science about the human body let alone the way”energy” works. As always, “the proof is in the pudding”. When you’re presented with a real problem and need a real solution you will approach it from all angles, using your experience as an important guide to what is best for you.
My experience has shown me that expressing what is true for me in an appropriate manner is helpful to my health and well-being particularly as it regards my voice and energy level. Should I get off my hormones? Only if I am staggeringly stupid! Does it sound too airy-fairy? Give it a try first so you can condemn it from your experience and not from your dogma.
Note the gigantic distinction between “expressing myself” and “expressing what is true for me in an appropriate manner”.
If you want to ignore the very compelling arguments made by reasonable people about a 5th chakra imbalance (for example) and what might be a root cause of your teeth, neck, thyroid or voice problems….feel free, but you just might be missing out on something important for your health.
On the other hand, if you want to ignore your common sense obligation to supply your body with the hormone its lacking…again, feel free, but be prepare to be fat, sad, and stupid.
In taking just one approach to the exclusion of the other you are selling yourself short and not being fully responsible for the life you have been given.
I for one don’t want to be suffering from an imbalance of thyroid hormone. I also don’t want to be perfectly balanced in hormone level but utterly in denial of the opportunity my dis-ease has given me to become serious about the deeper issues of my life.
With that said, the danger often comes more from improper diagnosis/treatment than people who are not “expressing themselves”. Indeed, I have “expressed myself” very well to doctors who were not able to hear or help me for years with my thyroid hormone.
The message for me is clear: Take full charge of your life and become an active advocate for your own health and healing!
If you’ve taken a deeper look at Mary Shomon’s work, I am quite sure she would agree with this line of reasoning. She is simply trying to protect us from a shallow look at a complex subject. She should be applauded not accused of “being defensive” and needing to “change her stance”.
Just sayin’
I have just written a letter to King at her website noting how appalled I was by that article. She owes women and thyroid sufferers an apology. And she should surely try to educate herself before she writes such self-indulgent claptrap as that. The sexism of such notions is astounding. That she isn’t even aware she’s being sexist (and seems to think just the opposite) is even more astounding. And that she writes from what she presumes is a position of such self-awareness. Good lord.
It is painful to even suggest that I caused my hypothyroidism. I was diagnosed at age 7 and was later found to have a cellular conversion problem at 14. I have spent many years of my life dealing with my condition.
Every human is unique and every thyroid patient is unique.It is ridiculous to believe that unspoken words can cause this problem, when for me it is literally in my genetic make up.
I turned off the episode of Oprah talking about her thyroid condition, as it minimized my constant struggle and those of us living with Hypothyroidism.
I have to add my comments that I am sick and tired of the patient being blamed for their illness. My thyroid became hypo due to the negligence of other drivers who hit my car multiple times thus whiplashing my neck in every direction leaving me with multiple disk problems in my neck that cause pressure on the nerve supple to my thyroid, and the greed of drug companies and the American Medical Association who insists that three or more vaccines should be administered at the same time flooding my body with mercury and other heavy metals and virus’ that poisoned and overwhelmed my immune system, thyroid and endocrine system functioning, and the ignorance of mainstream doctors (in particular endocrinologists) who won’t listen to the patient when the patient should know better when something negative is happening in their own body and needs to be investigated further and diagnosed clinically in addition to general blood tests based on a healthy body homeostasis, and the prejudice bias towards women in general by the medical system when you are overweight, fatigued, and present with many symptoms, and not the least being forced to use a backwards medical system that refuses to look at the possibility that an illness or disease process is not caused by one and only one bacteria or virus, etc… when the body is a holistic system where all the systems depend upon each other and don’t get sick, ill or malfunction all by themselves. By the time outward, overt life interfering symptoms occur many body systems have been involved in the disease process without symptoms for a long time. They contradict themselves by telling us to do things to help prevent illness in many areas of our body and then insist that we only get sick in one area in our body and treat according to this idea. Then to add insult to injury, the majority of the time they only offer to treat your symptoms and not the cause. Also, I concur with many comments above about soy products that are being promoted as healthy and are added to many packed and prepared foods without our knowledge not to mention that almost all soy in the USA is GMO and not organic. Don’t forget the ruse of fluoride added the water supply that does nothing for our teeth but affects thyroid functioning negatively and lines the pockets of greedy companies. And, I’m not sure when they finally started to tell the truth about the thyroid affecting weight gain but for years I have been told that my hypothyroid had nothing to do with my unusual weight gain and fatigue. And, the last thing I need to add is the lack of education in medical schools about how to treat and test the endocrine system, in particular the adrenals. If the adrenals are malfunctioning, but not to the level of Addisons or Cushings but insufficiency, until the adrenal glands are treated with a daily physiological dose of hydrocortisone (5 or 7 mg four times a day), the thryoid will never properly operate with or without horomone. Medical schools are only teaching how to use steroids at high doses for short courses and emphasis to adnausium, how dangerous steriod use is and should never be used long term if it can be helped. Some illnesses need high levels of steroids. But there is over 40 years of testing and treatment with low, long term doses of hydrocortisone (steroids) to treat adrenal insufficiency with no danger to the immune system or calcium levels. In fact, due to the fact that when the adrenals are properly functioning, then the thyroid will properly functioning thus insuring that proper calcium absorption takes place. Due to the fact that the thyroid is responsible for the majority of the body’s processes and functioning, you would think that more emphasis would be placed on making sure that the first tests for most symptoms would be all of the thyroid blood tests, as well as diagnosing the patient clinically. I can’t tell you how frustrating it is for my TSH test to show I am just into the hyper thyroid level but clinically I don’t manifest a single hyper symptom. When, in fact, I clinically show every hypo symptom on the list. Why doctors can’t make the connections and not rely on just the TSH test. The thyroid has many different hormones and the tests for inactive and active hormone along with antibodies when all tests together can tell a very different story than just a TSH test. I get frustrated when I have to teach my doctor how to read the tests. Especially if the patient has Hashimoto’s and this means their homeostasis will be off and it will skew the TSH test. The doctor should listen to the patient and diagnosis clinically when the blood test does not add up to the patient’s symptoms. It makes no logical sense and just insures that the patient is prescribed too little thyroid hormone and thus gets to live a miserable lifestyle with a malfunctioning thyroid. I get so frustrated when I have to educate the doctor and pay him for it, too. Especially, when they don’t bother to listen and look at you with bias because you are a women, overweight and have a lot of symptoms!!! Also, I want to chastise all those endocrinologists out there who took the lazy way out and focus their practice on treating diabetes. Diabetes is a cash cow because once a disabetes patient, the doctor is ensured of a life long patient who just needs monitoring with blood tests, many short office visits and endless prescriptions. It doesn’t take much time nor complicated diagnosis but ensures a lot of quick cash for the clinic. I did an experiment in the waiting room of my endocrinologist and asked the diabetes patients if the doctor had recommended that they add daily doses of cinnamon, B vitamin chromium, B vitamin insitol/choline or high levels of vitamin C and minerals like magnesium, calcium, zinc, phosphorus and Omega oils 3, 6 and 9 and others nutrients to help keep their blood vessels supple and clean out the bad cholestrol to prevent heart disease, strokes and blood I clots??? Not one patient even knew these basic home preventative treatments for diabetes that could lower their blood sugars and need for medicine and increase nervous system and organ function. I have to throw in the importance of regular chiropractic adjustments to ensure proper nervous system functioning, thus keeping the immune system strong and healthy and functioning properly. If it wasn’t for chiropractic and body work like deep tissue massage, trigger point release and myofascial release, after all the trauma my body has endured from other people’s negliance hitting my car, I would not be physically able to move about and have no chronic health problems like diabetes, asthma, headaches, high blood pressure. I’ve had five joint surgeries, all failed. Not to mention years of physical therapy and exercise that did nothing but hasten further degeration on my spine and body joints. And, to add insult to injury, my last surgery provided me with a staph and HHV6 skin and eye infection that has left scars all over my body and eyes. All my illnesses, disease processes and physical disability were acquired due to someone elses negligence or the medical systems ill advised treatments. Thanks for listening. I pray that if and when we get a new national medical system, they will listen to what is probably the largest portion of medical patients in the system — because a little thyroid hormone now can prevent so many major illnesses later on down the line that cost the system thousands or maybe millions of dollars more than a preventive daily prescription of cheap thyroid or adrenal hormone medication daily early on. Not to mention the preventative good health function from regular chiropractic adjustments whether you hurt or not. Pain is the last symptom in a back problem. Keeping the nervous system messages flowing properly without impediment from the brain throughout the body will do more to prevent illness and disease by keeping your immune system functioning strong. The most important thing we can do to keep healthy is to keep our immune system strong. All disease comes from the immune system breaking down.
I completely agree with Mary on this: it staggering what kind of psycho-babble people including doctors can come up with.
There are many studies showing that hypothyroidism can be caused by genetics, medications/drugs and pollutants – to say anything else without any backing whatsoever is just ridiculous.
In the old days when women had health problems and doctors were not able to know what caused them, they were diagnosed with “hysteria”.
Today, due to the crap TSH test – its a bunch of syndromes: IBS, CFS, fibromyalgia and of course the “cover-all”; depression.
It upsets me even more when patients play along with even more outrageous psycho-babble.
Oprah is great at rescuing & fighting for the underdog, except when she, herself is the underdog.
Its appauling that medical professionals seize such an opportunity to exploit their own agendas and not modern medicine.
If Oprah had a show about Thyroid disease alone (vs. her private battle) an even, highly professional panel of modern medicine would be presented.
In my opinion, Oprah’s slanted coverage is perhaps the clearest indicator of how much she is truly suffering from Thyroid disease. When one’s levels are off, rational thought ceases to exist and personal blame is the closest thing to grasp while suffering from the hypothyroid symptom of a cloud mixed with exhaustion, ignorance, and depression.
How I wish someone could get out there and help her help us all.
Please contact me if you need help in this campaign.
I had not heard about this and can I just say…where’s the shovel, because its a load of manure?! It sounds like Dark Ages mythology to me. How can you say that something like hypothyroidism is caused by someone keeping their mouth shut? I can tell you, I have 2 sisters with thyroid disorder and they express themselves quite well. I myself have thyroid disorder. And, sadly to say, my 7 year old was just diagnosed. I can tell you that she “expresses” herself all the time!
Just remember, just because someone is called educated doesn’t mean they have a degree in common sense!!!
“And if Oprah gets thyroid issues from not speaking out enough, there’s no hope for any of us.”
LMAO!!!! Oh, Rob, you hit the nail on the head. If Oprah, who made her living being a chatterbox, is stuffing her emotions and not speaking out, God help the rest of us! I mean, she has talked about her child molestation, having an affair with a married man, her relationships, and pretty much every aspect of her life. If that is a person repressing herself then surely all of us, male and female, are doomed to a life of disease.
Idiots like this make it harder to take women in these professions seriously because they ignore the physical issues and make it all about the mental and emotional. Sure they play a role, but come on. Animals get thyroid disease. Are they stuffing their emotions? What about men like me who have it? Maybe I am really a woman repressing my emotions and I just am sexually confused.
Oprah does have herself to blame for not getting proper treatment with all her money and connections. But if she wants to make it all about her “will power” and lay a guilt trip on herself, so be it. I am sure it will get her good ratings, lots more money…and all the women who watch her show will come away even dumber for it. Sheesh!
Isa, Mary is reacting the way she is because it is bull$h!t! Come on. For thousands of years people have had stresses, emotional issues, etc. and we didn’t have epidemics of thyroid and other diseases. Clearly, our more contaminated environment is the key. When your body is in toxin overload, it will destroy the thyroid and it will affect your ability to deal with stress AND your emotions.
I give you a partial pass though, because poorly treated diseased people WILL be more irrational and emotional. I know I certainly was before I got the right balance of treatment.
Everyone has stresses and some of the most stressed people never get disease. When our body is ALREADY compromised though, any stress can surely make it worse. However, you are looking at symptoms (stress, emotional blockage, etc.) and not the CAUSE. That is the kind of thinking that the establishment medical community uses.
You think Mary is not open minded. She is. I have been reading her for over a decade. I don’t always agree, but she is certainly open minded. You need to ask yourself why YOU are so defensive on the issue? What is your personal investment in your view? Why are you so invested in believing it is emotional and not physical???
And for all the women, why is it always the women that chime in and say it is emotional, stress, etc. and not the men? You rarely hear a man say he got his disease because of some emotional issues or “blockage” in his Chakras.
Look, I was a mental and emotional basketcase before I got getter treatment. But I KNEW that was not who I really was which made me determined to get the right help. If I had had a doctor who would have told me that it was just stress, emotional blockage, hormonal equivalent of PMS in women…I would have punched him or her, lol. Hey, I could have always used my condition as my defense.
Maybe you all (women who subscribe to the emotional dictates the physical) are just more into self blame. I don’t recommend it. Take control, own what you can, but don’t own what aren’t responsible for. You will lead much happier lives. You get blamed enough for everything in your lives. Why add more too it by self blame?
Being spiritual and in touch with ourselves doesn’t mean ignoring our physical body and the things that are destroying it. A truly authentic, spiritual and connected person gets the role of the physical too.
“There is nothing wrong with addressing the holistic/psychological/spiritual issues that may play a role in your overall health/thyroid dysfunction just not to the detriment of rational care.”
No one said there was anything wrong with it, including Mary. What she said though, is don’t say an emotional blockage caused this physical disease. It is dangerous to say that when the physical is not being addressed. Oprah proves this. Her health declined.
Not only is there NO evidence to support it, but we are talking about symptoms and not causes. Two entirely different things.
I have no doubt that a lot of people with thyroid disease have trouble expressing themselves because low thyroid can cause low self esteem, depression, etc. However, that isn’t the same thing as saying that
I can tell you this. Before I got on cortisol for my Addison’s disease, I was a suicidal emotional roller coaster. Had I been a woman, who knows what have happened! I guess I am lucky that I am a man and people don’t automatically dismiss me and my physical problems as emotional issues so I got what I needed and did a complete 180.
I get what Mary says. Frankly, I think all the women posting here defending Oprah and her fake Dr. are extremely sexist against their own gender. I highly doubt you would say the same things to a man with real physical disease. No woman has ever dismissed me in that manner.
Women may suffer more from the disease, but anyone can get it and animals get it too. I guess we need to set up counseling programs for all these animals who just can’t express their emotions properly to other animals. LOL
WHAT CAME FIRST THE CHICKEN OR THE EGG? SO EMOTIONAL BLOCKAGE CANT CAUSE A DISEASE? I FEEL DIFFERENT.
EVERYTHING STARTS WITH A THOUGHT.
SELF DEFIYING THOUGHTS LIKE WE ALL HAVE IN TODAYS LIFE LESS RAT RACE I FEEL ARE THE FORFRONT OF DISEASE.
A VERY CONFIDENT PERSON CAN OF COURSE BECOME CHRONICLY SICK, ONLY THEY KNOW DEEP DOWN WHICH SELF DEFYING THOUGHT PATTERNS THEY INHERRITED OR DEVELOPED TO CREATE THIS. IF CONTAMINATED WATER CAN BE PURIFIED THROUGH INTENTION THEN SHOULDNT WE BE SLOWLEY ENCOURAGING MORE POSSITIVE THOUGHT PATTERNS HERE INSTEAD OF THE SELF DEFEATING NOTE IM READING, SOME HAVE EVEN NICK NAMED THEMSELFS WITH ABREVIATIONS OF THERE DISEASE!!!! HAPPY DYING THERE : ) ITS ALMOST LIKE AN ADDICTION, “I AM SICK” “I AM” “I AM” HAY IVE BEEN THER TOO. BUT ITS SILLY REALLY. WHY WORRY ABOUT NEXT MONTHS SPIN OUT WHEN YOUR ONLY HERE & KNOW? IF WE FOCUS MORE ON THE MOMENT MAYBE WE WOULD FEEL BETTER, MEANING WE ARE BETTER. PAY ATTENTION TO YOURSELF O THE INSIDE, IT WILL REVEAL MANY TRUTHS TO YOU.
I DONT WATCH TV. I AM HOWEVER WRITTING THIS IN REGARD TO THE VICTIM IDENTITIES I KEEP READING IN THESE DISCUSSIONS ABOUT OPHRA. ISNT IT ABOUT TIME WE LEFT THE EGO AT HOME
I was diagnosed yesterday with a hypothyroid. Depression, exhaustion and other symptoms will disappear! Find a doctor you trust. Tell him/her everything and work together. Feeling good makes life worthwhile. There is no excuse for feeling sick when you don’t have to. I was tired of being tired! And, I look forward to enjoying life again.
ok, so what about people BORN without thyroids? id love to see their excuses for that one