Public Awareness Regarding and Outreach About Thyroid Disease

Actress Nia Vardalos has a thyroid condition, but lives life to the fullest. Find out how the award-winning actress has rebalanced her health and life, and how she juggles her Hollywood career, including two new films, along with a healthy diet, exercise, new motherhood, and her thyroid condition.

A Question and Answer Session with Baywatch Star and Thyroid Patient Advocate Gena Lee Nolin

Popular magazines often misrepresent information about thyroid disease and hormones. Examples include Good Housekeeping, Health and O magazines.

Thyroid disease is medicine's best-kept secret. Rarely talked about, and laughed at when it is, there's a stigma attached to thyroid problems. Have you experienced the "stigma" of thyroid disease with family, friends or even medical professionals? What do you think needs to happen for thyroid disease to become as easily discussed as diabetes or breast cancer, for example? What needs to happen to …

In the thyroid world, the end of Oprah's daytime show brings to an end a quarter-century of hopes that the influential talk show host -- who announced several years ago that she herself suffers from a thyroid problem -- would help raise awareness of thyroid disease.

Despite affecting almost 60 million people, thyroid disease is rarely in the news. Why is the media so skittish about covering thyroid problems, and what could change that problem to help raise awareness? Thyroid patient advocate Mary Shomon has some ideas.

The Guide to Starting a Local Thyroid Support Group has been published by the Coalition for Better Thyroid Care, as a web site and free downloadable e-book. Here are questions and answers with Coalition Co-founder and Executive Director Geri Rybacki.

The American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists AACE and American Thyroid Association ATA, with funding from Abbott Labs, maker of Synthroid, have developed a Thyroid Awareness Month campaign for January, 2007 titled How's Your Thyroid? Who Needs to Know? The campaign is geared towards those who may not know they have a malfunctioning thyroid. Mary Shomon offers her thoughts about the quality and relevance of some of the campaign information.

Protect Your Right to Bio-Identical Hormones: Premarin Manufacturer Trying to Get Compounded Hormones Off the Market

Patient advocate Mary Shomon's annual review of the best and worst thyroid-related people and happenings tackles 2005, and cheers and jeers are given to Bill Law and the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists, the doctors who have dared to speak out against the status quo, the makers of Alvidar, Thyrin, and Thyrotril, The About.com Thyroid Forum Members, Synthroid, Europeans such as Diana Holmes and Dr. Thierry Hertoghe, and empowered thyroid patients everywhere.

Experts push for testing, but many say that once diagnosed, thyroid disease is easy to treat. Other experts -- and many patients -- don't agree at all.

Patient advocate Mary Shomon finds that the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologist's 2006 Thyroid Awareness Month campaign to promote that patients target your numbers' overlooks one critical issue: the endocrinologists can't even agree on which numbers to target. Find out more in this editorial.

To mark Thyroid Awareness Month in January 2006, the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists -- AACE -- have developed a campaign urging patients to target their numbers, focusing on TSH and Free T4 numbers for diagnosis.

Graves' Disease patient, high-profile thyroid spokeswoman and Olympic gold medal-winning sprinter Gail Devers has broken an American record in her successful bid for a spot on the U.S. Olympic Team for the Summer Olympics in Sydney. Find out more about this outstanding athlete and the hurdles she's successfully faced, both on the track and off.

With vague symptoms, thyroid disease frequently goes undiagnosed. Experts are now recommending everyone over 35 be tested. Are you at risk for thyroid disease? Should you be tested?

Devers' injury keeps her out of 100m Olympics finals, missing third chance at medal in hurdles.

Vice President Al Gore's wife has suspicious nodule removed and evaluated for potential thyroid cancer.

Gold medal winner talks about years of not being diagnosed with Graves' disease, and need for better public reporting of medical errors.

The raspy-voiced rocker undergoes surgery to remove a suspicious thyroid nodule.

Brief version of Gail Devers' story, from Gland Central.

Interview with supermodel Kim Alexis about her hypothyroidism.

Why thyroid disease diagnosis seems so difficult.

Nationwide study shows lack of understanding about thyroid disease, leaving half of the estimated 13 million U.S. cases of thyroid dysfunction undiagnosed.

The AACE's public awareness program, featuring instructions and a useful diagram on how to give yourself the thyroid "Neck Check."