Advocating for your Thyroid Health Across all your Relationships | Rachel Hill, The Invisible Hypothyroidism | Ep 103

Rachel Hill, renowned social media thyroid advocate, joins us to share her thyroid journey, right from her teenage years to her life-long commitment to raising awareness and advocating for thyroid health. Rachel’s candid discussions will leave you feeling enlightened, understood, and supported, regardless of where you are on your thyroid health journey.

We explore the importance of understanding, support and communication in managing thyroid conditions. From advocating for your health with your family, friends, and work colleagues to sharing your thyroid stories to increase awareness, this episode offers a comprehensive overview of a thyroid disease patient's reality. We also discuss the challenging task of managing a full time job while dealing with thyroid health issues, and we share practical strategies for balancing professional commitments and health needs.

Permeating personal boundaries, thyroid health also has a significant impact on our relationships. Essential conversation on how to manage day-to-day energy levels, using the Spoon Theory, and setting healthy boundaries to ensure long-term wellness are the highlights of this episode. We also engage in an insightful discussion on explaining thyroid conditions to children and making dietary changes, while ensuring a compassionate response from loved ones. With resources like podcasts and books, we leave you equipped to enhance the understanding of thyroid conditions among your circle.

Rachel Hill is the highly ranked and multi-award winning thyroid patient advocate, writer, speaker and author behind The Invisible Hypothyroidism. Her thyroid advocacy work includes writing articles, authoring books, producing her Thyroid Family email newsletters and speaking on podcasts and at events about the many aspects thyroid disease affects and how to overcome these. She is well-recognised as a crucial and influential contributor to the thyroid community and has a large social media presence. Her bestselling books include "Be Your Own Thyroid Advocate" and "You, Me and Hypothyroidism". 

Website: https://www.theinvisiblehypothyroidism.com/

Social media @theinvisiblehypothyroidism

Rachel's Books:

Be Your Own Thyroid Advocate

You, Me & Hypothyroidism 

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:01

Hello and welcome to episode 103 of the Let's Talk Thyroid podcast, where I have the pleasure of talking with Rachel Hill, who you might know as the invisible hyperthyroidism. She's a social media thyroid advocate superhero. Really, she's been around for a long time in the social media space online presence as a thyroid patient advocate And that's really what we're talking about today is advocating for your own thyroid health with the people around you, so in your workplace, with your family, friends and with your children, and something that Rachel's been very passionate about for a long time. She's won lots of awards in this space. She's authored three books all around thyroid advocacy in different relationships. She has a thyroid family Facebook group and email newsletter. She really has been around in this space for a long time, really contributing, as I say, positively and practically with lots of hope. So I hope you enjoyed this conversation with Rachel and getting a little bit more of an insight into how you can advocate for yourself and your own health in amongst the world and the community and family in which you live. So enjoy this conversation.

Speaker 1: 1:15

Welcome to Let's Talk Thyroid. I'm your host, annabel Bateman. This podcast is here to offer you hope and strategies for your own thyroid health. I'm a thyroid coach, author and patient. I've had Hashimoto's for well over 25 years and I'm very much on this thyroid friendly lifestyle journey with you. For more information, go to Let'sTalkThyroidcom. All right, well, welcome, rachel Hill, to the Let's Talk Thyroid podcast all the way from the UK. Lovely to have you with me this evening and you this morning, so welcome.

Speaker 2: 1:54

Thank you so much for having me. I'm really excited to jump into I hope it will be some really helpful topics to your listeners.

Speaker 1: 2:02

Yeah, i hope so too. I mean generally the plan for the conversation, and we were just saying, you know, we could end up on some tangents because I think we're both pretty passionate about thyroid health advocacy and helping thyroid patients around the world. But the general topic of the conversation is that we want to talk about how we talk about our thyroid health with our family and our friends and our children and perhaps our work colleagues or bosses, so that they can understand as much as is necessary, or we want them to, or I mean they're some of the questions that we'll explore, but you had other people around us understand what we're going through. So that's the topic. So stick around and have a listen.

Speaker 1: 2:45

But, rachel, before we dive right into that, tell us a little bit about your thyroid health journey. I know many of you, many people listening, will know Rachel anyway. She's known as the invisible hypothyroidism. So, but you're not invisible. You're beautiful when I can see it in front of me. So tell us about the visible Rachel. Tell us a little bit about you and your story and maybe your journey through the invisible hypothyroidism. What if you want to tell us to set the scene for who you are and how you are such a blessing really to the thyroid community.

Speaker 2: 3:18

It's a really little introduction, yeah, so, like many people, i had symptoms of a thyroid issue quite early on. It was kind of speckled through my childhood. I was labeled as a kind of lazy child. I never really had much energy, would have my snakes and pains, chronic constipation, migraines, things like that. And then when I got to about 16, 17, following a bout of swine flu I it just really ramped up and I spent the next five years after that going back and forth to the doctors just complaining of more and more symptoms And considering at the time I was, you know, for much of that time, a teenager.

Speaker 2: 3:58

I should have been fairly healthy, feeling quite vibrant and active, and I just wasn't. And I'd like to say migraines, hair loss, acne constipation, stomach and gut issues, acid reflux every part of my body was just affected And I would keep coming away from appointments with another different prescription for all these various aspects And eventually my mental health obviously started to take a toll as well, because when you're when you're dealing with that many physical health symptoms, it's hard and it gets heavy, and I found it hard to hold down a job. I found it hard to maintain relationships. Every aspect of my life was eventually touched and almost destroyed to an effect by thyroid disease. And yeah, by the time I was finally diagnosed, i was relieved to have this answer and know that I wasn't just making it all up and it wasn't just in my head. But I also felt really overwhelmed, really confused, frustrated, relieved, yes, but also quite scared. I didn't know where to where to go next, i guess, and I still being in kind of quite a dark place mental health wise.

Speaker 2: 5:14

My now husband, adam, at the time was my boyfriend. He suggested that I started a blog. Loads of people 10 years ago was sort of blogging about various things and said why don't you kind of get all your thoughts and feelings out? and he knew that I've always loved writing. I've just found different things to write about depending on what, where I was in life. But yeah, he said, use your writing to kind of get all that out and process it. And so I started writing on a blog and after a few months I decided to publish it and make it live. And, yeah, the overwhelming response from the third patient community that there was this, i guess, mass relief that we're not alone in all of these symptoms and getting diagnosed and feeling, those mix of mix of emotions and feelings And then also starting medication but not feeling better as quickly as we would hope or as quickly as the doctors kind of implied that we will. And yeah, within that the invisible hyperthyroidism was born and this third community that.

Speaker 2: 6:16

I lovingly refer to as my third family. you know we're there to support each other on the tough thyroid days, but also to celebrate when our health. you know we're having a health win and we're finding something that's helping. And, yeah, i've, but my website is still going, but I've since branched out into my email series letters. I have various social media channels and most active on Instagram and Facebook, and the idea is to just keep spreading the message that we can get better, we can take control of our thyroid health, there are things we can do to help ourselves And, yeah, i guess to just keep delivering a solid dose of hope to people that we don't have to stay feeling really unwell for a long time And that there is hope at the end of the tunnel to get back on top of everything.

Speaker 1: 7:04

Yeah, absolutely That's. you just sound a bit like an echo, an echo of the. so I think those listening that are regular listeners of this show should think, oh, was that Annabelle talking? Oh, was that Rachel talking? Because, you know, i think that's exactly and that's why there's great to have, you know, many voices and I think, really, given the size of the thyroid family around the world, there's not really that many voices.

Speaker 1: 7:34

And so, and I imagine 10 years ago it was interesting about 10 years ago is when I started my food blog for similar kind of reasons. I just wanted you know it started going paleo and just sort of wanted to kind of blog about what I was eating and why I was eating was because of my thyroid stuff. And I remember years ago writing a blog called my Hashimoto's heroes And, yeah, it has taken me sort of twists and turns to kind of end up kind of as let's talk thyroid. but I love that we can use our experiences to help shortcut other people's journeys, because I know, yeah, like we were both diagnosed at similar ages, having had probably not dissimilar teenage hoards where you don't really know what's didn't really know any better, you know.

Speaker 1: 8:18

And so, yeah, that is hope. I think there's always hope. So I like that. And you're not alone. I mean, you probably hear, too, from people all the time that just say, oh, i'm so glad I discovered you know, whether it's your Instagram page or your podcast or your blog or whatever. And I'm not alone. And the number of people that still feel like they're alone in this journey So you're not. if you're listening, you're not alone. We're at least two voices here to tell you that you're not alone.

Speaker 2: 8:50

Exactly. Yeah, there are hundreds of thousands of people worldwide with a thyroid condition And a lot of us know friends and family that have it, but we're just not aware that they have it because a lot of us don't talk about it. And that's a really important aspect for me, because if we can be a bit more open and talk about it and by that I mean symptoms, getting diagnosed, treatment options we can hopefully reach more people earlier on and they don't have to be ill and confused for as long as we were. So, yeah, i think it's a really important aspect to try and get more voices out there In the thyroid community. We have a lot of kind of medical professionals, doctors, people within sort of naturopathic medicine, lifestyle medicine, functional medicine talking about it, and that is really good. They're putting really valuable information out there.

Speaker 2: 9:43

But, yeah, we also need those patient voices to be weighing in the people that are living directly with it and feeling the direct impacts and sharing what exactly is working for them. Because, as we all know, there's no one size fits all when it comes to treating, managing, living with thyroid disease. So, yeah, i often describe it as putting together this thyroid jigsaw puzzle. We have different puzzle pieces, different things that we need to do to get our health back to a good place, and for me, it's all about sharing those many puzzle pieces so that each thyroid patient can figure out which things are going to work for them.

Speaker 1: 10:21

Absolutely, And I think that's you know. I often say when we're talking about our thyroid stories, there's going to be people that will relate to your story in ways that they won't relate to mine, And so the more of us that are sharing our stories, the more people that we're going to be able to help. And I think that really leads really nicely into this topic of, well, how do we share our thyroid story, And that will look different depending on who we're talking to. So how do we help those around us understand what it's like to have a thyroid condition? I mean, really that's the kind of core question, isn't it, of what we're going to cover. And so I mean, maybe to start with Rachel, I mean, how important do you think it is that we share our stories to those around us so that they understand? Like, do you think that people around us really do need to understand, Or is it something we can kind of keep a bit more private? What are your thoughts on that?

Speaker 2: 11:18

I think it differs, number one depending on what your thyroid situation currently is, your health situation, and how much you feel like it might impact those relationships or how much it can benefit by letting those people in on it. And then, yeah, it I think as well it depends on what kind of relationships you have. So I know that you know these days, as we were talking a little before we started recording, i worked for myself, but when I used to have a more quote, unquote regular job where I would work in an office five days a week, i found it incredibly important to make my work colleagues and my line manager aware of my thyroid issues, symptoms, why I need to keep going for blood tests, doctor's appointments you know what flare days are. I found that really important to let them know so that we could work together as a team within that office and that work environment, because with them understanding how that impacts, impacts me, and what they can expect, it means that we can pull in as a team for further support. You know, if I'm not going to be in for a day or two, i need someone else to be picking up that work that I was working on And so having that open sort of communication and that fluid communication was really important And I was really blessed with a really understanding line manager and bunch of work colleagues who were absolutely brilliant.

Speaker 2: 12:43

And I appreciate that's not the same for everyone, so it's. It really depends on what kind of environment and situation you're in, but getting those conversations going it doesn't have to be a really daunting. Get everyone sit down and have a deep conversation Maybe. Maybe if you're having some kind of fundraising or charity event, you in your workplace you could choose to do it for a thoroughed organization, hold a bake sale, take some things and get people talking about it. Or it's a really big thing these days, especially on social media, to ask people to donate to a fundraiser for your birthday and things like that.

Speaker 2: 13:18

There are small ways that we can kind of get the conversations going without feeling like we need to make a really big deal of it, because I think that that's what a lot of people worry about, and a lot of people worry about, i guess, bringing like doom and gloom and negativity as well, and we can kind of feel a bit less, less wanting to share that stuff if we feel like we're going to be met with someone who thinks we're just moaning about it or wallowing or, yeah, just kind of sit in within that And so it's finding ways to get those conversations going In a way that's not going to feel like that, that's going to feel more productive.

Speaker 1: 13:57

But yeah, I think that's a good kind of awareness raising kind of strategy, that's a good one. I like that. I actually had someone in my Facebook group ask just recently and I said right, i'm going to talk about this. one with Rachel was pretty much that, like you know, she said she has a fairly high pressure job. She does want to be able to explain her health situation to her boss in a productive way and was just looking for some tips And I said, well, how about we have a conversation about that?

Speaker 1: 14:26

Because I guess that's a little bit more of the deliberate conversation rather than just starting with the awareness raising And I've got to say it's a long time since I've had worked in an employment situation And I don't remember ever having a conversation with any of my employers maybe the last one about my thyroid health, but more maybe just in you, what you were saying more of a conversational way rather than a way that I felt like I needed to explain anything, and certainly when I was a lot younger, probably when my thyroid was a lot worse.

Speaker 1: 15:00

It probably could have been a conversation with my boss back in my twenties and my new baby lawyer job. That probably would have been quite helpful, but I wasn't even on my radar to even I wouldn't have even known where to start with it that way back then. So you know, if someone was wanting to have a deliberate conversation, you know, is there anything you think you know should be? make sure they include in that conversation? Or you know what? what information do you think is important for you know, say, an employer to understand?

Speaker 2: 15:31

Yeah. So I think it's really important to set up and manage those expectations. So, again, depending on where you are within your your thyroid journey, in your health situation, if you are still having frequent doctor's appointments and and tests being drawn, investigations are being referred to an endocrinologist, there might be all those things kind of going on. It's important to set those expectations with your, your line manager, your work environment, that you're going to need to be going out to these things And that might impact when deadlines could be met or how much work you can realistically take on. And then, on top of that it's, i think it's so important to start this conversation of what thyroid flares are and what that means, And by that I mean when we overexert ourselves or we perhaps take too much on, and that could be physically, it could be mentally. Perhaps there's a lot of mental stress going on And we can experience a bit of a setback in our health And that can look like a day or two or a week or two of heightened thyroid symptoms, maybe symptoms that you've not seen for a while, coming back, and some people even experienced them after sort of eating certain foods or drinking alcohol. But, yeah, getting that conversation going around flares and awareness of thyroid flares. I found that incredibly important And that is something that I just sat down and had a quick five 10 minute conversation with my previous employees about, because I wanted to make them aware that I don't always know when flares are going to hit. A lot of the time they come out of nowhere. We know what common triggers can be, but sometimes we don't know what the triggers. They still happen And the you know, if I call upon the morning of of a work day to explain that I I haven't had any warning it's probably going to last a day or two. In my experience, i think, setting those expectations of what a flare looks like for you, how long it's probably going to keep you out of work before flares are then going to hit in future, they've already got that understanding which is going to make it a lot easier going forward. You don't want to be explaining all of that on the day of calling in to say I can't come in, i'm in a thyroid flare, and then trying to explain all that on the phone. So yeah, whenever I started a new job, i would make them aware of that sort of early on, in the first few weeks of starting just to kind of make them aware, but, yeah, also just reinforcing that I am I'm still a valuable member of your workforce and I do obviously want to be here and work and play my part.

Speaker 2: 18:02

But, yes, so many people worldwide are living with various chronic health conditions, and getting our workplace to understand that is such a It's such a crucial part of our lives. We spend so much time at work. A lot of people, or most people, have full-time jobs, and if we can find a way to Kind of bring those worlds together in a way that creates more mutual understanding, it can only be beneficial. And again, there's the caveat that not everyone's work situation is going to be as supportive. But if there are things that we can do to try and make the situation easier, then, yeah, it's well worth having those discussions.

Speaker 1: 18:41

Yeah, i think it's. I mean it is a good, i mean there's probably a whole topic in and of itself. Is You know how to have it for people to manage that full-time work? because I think that in and of itself is difficult. It's not something I've done for a long time.

Speaker 1: 18:55

Actually. I, you know, i've had the privilege of working from home and working part-time Really ever since I've had Kids and you know, my oldest kid child is nearly 20. So really it's a long time since I've worked in full-time employment. And I did work in full-time employment with Hashimoto's. I was diagnosed at 22.

Speaker 1: 19:16

So the you know, my first, i don't know five, six, seven years of work were full-time, as probably in those early days, which probably weren't great, but and I didn't really know any better, i just slogged it out. Really, you know, i think and think that's what a lot of people with Hashimoto's and autoimmune diseases do is we just push through, which probably isn't helpful in the long run. So I think that, yeah, maybe that's a whole. Nother conversation is how do we do with full-time work? because I do hear people asking about that To like how do you, man, you know, how do you manage? and I have to say well, i don't have that experience recently to share, so You know, maybe that's a conversation with Yeah for another day, but yeah, i don't know, do you must hear a lot of those kind of similar kind of conversations as well.

Speaker 2: 20:04

Yeah, i've spoken it and I've touched on it a little bit and sort of previous articles, social media posts that are created, but When I was working full-time, the key things that I found helped me to keep on top of my thyroid health Just that little bit better were things like ensuring I used annual leave days And a lot of people don't actually utilize them. And you don't need to be going on holiday. You can use them to have rest days at home To just try and create that better work life balance. When our work life balances off, our physical health, nonmental health can deteriorate as a result and that can obviously impact how well our third condition is managed. So, finding ways to create a better work life balance, like making sure you take your annual leave days and Booking in, you know, recovery and rest days, making sure you're not taking your work home, leave work at the office, don't have work emails on your phone if you can avoid it, and if you're commuting to and from work, using that time to try to Switch off and do something good for yourself, like reading a book, listening to a podcast, like this things that are going to help you just feel more balanced instead of and I Guess just off kilter, when, when our work balance isn't right, we can feel that we start to feel burnt out, we feel stressed and Yeah, the impact to those stress hormones you know, the adrenal glands are such a big part that endocrine system with our thyroid gland You can all impact each other and just add more fuel to the fire and makes it impossible to ever get on top of our health. So, yeah, things like that, things I you know, getting up regularly throughout the day, just have a bit of a walk around, take breaks from your screen, sipping water all day long If it helps to keep a blanket and a hot water bottle if you're working at a desk sort of job, yeah, there are things like that little kind of hacks that can make you more comfortable at work and just conserve energy and make you feel more on top of stuff.

Speaker 2: 21:56

And then We, if we're able to, we can also look at our line of work. I know that when I was working shift hours. So I Used to do a more manual shift job where I would be working 12 hour shifts And that could be 8 am To 8 pm Or 8 pm To 8 am, and that just didn't work for my body again. Yeah, it drove my health into a really bad place and for some people that works absolutely fine for them. But my body needs shorter work hours.

Speaker 2: 22:24

You know, more like seven, eight hours a day fits better. I need to be able to get up and move, but if I'm on my feet all day, like in that job I was, it's the quickest way to send me into a flare and then not having a proper sleep pattern as well. Those things are really important there, some of those important jigsaw puzzle pieces to my thyroid health. So, yeah, if we're able to reassess whether those aspects of our job are really Okay or whether they're not really supporting our thyroid health, if we can change those, then again They're all areas that we could reconsider.

Speaker 1: 22:55

Hmm, yeah, yeah, that's good like that and like some.

Speaker 1: 22:59

some of these things are going to translate as we start to talk about The other relationships and I think the big one you know is our husbands or spouses, partners, who you know, and, again, probably depending on When the relationship started in relation to how you're feeling and when your thyroid condition kicked in, you know, i think that that's kind of significantly impact.

Speaker 1: 23:21

You know The impact of having a thyroid condition on your relationship, but I know you and your husband have a book about this That's been around for a long time and I know you've got a new book about how to talk to Your children about your thyroid condition, so I want to get into that too. But when we're talking with You know the closest ones to us. You know our partners, who you know have to live with us through the good days and the bad days. You know what are, what are some of the, the things that You see are really important in being able to Help them to understand that we're not just lazy and crazy. You know that we're. You know that we are Dealing with chronic health issues, like you know. How do you go about explaining that and what are some of the conversations Perhaps you and your husband have had around this.

Speaker 2: 24:10

Yes. So Adam describes the day that I came home With this diagnosis as a thyroid condition as being Really monumental in our relationship and how we function now, but he also found it massively confusing and overwhelming. I remember his one of his first questions was Is it terminal? Is it lifelong, like I have no idea what this means and Knowing what we know now about thyroid condition, that we laugh a bit. It seems funny.

Speaker 2: 24:39

But a lot of people they don't know what thyroid gland is, they don't know what hypothyroidism or Hashimoto's is, and so these questions are valid and it's important that we approach those, those topics and those questions with a curiosity that's going to Hopefully help make our relationship stronger, because I often describe thyroid disease in a relationship as the third wheel. It can really sort of edge its way in and impact so many aspects, all aspects of our relationships, and Especially in those romantic relationships. We hear from Thyroid patients whose divorce is you know they've divorced as a resort or it's played a big part in the separation of their relationship, because it can impact everything from mental health to fertility, you know, whether you're able to start a family or expand your family, as well as work life and our spouses and the people that we live with Perhaps aren't always the most understanding about how it can impact those areas. So, yeah, being able to approach that with curiosity and start those conversations is, again, really important and and I found that Keeping things fairly simple from and the point of view of what Adam needs to know, really helped. So, and that's why we created the book you mean hyperthyroidism. It, just like everything else I kind of put out there, it keeps it simple. We only need to sort of give the information that is absolutely needed. We don't need to get bogged down and a lot of the more jargon side of things. So, you know, explain that hyperthyroidism means that a third gland located in the neck, it, doesn't produce enough hormone and that can lead to x, y and z symptoms, or hundreds of symptoms actually. But we can keep it as simple as that and then going on to say that It's treated with hormone replacement therapy. That are medication, but it can take a while to tweak that and get it right. And there are other lifestyle things we can do To improve our, our state of health with hyperthyroidism. That's really important and that's where we can pull our partner, we pull our spouse or the family members in To support us in those, and so one of the most important things that Adam does for my health Is he calls himself a spoonie champion.

Speaker 2: 26:53

So within the chronic illness community, and there's this idea of the spoon theory I don't know if you're familiar with it, but it's not It's this, it's this idea that we people with chronic illness, disabilities, health conditions, they start the day off with a certain amount of energy and you can imagine it, i think in the original story of the woman that created it she talks about having so many spoons.

Speaker 2: 27:17

You can imagine it as a full battery and charged up. Other days We might be starting the day with half a battery's worth of energy, three quarters and one bar on a flare day, and everything we do that day, or the tasks that we do, the jobs we have to do, they use a bit more of that energy and that energy is only replenished as we rest. And so regular person that doesn't have any ongoing health issues, they don't have to think about this stuff. They pretty much wake up. They might feel tired from going to bed late the night before, but it doesn't impede their ability to go to work and do their normal day to day things. But for people with health conditions like thyroid disease, we're often starting the day with a certain amount of energy And if we use all of that up really early in the day, we're going to sort of become a potato.

Speaker 2: 28:06

Yeah exactly, and if we do that repeatedly we end up in a thyroid flare. And so, using that analogy to explain my day to day to Adam, he said it was like a light bulb moment. Turning on, He realized actually oh, that makes sense when on the weekend, if we have a really packed weekend of lots of things going on, rachel can get to Saturday night and she's kind of done for the weekend, she's got nothing left for Sunday, whereas I can keep going. And that was a real moment of understanding how I kind of tend to need to pace my body just a little bit differently and just to be a bit more mindful. And that includes where you're putting your energy physically, but also mentally, and starting to put boundaries in on kind of saving some of that mental and emotional energy as well, because I think a lot of our patients struggle with putting in those boundaries and knowing when to say no and knowing how many things to take on in terms of commitments. So, yeah, figuring that out together and helping your loved ones to understand what your energy levels can look like day to day, that can really have a huge impact in itself. When Adam notices that I'm having what he calls a low spoons day or that I'm already flagging a bit in the morning. He knows there are certain things he can do to try and recuperate some energy or get me started off better in the morning, and that might be that he makes me like a particularly nutritious breakfast or is able to help out a bit more with things around the house or to take the children off my hands for a little bit and to just try and pace my energy a little bit better.

Speaker 2: 29:45

And often he can see when I'm starting to flag before I notice it in myself, because I think many thyroid patients we tend to just carry on going, we push on and we get on with things, and that's not really what we want to be doing.

Speaker 2: 29:59

If we want to get on top of our thyroid health, we've got to learn what our new normal is, where we are day to day And that's not to say that we're doomed to a poor quality of life forever, but it waxes and wanes depending on where we are in our thyroid health journey. If we're in a really good place, we're on top of everything. We're probably not thinking about our energy so much day to day, but if we're in a flare or if there's a lot of other life stress is going on and that's impacting how, on top of it, we are, then, yeah, we probably need to be thinking about our energy and pacing ourselves a little bit more. So, yeah, there's a simple way to like kind of get our friends and family members understanding how we function in terms of explaining those energy levels and opening up that dialogue of how we can differ day to day.

Speaker 1: 30:48

Yeah, i think that's good. And if I look back to when my kids were little, you know I wasn't managing my thyroid health holistically back then I was on I mean, i've been on thyroid medication for the whole time but when they were little, you know I wasn't making I hadn't really made any of the other diet and lifestyle changes. And so I look back and I think what was no wonder I didn't really cope very well with three little boys, like I was exhausted and I was. I was very irritable And like I had a lot of that that snappy irritability that comes with being hyperthyroid And I think, you know, having probably a lot of mood issues probably connected to my gut health, and still was eating gluten and grains back then. And so only now that I look back and I think, oh yeah, i think a lot of those struggles that I put down to I'm just not a good mum to young kids was probably my thyroid health in the way that I was not managing it in the way that I do now. And I often think I wonder how different it would have been if I knew then what I know now And so you know, but I didn't know to explain any of those things through the thyroid health lens.

Speaker 1: 32:09

You know, i guess I just was desperately waiting for Lee to come home at the end of every day from work, like if he was one minute late, i was like I could kind of hold it together until six o'clock And then, you know, if he was like five past six, i'm like where are you? You know, and I know now that was probably me. Just that was a lot of that was probably thyroid health. I mean, i probably not all, but some of it would have been. And so I think, just to know, you know, be able to identify some of these symptoms as thyroid related. So I guess if you're listening and you're early on in you know your thyroid journey or you, you know you haven't been looking at some of those diet and lifestyle things alongside the medication. Learning what quit can be connected and what isn't can be really helpful. Yeah, to then help you to know how to explain that and get the help that you need. And you know I couldn't have articulated that back then.

Speaker 1: 33:04

Yeah, I think, yeah, yeah, a lot of us doing really well to have little kids and be able to articulate that. I think that's a really good thing. I'm really good for your kids.

Speaker 2: 33:12

Yeah, and that's and you that's why I created Thyroid Superhero, my book. That was released about a month ago because my three year old he's at the age now. He's really curious, he's asking lots of questions And he started to notice that I take medication. I don't eat gluten. You know there are certain things mummy does differently to other mummies or other people, or to even him, and he was asking me why, why don't you eat gluten, mummy, and why do you take that medication every day And why is mummy tired? again, he would say to daddy, when I was postpartum with my now one year old last year, there was a many, many tired flare days And, yeah, i figured that he couldn't be the only child asking those questions And that actually there's a real value to educating our children, if we can, early on what to what a thyroid condition is, what symptoms are, what flare days look like.

Speaker 2: 34:07

You know, we we want to raise the next generation to hopefully be even more compassionate and understanding to people with health conditions than our generation. And in our family we find a lot of value in books. When, when my children have questions or interests about things, we turn to books. We love books And so we. Yeah, i felt like a book was a great way to get those conversations going, and it.

Speaker 1: 34:31

I can see it behind you. Do you want to hold it up? Yeah, sure.

Speaker 2: 34:36

Yeah, it's age appropriate to sort of children, i'd say, for about two years onwards, maybe up to about nine or 10. It gets, gets some of the questions answered and conversations going in a way that you can then, i guess, i manipulate it to your situation and change it into age appropriate answers. So there's some really lovely illustrations and sort of parents needing to rest on rest days and speaking about how on those days it can help to do sort of more calming activities with your grown-up. You might need to stay home, but you can sit and read with them. We can find ways to kind of work with it.

Speaker 2: 35:13

I know, on my flare day is one of my favorite things to do is to have the children play in the garden and I will sit on the back door step with maybe a blanket around me and a cup of tea and just enjoy watching them play, whilst trying to like recuperate some of that energy and let myself rest a little bit. But yeah, it's, the aim is to, like I say, just get those conversations going so that we can have them understand what it is we're going through. And as they go through life they will no doubt encounter people with not just a thyroid condition but other health conditions, and much of this can transpire to other health conditions too, when we talk about flares and energy, things like that. But also there is a genetic component to having a thyroid condition, having thyroid disease, and I want my children to be aware of the signs and symptoms in themselves. But also, you know, if they go on to have children or they meet a partner or have friends at college, university and they can spot those signs of something not quite being right hopefully earlier than I did, because there was no one there to point that out to me And once diagnosed, it started to make a lot of sense that actually I could spot those signs and symptoms in other women within my family as well, and we, just as women especially, we just tend to just push on and we get told that it's normal to feel tired, especially as parents.

Speaker 2: 36:35

It's normal to feel tired, it's normal to feel stressed or maybe low in mood and anxious, and actually a lot of the time people have these undiagnosed conditions like thyroid disease. So, yeah, i'm hoping that it's just helpful to children and families around us in more ways than one.

Speaker 1: 36:57

Yeah, i think it's good And I think I saw might have been on your Instagram somebody commenting, or maybe it was when we had a chat a couple of weeks ago. I think it might have been. when we were chatting a couple of weeks ago you mentioned that someone said right, i'm just going to get this and lay it around for the kids, but hoping that the adults in the family, you know, pick it up and have a read.

Speaker 2: 37:14

And so.

Speaker 1: 37:15

I think, like you said, you know, i suppose the children's book is written nice and simply, and so, as you said before, trying to explain a thyroid health to our other family, adult family members doesn't have to be complicated.

Speaker 1: 37:30

I think one of the things that people seem to struggle with and certainly this has come up, you know, in our household is some of those more diet, you know the diet and lifestyle changes. So like why, you know, helping people to understand why do a lot of people most feel better without gluten, and that I mean some of those things have an impact on the rest of the family. Perhaps you know in different ways, and so I think sometimes that's where other people can I don't know maybe get a bit frustrated with the thyroid patient because maybe they don't fully understand or they don't fully comprehend. Surely a little bit of gluten isn't going to really hurt you, or doesn't really matter if you have soy sauce on your, you know, on your sushi or some of those type of things. So how to you know? you know what are your thoughts around that and how we explain those changes and how significant they are, you know, to help you understand that.

Speaker 2: 38:31

I think I think any of us that have made dietary changes like going gluten free I think that's the most common with Hashimoto's and hyperthyroidism. I think we've all heard that comment of just just one piece of birthday cake isn't going to harm you, or yeah, like you say, just just have it this one time and you just want to scream it Yes, it will, it really really will. And that can be hard because for people who don't have to think about so much about what they eat and drink because they don't feel adverse effects, but that's that's going to be really hard for them to understand how that impacts us. And I know at home in our household I am the only one who's gluten free. It's not something that I have enforced on the rest of my family. I think if you can sort of eat a wider diet and less restricted, it's not going to cause you less stress and less things to worry about. Then why not?

Speaker 2: 39:26

I am an advocate of only removing foods that are genuinely causing an issue to us, and so it means that I have my own toaster. We have like separate cooking utensils. By and large, the whole family eats gluten free anyway. My husband and I share the cooking, but the staples that we buy in are gluten free if we're doing things like pasta, which we don't do that often anyway, but it's just easier for everyone to eat the same. So at home it's just kind of is what it is. We've got very used to it over the last five or six years.

Speaker 2: 39:57

But like going back to the work situation, that was a bit trickier to explain to work colleagues why it was someone's birthday and they brought a cake and why I couldn't have a piece or, yeah, what exactly that would do to my health. But with time and persistence I find that people they do start to understand and they do want to understand as well, and people will generally only make you sick by glutening you once or twice before they understand. Oh yeah, they really do need to be gluten free and not eat this. Yeah, we've had friends and family members that have invited us around for a meal And they'll end up being gluten in a meal and I wasn't very well afterwards And they're now just extra cautious And that's not the most ideal way to go about learning it.

Speaker 2: 40:46

But, yeah, it gets the message across very quickly. But you can share resources with them. If there are resources like podcasts, books, posts, online articles that you find helpful, that talk about areas of managing author conditions, like being gluten free or other dietary changes, try and share them with your loved ones. We, you know, we can't necessarily make them listen to the podcast or read the article, but if you can make it easier for them, send them snippets, deliver it to them in a quite an easy to absorb way. I find that helps an awful lot. Expecting them to dedicate a lot of time to understanding this is probably going to be a bit unrealistic. if they're not the ones living with their disease themselves, why would they consume hours and hours worth of content? But yeah, if you can find ways to just get little snippets, little bite sizes, bite size pieces of information to them to help them understand, that alone can go a long way.

Speaker 1: 41:45

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I think it was when I my. The book that I wrote came out last year and I had a little book launch and my mum and dad came up for it. And my mum has Hashimoto's but she was only diagnosed a few years ago And my dad always liked to make speeches at things. So he made a speech at this book launch, which was really lovely, and he read my book and obviously he read my book probably because he's my dad, but he read my book also because mum has only more recently been diagnosed and he just said it was really helpful And, again, like my book, probably this is the writing from a patient perspective.

Speaker 1: 42:27

I've tried to keep it really simple. It's like this is the non-technical explanations of things And this is, and so I think he said you know, as as a spouse of someone with Hashimoto's, it was really helpful to understand, kind of what she's going through and what changes she's needing to make. And to make those changes when you're in your, you know, late 60s, early 70s not easy. And I mean I even had dad the other day ring me because they've been putting in a water filter system. Oh, okay, you know, deal with all of the. You know the crap that's in the water? And I said, and he said, nah, just how important is it to remove the fluoride, anabella? And I said, well, actually, dad, it's very important. So so, yes, you do need to go to that extra step and get that extra filter. All right, it's all right, it's okay, i'm whatever your mother means, i'm sorting it all out, and it was very sweet actually, but I think you know him reading that book. Like you say, give a resource. Now, i mean, not all husbands might read a whole book, but a podcast or actually something I found helpful. Just, maybe it was only last year or a year or two ago.

Speaker 1: 43:34

We watched a documentary by the I don't, i can't remember the guy's name, but his business or char. It's a charity really. He's called MS Hope. I don't know if you know the guy, but he's got MS, obviously And so it.

Speaker 1: 43:51

But it really went through why it was so important, like his dad was relentless at researching all of the diet and lifestyle things that could support his son, because he's only fairly young, this guy, when he was diagnosed with MS, and so they have really been pioneers in a lot of that, this holistic, you know, diet, nutrition, lifestyle space for MS And really when we're talking about autoimmune diseases they're all very, very similar And so actually watching that even though it wasn't about thyroid condition, it was about MS it was really helpful for my husband to understand. He's like, oh okay, now I get why you've got to be really really kind of careful, and so just watching that was helpful. So I guess it's just finding those little things along the way And understanding maybe some I mean you and I probably got husbands that are quite receptive but not all, not all spouses are like and you know, that's a bit. That's a trickier situation.

Speaker 2: 44:51

It is Yeah, i think most importantly is that that you're doing what you know you need to do for your health. And in an ideal world, everyone around us would understand, everyone would be really supportive. It would be really easy And that's. that's just not the case And that's never going to happen. We don't. we don't need people around us to be validating our experiences either. We know what it is, we know what we feel, we know what we experience And often case, we know what we need as well to feel well. And going back to boundaries. it often sort of comes back to us putting those boundaries in place and saying no, you know what? I can't even. I can't even eat just one piece of cake because that will, that will put me on a flat or do whatever it does to your body. Or over committing time and energy, you know, changing career or whatever it is. having that one alcoholic drink at a party when you know drinking alcohol just doesn't do good things for your thyroid health. putting those boundaries in place We don't, in an ideal world, having those supportive people around us to supporters in that would be amazing. But if you don't have those people around you, it could certainly help to do that It could certainly help to do that work, to learn how to put the boundaries in place yourself and to how to withhold those and develop that. I guess that assertiveness and that ability to just know that you don't need anyone else's validation Your experiences are still valid And you can. whilst it's easier to have people to support us with those, you can still ultimately do it on your own if you've got the right resources and just take baby steps.

Speaker 2: 46:35

I think a lot of people, when they're first diagnosed and they're first trying to figure out what it is they need to do to get their health back on track, it could feel hugely overwhelming. There is so much information out there. You don't know where to begin, what to do first. You're thinking I need to change thyroid medication? Should I be going gluten free and dairy free? What about these supplements? And there's so much to consider And I always say to people to just step back and take baby steps, just one thing at a time. implement things one thing at a time. It's I know it's it's really appealing to implement all the things at once so that you can recover your health as soon as possible.

Speaker 2: 47:13

But ultimately, if you're getting stressed because such a big thing to adapt and change to and understand what your new normal is. that's also not going to be doing a good thing for getting under control. We want to be kind of limiting stress wherever we can And with holding boundaries and putting those things in place. that all helps with that too. So yeah, for anyone who is like at the beginning of their journey and they don't know where to begin, they're feeling overwhelmed and they're feeling alone because they don't have that really supportive support network around them yet, i would say you know, start by getting a copy of the test results. figure out you know. understand what therapy medication you're on. understand those basics. understand what it is your medication should be doing and is it doing that with your, by looking at your test results. Start there and then you can start exploring all these other lifestyle factors as you go along and figuring out which areas of your life need more attention.

Speaker 1: 48:10

Yeah, i like that. I like what you said there, that I mean, in the end, we're the ones that have to live with it. Yes, our family and friends and work colleagues live with us, but we're the ones that we're the only ones that can really take true responsibility for our own health. So we're the ones that control what we put on and in our bodies. We are those ones We can say no or yes, or, you know, we don't need anybody else. In fact, we can't have anyone else do it for us. We have to see ourselves as worthy of good health and making good decisions. And, yeah, i really liked the way you put that. So, yeah, thank you.

Speaker 2: 48:53

Yeah, i often say the third patients who tend to get better are the ones that take an active role in their health. They aren't passive in their health care. They're asking questions, they get a second, third, fourth opinion from doctors. They're researching, they're trying things out in terms of dietary stuff, switching up exercise, improving sleep hygiene, various things that we can work on that form this big thyrgic puzzle. The people that are taking an active interest in that, the people that often get better.

Speaker 2: 49:26

And, like you say, it's really important that we value ourselves enough to understand that we deserve that. We all deserve to get better and feel well and to thrive with thyroid disease, whilst our thyroid condition might move up and down depending on where the seasons in life are taking us and other things that are going on. Ultimately, a foundation of coming back to good thyroid health after each wave of life stress That is going to be on us, with holding those core practices that keep us in good health every day. So staying gluten free, maybe avoiding alcohol, doing whatever it is that helps you day to day. No one else can do that for you, right?

Speaker 1: 50:10

I know we wish they could, don't we? Some days it would be just like someone else takeover. It would be nice, it would be nice to have that magic pill or that magic person that was just going to do it all for us, but unfortunately it doesn't work like that. But I think the good news is, if you're listening and you're feeling maybe a bit overwhelmed or a bit lonely, like we said right back at the beginning, you're not alone And we're all in this boat with you. We are all on this journey. We have the ups and downs too. We have the good days and the bad days, and the good test results and the bad test results.

Speaker 1: 50:46

And so find a community. I know many of my list is I've got a Facebook group. You've probably got some similar things. I'll get you to tell us a little bit in a minute how people can connect with you. But find a community, even if it's an online community, where you know that you're going to be supported, that you're not going to be fed negative stuff all the time. There's a lot of negative stuff online about living with thyroid conditions, and so I think, yeah, the reality is not every day is good, but you want to be in a group or a community where the overall vibe is positive, hopeful. It's going to make you feel like you're not isolated alone. So tell us, rachel, first of all, is there something along this whole like how do we talk about our thyroid health with the people around us? Is there anything that you think I haven't asked you that people need to know, or any last sort of thoughts on that topic before I get you to tell us where we can connect with you?

Speaker 2: 51:49

Not really. I feel like we've covered really good ground. Like I said, i think the key thing you can do is to figure out how to deliver those bite-sized chunks of information to your loved ones. So not everyone will sit and read a book. The book that my husband and I wrote takes about three, four hours to read from cover to cover, and some people just aren't going to do that for various reasons. We don't all have time. We're not going to prioritize it, but some people prefer podcasts because they can stick it on when they're commuting, when they're at the gym, when they're cooking dinner.

Speaker 2: 52:22

Some people love to read a good article. Many of us also send out email newsletters. I find that for myself, that's a really good way for me to kind of receive and digest that information, and I can do so at my own pace, coming back to it as and when, especially when young children keep interrupting what I'm doing. But yeah, if you want those around you to understand a bit better, just try and find which way is going to work best for that person. Ask them Maybe, try a couple of different ways. Yeah, personally I find podcasts really good. I think a lot of people respond well to that, more like an informal chat of discussions and ideas going on. It's quite easy to have on in the background when you're doing various other things. But yeah, that would be my key thing Try and find what form of information works for them, because once you've got that, then you can get those key bits of information in there.

Speaker 1: 53:20

I think that's really helpful.

Speaker 1: 53:21

Like, what's going to work for that person might be different to the way you like to get your information I actually thought of one other thing that had come up in a much, much earlier podcast conversation, and that was it can be helpful, particularly if you are in those early stages, to take your partner along to medical appointments with you so that they're hearing the same information as you And in fact they might hear it better or differently to you, because they're probably not full of brain fog and confusion And they're hearing the same information, particularly if you're going to a good functional practitioner or someone who actually really hopefully find someone that really understands about treating thyroid health properly. If you find one of them, definitely get your spouse along to an appointment there if you can, because I think that can be helpful for them to hear It's not just you telling them, it's them hearing it from the health professional, which I think often can be helpful.

Speaker 2: 54:18

Yeah, that's really valuable. That's a really good piece of information actually, and I find as well, when I take Adam along to appointments again, he's a bit like my health champion and that he'll remember things I wanted to talk about that I might forget to bring up in the appointment, and before we leave he'll say oh Rachel, remember you wanted to talk about this symptom or if you could have this test done, and he was really good at that. He retained the information a lot better. So when you are the patient in an appointment, it can often feel overwhelming that you're trying to remember what they're telling you, but you're also trying to remember what you need to ask next. And Adam was, like you say, not brain fog. So I had a clearer mind to retain the information that we were going to need afterwards, and also it's.

Speaker 2: 55:02

I'm always a bit hesitant to say this because I know that it's not what we want to hear, but we do live in a day and age where physicians, medical professionals, do often still listen to men a lot more than they listen to women, and I personally experienced a lot of going in complaining of certain symptoms and they kept trying to give me prescriptions for anti-depressants when I knew it was just that my thyroid medication was not right And there was something else going on.

Speaker 2: 55:31

Taking Adam in to see the same doctor and have the same conversation, we would leave with much different results.

Speaker 2: 55:36

And it was just having this male presence there saying, you know, i basically that he could validate everything that I was already saying, but also terrible, yeah, and he could also give like concrete examples. So I would say now I'm feeling tired and brain fogged and I'm struggling to stay in work, but Adam could say I have to physically help her get up the stairs And you know she used to enjoy sort of going out with friends and now she just doesn't have that energy and that zest for it anymore. And he could back up what I was saying with examples of how he'd seen me deteriorate over the years. So yeah, if you can and if you feel like it would be beneficial, take someone along to your medical appointments. Could be a friend, a family member, it could be your spouse. But yeah, after having an extra person to just validate what you're saying and weigh in, that can get you further along in the results that you want to get from your medical appointment.

Speaker 1: 56:35

Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's a good. That's a good point too Sad point to have to make, really, isn't it? But I think that's part of the frustration of women being diagnosed with thyroid conditions in the first place, and that's that whole other conversation and all the medical gas sliding that goes on and all of that. So let's not go down that path. Tell us, rachel, tell us again about the names of your books, where to get them, how to connect with you, what you know. Do you offer programs? Just give you, give all of what you do, a good plug so that people want to connect with you. They know how and what you do.

Speaker 2: 57:09

Sure, so you can find me online pretty much anywhere under Rachel Hill, the Invisible Hypothyroidism, and my first book, which you can see here, is BRN Thyroid Advocate, and that is kind of like a a thyroid Bible has all these information that you need to know as a therapy patient If you're either just diagnosed or just just starting to try and understand why you might not be feeling better, even on thyroid medication. That covers everything like that medication types, what like the basics of what hypothyroidism is, as well as those lifestyle factors that we've spoken about, like diet, exercise, flare days, work, mental health. All of that stuff is in there You, me. And Hypothyroidism is the book that I wrote with Adam and that's about maintaining our relationships when we have a thyroid condition, and that is written for our loved ones. So, again, if you've got a friend or family member that wants to understand or needs to understand what it is you're going through and how we can use this experience to strengthen our relationships, then that is for them.

Speaker 2: 58:12

And then my latest book, thyroid Superhero, is for mainly for the children and allies, to help them understand, but if you feel like it would help a few grownups as well, then by all means. Yeah, it's got lots of lovely illustrations in there and some talking points to get those conversations going. But besides my books, you can find me at the invisiblehypothyroidismcom. I believe I've got around 600 articles on there now covering Wow, that's a resource, That's an incredible resource.

Speaker 2: 58:40

Trying to cover the many areas that there are disease effects and how we can overcome these and live our best healthy lives with this condition. And then across social media Facebook and Instagram is where I'm most active. You can always reach out, get in contact with me there and join the discussions that we're having. And then, yeah, my Facebook support group is called the Thyroid Family And I think we have about 120,000 people over there now. So that's what it's really lovely community people are so supportive and helpful over there.

Speaker 2: 59:12

And, yeah, we're just trying to maintain, like we said earlier, that vibe that we you know, a more positive, welcoming vibe that we it's okay to talk about the hard days and the hard times as well, but ultimately we want to be helping each other to keep moving forward. So, yeah, that's another great resource and you can sign up to my email news because, through my website, they go out every couple of weeks and that just includes like a roundup of everything that's going on in the thyroid world. So podcast episodes like this, articles, thyroid research yeah, if you want to keep up to date with what's going on in the thyroid sphere, there's my newsletter as well. But, yeah, constantly working on trying to get information out to people in different formats, because I know that different people might to consume this information in different ways, which I think is really important.

Speaker 1: 59:59

Yeah, and look, there's so many platforms and ways now, isn't there? so, yeah, it's hard to pick your platform and, yeah, it is hard to get it all out. But yeah, there's lots of different ways, so that's great. So there's lots of different ways they can connect with you. That's an enormous resource of resources.

Speaker 1: 1:00:15

You do really do like to write, don't you? I think so That's a lot of articles. So I think the thing I like about the podcast is I just get to talk and then, at all, just people just get to listen and but, yeah, i think, but sometimes people do want to read, and so I'm mindful of that too. So I think, yeah, head to your. I'm sure you've got search functions on your website too, so people can search, and I'm sure I know I've come across, you know, your articles in the past too. So, yeah, have a good read, have a good dig in.

Speaker 1: 1:00:47

Thank you, rachel, for all that you've done over many, many years for the thyroid family around the world, the thyroid community, like I said at the beginning, you know, i think you really were one of, you know, part of those pioneers. You know, i think it really was around that sort of that was around that same period of time, like 10 years ago, like I started to really really kind of get into the diet and lifestyle stuff too. So to have people like you who have been out and going for this long is really encouraging. So thank you.

Speaker 2: 1:01:18

Yeah, we need to continue to get more voices out there so we can continue to share all the aspects of our lives it's affecting and all the aspects of our lives that we can hopefully take more control over and to get this under control and to get more people treated, diagnosed and, you know, on the path back to a thyroid healthy life again.

Speaker 1: 1:01:41

Alright, this is your KISS thyroid coaching segment. I love that Rachel used the KISS principle as well. Keep it super simple. I can promise you that was not not contrived, that. I think we just both have that similar approach, probably because we're both patients that have learned to live with our Hashimoto's and we've had to work out how to keep it super simple.

Speaker 1: 1:02:01

So these couple of questions really are just to consider, to help you to consider what you've just listened to and whether there's anything that you need to do or think about or conversations you need to have as a result. So the first question I would get you to think about is do you need to have any conversation about your thyroid health with anybody in your community? so family, friends, spouse, children, work colleagues? and, number two, if you do, if you think that that would be beneficial for them and for you to have that conversation, how are you going to do? that is just a conversation. Do you need to equip them with some resources? and if you do need to, or you think have them, having a resource might be helpful, what resource do you think they are most likely to be receptive to? is it a podcast? is it an article? is it a book. So maybe have a think about those things too.

Speaker 1: 1:02:57

And you know, i guess three is if you do need to have that conversation, then I would encourage you to plan that conversation, even if you're just planning it in your own mind, but to plan to have that in the next, you know, in the next month or so, while it's still fresh and, you know, after you've had a bit of time to to work out what approach you're going to take to that.

Speaker 1: 1:03:14

So thanks again for listening to the Let's Talk Thyroid podcast always appreciate knowing that you are there on the other end of a headphone or a phone, or you know whether you're doing your sewing like I know there's a couple of ladies that listen to this as they sew or driving your car to work, or while you're cooking or going for a walk. Whenever you listen to it, i appreciate that you listen and that that you're in my Thyroid community, because I know that gives me support too. So thank you very much, have a fabulous week and I'll look forward to talking to you again soon. This podcast, whether you're listening or watching, is intended to be positive and practical coaching style information, but it is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease, including any thyroid disease, and it should not be used as a substitute for proper advice from a qualified professional.