After I was diagnosed with thyroid disease in early 2003, I began to search on the internet to learn more about the autoimmune hypothyroidism (Hashimoto’s thyroiditis) I was experiencing. This was especially important to me, after having a pre-diagnosis period of time that was very traumatic to me. I was very sick with something and the first doctor I visited tried very hard to convince me it was an emotional illness. I knew better and my own online searching and researching helped me to learn about the blood testing I needed to receive a correct diagnosis.

My online searching after diagnosis, also took me to thyroid disorder forums, some being patient-to-patient forums and others that were moderated by doctors. There always seemed to be people who would eventually crop up on these forums, wanting to argue about different points and some at times would get pretty nasty about it. There were also those who would appear on these forums, who had hardcore agendas, wanting to advocate for a particular brand of thyroid hormone medication. While this is not particularly wrong if done in-balance and without attacking others, in my experience it always caused forums to deteriorate when this did happen. There is an overboard behavior that can be perpetrated even when the person’s motives are sincere. I feel these particular forums lacked quality moderation to prevent or intervene when these types of incidents occurred.

I pretty much fizzled out on forums, due to the very things I just described but I did begin to write articles, starting in late 2005 and some began to be published on this great BellaOnline Thyroid Health website. I was surfing the web one day in early July 2006, when I noticed a link to one of my articles on the subject of thyroiditis was posted on a forum called the “Thyroid Disease Chat Center”. It is not only a forum but also a Support Center to help educate thyroid patients that, has been around for about 4 years now. Moderator “JudyK’ had posted the article link to my BellaOnline article and a quote from it and upon finding it I was honored to see that interest was being expressed in the article on the forum. I had read on this forum on occasion, going back two years previous to finding this post and had noticed that the forum had a very professional, supportive and informative atmosphere about it. All of the members and moderators there have a refreshingly sincere manner and attitude about them. Much of the credit for the quality of the forum goes to the Forum-creator and Administrator “BluButterfli” and to the Forum Manager “LuLu1471”.

I joined the Thyroid Disease Chat Center, on July 9, 2006. After being a member for a few weeks, they invited me to become a moderator and over the past two years I have posted nearly 2,800 times. Some of the moderators there have posted over 10,000 times. These moderators have gained a great deal of knowledge on thyroid disease subjects and have been of tremendous help to 100s of thyroid patients who have benefited from the great source of support and education.

The Thyroid Disease Chat Center also gained me more education on thyroid disease subjects and helped me a great deal in my article writing these past two years. Now that I’m Editor of Thyroid Health here at BellaOnline and Forum Moderator, my desire is to continue in that same spirit of sincerity and quality, I discovered and experienced at the other great forum. I hope over time to develop the BellaOnline Thyroid Health Forum, with the help of the great members that are also here, whom I have found already, to also be of that special quality that makes forums the great resources they should be. I’m grateful to the Thyroid Disease Chat Center, for the training and experience that will help us to accomplish that same goal!


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