I am a contract salesman in Oklahoma, married 25 years to my wonderful wife; Jan and with two children; a daughter age-17 who began college to become a teacher this year and a grown son, who has given me a wonderful granddaughter. In addition to contract sales, I successfully marketed five outdoor sports products, beginning in 1990 one of which I patented in 1992 and still receive royalty payments from to date.

In March of 2003 I experienced the onset of autoimmune thyroid disease but was unaware for several months of what was causing my symptoms. Through blood lab testing, I was found to have hypothyroidism caused by Hashimoto’s autoimmune thyroiditis. Due to the slow onset of the disease and my delay in starting treatment for it, I also developed co-morbid (co-occurring) conditions with it, including adrenal fatigue, emotional symptoms, joint and muscle pain (fibromyalgic manifestations), Mitral Valve Prolapse (common heart murmur) and non-alcoholic fatty liver. Through a great deal of diagnostic testing due to problems with adjusting to my thyroid replacement hormone therapy, two of the Doctors-MDs over the care of different aspects of my treatments, also diagnosed me with co-morbid Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. I was found to have immune deficiency and dysfunction in my involuntary nervous system and a low functioning endocrine system, which is the system of glands including the thyroid gland that, provide the body with all of the many needed hormones. I have since adjusted better to my treatments and have seen significant improvement in symptoms.

I realized from my own experience that thyroid diseases can sometimes include many complications. This inspired me to learn more about my disease and about all thyroid diseases and the conditions that are co-morbid (co-occurring) to them. From my searching and researching, I began to write online articles on thyroid subjects, many of them being published on BellaOnline (as a guest author), beginning in 2006. I also posted on thyroid disease forums and served as a moderator on one of these, where I posted about 2,800 times. I am excited to continue my passion for writing on the Thyroid Health subjects, through the great BellaOnline website!

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