Guest Author - Jim Lowrance

In this article, I want to list two major reasons support and education for thyroid patients is so important.

1. Thyroid patients often express the fact that despite quality treatment for thyroid disease, their Doctors do not have time due to time-constraints, to fully inform them about their thyroid diseases. Most patients feel a great need to understand what is happening to them because the unknown aspects of thyroid disease, can create fear and anxiety in many patients.

2. Patients experience serious emotional issues from thyroid disease and from the realities of experiencing the onset of a disease that will often affect them, for the rest of their lives. A source of support, such as a Doctor, is not available to a patient, throughout the day or night but only for a few minutes, at office visits that are comparably very infrequent. Patients can feel very alone with their disease and even those closest to them, may be at a loss for knowing how to support and comfort them.

These two points help to express the purpose for information and support resources, especially provided by other patients that their fellow-patients can relate to.

It is unfortunate when patients are told that they should not look into such resources because they "might be led astray with wrong information" and that they should somehow rely on their Doctor, not only for treatment but also for education about their disease and the needed support for coping with it. I do not mean this negatively but this just simply is not possible in most cases. If a patient’s spouse is a Doctor or close relative, this might be possible or in the case of a patient who doesn’t feel the need for the additional education and support, it wouldn’t be necessary to begin with but for most of us, we needed this knowledge and support and can actually mean better coping for many patients.

The majority of patients have the common sense to learn from reputable sources and to compare information, so that it is confirmed by several reliable sources.

To deny patients this type of help, for fear of them being led astray etc…, could mean tremendous lot opportunities for patients who have serious struggles with thyroid disease.