A quiet reflection on my first experiences with a thyroid condition

It's thyroid awareness month still, and I have been on such a heck of a journey with a new diagnosis that I wanted to open up about my experiences. I just started my thyroid medication, and I have been back from the hospital from my thyroidectomy surgery for a week now. So, I felt it was time to open up about what happened.

My thyroid problem started in (roughly) November 2023, but a lot of what I was feeling could very well have been below the surface for a much longer period of time than that. In late November, I went to the doctor because my mental health had gone on a downward spiral. I was easily anxious and overwhelmed by things that don't usually bother me. Even though being neurodivergent makes me very prone to anxiety, the anxiety hit me on a much more powerful level than what I had experienced before.

The most troubling part, though, was my energy. I blamed it on a potential resurgence of my past iron deficiency issues, mainly because women in my family have this problem a lot. Going to the GP, though, proved me completely wrong. I didn't tick the boxes for any iron issues, so the doctor tried running my throat through an ultrasound. That was the first time I saw my thyroid, and it frightened me. It made me feel like I was a character in The Thing, and the thyroid was the movie’s shapeshifting…