Monday, March 29, 2010

A Few Thyroid Resources to get you started

Note: Please read "Word to the Wise" in the sidebar on the right, before reading this post.

http://thyroid.about.com
A forum moderated by Mary Shomon. Full of informative articles, discussion groups, links to information, understanding lab values, and guidance on talking with physicians. Some of the information needs updating, check the dates on each article as some of it is older. Still, it's probably the most comprehensive layman's site anywhere, and has the best assortment of information pertaining to all aspects of living with thyroid disease.

Books:  A little outdated but still helpful.

Living Well with Autoimmune Disease  by Mary Shomon  Since many people with one autoimmune disorder can have several other autoimmune conditions at the same time, this is a good book to raise awareness of some general health considerations.

Living Well with Hypothyroidism by Mary Shomon  Specific to hypothyroidism. Has a lot of good information about Hashimoto's, explains lab tests related to thyroid, dealing with physicians, and relieving symptoms. Some of the nutrition information is outdated.

The Thyroid Solution by  Ridha Arem, M.D.  (This one was helpful to me in that it supported the use of T3 replacement. Some good general health guidelines, but unfortunately it is written in the "this is the miracle cure" style which I don't agree with. Not everyone is going to benefit from Arem's approach. Yes, Cytomel was a great thing for me but I know it doesn't work for everyone.)

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Welcome to Ultrahypo!

Welcome to the new home for Ultrahypo!, a blog to support endurance athletes with thyroid disease. Ultrahypos is an informal support group, a spin-off from an ultrarunning discussion group back in 2004. There are only a couple of dozen members but we all have been able to support each other in getting treatment and wading through the difficulties of getting treated for thyroid problems while trying to participate or compete in an endurance sport.

You can read my thyroid story here.

Please check out the links and posts as they are added. I expect the blog to be fully functional as of April 2010.



If you are interested in joining this low-key, informal group, please write to me at ultrahypo at gmail dot com with Ultrahypo in the subject line, and I will write back with further instructions. Each group member's identity and information is confidential and I only share information if I have permission from all parties interested in contacting each other.

I hope this blog is as informative and helpful as you expect it to be. Thank you for visiting, please introduce yourself either by posting a comment or e-mailing me.

Alene