I did almost the same thing, but not in Hawaii. My boss allowed me to take a three week break in our summer slow time and mark two weeks as 'sick time' since I had spent the past 5 months dealing with graves diease and a fulltime job that requies a lot of travel. I was exhuasted and did nothing but read/sleep for three weeks. I think her point is valid, even if she does has the luxury of going to Hawaii vs staying at home. The point is to allow yourself time to heal/try and get your body at peace. It's hard to take time off in today's world I admit, especially with a family. But you need to take time to heal.
Well, I wish I had not only the time she has taken for herself but the resources to let others do what she gave up to heal .. and , honestly, if I did what she did for herself and never even had a thyroid condition I'd be healthier too ...
Did I say that? Oops .. oh well
Tiaraless Tater on this one ...
For me, resting did not help my hyperthyroidism. I think she does a disservice to people that need medical attention and medicine. Also, she makes it seem like thyroid issues are no big deal and either ignores or doesn't know what a struggle it is even after getting medical treatment. Honestly, her article annoys me.
I went to Hawaii while hyper and undiagnosed, I was on edge, argumentative, exhausted, and couldn't leave our room for 2 days.
Of course she doesn't mention her million dollar medical attention, I'm sure. If we were Oprah Winfrey maybe we could feel better and actually enjoy a trip to hawaii with all her money and attention. If is a shame she didn't mention her treatment and what she takes for thyroid disorder. I had a month off work but could barely function!!
In the real world, we aren't able to take that much time off. I'm with Skeeter42, wish she would have mentioned her treatment. At least I have my weekends...lol.....
Gaaaa If had O's money and were my own boss I would do the same thing. but at the same time she discousnt the need for meds anc care. she makes it sound like if you are hypo hell take a month off and that will cure you. that what I got out of the article. I am going to try to email her and let her know she needs let people know that hypo or hyper left untreated can KILL you.
Nuff said.
Love Venora
How about we start a petition that she dedicates her medical resources, Hawaii home, private plane, personal trainers and chefs, masseuses, and media attention for *REAL* thyroid patients.
I could see all of us holding *real* Friday night pubs at her house (which we would rename the "Oprah-thyroid retreat for REAL thyroid patients") and spending an all-expense-paid month at her home (while all of our bills back home were paid by her, of course). I know that would make ME feel a lot better.
Grrr! to Oprah (that's my grrr usually reserved for clueless doctors, BTW.)
And you could tend bar in her multi-million dollar digs too. What a deal!
I looked on her web site for somewhere to post or email but could not find anything. I think its shameful that she talks about her thyroid condition as if its a vacation. She absolutely should discuss her treatment plan (meds, tests, etc.) or not discuss it at all.
D
Where's the petition, because I'm IN!!! Mmmm.......I can just picture it now. Being fanned by cabana boys while they feed you grapes, watching the sunset for 30 consecutive nights, waking whenever I feel like it, oh....and the best part - telling my boss that "sorry, don't contact me. I'm on a thyroid hiatus. Don't call me, I'll call you". Ooohhh, try that and not get fired!
Yep, I'm definitely in.
I had my 6 week "vacation" in hypohe//! I read (when I could focus), slept (when I didn't hurt so much), relaxed (in the form of being sprawled on my bed whining), and basically got the rest I needed to continue on with this battle that will seemingly go on for the rest of my life. Stupid Oprah.
Liz has such a good point.
Between my "retreats" (i.e., stays in the hospital for both surgeries), steam room treatments (hot flashes), "spa treatments" (radiation treatment/scans), "vacations" hypohell, "diet counselors" (LID for RAI), all of the blood tests (guess that could be considered a form of weight loss), not to mention all of the new people I've been able to meet (nuclear medicine department, surgical staff, nursing staff, imaging specialists, pharmacists, rheumatologist, endocrinologists, genetic researchers, and other thyroid patients) - I should feel like a pampered, multimillionaire media-mogul too.
Silly me - why should I complain?
Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
I'm going to lay down - I'm feeling like cr@p today thanks to my GI pain- oops, I should say "abdominal workout" Double-grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
There's Oprah and then there is us...absolute no comparison therefor no use her writing about thryriod sufferers I am sure everyone one would feel a wee bit better with 1 billion dollars of resources behind us....
Wow. Yes, Liz DID make a good point! I didn't realize until after I read it, that I too had a "retreat". Instead of being off work for the typical two weeks after surgery, I got to bask in the summer sun for two MORE weeks, while I prayed that my vocal cords would move again. While on this retreat, I frequently lost my voice, couldn't swallow liquids without choking and had a hard time breathing. It was great. Got lots of beautiful pics. Ever seen your vocal cords on a TV screen?? That was one of the perks from the "resort" I stayed at.
All this while the sick time, that I had build up to almost 300 hours, was draining away. And so was my energy, because I hadn't been put on meds yet. They wanted me good and hypo for the RAI.
I went back to work for a week (God only knows how I did it...I was SO hypo!), then got yet another "vacation", by traveling 2 hours away and having a week-long thyroid party (aka: RAI treatment). My TSH was 145 the day they started the RAI. Real fun.
Then back to work for me, because my "vacation" was over and I needed to start building up my sick time again. Because you know.....I get a guaranteed week long "vacation" every year now!! It's called RAI, and it's at this wonderful University Hospital 2 hours away. Beautiful location, nice view, meet lots of new people.
Oprah doesn't have a clue. I'm quite sure she wasn't worried about depleting her sick time and wondering what she was going to do if she couldn't work! Must be nice. We all chose the wrong profession, I guess.
Thanks for sharing that, Stella. Boy......that sure stirred up a hornet's nest, didn't it? Grrrrrrr..........
Now the doctor she had on her show in Oct 07 brought up some very valuable things we all should read
If you google Oprah's Thyroid Club you will be brought to the actual show she had with this doctor. I read some last night - Alot to read but it does give key points in how to balance normal women's lives and help heal us.
Give that a look.
GARBAGE!!!!!!!! Thats all I have to say about THAT and HER!!!!!!!!!!!! If we had millions, almost billions in her case... Hawaii, the boat off of Vancouver and whale watching might heal me slightly too!!! What a joke and not even a comparison to what REAL people with this disorder are going through!! So that it huh?? What... she had JULY and now she is healed and cured?? I dont think so Oprah!!
MK
She's in such deep denial.
I don't particularly care for Dr Northrup either. This is the same woman who blames women's lack of self attention solely for their physical illnesses. She says that women are suppressing their true feelings and therefore develop thyroid and other diseases. While I do feel that mindset does play a large role in how we feel, it isn't the only cause of physical illness and certainly doesn't take genetics, bateria, viruses, metabolic disorders or ANY real cause for illness into account.
Her advise is If they only spoke their minds, took a bubble bath and mastubated, they'd get better. She's full of ****! She also advocates large uses of soy products. That's dangerous!
Mary Shomon has her number. The full rebuttle article is here:
http://thyroid.about.com/b/2007/10/16/an-open-letter-to-oprahs-viewers-about-thyroid-disease-your-thyroid-condition-is-not-your-own-fault.htm
or here (easier to cut and paste): http://tinyurl.com/yusw8g
Wow! I don't even know what to say, other than the same thing everyone else has already stated. When someone like that has so much power (tv show and major magazine) and then using those medias to say THIS....well...I just wish they would use it for something better. I am self employed and work 50 hrs a week...and only get one day off...Sundays. I'm actually thinking of closing my business cause I need more time off, but don't have the money to hire help to run this place full time for a month! LOL It'll be good to get a major stress out of my life, but I'll still need thyroid meds for the rest of my life. I know rest can really help but...not everyone can go to Hawaii for a month! I'm hoping to take a few weeks off...then go back to working for someone else...too much stress in this economy for me to run my own shop. I already burnt my adrenals out. But hey, according to Oprah...I ought to be cured when I close my shop up!!
I think we should write or call into her office and ask her to do a show on the "REAL THYROID MADNESS" and have people like ourselves go on the show and show her the other side to thyroid disease.
We can gripe on how hard it is to get a good Dr...
How hard it is to get them to listen...
Get an appt or get a return call....
Not draw the right labs to begin with...
Tell us we are just depressed and start exercising more etc....
I would bet you a million dollars if Oprah had any of our problems she would have done a show about it. Low iodine diet? She'd have some diet guru telling us how to eat. Weight gain from thryroid? A "thyroid exercise guru." Hyper/Hypo? Well, there will be someone on there telling us how to "deal" with the pain by "relaxation and meditation" or maybe make a chart and put it out there for the universe to fix. Or better yet...she'd teach us how to ask the universe to heal us because according to her...if you want it all you gotta do is ask the universe!
Oprah is full of it. First of all if she had my pain she could not walk her dogs and then bathe them. Second, soy products is she kidding for thyroid problems. Third, how could she be healed of thyroid problems in three weeks. Did she really even have a serious problem? I guess that is why I never watch, listen or ead anything by her!!!
What can I add? Nothing really, except to say that I do not worship at the altar of Oprah.
(Sorry if I have offened anyone.) It's this kind of misinformed nonsense (that's the niceest thing I can say), that had me tuning her out years ago. (The other thing that bugs me is how she does those exploitive interviews - right at ratings sweeps time - of kids that have been molested or others who have been victimized. Yeah, someone else will interview them but funny she does this stuff at sweeps time.)
Anyway, she is so disconected. (Didn't she take some heat years ago about her "miracle diet" or something?) It's really a shame. She had a GREAT opportunity to educate not just the public, but perhaps the medical community. We have enough trouble getting docs to actually acknowledge thyroid disorders, let alone get treatment, and yes, get some respect.
I saw an article in Shape or Self a few months back, and thought "hey maybe this will be good". Nope. Just the "I was feeling tired. I went to the doc, he gave me a test, now I'm on meds and felt like me old self in a couple of months" stuff.
It's a shame that none of these people look at boards like this to see what we have to deal with.
I'll shut up now :)