甲状腺问题或成瘾问题？Wendy Williams故事
Sadly, Williams isn’t the first celebrity to twist the reality of thyroid disease — Oprah Winfrey and Sofia Vergara also gave skewed views of this issue that affects upwards of 20 million Americans — and their guidance to the thyroid community could do more harm than good.
As a thyroidcoach, author of 10 books on thyroid disease, and a thyroid patient myself for more than 20 years, I naturally pay close attention when celebrities speak publicly about their own thyroid issues.
Recently, talk show host Wendy Williams returned to work on her show after a lengthy hiatus. An earlier statement said she would spend significant time in the hospital for a relapse坟墓疾病，自身免疫性甲状腺条件。A few weeks later, she revealed that she was being treated for an unspecified addiction. An anonymous source据称在威廉姆斯的空隙,她不是医院ized for Graves’ disease, but instead was in rehab for her addiction. Just yesterday, according toThe Daily News如果她丈夫所谓的女主人有一个婴儿，威廉姆斯被送回医院和给予IV液体。
The issue here, beyond everyone butting into her personal life? I’ve always applauded celebrities who publicly admit they have thyroid problems. It takes courage, because thyroid disease is often stigmatized. In the media, advertising, and comedy writing, “thyroid problem” is frequently used as code for “fat and lazy and looking for something else to blame.” And celebs who make their thyroid conditions public are sometimes treated derisively. (For example, the media unfairly speculated that奥林匹克金牌奖牌Sprinter Geail Devershad mental health issues, anorexia, or a drug problem, despite her thyroid diagnosis.) A willingness to at least speak about thyroid disease in publicis, therefore, commendable.
但是因为它已经足够难以认真对待甲状腺患者，当名人或突出的人分享有关疾病的令人困惑或误导性的人时，它使我们所有人都更加困难。我将更多地解释威廉姆斯，以及另外两名着名女性，含有甲状腺疾病，Oprah Winfrey和Sofia Vergara。
Wendy Williams’ Graves’ disease relapse
二十年了go, Williams was treated with radioactive iodine for Graves’ disease. She was then treated with thyroid medication for the resulting underactive thyroid. During the past two years, Williams took two high-profile and lengthy breaks from hosting her talk show, the most recent running from December 2018 through February 2019. In both cases,Williams claimed that her breaks were due to complications from a recurrence of her Graves’ disease. During her second hiatus, her family released a statement saying that Williams needed hospitalization for her Graves’ disease relapse.
In early March, Williams opened her first show after the break with a vague accounting of her struggle with thyroid symptoms. She described in detail her doctor’s visits and blood tests, but she never mentioned specific complications that would require hospitalization — or even that she was in the hospital. Then, less than three weeks later, during herMarch 19 show, Williams revealed that she has been living in a “sober house” to deal with an unspecified recurring addiction. (In the past, shehas admitted to a 10-year problem with cocaine.) The recent revelation was likely prompted by the publication of photos of her going in and out of a sober living facility, along with a story inThe Daily Mail. In that story, an unnamed source alleged that during the hiatus, Williams had gone to rehab for alcohol and pill addiction, and that "her Graves' disease has never been an issue at all."
在她的休息期间，目前尚不清楚与Wendy Williams的健康有效。重复坟墓疾病是常见的，发生在10 to 40 percent of patients. Hospitalization, however, is another thing.
“Hospitalization for Graves’ disease and thyrotoxicosis is actually quite rare, and accounts for around3 out of every 10,000美国，“根据内分泌学家Jacqueline Jonklaas，M.D.，Ph.D.，乔治城大学内分泌学研究员和教授。
Was Williams in the hospital for a Graves’ disease relapse? We may never know. Without more specifics, we’re left to wonder whether she may have used her thyroid issue as a smokescreen to hide her addiction treatment. If that’s the case, it’s not fair to thyroid patients.
Graves的疾病诊断已经复杂了。坟墓疾病symptoms— likepanic attacks, insomnia, loss of appetite, and rapid weight loss — often lead doctors to misdiagnose patients. I have heard from dozens of teenagers and women who were misdiagnosed with anxiety, panic disorder, or anorexia — or accused of having a drug problem — long before their Graves’ disease and hyperthyroidism were finally diagnosed.
Will some doctors now add “hidden addiction” to that misdiagnosis list? And what about a woman who is genuinely debilitated by Graves’ disease? If she needs sick time or disability leave, will her employer, friends, and family wonder if the woman is actually headed to rehab? In my opinion, because Williams has publicly spoken about her thyroid issues, she now owes her viewers — and the thyroid community — a more in-depth explanation.
奥普拉温弗瑞的甲状腺“治愈”
另一个泥泞的名人是讲公共甲状腺谈话的是谈话展示主持人Oprah Winfrey。
As a thyroid advocate, for years I privately reached out to Winfrey’s producers to urge her to get her thyroid checked. Winfrey had openly discussed that she was gaining weight and finding it difficult to lose weight — a classic hypothyroidism symptom. I also noticed that, at times, her neck appeared to be enlarged, another typical thyroid symptom called goiter.
Winfrey’s show never shied away from most health issues, but surprisingly, they also never mentioned thyroid disease when covering topics such as weight gain, fatigue, infertility,menstrual problems,low sex drive, depression, and anxiety. Thyroid conditions are a common symptom — and cause — of all these health problems. In contacting Winfrey’s producers, I also encouraged them to include thyroid disease in their health-related shows.
然后，在2007年，温弗里announced both on the show and inO.magazine that she was hypothyroid. She said: “My body was turning on me. First hyperthyroidism, which sped up my metabolism and left me unable to sleep for days. (Most people lose weight. I didn’t.) Then hypothyroidism, which slowed down my metabolism and made me want to sleep all the time. (Most people gain weight. I did! Twenty pounds!)”
I had renewed hope. I was certain that after experiencing hypothyroidism herself, Winfrey would use her powerful platform to dramatically transform the public discussion and elevate awareness of hypothyroidism! She would do shows to highlight all theconventional and integrative treatment options和心灵对甲状腺功能亢进的影响。
That never happened. Instead, she did one show, not with an endocrinologist but with cardiologist Mehmet Oz, M.D. On the show, Dr. Oz briefly explained that Winfrey had Hashimoto’s, an autoimmune disease that was causing her hypothyroidism. Dr. Oz said it was like a “frat party in your thyroid.” Gynecologist Christiane Northrup, M.D., was also on that episode, explaining that, in her opinion, women’s thyroid problems were due toblockages in the throat chakra, a result of the inability to speak out openly and freely. One of Dr. Northrup’s solutions at that time was to drink lots of soy milk (despite soy being agoitrogen, a food that can slow down the thyroid并使甲状腺功能减退较差）。她还建议甲状腺患者采取泡泡浴，并对镜子中的肯定说肯定 - 好像一个人会用一点自我保健离开甲状腺问题。
宣布甲状腺条件后几个月后，由于新鲜的食物和一个月长的假期，温弗瑞宣布自己正式“治愈”。温弗里还说她决定不服用任何甲状激素替代药物，决定大多数医生不认识。
“减少压力，练习肯定，饮食健康都是非常好的积极的事情。然而，遗憾的是，一旦有人从Hasthimoto的甲状腺炎遭受伤害损伤，the only thing that can restore thyroid hormone levels is thyroid hormone,” Georgetown’s Dr. Jonklaas tells HealthCentral. “I worry that individuals that try these approaches instead of taking thyroid hormone may continue suffering from hypothyroidism unnecessarily. I also tell my patients that if someone claims they cured a thyroid problem with a special diet or nutrition, meditation, or vitamins, for example, that person may have had a transient thyroiditis rather than hypothyroidism due to Hashimoto’s hypothyroidism.”
只有温弗伊和她的医生知道她是否患有瞬态甲状腺炎，她真正地腌制了度假和健康的饮食。然而，我们所知道的是，她向我们留下了印象，即Hashimoto的甲状腺功能亢进很容易以生活方式的变化修复，并且该药物是可选的。与此同时，事实证明：未经处理的甲状腺功能减退症对您面临体重增加，抑郁，不孕症，流产，2型糖尿病和心脏病的风险。
O.f course, Winfrey’s unconventional treatment approaches — particularly her decision to refuse thyroid medication — were her personal choice. But failing to publicly present all sides of the issue, and with an appropriate expert, was careless.
Sofia Vergara, following the script
Finally, there’s the摩登家庭star.Sofia Vergara, who had thyroid cancer decades ago, signed on several years ago as a paid spokesperson for the “Follow the Script” campaign sponsored by Synthroid.
Synthroid是一种品牌的左噻嗪，左旋甲肾上腺素是甲状腺功能亢进的几种不同治疗之一。在Campaign的广告和新闻和谈话节目中由Synthroid预定的访谈中，女演员谈到了她对她甲状腺功能亢进的浓度造成的伟大程度。
大多数人服用甲状腺药物如合成器roid are taking it for autoimmune hypothyroidism, not hypothyroidism after thyroid cancer.
在她所做的众多面试中，Vergara从未提到过的药物不一定是每个人的正确选择。有些人需要左旋噻嗪药物Tirosint，因为它们具有过敏或消化问题，只能吸收这种特殊的低过敏性液体形式。其他患者有遗传或营养问题that call foran additional T3 drug，乙腈（细胞瘤），或一个natural desiccated thyroid(NDT) drug like Nature-throid or Armour Thyroid. Of course, anyone paid by a company to shill that company’s goods will do just that, so it’s hard to throw shade at Vergara for that. However, the responsible thing would have been to mention that while Synthroid works for many people, it isn’t the one and only solution for hypothyroidism in general.
同时，许多患有甲状腺功能减退症的女性服用综合性，但仍然争取了一个未解决的症状清单，如体重增加，疲劳和抑郁症。当我们向医生抱怨时，我们经常被告知我们懒惰或者应该少吃，或者我们可能会递给抗抑郁药。医生经常无法考虑是否像Tirosint这样的另一个品牌，或者thyroid treatment that includes T3, would be better choices to resolve our symptoms.
Vergara’s positive experiences with hypothyroidism and Synthroid are enviable, but they’re simply not representative of most patients’ experience — and they’ve made it more difficult for some of us to get proper treatment (I know a woman whose husband pointed to Vergara’s hourglass figure despite a thyroid condition and chastised his wife for not being able to get her weight under control — I mean, he’s clearly not in the running for husband of the year, but still…). While Vergara’s Synthroid campaign can’t fully be blamed for this, her message did reach millions.
向前走
For various reasons, Wendy Williams, Oprah Winfrey, and Sofia Vergara all willinglychoseto make their own thyroid stories public. In my opinion, with that choice comes an ethical responsibility to share reliable information. It’s reckless to selectively share thyroid information that can create false impressions. It’s misleading to misrepresent a personal thyroid experience as somehow applicable to everyone with a thyroid condition. And it’s disingenuous to share a thyroid success story while selectively omitting crucial information or potential risks.
For instance, after Winfrey announced she was cured of her Hashimoto’s hypothyroidism, hundreds of women emailed me, saying they intended to follow her lead and go off their thyroid medication. I urged them to first talk to their doctors, and to be aware that not taking prescribed medication could put them at significant risk. According to Dr. Jonklaas: “A health care provider who is familiar with the complexities ofyour甲状腺条件和其他医疗条件是最能为您提供指导的人。“
It is for reasons like this that I urge Williams, Winfrey, and Vergara — and any other celeb who goes public about their thyroid health — to please do better. My hope for the future is that when celebrities agree to endorse a drug, they approach their decisions with due diligence, and recognize the responsibility they share for the messages put forth in the campaigns. That way, fame can be used for good — to get out the full story and truly help everyone struggling with a thyroid condition.
