Eating Disorders, Thyroid Issues and Food Intake

Whether if you struggle with compulsive/impulsive eating, thyroid issues, obesity, anorexia or any other health issue, the relationship we have food does play a part in how we take care of ourselves. I know that for some, there’s just not a lot that can be done to gain or lose more body fat. I know that some conditions need a different solution all-together, and food won’t be the answer to that. For me however, the problem was with food.

Hypothyroidism exists when your metabolism can’t keep up with the natural flow of your energy, so the process of burning calories takes a little more time. I had to get radiation done in order to remove my thyroid, but before I went through that process, my parents had me eating a lot of snacks in order to gain weight. I can somewhat remember being pulled out of class just so I can get some sustenance, whether if that was with a pudding cup or something else that was prepackaged.

One strange symptom that I remember having with this issue was excessively loud hiccups. Part of me thinks I’ll never understand why that happened, but if I had to guess, it might have been because of the lack of air I was getting the larger my thyroid became. It was almost like I had a lump in my throat, and as much as I tried to take slower breaths or drink more water, these two things only seemed to temporarily fix the problem.

Recovering from the radiation took about two weeks, and during that time, I was at home instead of at school. Once I entered high school however, I got my first taste of reality (pun intended) when it came to compulsive behavior. My habits of eating too much were a subconscious factor of what I was experiencing before my thyroid was removed, so this did take a bit of time for me to unlearn.





I think what has always made feel a little self-conscious at times is the size of my stomach. I remember one time a few years back when a lady asked me if I was pregnant. I told her no, but thinking about this now, I feel like this is something I can either learn to embrace or just continue to worry about. If I really wanted to lose my stomach fat, I could, but in reality here, I’m content with what I’m doing for my health right now by getting enough protein, fresh fruit and vegetables. My body is not perfect and that’s okay; I have no intention of living up to another person’s definition of outer beauty anyways.