​Living with thyroid disease can be difficult to explain. Symptoms may be invisible, diagnoses can take time, and even after diagnosis, patients can find themselves having to explain why they are still struggling. Medical information matters, but sometimes another patient's poem, essay or personal story can offer something different: recognition. Across the world, across time and space boundaries, we can find community as thyroid illness patients in the words that often go unspoken. 

1. Sugar in the Blood by Phillip Scott Mandel

From Issue 15, Mandel's piece explores the experience of living with autoimmune illness and the ways chronic health problems can become intertwined with everyday life. It offers a personal perspective on the uncertainty and adjustments that can accompany long-term illness, making it a fitting introduction to a collection focused on patient voices and lived experience.

2. Hypothyroidism by Michael Rosen

One of the issue's most notable contributions, Rosen's poem reflects on his own experience of hypothyroidism and the long period of illness that preceded his diagnosis.

3. Thyroid Story by Vroni Holzmann

A personal account of living with thyroid illness and navigating the often-overwhelming world of health information. It is particularly relevant to anyone who has ever fallen down an internet rabbit hole while trying to understand their condition.

4. Did I Ever Tell You About My Thyroid Condition? by Alexandra Vick

Vick examines the experience of being labelled an unusual or difficult patient. Her writing is a powerful reminder of why listening to patients matters.

5. Thyroid Champions by Lorraine Williams

Williams writes about being extremely unwell, gradually getting her life back and the work involved in advocating for herself. It is ultimately a piece about patient empowerment and the importance of community.

6. CH & Me by Donna

This poem tells the story of congenital hypothyroidism and growing up without a thyroid gland. It offers a particularly valuable perspective on living with a thyroid condition from childhood.

7. Hashtag Loneliness by Jenny Allen

From Issue 15, Allen writes about postpartum thyroiditis and the devastating consequences of being dismissed and misdiagnosed. Her poem captures the loneliness that can accompany an illness others cannot see.

8. Butterflies by Helen Chambers

Chambers recounts symptoms including heat intolerance, exhaustion, shaking, insomnia, irritability and increased appetite before eventually receiving a thyroid diagnosis. It is a striking example of how easily thyroid symptoms can initially be explained away.

9. Travels in Chronic Town by Mary Salome

Salome turns chronic illness into an imaginary town, complete with a Theatre of Fatigue and Symptom Pit. Humorous but deeply recognisable, it captures the bewilderment of learning how to live in a body that has suddenly changed.

10. Little Devil by Vroni Holzmann

This poem gives language to the frustration and uncertainty surrounding thyroid illness, particularly the experience of symptoms that may be difficult for other people to understand.

11. Dear Thyroid Ally by Vroni Holzmann

A short, intimate piece about solidarity between thyroid patients. It is a reminder that being understood by someone who has lived through something similar can be enormously powerful.

12. Every Day Resilience by Wendy Kennar

Kennar focuses on resilience as something lived through ordinary days rather than dramatic victories. For anyone managing a chronic illness, that distinction can feel particularly meaningful.

Why Patient Writing Matters

Together, these pieces show that thyroid disease is about more than blood tests and medication. It can affect identity, education, work, relationships, mental health and the way people understand their own bodies.

That is precisely why patient voices matter. Both Fahmidan issues were created to give people living with thyroid and autoimmune conditions a space to describe experiences that can be difficult to communicate in clinical language.

For anyone living with thyroid disease, these pieces offer something that a diagnosis alone cannot: the reassurance that other people have struggled, questioned, adapted and carried on too. Sometimes, finding the words for an illness is the first step towards feeling less alone.