This is Not My Nose

Children's author and poet, Michael Rosen, has written a prose poetry book about his experiences of hypothyroidism and recovery. 

In This is Not My Nose, Michael tells the the story of his long undiagnosed illness - a malfunctioning thyroid gland - which turned him into somebody he could hardly recognize: large, lethargic, ill at ease in the world.  After 15 years it took just a simple course of drugs for him to be restored to "the real Mike Rosen" once again.

Painful, funny, scrupulously honest, these are poems that touch the heart but deal with the profoundest matters.

This book is a companion volume to Carrying the Elephant, which is about his upbringing and the tragic and sudden loss of his 18 year old son to meningitis.

More #thyroidstories 

We are starting to collect patient stories and it is our intention to share some here that we hope will be useful for people affected by thyroid disease who are looking for positive and inspiring case studies.

Karen's story starts with a thyroid storm, describes life without a thyroid, explains how The Thyroid Trust has helped her and reveals what she's getting up to on International Thyroid Awareness Day 2020. 

Helga's story tells how specialist treatment for hypothyroidism finally resolved difficult symptoms she had struggled with and got her running again!  (And read about Helga's amazing fundraising too). 

Read Michelle's story where she explains the benefits of practicing mindful self care and keeping moving. 

Read Kelly's story, about having Graves disease, which was diagnosed in her twenties and caused both an overactive thyroid and thyroid eye disease, then fifteen years later attending the EUGOGO Conference in Pisa as a patient representative for The Thyroid Trust.

Look out for Maureen's story, coming soon, as told by Lord Borwick in the House of Lords and hopefully resolved, thanks to our interventions and support from her local CCG. 

Also Jenny's story - of postpartum thyroiditis - originally published on the National Childbirth Trust website, NCT Matters.

Some stories are more difficult - and we feel it is important that those  are collected and used to inform research, health policy and clinical practice. 

Read Pamela's story about being misdiagnosed with depression. 

If you would like to share your thyroid story with us - either to help inspire others or because you feel it is important that it is documented and may be used to help improve care for others - we would love to hear from you and you can submit it via the following form. 

Submit Your Story

Thyroid patient, Maureen Elliott