✍️ When Someone Says I’m Too Young to Have a Chronic Illness

This is part of my slower, more reflective writing on living with thyroid disease, shaped by lived experience and advocacy, called Notes From a Thyroid Patient.

So that I can share my more personal and vulnerable writing safely, they are fully accessible to paying subscribers only.

A chronic illness or chronic health condition is defined as being persistent or otherwise long lasting. For example, a health condition you will have for life.

A chronic illness usually cannot be cured, which is why you are expected to have it for life.

Hypothyroidism, in most cases, is not curable and so we’re given thyroid hormone replacement medication to take for life. Thyroid blood tests are then usually tested regularly to keep on top of managing the condition by tweaking treatment as needed.

Hashimoto’s is not curable.

Whether each of us do or do not like to use the term ‘chronic illness’ when referring to our thyroid condition, is purely preference.

I once worked with someone who saw me go from good health, to terrible health, back to OK health and everything in between, and he still had the audacity to say

“You’re too young to have a chronic health condition.” (doubting that I actually had a real, chronic health issue)

and

“You won’t be really ill for years yet.” (Erm. I have been really ill.)

What has age got to do with it?

Does my body care if I’m twenty or eighty?

Unfortunately, not really…