Hypothyroid Men

[egatwell]

on.fb.me/OQMu0I

A recenty created group on Facebook for Hypothyroid Males who appear to be neglected by mainstream information sources about this illness.

If you have an Underactive Thyroid please join, discuss and learn about treatments, symptoms.

[Clutter]

Welcome to the forum, Egatwell.

Don't you think it a little discourteous to make your first contribution an invitation to join a FB group? It seems akin to trawling for business.

[helvella Administrator Thyroid UK in reply to Clutter]

More than discourteous. Flagrantly against guideline 21.

Worse still, that Egatwell does not say that you have to be a member of facebook, something I refuse to be.

21. Do not solicit members to other websites or forums for your own purposes either via posts or the messages system.

thyroiduk.org.uk/tuk/suppor...

[egatwell in reply to helvella]

I hadn't seen the guidelines my apologies. the Hypothyroid Men group on facebook is a closed support group for men that's all.

Again my apologies

Egatwell

[egatwell in reply to Clutter]

Hi Clutter, Apologies for you thinking that, no business is being conducted just a closed support group for men as none exist, I hope this fits in with your mission. If not I will remove that post.

Regards

Egatwell

[RedApple Administrator in reply to egatwell]

This support group has been going for almost five years now. We have lots of male members (one of our admins is male too) and I don't ever recall the slightest suggestion that they needed anything more by way of support and information than they gain by being here. The common theme that unites us is 'thyroid'.

So Egatwell, please enlighten us as to why you feel the need to come to an 'open forum' to advertise for members to join your 'closed' group? I am interested to understand

[Clutter in reply to egatwell]

Egatwell, by 'trawling for business' I meant I suspected you joined this forum solely to post the FB link and I was in two minds about deleting the link and your post re breaching guidelines. I decided not to because some new male members have felt under represented and might be glad of a forum specifically aimed at men.

Hopefully, you'll be able to benefit from information shared here and contribute here too.

[RedApple Administrator in reply to Clutter]

I truly hope our male members do not all disappear over to a closed FB group. As I said above, the common theme is thyroid. I am as interested in discussing the complexity of the disorder with males as with females. It would be very sad for this group to end up as an all female group

[Clutter in reply to RedApple]

RA, I doubt there's any danger of that. Some of our female members belong to closed groups but don't desert us.

[greygoose in reply to Clutter]

That's very true, Clutter.

And the trouble with a closed group - I do belong to one, but won't mention its name - is that information is somewhat limited. The good thing about an open group like this one is that there are so many members and therefore so much more information is exchanged. Almost everyone has something to bring to the table, something that others might not have thought about, or something that sets you off down a different route that you might not have otherwise explored.

A closed group is nice in that you know everyone well, and can talk rather more openly then you might feel comfortable doing on here. But you can't beat an open group for the sheer volume of information that becomes available to you.

IMHO, anyway.

[egatwell in reply to RedApple]

I agree RedApple,

I originally started the Hypothyroid Men group as a resource, as I found very little out there for men, things are slowly changing. It's really surprising how many men are out there with no idea as to what is going on with their Hypothyroidism.

Also many men are in denial of this chronic illness and some are generally shy to open up on a public forum about their condition.

I had at one stage thought of making it open, but now think its best to keep it closed for men only, although I'm sure we do have a few female lurkers

They maybe surprised to learn the truth...

Anyway I will post a link on FB for them to also come here.

Regards

Egatwell

[RedApple Administrator in reply to egatwell]

I can assure you Egatwell that it's not just men who have no idea what is going on with their hypo. Nor is it just men who are in denial. This applies just as much to women. The medical profession are largely to blame for this state of affairs. Whether you are male or female, GPs and endos continue to assure the world that this is a simple condition easily treated by taking a pill every day. And if that pill doesn't rid you of your horrendous, relentless list of symptoms, it's because these symptoms are either caused by different problems that need other treatments (statins, ADs, diet exrecise etc etc etc), or you are hypochondriac / suffering somataform disorder. i.e the symptoms are not real and only in your head.

We do 'technical' here too Try browsing the posts from these members as an example:

healthunlocked.com/diogenes

healthunlocked.com/helvella

And 'emotional' can of itself be caused by the thyroid hormone imbalance Libido issues affect women as well as men

[RedApple Administrator in reply to RedApple]

I want to add here that I'm not saying your closed group does not have a place in the thyroid support world. Simply that you and your fellow FBers might benefit from hanging out and joining in here too

[egatwell in reply to RedApple]

Agreed to all the above and yes very similar issues.. and yes I have mentioned you over there on FB also. The learning curve is an interesting one, always more to learn

Many of our users are on many forums also, so we also pass info we find along.

[egatwell in reply to Clutter]

Thank you Clutter for your understanding. I myself am Hypothyroid.

The group is closed as it enables many men to talk freely, express themselves in confidence.

I will also post a link for them to visit your site also.

[Clutter in reply to egatwell]

Egatwell, is it sexist for me to wonder what proportion of discussion is hypothyroidism and what is sport?

[egatwell in reply to Clutter]

No just plain old Hypo stuff, some of gets very technical and emotional... Sport is banned

[mickstability in reply to Clutter]

As a Newcastle United supporter, I have no difficulty in maintaining a dignified silence on all footy matters. Should they ever be in danger of winning anything, this may change. Don't hold your breath.

[Fruitandnutcase]

Hi egatwell, I think if you hang around here you will discover that we have lots of men who use this group, I hope they don't feel neglected 😊

[egatwell in reply to Fruitandnutcase]

Hi Fruitandnutcase,

I've just discovered you, looking forward to sharing info and resources.

Regards

Egatwell