How to talk to my employer about my condition.

[JenSetz]

Hi everyone, I wondered if anyone has some advice of how to explain my thyroid condition to employers? I’m constantly off with infections and viruses and they don’t just take a couple of days to clear. I had a blood test to check my T3 today and I’m convinced that the results may hold the answer. I’ve been off a lot since being diagnosed with over active 2 years ago. I had RAI so I’m now under active. Any ideas of how I can explain this to my very laid back male boss would be gratefully received.

[Nanaedake]

Could you start by explaining that you have an autoimmune condition? Employers might be more sympathetic with that explanation as they probably don't know a thing about thyroid and there are lots of misconceptions about thyroid disease. Have you had vitamin levels tested and were they low? If so, could you simply say that the autoimmune condition makes it more difficult to retain good vitamin levels due to problems with absorption and this makes you more vulnerable to infections so you're working on optimising your vitamin levels and hope that will help you combat virus' etc in the future.

[JenSetz in reply to Nanaedake]

That sounds good, thank you x

[LAHs]

For what this is worth, I have experimented with under dosing and over dosing of thyroid medication. What I found was that when I was under dosed I constantly had colds and the flu once each of which took weeks to clear up. I am normally one of those people who escape these things. Once I increased my dose back to it's normal level I no longer had those problems. That experiment was two years ago and I have not had a snivel since. I would suggest you increase your dose of thyroid meds a little and keep going until you are well.

Regarding trying to explain this too your boss, I would say just give it a try. While he will probably not understand what you are trying to tell him he will probably know someone with a thyroid problem and know that it can be complicated. Emphasize the fact that you are having to adjust your medication to a point where you will be normal again - that will give him some hope that he hasn't got an employee that is going to be off sick for years to come.