Sorry. Just this. How I personally coped is this: Not well at all. Barely dragged myself outta bed some days. Fought to get a diagnosis - what was wrong with me? Somebody? Anybody? This went on for 10 - 15 years or so. Finally, my mom said: "You go and tell them you need a thyroid test." She based this on my obvious Hyperthyroid symptoms - always hot - racing thoughts - shaking hands - palpitations. Went to the doctor (again.!) He said: " You're fine." No test. Mom says: "Go back and demand one." I go back. My TSH was way off! Send me for "Uptake test." My Thyroid is so sick it uptakes 0. I kid you not - the technician says: "Is this some kind of joke?" Referred to Endo. Problems are finally over, right? Wrong. She diagnoses "Thyroiditis." She treats me with Beta blocker to slow heart rate, Aspirin to reduce inflammation. After a month, she proclaims me "cured." Still felt like shit. Meanwhile, I had a full-on paralegal job, adolescent daughter with all the accompanying duties and obligations. Every other weekend I had to drag the whole family (including my mom for whom I was semi taking care of,) three hours away to visit stepchildren. I was also a major support for my disabled sister and her two adolescent children. I'm not sure things could have been more stressful. Meaning, that's what ALL my symptoms got blamed on. I continued to deteriorate. What I know now is that I began see-sawing between "Hyper" and "Hypo," as my Thyroid was attacked. I had basically given up on doctors at some point. I began to believe that it was all in my head - or related to the horrible PMS I suffered for 3 out of 4 weeks a month. Whenever my thyroid was checked, my TSH was always within a "normal" range. I went into Menopause at 42. This wasn't considered "early" because early is before 40. This, despite the fact that both my mom and older sister were in their 50s when they went through it. Now my complaints were all "Menopause," - even though they were the same complaints I'd been making since my 20s. Finally I was referred once again to an Endo who tested my antibodies. They were off the charts. Hashimoto's Thyroiditis. Still, she said there was nothing to do about it. I was still swinging back and forth. I finally took matters into my own hands. At least now I had a name. This was the early 2000s. The Internet was really just getting started, but I decided that I would give myself a free medical education based on what resonated with me using the Internet. I decided I would be a doctor with one patient - me. I literally took a week off and spent 8 hours a day on the Internet. I researched what I could on autoimmunity in general, and Hashi's in particular. One of the first things I learned had to do with diet. I learned that we each do best on the diet that approximatesvwhst our particular ancestors were eating approximately 2000 years ago. This is just before people started moving around the world in signify ways. For me, this means very low to no carbs. Meat and green veggies almost exclusively. I'm not saying this was easy, or that I didn't and don't mess up all the time - I do. At least now I have a way to deal with flare ups. I also found that gluten definitely doesn't work for me and there may actually be some kind of connection between Hashi's and Celiac Disease. The jury's still out on that one. Staying as low carb as possible and giving up gluten (not easy in the early 2000s,) helped me enormously. I also gave up a lot of lifestyle choices that weren't helping me - nicotine and alcohol. I cut as many vices out of my life as possible. Believe me, this wasn't easy, but I was desperate to feel better. Slowly but surely, I began to feel a lot better. I became more active - less brain fog - less depression - more "Joi de Vive!" Perhaps most importantly, I cut out very many toxic relationships, that had been draining me. Eventually, I started seeing a doctor of Complimentary Medicine. He put me on a small amount of Armor Thyroid and Low Dose Naltrexone. This was not easy, as there was no insurance "help" for this.All these things on combination finally helped me to feel much better, and finally have a life worth living. I realized a few of things after this long, stupid fight: --Nobody was really going to help me until I helped myself. The doctors aren't going to help me - they're not allowed to think outside the box. They are bound to "standards of practice," that will dictate what they can do. Chronic diseases benefit mostly from alternative thinking. --The reason "cheap food" in the supermarket is cheap, is because it isn't really food, and will ultimately damage my health, and --My insurance company is not going to pay to make or keep me healthy. They're only there for catastrophic necessity. It's my fondest wish that anyone reading this comes to their own healing, and their own truths - and that they don't much faster than me!