Have you ever had a room temperature control tug-of-war with someone? I’ve had some very heated ones throughout my lifetime.
In the 80’s I had a window war with a co-worker. She would constantly open the window in our office; it didn’t matter if the temp was 10 or 100 degrees outside. Drove me crazy, she would open, I would close, she would open, and I would close…Oh how I welcomed her days off.
In the 90’s I had a temperature tiff with the company’s maintenance man, who kept our office thermostat at “frozen tundra.” It’s hard to be productive with mittens and a ski mask. When he wasn’t around, I would use my lock picking tools (bobby pin in my hair) adjusting the temp to normal human-like conditions.
In the 2000’s I battled with my Ford Focus, nearly tearing it apart trying to figure out how to add Freon, so that I could arrive at my destinations not looking and smelling like a zoo animal. When your TSH levels are on the hyper side, the heat you can experience is like no other.
Today My husband and I are in the middle of a ceiling fan fracas, which is just like the window war, but the “on and off” interchange is sometimes done unconsciously. Even when I’m asleep, my body is fighting to feel comfortable.
Throughout my life, I think those body temperature issues and the tenacity to feel comfy, was an indication of the thyroid disease which was unknown to me at the time. I had no idea until I was diagnosed with Graves’ disease that the thyroid plays such an important role in body temperature.
Others don’t understand what it is like to have your internal thermostat broken. Under extreme conditions, climate control is of the essence, it is hard to concentrate on anything else at that point. Right now, in most parts of the world you are heading into seasonal weather change, I hope my fellow battle-tested thyroidians win the fight for comfort.
