🎯Three Content Types · One Force Field
Every square belongs to one of three content types — not three levels you climb. Track progress in your Course and Skills Lab.
📘 Learn It Content type
Concepts to absorb.
🛠 Live It Content type
Daily skills and habits.
📣 Share It Content type
Teach, advocate, carry forward.
🛡️Your Force Field — 16 Squares
Deeper detail lives in the Prepared Patient Thyroid Disease course.
What Thyroid Disease Is
The thyroid makes too much or too little hormone. Affects every cell.
Learn ItWhy Daily Meds Matter
Replacement (levothyroxine) or suppression (methimazole). Long-term.
Learn ItSpot the Red Flags
Thyroid storm vs myxedema coma — both can kill.
Learn ItTriggers
Stress, pregnancy, iodine exposure, certain medications (amiodarone, lithium).
Learn ItKnow Your Numbers
TSH, Free T4, sometimes T3, antibodies (TPO, TRAb).
Learn ItMed Timing
Levothyroxine 30-60 min before food/coffee. Consistency matters.
Live ItLab Schedule
Every 6-8 weeks after dose change, then every 6-12 months.
Live ItIodine, Soy, Calcium
All affect absorption. Time them away from your dose.
Live ItGraves' Eye Disease
Bulging eyes, dry eyes, vision changes — ophthalmology referral.
Live ItMake Every Visit Count
Bring symptoms, weight log, period changes, last labs.
Live ItYour Care Team
Endocrinologist or PCP, sometimes surgeon, ophthalmologist.
Live ItTelehealth
Most thyroid management works telehealth.
Live ItInsurance & Cost
Most generics are cheap. RAI and surgery covered.
Live ItTeach & Mentor
Newly diagnosed patients have lots of questions about food and timing.
Share ItAdvocate
Thyroid affects 20 million Americans; underdiagnosed in many groups.
Share ItResearch & Trials
Better thyroid hormone preparations, immunomodulators for Graves.
Share ItThree things to learn before you actually need them.
Workflow lives in the Prepared Visit Tool. Trackers in your Course.
Which door do I use?
Most thyroid management is gradual dose adjustments. The ladder catches the rare emergencies.
Handle at home
- Stable on your dose for months
- Energy and mood at baseline
- Following blood test schedule
Log it. Take meds consistently, away from food.
Call the office / message the portal
- New fatigue or anxiety pattern
- Weight changing unexpectedly
- Hair changes, skin changes
- Running low on levothyroxine or methimazole
Same day. Dose adjustment often needed.
Urgent / Acute care
- Heart racing or palpitations
- Heat intolerance with sweating
- Severe slowness, cold intolerance
- Eye changes (Graves' eye disease)
- Persistent vomiting on antithyroid meds
Urgent care. Hyper- or hypo- crisis can develop.
ER NOW / call 911
- Thyroid storm — very fast heart rate (>140), high fever, confusion, agitation
- Myxedema coma — severe slowness, low body temperature, confusion, slow breathing
- Chest pain
- Severe difficulty breathing
Call 911. Thyroid emergencies are life-threatening.
How to describe a new symptom in 30 seconds
What is it?
Plain words.
How bad?
0-10.
When did it start?
Time + what you were doing.
What made it worse?
Movement · food · meds.
What helped?
Even a little.
What else was new?
Fever · med · supplement · stress. The forgotten detail often shifts the diagnosis.
“Palpitations and heat intolerance for two weeks, a 5 worst, came on after my thyroid dose was increased, eating helps a little, and I’ve lost 8 pounds without trying.”
Questions worth asking
Four for every patient, every condition, every visit:
- “Could this be a side effect of one of my medications, a supplement, or something else I’m doing — and should we change that?”
- “Would any non-drug therapy help — physical therapy, meditation, rest, ice or heat?”
- “If I can’t afford this medication or this test, can we talk about samples, alternatives, or a social worker who can help?”
- “What should I be watching for between now and my next visit — and when do I handle it myself, when do I call your office, when do I go to urgent care, and when do I go to the ER?”
Questions specifically for Thyroid Disease:
- “What’s my TSH and Free T4 trend — am I in the right range for me?”
- “Is my thyroid disease autoimmune (Hashimoto, Graves) — does that change anything?”
- “Am I a candidate for radioactive iodine, surgery, or other treatments?”
- “Pregnancy — how do I plan around thyroid management?”
- “Should my family be screened — thyroid issues cluster?”