Oprah Winfrey Talks of Health Crisis

Thursday, October 18, 2007

Oprah Winfrey, like many of us has battled the bulge---often. Oprah however, does it in front of millions of television viewers. We have all seen how Oprah’s weight goes from nearly svelte to not so svelte.

After going through this weight gain and loss for a few years, Oprah decided to take matters into her own hands and sought medical help to find out just exactly what was going on.

She wrote in the October issue of O that her body was turning on her. “First hyperthyroidism, which sped up my metabolism and left me unable to sleep for days,” the talk show diva said. “Then hypothyroidism, which slowed down my metabolism and made me want to sleep all the time.”

It is possible to have both hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism according to ‘Your Guide to Thyroid Disease’ by Mary Shomon.

People can gain weight, be exhausted all the time, have hair falling out, which are all signs of hypothyroidism, but they can also have high blood pressure and heart racing all the time and anxiety which is the sign of hyperthyroidism. This can also happen when patients that has both Hashimoto’s and Graves’ disease antibodies, which puts the thyroid into a push-pull situation. The thyroid then cycles up and down through hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism.

Oprah had packed on 20 pounds which left her feeling completely run down by the time the 21st season of her talk show wrapped in May. She said she craved balance and was desperate to be somewhere in the middle of hyper and hypo, according to E Online.

Winfrey recounted her experience on the October 16th broadcast of the Oprah Winfrey show, which was dedicated to women’s health.  After a trip to Africa, she felt exhausted and decided to take some time off just for herself.

“I ended up going to Africa and spent a month with my beautiful daughters [the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in South Africa], was still feeling really tired, going around from doctor to doctor trying to figure out what was wrong and finally figured out that I had literally sort of blew out my thyroid.”

After her trip to Johannesburg in June, Oprah Winfrey spent a month in Hawaii, which was “dedicated to her, for herself to help her regroup, rejuvenate and restore her soul,” she said.