The Spoon Theory

One day, many years ago, I ran across the website of Christine Miserandino, ButYouDontLookSick.com. She doesn’t suffer from Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis, but does have another autoimmune disease, Lupus. In order to give her friend some idea of just what she goes through on a daily basis living with an autoimmune disease, she came up with The Spoon Theory. The spoon theory is basically this, people living with autoimmune disease or chronic illness have a limited amount of energy (spoons) and must make careful choices as to how they expend that energy.

Since reading the Spoon Theory, I have used it to explain to those who don’t have Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis just what I go through living with the disease. It’s a constant struggle with fatigue, brain fog, pain, inflammation, digestive issues… The list goes on. Rarely does everything subside all at once so that I have “good days”. There are so many times when I wanted so badly to go out with friends or go to my niece or nephew’s games, but I was just too sick and too tired to manage it. I ran out of spoons. Even the events I did manage to make, there was always a level of discomfort or fatigue that managed to detract from my enjoyment of it.

Even those who “get” the concept of the Spoon Theory don’t truly understand what it’s like to live with an autoimmune disease or chronic illness. Yes, they accept that you have limitations, but they don’t know what those limitations feel like. Nobody but another sufferer can truly understand.