Jessica Hanson

Somehow it feels like the moment I mention that I have autoimmune conditions, suddenly everyone is an expert, even if they have never heard of the diseases. And I know...

I find that it is unfortunately all too easy to write about the negative or hurtful comments I have received in relationship to thyroid eye disease (TED). In fact I...

Editor's Note: This article originally appeared on our partner site RareDisease.net. It can be so hard for people outside of the rare disease community to truly understand what we go...

I am always worried (scared - okay, beyond terrified) that something bad will happen and thyroid eye disease (TED) will rear its’ ugly head again, launching itself into a new...

Winter is not my friend. While I enjoyed snowy activities as a kid, those days are long behind me, and I have come to dread that crisp feeling in the...

“Well things are looking really great!” my thyroid eye disease (TED) specialist told me during my most recent appointment. It had been about 10 months since my final surgery for...

Throughout my journey with thyroid eye disease (TED), makeup has been a very important tool for me. Like many people with TED, I could not recognize myself in the mirror...

"Come inside, smoke from a huge fire in Canada is moving into NYC." What?? I was working from home and sitting outside on my terrace. I looked up at the...

Let’s talk social media filters and thyroid eye disease. I am very active on social media as an advocate within the autoimmune disease community, but ever since I was diagnosed...

New surgery, new me! Is that the right phrase? I would like to say that my journey with thyroid eye disease (TED) has been a rollercoaster, but it has been...

After having 4 surgeries to treat thyroid eye disease (TED), I did not think that I would ever need to meet a new TED specialist again. However, my regular specialist/surgeon...

When we last spoke we were having our final post-op appointment before you went on sabbatical for several months. This appointment marked the end (or at least what I hope...

The same question has been posed to me several times in interviews and chats with other rare disease advocates - "What are you most proud of?" And I never knew...

From an outside perspective, it can be difficult to understand just how much thyroid eye disease (TED) can impact someone on a daily basis and make normal activities much more...

Let’s face it, getting treatment for chronic/rare/complicated medical conditions like thyroid eye disease (TED) is incredibly expensive and a challenge for many individuals. From doctors to surgeries to travel to...

Something that became apparent in my experience with thyroid eye disease (TED) is that other people’s journeys would not be the same as mine. In my head the road map...

I am a cat lover. How much of a cat lover? (Cut to a pile of funny cat socks and last year’s holiday cards featuring my cat in a sweater.)...

Over the past 2 and a half years I have had 1 surgery to treat Graves’ disease and another 4 surgeries to address the damage caused by thyroid eye disease...

I first learned about spoon theory a few years ago. It’s a metaphor related to chronic illness that discusses the amount of energy someone has available each day. Everyone starts...