Back to Work Autoimmune Flare (Fall 2025 Edition)

April 21, 2026 note:  This post was written on September 9, 2025, and I backdated it to fit in the proper chronology.  I teach at the high school level.  This school year has been massively stressful, and I am just now beginning to write posts on what has transpired.  This post is the beginning of the story, so here it is.

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Each year when school starts, I have an autoimmune flare.  I used to call it a "thyroid flare," since the symptoms were what I would expect from thyroid disease.  Unbeknownst to me, I also had Sjögren's disease, and I now know that some of my symptoms were caused by it, not just my thyroid.

I was diagnosed with thyroid disease in 2014 and with Sjögren's disease earlier this year.  However, I know that I had symptoms of both beginning at least 30 years ago.

My back-to-school flare typically consists of deep fatigue, aches and pains, and brain fog.  It becomes quite noticeable in the two to three weeks after I go back to work each August, and it lessens around the middle of October.

In the last few years, my thyroid hasn't flared as much.  My symptoms are now primarily that of Sjögren's disease.

Indeed, I believe that my thyroid is now completely stable.  I have been on the same dose of Tirosint for over two years.  The last time my thyroid autoantibodies were checked, they were much lower.  The autoantibodies are still out of range, so I still have active Hashimoto's.  However, my thyroid seldom swells up so it appears to be stable.

It is now my Sjögren's disease that flares, and it flares constantly just like my thyroid used to do.

I went back to work on August 7.  I did pretty well at first, but two weeks later, like clockwork, I started having flares.  I had a bad one on August 23 that lasted for around a week.  I am in another bad flare that just started on Sunday.

My lips are burning, and my sense of taste is more distorted.  My eyes are more dry.  I wake up each morning massively dehydrated with dry eyes and burning lips.  It's miserable.

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April 21, 2026 additional note:  I will detail later events in another post.  Here, I will just say that I did end up having a thyroid flare beginning in October and that the flare worsened throughout the winter months, caused by several escalating events.  My thyroid medication dosage has now been increased for the first time in nearly three years.

Having to Work While Autoimmune

This was written on May 11.

By necessity, I have to be kind to myself.  In order to be kind to myself, I do things in such a way that they are easier for me.  As a result, what I do might also turn out to be easier for my students.  

My coworkers struggle to understand this, which causes me to have to endure some critical comments.

In one instance, I wasn't feeling well, but nobody knew.  That happens to me multiple days per week.  It's just how my life is.  Anyway, I was really not feeling that great on this one particular day, which was a Monday.  A number of students needed to make up a test.  I didn't feel up to messing with it.  I just didn't.

I told the students who needed to take the test that they could take it that day or the next.  I didn't care.  Of course, this resulted in them choosing the next day, which suited me fine.

My coworker stated later in the class period that I was being too easy on my students.  She didn't know the whole story.

I was fatigued both mentally and physically that day.  As I recall, the mental fatigue and brain fog were more significant on that occasion.  I just didn't feel like getting out the tests, making sure that the students didn't have their phones, and having to keep an eye on them while also working with the students who were not testing.  

Yes, I was being easy... on myself.  I knew that I needed to take it easy.  I didn't need the criticism.

Very recently, another coworker was nitpicking on how we were going to do a certain thing.  I said that I didn't care.  I explained further, saying that the situation with my dry eyes and eye irritation had been so bad that I was near the breaking point.  

They asked, "Are you using eye drops?"

Sigh.  I answered politely and said that I was and that I was also using several other remedies as well.  I needed to continue to treat my condition, and I needed less stress. 

Seriously?  Am I using eye drops?  The obliviousness is incredible.  Of course I'm using eye drops!!!

I don't talk much about my autoimmunity, but I do own the condition.  It's important that others know that I'm dealing with a chronic illness.  However, none of them truly get it.  Am I using eye drops?  Ugh.

Yeah, I use eye drops and tons of supplements, ointments, and lotions for all of my various physical ailments.  Sigh.  I spend lots of money on over-the-counter remedies.  What choice do I have?  Such is autoimmunity.

I also do things in such a way that I can deal with students on 504s and IEPs easier than I otherwise would.  Meaning, I go beyond what is required on the 504 or IEP because it makes my job a little easier.  Needless to say, I take some flak for that as well. 

Math teachers are notorious for being difficult and unyielding.  I don't think like a math teacher.  I'm the unicorn in the math department.  I think like an English teacher, yet I teach math.

The teachers in charge of the special needs kids do tend to place them in my classes because I'm not like the rest of the department.  I do bend the rules, and they appreciate it.  The other math teachers, not so much.