Graves' Disease Recovery

[Chris1479]

Hi LoveShack, I always got good advice every time I came here before and now seems like a good time to ask for advice or to at least get something off my chest.

 

A few months ago I was diagnosed with https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graves%27_disease after feeling unwell for almost my entire 20's and getting blown off by all kinds of people in the healthcare profession. It has wrecked the last decade of my life and I'm only 29, but equally, I'm 29. It sucks to have had so much of my time ruined by this.

 

It's also not even a disease that people recognise or know anything about, which sucks. But when I look back at my time in retrospect it pisses me off that people I've known gave me such a hard time and so many relationships were soured because of the effects this disease had on me, but from which I didn't realise I was suffering at the time. To summarise, the disease attacks your thyroid, sends your immune system haywire, and then insidiously robs your body of the vitamins and minerals you need to manage the symptoms. You suffer from heart palpitations, eye problems (they stick out) you sweat constantly, you are constantly pissed off and stressed, your blood pressure goes sky high and you can't deal with people or every day life, and when you do deal with them you have to do it on the back of the worst night's sleep you've ever had. Additionally I had some real nice stomach aches, think someone kicking their way out of your intestines, on 5 or 6 days out of 7 in a normal week. Eventually you end up suffering severe malnutrition which feeds back into the aforementioned problems and makes them worse as your body's capacity to deal with them decreases.

 

Like I said, it's a real insidious bitch of a disease.

 

So with that context out of the way, I also managed to quit drinking after it got completely out of control (to an extent that I am honestly too embarrassed to even detail here) as well as heavy smoking, and on top of that 'chronic' use of something else that also, like the drinking, offered temporary release from my symptoms for a few hours before coming back with a vengeance. I also had dreadful dental problems, think severe periodontal disease and chronic infection, which I have overcome and now have fantastic healthy teeth and gums again. I also went from never having stepped foot in a gym to deadlifting and going 2-3 times a week for almost 2 years now, this, despite suffering from all of the aforementioned symptoms.

 

Why do I tell you all this? I feel the need to explain myself. I have ended up quitting the last two jobs i've had because I was so ill. I didn't mooch off the employers, I got great references, it went as well as could be expected. I received a diagnosis a few months before I left work at a large online bank. So since November 2015 I have been unemployed, although I still pay all my rent and the groceries and other little treats for my gf while I try to recover from this illness.

 

I want to get a decent job (again) and to go to work feeling just 'ok', that's all I ask, because going to work feeling so bad that by any normal person's standards you are not well enough to be there in the first place really sucks.

 

I have taken charge of my illness, done a great job managing it, educated myself on it, I figure there's a good chance I can go into remission if I take good care of myself and keep up my vitamins and supplements (the relapse rate is 50% but I think I can beat it) but employment took a backseat whilst I worked on this. But other people are starting to make me feel bad, my parents demanded I discuss it with them (they weren't going to understand, and I was correct, they really didn't) so I did but that was a waste of time.

 

Isn't anxiety about employment the luxury of someone with a pulse? Is it really so crazy to want to take care of myself for a few months and heal up the damage from a lost decade of misdiagnoses and ill health? I'm starting, day by day, to feel better than I have since I was a kid. I just don't want to be sick any longer.

 

Can someone tell me their thoughts on the matter? Have I done something wrong? What can I do better?

Edited April 13, 2016 by Chris1479

[HopeForTomorrow]

Grave's disease (also called goiter - although that actually is a symptom) is not that uncommon at all. It is the most common cause of hyperthyroidism. The reason you were "blown off" by the healthcare professionals is because it is usually seen in people much older than you, and it is 7.5 times more likely to be seen in women than men (I'm assuming you are a man). Doesn't mean it can't happen to you, but it does mean that it's not automatically in the differential diagnosis of people who evaluate you. That said, it's pretty easy to identify if you check T3, T4, TSH which any healthcare professional should do.

 

I'm not going to pretend to know what it's like to be in your shoes, because I haven't been. But I am on the healthcare professional side, and I can tell you that once it is diagnosed, it's very treatable. So I think you should focus on moving past this as much as possible and focusing on your future. You can focus on the past, your illness, having to quit jobs, etc but that isn't going to help you. Now that you have a diagnosis and are being treated, time to move forward. I also commend you for quitting smoking and drinking. Clearly you are a strong person; don't stop now.