[Harpy]

#1064011

Angel
Welcome on board, and feel free to vent to your hearts content, just getting some of your frustrations out can help you a little bit emotionally at least, I know you are trying to do the best you can regarding healthy diet etc. so I won’t go there.
I assume you are in the US somewhere, I’m not and am not familiar with the system.
If you can post up your location, just city & state, maybe someone here may have some ideas and avenues that you could try to help you get the appropriate medical attention.
Throwing some positive thoughts your way, hope your hubby finds work soon so that you can get back on track.

[MarksAngel]

#1064012

Thanks Harpy, I updated my profile so my location info shows up now. You are right in assuming I’m in the states. If the health care situation ever gets straightened out over here it will be a miracle…lol. Thanks for the positive thoughts.

Angel

[MarksAngel]

#1018322

Hello everyone, My name is Angel I’m 34 and I’m Longtime lurker first time poster.

I was first diagnosed with Graves Disease in 2007. GD has literally disabled me, When I was first diagnosed I was unable to get regular treatment due too the fact that my husbands job did not have dependent insurance and we could not afford to get it anywhere else.

I was losing weight, starting to have trouble walking, having hand tremors, and having heart palpitations. Things got pretty bad when I came down with pneumonia and because I smoked at the time had to be hospitalized. The doctors were very concerned with my heart at the time. Still I wasn’t receiving any regular treatment. Finally about a year later my husband found a new job which did provide dependent insurance. So I was able to start seeing a doctor and receiving treatment. The doctor started me on Methimazole, within 3 months I put on so much weight that I really could no longer walk more than a few moments at time without needing to sit down. The combination of GD, putting on weight very rapidly and having already had back problems for so long has put me in a position where I just can’t do much any more. I haven’t left the house in about 4 months because it’s simply not worth the effort. So for a year I was receiving treatment, had because physical therapy and was hopeful that eventually I could have my life back again, and that’s when it happened. My husband was suddenly laid off work due to workforce reduction, this was a little over 1yr ago and he’s still looking for work. We managed to keep insurance for a bit thanks to cobra, but even that’s long gone now. I attempted to apply for medical help through the state but even on unemployment they tell us he brings in too much income.

I managed to finally quit smoking, but other than that I’ve not seen a doctor in over 9mths, my medicine is long gone, and I still can barely walk. I’m 34yrs old and feel like I’m 84. I have done a lot of reading and have tried changing my diet and doing some slight exercises but Nothing works and I’m sure it won’t until I’m able to receive proper care. I’m so miserable with not being able to walk sometimes I’m almost wish I would go hyper for a bit if only to be able to walk further than my bathroom.

I’m not sure what I expected when I wrote this post I just needed to vent what I’m going through and wanted to share with others. Thank you for these forums, and thank you for listening.

Angel

[snelsen]

#1064013

Angel, I am in SEattle! Graves’ and TED. I have posted a lot on this site. This will be hard week for me to try to be helpful to you, for I am having surgery on both of my eyes this WEdesday (TED.)
But here is one beginning suggestion. Have you contacted Country Doctor? It is a marvelous place for health care. Not sure of the implications of you living in Everett. Have you explored Basic Health? ARE there some free medical clinics in Everett?
I am sorry you are caught in this circumstance.
If you feel like it, write some more about why walking is difficult for you. Do you legs hurt? When you got insurance, did you go to a doctor to follow up on your thyroid problems to see where you are? Do you mean that you gained 80 pounds? Or just a few? I guess the biggest thing you need right now is to be seen by a doctor, and you have explained how difficult that is.
When you said you checked with the state, do you mean you applied for Basic Health? I am pretty darn sure that unemployment funds do prevent you from having Basic Health. ARe there community free clinics in Everett? I am sure it is discourage and depressing to not leave the house for four months.

I wanted to write because we are in the same area. Harpy’s suggestion was a very good one. I will try to explore some options for you in the next couple of days, but not sure that I have enough information to really do that. Be sure to keep writing. Glad you joined the site. It has been such a big support for me with Graves’ and TED. Both have been running my life for a couple years now.
Shirley

AND congratulations on accomplishing a most difficult and challenging goal of stopping smoking. Anyone who has had the habit and quit, will surely understand how hard that is.

[MarksAngel]

#1064014

Hello Shirley thanks for the reply let me answer some of your questions.

snelsen wrote:If you feel like it, write some more about why walking is difficult for you. Do you legs hurt?

snelsen wrote:When you got insurance, did you go to a doctor to follow up on your thyroid problems to see where you are?

snelsen wrote:Do you mean that you gained 80 pounds? Or just a few?

I have pretty much always had to deal with some sort of back pain. It seemed to get worse after 3 kids. But mostly it was a wake up in the morning with a sore back sort of thing. I worked a lot on my feet over the years, as having kids young and basically trying to grow up too fast, I didn’t finish High school, so most of my work was in customer service of some sort, after a while it got too the point where standing for too long would cause my back too hurt.

When I was diagnosed with GD I was hyper, and was pretty thin at that point. I’m 5’5 and had gotten down to about 165 lbs which is pretty thin too me as growing up I was never a whole lot on the slender side. It took about a year a so after diagnoses before my husband found a job which provided dependent insurance. During that time I had noticed it was harder for me walk because my legs were loosing strength. We lived on the 2nd floor at that time and I really began to notice I was having a very hard time getting up and down the steps. At the time we lived in Anacortes. I had been too the ER a few times and was given a one month supply of thyroid meds from the ER doc which was good for 3 more refills beyond the intial supply. It was hoped that during that time I would be able to find a regular doctor. but with no insurance I didn’t have much luck finding one. I managed to get seen at the clinic there at the hospital, I was tested and given another one month supply along with 3 more months worth of refills for the meds, but I still couldn’t afford to pay for regular treatment.

Eventually the hubby found a job in Everett, and we moved here. I then finally had insurance. But at this point I was tired all the time, and my back hurt very much when I walked, I had also gone hypo due to the fact I was taking the meds but without regular testing I was unaware that my thyroid had completely swung me the other way. But what I did notice was that the combination of not being able to walk without back pain and much effort I had begun to put on weight, lot’s of it and pretty fast too. When I finally saw the doctor She did the blood work and then explained to me that I was now hypyo and what the difference was. As far as not being able to walk it is a combination of the muscle deterioration caused by graves on top of what was already a not in great shape back, as well as the fact that I put on so much weight (I shot up to 290 lbs) so quickly placing my body in shock(ie.. It had no time to slowly adjust to the weight gain) All that had worked together to make it very difficult for me to walk because doing so brings about so much pain in my back, as well as being very tiring.

After all this was discovered and discussed I was put on a regular test cycle and then sent to physical therapy for my legs and back. This seemed to be working for a while, at least until my husband lost his job due to workforce reduction and then shortly after we lost our insurance. It’s now been a year since I’ve seen a doctor or had any medication.

snelsen wrote:When you said you checked with the state, do you mean you applied for Basic Health?

Yes

snelsen wrote:ARe there community free clinics in Everett?

There are but we can’t even afford the sliding scale fee, after a year with only unemployment income we are really feeling the strain.

snelsen wrote: AND congratulations on accomplishing a most difficult and challenging goal of stopping smoking. Anyone who has had the habit and quit, will surely understand how hard that is.

Thank you very much, actually quitting smoking was pretty easy as I discovered personal vaporizers(electronic cigarettes) and they allowed me to first cut out the smoking then wean myself off nicotine, all without the shock of suddenly having nothing to do with my hands…lol. I’m not saying they would work for everyone but for me and the hubby the did the job nicely.

Thanks so much for replying and I hope I’ve answered your questions.
Angel

[Kimberly]

#1064015

Hi Angel – I totally understand your frustration, as I was laid off last year and my COBRA subsidy is about to run out. However, PLEASE keep researching and fighting until you can find a solution that will allow you to get the treatment you need. The longer you go untreated, the longer the healing process is likely to take. And there is also the risk that you could wind up in the ER with thyroid storm, which would be a *huge* financial burden.

Shirley has some good ideas, since she is located near where you are. In general, potential resources include your state’s Health Department, Welfare Department (even if you are not Medicaid eligible, they might be able to suggest other options for you), and local universities or medical schools. Once you do find a doc, he/she should be able to help you with the paperwork to get assistance on your meds directly from the drug manufacturer.

Best of luck to you — please keep us posted on how things are going.

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